The class of students – A learning and communication community

Elena Liliana Danciu*

Abstract
Defined as a century of continuous change, the 21st century imposes not only a dynamic and flexible society, a society
which is open to progress and innovation, but also a model of personality that should be able to adapt to all the
requirements of its time, of the social, scientific, economic and political evolution. The gradual building of this model of
personality must represent the focus of a type of education based on all the values of the social-humanistic and
technical-economic sciences. This necessarily involves the need to set up and maintain an appropriate school system
which should be modern and democratic, which should promote the values of the humanity, should accept as
indispensable the informatization of the educational process and should offer the trainees conditions that allow them to
make good use of their own needs, aspirations and interests, and to build in them those competences which favour their
evolution to success.
The mission of informing and familiarizing the students with various fields of knowledge will be doubled by that
of forming them in line with the requirements formulated by the society at a certain point in time. In the school life and
practices, there have occurred a series of processes of adaptation, change and restructuring which have emphasized
the great importance of the processes of communication at various levels. Thus, there should be a change in focus at
the level of the teaching-learning activities, from the trainer to the trainee, and, consequently, the roles of the teacher
and of the student should be reconsidered; at the level of the use of the interactive and innovative methods during the
educational process and, in close connection to this, the relationship teacher-students tends to be more democratic; at
the level of the more and more diverse sources of information available to the trainee. However, the inertia of certain
types of professional behaviour and educational practices offers the teachers the predominant position in the
communicative process, a position that they often use in an excessive and even authoritarian manner.
Key words: learning and communication community, professional behaviour, educational practices, pedagogical
intervention

The solution to this problem might be the change of the class into a learning community defined as “the environment for
the formation of the student’s attitudes, capacities and competences. By participating and cooperating, showing an
interest in the educational process, in their own evolution, in the life of the community, the students undergo a
continuous change in behaviour, gain experience by means of which they relate their personal existence to the
dynamism of the present and future social life in their own interest and in the interest of the whole society, try to find their
own individuality.”
For a class to represent a learning community, both the teacher and the students must be concerned with its building in
all the activities that they carry on
As a learning group, the class is similar, in many respects, to a working group, but it also has its own features
that give it specificity. Thus, the purpose of building both these groups is that of performing working tasks (learning tasks
for the students) which involve all the group members and during which the group elaborates its own rules for the
existence, the organization and the progress of the teaching-learning process, rules that will give it not only identity, but
also personality. Each person – and especially the student – needs to feel that they belong to a certain community

*
Reader PhD, Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, Department of Educational Sciences, West University of Timisoara

