Brave space vs. safe space

One way in which some instructors aim to create more inclusive classrooms is by describing a classroom as a "Safe Space. " This description implies that danger, risk, or harm will not occur in the classroom. To claim we can create “safe spaces” is therefore misleading and possibly even counterproductive, because it promises to protect and exempt people from the very difficulties and challenges that real learning and growth require.

As an alternative, "Brave Spaces" shift away from the concept of safety and emphasize the importance of bravery instead, to help students better understand—and rise to—the challenges of genuine dialogue on diversity and social justice issues. “[U]sing “brave” rather than “safe” not only sets a tone for engagement but also proposes a mode of engagement.” (Cook-Sather, 1) Painful or difficult experiences in “brave spaces” are acknowledged and supported, not avoided or eliminated. “[C]reating brave spaces [can] challenge the implicit and explicit ways in which inclusion and exclusion, affirmation and disenfranchisement, and belonging and alienation play out for people with different identities.” (Cook-Sather, 2).

Adapted from:

Creating Brave Spaces within and through Student-Faculty Pedagogical Partnerships by Alison Cook-Sather
From safe spaces to brave spaces: A new way to frame dialogue around diversity and social justice by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens (in The Art of Effective Facilitation: Reflections From Social Justice Educators).