If the ultimate function of education is to nurture individuals of autonomous kind, the environment must provide a divergent framework that enables children to become autonomous. Autonomous living requires both freedom and responsibility. In a humanistic classroom, all children need to be guided into increasing degrees of autonomy, but they must move according to their own stages of readiness and internal integration.

The teacher assists the child in keeping main ideas and events in focus. He fits lessons and materials into the context of an open environment, so that the materials are applied to the need and necessity of the child – not the child to the materials. He integrates each activity into the events of the classroom that are in progress. He fixes reasonable boundaries with in which children may explore and create. He organizes and earmarks space for work centers in a way that facilitates communication and the flow of classroom tasks. He foresees children's reactions to situations and adapts to moods and anxieties, or other manifestations. He stays at the background and moves children into the arena of action. He allows children to work according to their capacity and rhythm. He watches timing, errors and performance speed when boredom occurs. He decides when to redirect and rejuvenate an activity or when not to.