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(family, class, school, etc.), where they feel safe, appreciated, respected and, most importantly, useful, because
otherwise they behave like alienated persons.
Teachers are members of the learning communities, and, in order to be accepted as part of the class
community and to be able to exert a positive pedagogical influence, they must get involved in the very building of this
community, being guided by Thomas Sergiovanni’s assertion (1994, apud Catalina Ulrich 2000: 22): “Building a
community must become the heart of any effort to improve the school.”
For a class to function as a community favourable to learning, students must feel respected, appreciated,
understood, must have common purposes and values according to which they should act in such a manner that, by
obeying the internal rules (to speak only if they are asked or after raising the hand and getting permission; not to
interrupt someone who is speaking; using only the literary language; not to disturb the groupwork or pairwork activities
and to speak in a low voice; to rely on the teacher’s solicitude and to ask questions without fearing that they might be
sanctioned when they do not understand something, etc.), they can make decisions together, they can keep mutual trust
at a high level, they can help one another, they understand that, by investing enough effort and by getting actively
involved, learning becomes a pleasant experience and gives rise to a feeling of achievement. The learning community
will benefit all its members.
Building a class community involves the pedagogical intervention of the teacher who organizes the learning
activities, discusses the notions that the students are supposed to acquire with a view to avoiding boredom and to
identifying the students’ interests by means of a positive type of feedback focused on the progress they have made over
a certain period, establishes a relaxed, warm, friendly atmosphere marked by the specificity of his or her personal style.
The teacher imposes types of behaviour, routine actions at the level of the class, assigns permanent or temporary
duties, evaluates. Although they perceive the class communities and make the difference between them, teachers are
less concerned with the contribution that they can make with regard to the positive change of these communities with the
purpose of improving the learning environment, in the context of their own lessons, even if, like in any other field, there
are professionals who strive to replace certain strategies of educational intervention by others which are considered
more effective, and, on the whole, the quality of the teacher-students relationship has obviously improved. However, with
few exceptions, students continue to prefer a directed type of communication and do not manifest the wish to get more
involved in the classroom dialogue unless the concrete situation at the level of the learning activity specifically requires
that. It is normal that, when faced with such a situation, we should wonder to what extent the causes underlying it are
objective and justifiable or are rather influenced by the trainee’s subjectivity, which is more or less justified. A number of
questions are still valid: Which are the causes that determine the students’ lack of involvement in the classroom dialogue
even if they are offered the opportunity of expressing themselves freely in the communicative act? Which are the ways in
which we could determine them to seize the opportunities of freely developing their personality? Which are the criteria
according to which we could evaluate the level of the students’ real participation in the bilateral process of exchange of
ideas and competences going on as part of the instructional act? Which are the barriers that occur most frequently at the
level of the teacher-student communication and that are likely to cause long-term problems in this communicative
relation? In order to shed light on some of these problems, we performed a research study on a representative sample of
124 highschool students in the final year and 87 teachers who were invited to answer some questions related to the
aspects that we were interested in.
In the case of the first question, the interpretation of the answers revealed a succession of causes related either
to the trainee’s individuality, or to the teacher’s personality and the level of his/ her involvement in the interaction with the
student, to the manner in which the group is organized, to the methods and strategies used in the teaching – learning
process, to the affective climate built and maintained in the classroom. The causes related to the students’ individuality
(37%) referred to their hereditary traits, and, especially, to elements of temper which make them sociable or introvert,
shy or bold, active or passive, impassive or reactive, talkative or good listeners.
The level of emotionality, interest and motivation, as well as their expectations and the degree of personal satisfaction
felt as partners in the communication act, their hopes and aspirations represent topics that must be highlighted when we
talk about the interrelationship at the level of the communication act.

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 Other topics refer to the personality of the teaching professional (42%) who can be more or less able to produce
positive interactions among students, to stimulate the communication relationships, to make the subject they are
teaching more attractive for students by using a specific method of presenting the information and organising the
instructive-educational activities.
The students (72%) observe the sometimes exclusive use of frontal teaching methods that require so little their
attention during the class, so that they mostly remain an audience to a show that bring them no emotional or cognitive
vibration and set a professional, glacial distance between them and the teacher, with a few exceptions in the modern
language and geography classes.
68% of these students observe the low level of emotional implication of the teacher in the interaction with them
and they think that most of the difficulties in this aspect are due not to rational and logical reasons but to emotional ones.
In their capacity of educational partners, they want their teacher to stop trying to prove that they do not know certain
things well enough, but to help them make those things better and inculcate the confidence that they are able to
complete any task, with or without help. It is clear that the teacher has the power to do this, its efficiency depending on
the operation of each of the four components of his/her power (K. Wadd):
charisma- the ability of the teacher to attract and influence students with his/her personality
dominance – the ability of the teacher to obtain control over classroom situations by his/her mere presence
intellectual power – the teacher’s knowledge and mastery of his/her subject
power resources – the ability of the teacher to efficiently organise the elements of a classroom activity but also on the
percentage in which each of the learning community members participate to this process, even if it is an inclusive
learning community.
Within the communication process, the students want their teacher to be: open, to offer models, to be more
involved in what he/she does and to try to know them as they really are if they cannot or will not do more, to respect their
opinions even if they do not agree with them, to criticize the content of the ideas, not the person issuing them. They
believe that everybody must talk for themselves, avoid appraisals, value judgments and ensure respect for each member
of the learning community, as nobody is entitled to judge the convictions, values, emotions, feelings or personal
experience of others.
The deadlocks occurring at the level of the teacher-student interrelationship can be produced, in their opinion,
by the organisational method of the community, by the methods and strategies used in the teaching-learning process, by
the emotional climate built and strengthened at the level of the student classes and even of the school to which the class
belongs. By asking to the questions in the questionnaire, the teachers do not bring into discussion issues related to their
own personality or to their social-emotional level. They highlight the excessive overload of the syllabus (79%) that does
not allow them, from a temporal point of view, to introduce new working methods with the students in order to make
things clearer and more interesting, but only 12% admit that they do not master the innovative and interactive learning
techniques based on learning through collaboration and cooperation.
48% of them still do not understand if:
 by using such methods the most important is the result of the learning process or the creation of situations when
students build relationships, communicate, work together and offer mutual help, they learn how to enjoy the
happiness of the others.
 the transmission of information in a classical, but safe manner is not more important than the interpretation of certain
social games commonly used by learning through cooperation (playing different roles: listener, supervisor, reporter,
spy, gadfly, person who draws up the reports, active person, encouraging person, person elaborating syntheses,
supplier, proof-seeker, standard setter, reader, person elaborating summaries, material coordinator, scout, cross-
examiner, time-keeper, facilitator, cleaning coordinator, colleague security coordinator etc.)
 21% of them are not sure:
 which are the contents that can really be used in learning through collaboration and which are less or not suitable for
this and why
 which is the best way to create working groups for the students – depending on the learning tasks, on their
preferences, on cognitive, emotional or practical criteria

