Sociocultural Risks of the Educational Environment as a Basis for the Classification of Schools by Level of Socio-Psychological Safety

Abstract

The educational environment and its socio-psychological safety is a significant social issue for schoolchildren (Bronfenbrenner, 1989). This issue continues to be a primary focus of studies on the sociopsychological safety of the educational environment (Reijntjes, Kamphuis, Prinzie, & Telch, 2010) including possible sociocultural risks. The study focused on the following research question: How do sociocultural risks influence the socio-psychological safety of the educational environment? In order to respond to the question, we examined the types of different educational environments by the level of sociopsychological safety based on the assessment of the socio-cultural risks. The risks are based on the analysis of the following contextual factors: geographic, economic, social, educational, upbringing, and psychological. The study was conducted in nine regions of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia) with varied indicators of the contextual factors. The study sample consisted of 3,232 pupils from 36 schools. Main results of the study indicate different types of the educational environments based on a configuration of contextual factors defining the level of socio-psychological safety using the principal component method. Significance. The study’s findings suggest that close consideration of the configuration of contextual factors along with sociocultural risks could increase soci-psychological safety of the educational environment.