As we go into the 2nd term of the academic year, we in education are a worried lot. We know that our secondary schools are already much stressed. For some reason we are not discussing how students from 33,000 public and private primary schools have been crammed into 9,000 public secondary schools!
Last term in March we had reports of about 10 schools with unrest and fires. Various guidelines have been set to safeguard the students and school infrastructure- CCTV cameras, increased security guard deployments, general vigilance and zero tolerance on deviant behaviour (leading to heavy suggestions for students to transfer to private schools because the process of permanently excluding -expelling- a student is long and can readily lead to litigation). There has also been a clampdown on reporting of such incidences to reduce copy- cat incidences, so what we publicly know is what ‘leaks out’.
Other than overcrowding, (just to put it out there, there are 350,000 places in private secondary schools, of which 250,000 are immediately available to ease the pressure in public schools- but we know that offer will not be taken up) the next biggest issue with our schools is Management. Management of the students especially discipline. There is a narrative that has been successfully pushed about; that with the banning of corporal punishment, schools were left without a discipline alternative. This school of thought is touted by the bible quoting lot who believe that by sparing the rod, we have doomed our youth. For those who subscribe to this the policy to have all secondary schools employ a chaplain to ‘save’ our youth is the answer to the perennial 2nd term school violence, arson and unrest. Do I even need to explain how many levels of wrong are in this school of thought?
For those who really care about turning around our secondary schools, we know that expanding them indefinitely is not an answer. Even managing the teachers in these super schools with 1,500 plus boarding school students is a nearly insurmountable problem especially with the nearly intractable work ethic issues plaguing our country and the strength of the main teachers union which doesn’t seem to have the interests of the child in its stance on performance management. (See current union stance on teacher INSETs) I can discuss this in a separate post on school management structures.
However, we can focus on Constructive Discipline to manage student behaviour in schools. Our traditional discipline methods foster a reliance on punishment for managing infractions. In the past when a student came late, they were beaten, when they missed a sum, they were beaten, when students speak back or out of turn to teachers, they were beaten etc. This is what happens at home as well. Teachers also use reprimands and disapproval- shout and ‘quarrel’ students- as a discipline method. This over emphasis on punishment seems to occur disproportionately with boys and with minority students. It has been repeatedly and widely reported that students from private primary schools do tend to be picked on by teachers and students. Such environments often provoke aggression, destruction of property, vandalism, violence, tardiness, truancy, dropping out if school and escape reactions such as illnesses, stress, allergies etc. It is worth noting that not all students respond to punitive environments with aggression or retaliation.
Our traditional discipline is based on the premise that all students should be treated equally often ignoring individual differences. In day secondary schools there are any number of reasons why a student will be late to school. They will always be punished equally. A student who needs to escape a maths class will plan an infraction. As a rule most school rules will inform students of what the consequences of their behaviour will be. First there will be a warning (rarely documented at this stage), then a punishment or detention, then a good talking to with senior management or school principal, home contact, suspension and finally pressure to change schools or expulsion. The disadvantage of providing a sequence of increasingly punitive consequences starting with a warning is that that a warning often communicates to certain students that they can get away with infractions as long as you don’t do it too frequently. (Can everyone who’s been here, done that please shout AMEN!)
Increasingly the value of guidance and counselling in our schools is being understood. Many times this docket is held by a kindly, motherly, overtly religious nice-nice teacher. The value of a professional counsellor in schools is increasingly being recognised in many private schools as a way to frame discipline management in schools as a method to manage the interactions between teachers, students and the school environment. For me, rather than throwing money a hiring a school chaplain, schools should prioritise hiring a guidance and counselling professional with at least a diploma to work in our secondary schools. Job descriptions for counsellors in schools can easily be created collaboratively to ensure that reporting systems become part and parcel of school leadership training.
We know that “rules are not followed unless consequences are applied for both complying with the rules and for violating them”. This is where merit systems in schools meet school discipline- i.e. The Constructive System Approach. It really is a no brainer. When following the rules is reinforced, the environment will soon prompt students to behave in accordance with the rules. Punitive consequences are used only for major infractions, behaviours which are so disruptive that they cannot be even for a short period of time. Those who attended the elite (National) schools and Catholic Girls schools before 1995 can recognise the use of Merit and house systems to put in place a reward system for good behaviour and volunteerism, as well as to reduce punitive discipline in the school environment. This is one of the main reasons why some schools have lost their reputations. They have not been able to find leaders who keep the school traditions.
We need to get back and re-learn these basics of school discipline management to wrangle back control of our secondary schools. Somewhere in this discussion I should have mentioned that the physical state of school infrastructure does have an impact on student behaviour. If desks have graffiti, students will add to it. If window panes are broken, more will be broken, if toilets are clean, the next user will leave it clean- the Broken Windows Theory suggests that if an institution is kept clean and and in good repair, it will encourage the students to keep it that way…