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 which the time management algorithm of these activities
 which are the criteria according to which the tasks are distributed within the group
 whether it is important to practice the technique or to develop behaviours that assure action autonomy and individual
initiative
18% consider that it is highly difficult to pass from learning in groups to frontal learning and they are not convinced that
the time allocated to the creation of the group represents the best choice.However, all teachers admit that this type of
learning implies a thorough training of the teaching professional who is tempted to go back to group activities when
he/she finds advantages like:
 transmission of a considerable amount of information,
 logic treatment of the teaching-learning sequences,
 maintenance of a sustained activity rhythm and avoidance of the lack of implication of certain students due to the
distribution of tasks to all the group members,
 efficient management of the communication relationship, implying a constructive group management,
 reconciliation or amiable settlement of certain interpersonal conflicts and
 exercising a constant control over the entire instructional activity.
When there are positive relationships between the teacher and the students, among the students, the class will certainly
behave as a learning community.
The organisation of the learning tasks by groups must be adapted to the specific of the school activities and to the
lesson type, as well as to the student community. Teachers who frequently use these methods confirmed that they use
both homogenous groups where the students have similar learning opportunities, which facilitates the communication of
the teacher with each student group, but also the intra-group communication - the communication among students aims
at performing an exchange of information; and the heterogeneous groups (4, 5, 6 members) where the students have
different learning possibilities, and the teacher must address to an average level of the group (the effort to make the
informational messages accessible is high, and it cannot cover all the understanding levels).
The alternation of direct sequences with semi-directive and non-directive ones in the educational activity, the successive
role change of the teacher as an animator, tutor and assessor, the assignment of learning tasks not too complex (so that
they do not require the constant intervention of the teacher), but not too simple, either (so that the student cannot solve
them alone but together with some collaborators), the students exercising as many roles as possible allowing them
communicative behaviours with educational purposes, the use of different appraisal and awarding methods for the
informational and interactive behaviour would solve the deadlocks between teachers and students.
No matter how many advantages we find for the use of these methods, the educational activities cannot totally develop
in groups, the two working methods: frontal and by groups can be inter-changed with positive consequences for the
educational practice. Co-existing within this activity, they allow the diversification of the methodological register and the
extension of the communicational one. Everybody wins from this strategy, because the co-existence of these two
methods allows the diversification of the methodological register, the extension of the communicational one, the
maximum usage of time allocated for instruction and the avoidance of monotony in the classroom.
At the level of the learning and communication community, certain democratic principles must be observed, implying:
cooperation, co-participation, co-influence, negotiation, joint decision-making, co-responsibility, freedom of initiative,
respect and tolerance:
 COOPERATION, CO-PARTICIPATION underlines the value of the partnership between the teacher and the
students, who collaborate and participate to an equal extent to the production of the learning process, the latter
feeling they really belong to the class and its life
 CO-INFLUENCE, NEGOTIATION – grant the students the power to influence the activity in the classroom by their
participation, to intervene in the modification and in the decision making process by negotiation, to have an open
attitude and to accept more easily the submission to rules and decisions.
 JOINT DECISION MAKING – mostly assure a classroom climate promoting communication, acceptance, tolerance
and mutual respect.

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 CO-RESPONSIBILITY – its main consequence is the collective responsibility, and the implication of the student in
decision making gives him/her the feeling of belonging to the classroom community.
 FREEDOM OF INITIATIVE is the expression of the willingness to learn, to get involved, to experience new
situations. The inhibition of the student initiative leads to a passive attitude and a very low motivation to actively
participate to the classroom activities.
 RESPECT AND TOLERANCE – actually refers to all the activities taking place within the classroom. Even from the
first days of their student life, students learn that the opinion of others must be respected and that the differences
between students should not generate conflicts.
Rogers says: „The higher the degree of understanding, sincerity and respect that the teacher shows to his/her students,
the better will these students learn”. The studies performed by Aspey and Roebuck support this statement. They have
shown that most of the teachers with no special training do not know how to communicate and behave in a way that
determines the students to remain isolated instead of being stimulated to learn.
It is clear that no type of control can subsist in a pure state, and it won’t characterize a teacher from the beginning until
the end of his/her career.
Regardless of the type of control they use (authoritarian, permissive, focused on behavioural changes, on the
consolidation of a partnership with students or on the connection of the school with other social subsystems-scientific, for
instance) or of the teaching style manifested, teachers want to obtain the cooperation of students. It is clear that no type
of control can subsist in a pure state, and it won’t characterize a teacher from the beginning until the end of his/her
career.
The teacher will realize to what extent his/her intervention in class lead to a positive educational climate, by monitoring
the following aspects: the characteristics of the social relationships in class, the behaviour of students in educational and
extra-educational situations, the degree of confidence/lack of confidence between him/her and the student, but also by
becoming aware of his/her own teaching style.
In order to be sure of a positive outcome of his/her intervention, the teacher must know and understand the dynamics of
the interrelationship network within the school group and dose such interventions in such a way that he/she keeps the
role and authority of a trainer, but also facilitates a certain independence and responsibility within the group of students.
Creating occasions for students to interact with each other is not always enough for this to happen. The teacher must
observe:
 the way of communication (whether the students listen to each other attentively and respectfully, whether they
have the courage to communicate freely, whether each student has the possibility to express his/her opinion etc.);
 the way feelings or attitudes towards the others are shown (respect, friendship, fellowship, hate, wickedness,
indifference, isolation);
 the nature of the relationships between them (cooperation, competition, subordination, friendship).
The communication abilities can be learnt. Rogers suggests there are three basic abilities in communication:
respect, implying the idea that the student is OK as a person even if you do not approve his/her behaviour and you
show him you consider he's important by allocating time for him/her; by granting positive attention by active listening; by
using a simple language he/she understands, and avoiding to criticize or judge him/her;
empathy allowing him to see the world through the eyes of his/her interlocutor and try to understand the way the latter
feels like.
sincerity or agreement making him/her be considered as a person who tells what he/she thinks and who can show it by
talking about himself/herself; not pretending to be what he/she's not, not being defensive, avoiding to make promises
he/she can't keep;
The learning community implies the existence of rules. Kenneth Moore wrote: „Students need and want rules. They want
to know what it is expected from them and why. Teachers who try to avoid setting rules and structures will often discover
a chaotic result, especially when they deal with little children”. The rules can be imposed by the teacher or negotiated
with the students; they can operate in favour of the teacher or they can undermine his/her authority, making him use
power actions. The set of dominant rules in a class characterizes both what the teacher considers desirable, and the
negative part, the unwanted behaviour. This is why their number must be minimal; they must be accompanied by

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punishments, they must be compared to other factors of a certain situation, they must avoid extreme situations, they
must not be as general so that they do not match any real situation, but nor as specific so that any new lesson needs
other rules, and they also must satisfy the relevance, significance and positivity criteria. In order to determine students to
make use of their chances to a free development of their personality, besides all the other actions, teachers must not
forget they need valorisation, presentation of their achievements in the parents meetings, in the school magazine and
other publications, appraisal, awards, an intense group life – excursions, trips, visits and other extra-educational
activities. Most important, they must take into account the following recommendations:„
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.” This is what the writer and historian Rene Dubois said. This phrase shows how
important it is for children to examine their behaviour and understand how individual actions can influence global issues.
MORE THAN SCIENCE Although a great part of education deals with the understanding of scientific concepts, it also
requires an understanding of economy, geography, ethics, politics and other subjects.
YOU DON’T NEED TO BE AN EXPERT. As a teacher, your role is to facilitate learning and to know how and when to
call for experts when necessary.
LEARNING THROUGH DISCOVERY. The experimental learning has started to replace or to complete the traditional
explanatory lesson followed by the description of some ideas on the blackboard, which increases the memory capacity,
motivates the students to learn and encourages group cooperation. By experiments, simulations, debates and other
participative activities, the students discover concepts by their own.
GO OUT! Nothing can replace the individual experiences helping the students to understand their own community, the
natural systems and the environmental issues.
BE REALISTIC! „We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.” (Winston Churchill). Not only do these "real
experiences" enrich the educational programme, but they can also help strengthen the connections between the
educational programme and the community.
THINK! THINK! THINK! „Tell a child what to think and you make him a slave to knowledge. Teach a child how to think
and you make all knowledge his slave.” (Henry J. Tait) One of the purposes of the educational programme is to help
students develop their capacity to think – both critically and creatively.
VALUES MATTER As children grow up, the system of values they promote influences the options and decisions they
make with regard to all the aspects of their lives, including the environmental issues. The values bring consistence to the
life of a person, which help her realize a better concept of herself.
GIVE THEM POWER! The power can lead to the intensification of feelings like pride and self-respect. When helping to
solve a problem of the community, they help themselves and help the others in the same time, they state their own
values and see that their actions matter.
LIGHT A SPARKLE! “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled” (Plutarch) As a teacher, you can have
a lifetime impact on your students. By helping them know their rights as citizens, by giving them power to act and to feel
they are important. (Adapted after “EcoEd”, written by the “Floarea Reginei” Ecology and Tourism Club, together with
Karisha Kuypers, Peace Corps Volunteer, 2002, p. 3 – 5.)
The final answers of students and teachers have built a collective image, a teacher model who must be „flexible”, „open
to new ideas”, „make his/her subject attractive through projects and games”, „know interesting and interactive pedagogic
methods”, „know how to get the students close to him/her”, „inculcate the desire to outclass him/her” „be dedicated to
his/her profession”, „be authoritarian when necessary”, „have the sense of humour”, „avoid the confrontation with the
students”, „consider himself/herself” as an assistant for the students”, „be steady and consistent in everything he/she
does”, but „be flexible when required”, „focus on fairness, not on force”, „look for creative and inventive solutions”, „be
tough with the problem, but gentle with the students”. The teacher is responsible for the assimilation of the system of
social values by the students, for their integration in a group, for the understanding of the subject, also implying the
acceptance of dependence and the promotion of originality and initiative to the detriment of certain trends that are not
focused on the interest of the learning group of the classroom. People think that most qualities attributed to the ideal
teacher should be rediscovered in students, because they can only create a “pleasant atmosphere in class” by working
together, which is essential for efficient learning activities and for the creation of a learning community able to offer the
feeling they belong to the social group of the class to which they must subordinate their own needs.

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„Acknowledgment: This work was supported by CNCSIS-UEFISCSU, project number 882/19/01/2009, PNII - IDEI, code
471/2008 Program Exploratory Research Project, Adaptarea curriculară - instrument fundamental în educaţia incluzivă.”

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