Degree Assignments

 

Introduction

The focus of this Creativity and Innovation in Practice (CIP) project was to adapt behavioural policy in a manner conducive to healthy mental well-being. My role within the school was that of Maths Mentor - supporting lessons, running booster sessions, and covering leave, additionally experience gained in prior roles within the school behavioural department as a cross-curricular facilitator were important in the implementation. This pilot was conducted in a secondary school located in the north of England with a catchment area ranked in the top seven percent of the Index for Multiple Deprivation [where one is most deprived] (Ministry of Housing,Communities & Local Government, 2019a) and top thirteen percent on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (Ministry of Housing,Communities & Local Government, 2019b) in England.

 

Innovative Project

Part of depression treatment is the advice to recognise what can be controlled and realise it is difficult, if not impossible, to control the actions of others (Rogers, 2015, p. 20). However, if the stresses remain unidentified or misallocated, there is at best a cyclic progression of recovery, set-back and crash as the pressures of working in a ‘difficult’ school subtly mount. Personally it took reading ‘Emotions of Teacher Stress’ (Carlyle & Woods, 2002) to finally identify all the causes that lay outside my control, but this also gave insight into the unrecognised struggles faced by others, particularly the students.

Within the school, students have little agency. Out of previous necessity the school’s behaviour policy is authoritarian, and in the simplest form equates to: “Set classroom expectations then Warn, Move and Remove any students who do not follow them”, the onus being on the teacher to vigilantly manage, reward and sanction all behaviours and this unrealistic expectation can bring teachers into conflict with the child (Rogers, 2015, pp. 2-5). Teachers are fond of the phrase “A fresh start to every lesson” but some display habitual patterns that result in repeated confrontation. A colleague found themselves in the situation where a few students began to use this to their advantage and provoked conflict to get out of lesson. In adhering to the school behavioural policy and regularly sending these disruptive students to sanction room the colleague was questioned and in feedback given the autocratic and contradictory mantra of “You need to do something about this, use your professional judgement, but remember You are the teacher, You are in charge and You are responsible for these kids”.

The question then became: How can students be given agency and the stresses of classroom management diminished? As de Bono states “The search for alternatives is the most basic of all creative operations” (1996, p. 119), after donning white, green, yellow, black, red and blue hats in quick succession (1996, pp. 77-85) the obvious conclusion to minimise conflict was to enable students by giving them the responsibility of managing their own behaviour.

To this end, a phenomenological approach was taken through announcing classroom expectations at the start of each lesson, highlighting the variance from the norm, with the script developing over time to address student misconceptions as they arose. Lessons were then restructured around class and group discussion with students subsequently able to move groups to help or seek assistance. The impact was evaluated through informal total participant observation, simple questioning, and discussion with departmental peers. Ethical standards were maintained by remaining within the spirit of the school’s behaviour policy in order to maintain non-interference and keeping written observations anonymous (Denscombe, 2014, pp. 94-105, 215-223).  The reliability of the project is subject to the experience of the teacher as autocratic discipline, whilst easiest to dispense when facing conflict, must be supressed (TED, 2014) to promote empathy and encourage a state of flow in the classroom (TEDx Talks, 2014).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theoretical perspective

“What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.”

(The Holy Bible, p. Ecclesiastes 1:9)

 

Using words attributed to a man who lived three thousand years ago illustrates the irony that, despite being born of necessity and personal experience, the creative and innovative practise piloted in this work retrospectively bares remarkable similarity to the work of Bill Rogers, although this is unsurprising. Despite thirty years and the abolishment of corporal punishment separating our schooling, Rogers’ introduction (2015, pp. xvii - xx) revealed several parallels to my own educational experiences and similar developmental syncretism (Piaget, 1959, pp. 129-130) that promoted a pragmatic perspective of the world. (Dewey 1963 and 1966, Neitzsche 2005 and 2006 in Bates, 2019, pp. 18-21).

At the basis of Rogers’ work lies the ideal of mutual respect, a repeating theme that arises throughout the majority of the educational theories briefly summarised by Bates (2019). The abridgments that forsake this ideal such as; Watson 1919 and 1928 (p. 30), Engelmann 1982, (p. 40), Ansubel 1963 and 1978 (p. 54), Fleming 2001 (p. 120), Cowley 2014 (p. 156), Hare 2003 (p. 158) and Tyler 1949 (p. 260), unsurprisingly accord predominance to the teacher with the perspective of the student given secondary consideration at most. Granted there is more nuance to each of these theories, but they are seven of one hundred and thirty-four theories where Bates could not write “Involve the learners” or something similar, they are theories of ‘doing to’, not ‘working with’, the concept of “control” apparently stemming from an adversarial and closed groupthink mindset (Dweck, 2012, p. 135) that children differ vastly from adults (Piaget, 1959, p. 243). Although it is intriguing to consider the personal perceptions and preconceptions that led to their formulation, speculating on the validity of these theories is not within the remit of this assignment. Instead it will be presumed that we are all products of our own particular social learning, modelling the traits we found desirable of imitation (McLeod, 2016).

That said, as supposed agents of cultural change (Elmore, 2004 in Hattie, 2012, p. 170) it should be the teacher’s responsibility to always model what is deemed as good adult behaviour (Kyriacou, 2001a, p. 74; Petty, 2018, p. 108; Rogers, 2015, p. 133), though as Aristotle claimed: it is only the temperance of our licentiousness that separated the adult from the child (1976, p. 140). Whilst the empiricism of the ‘table of virtues and vices’ (ibid. p. 104) was formative to the development of my personal moral code, it also lays out an ethical foundation for the professional teacher, the adult who in all matters should seek to exemplify the mean (ibid. p. 100). To clarify, ‘patience is a virtue’ only because it lies between the extremes of anger and apathy, showing patience contributes toward fostering a status of authority, whilst expression of either of the latter merely erodes credibility. This can be extremely negative for the students as teacher credibility ranks fourth in the list of influences on achievement (Hattie, 2012, p. 266).

Initially it came as a surprise to discover other aspects of the project also feature prominently on this list: student expectations, class discussion, micro-teaching, teacher-student relationships, though in hindsight it should not have. Returning to work in the school I attended as a student created the unique opportunity to re-evaluate former teachers from an adult perspective and inadvertently through the lens of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (McLeod, 2016). More importantly it allowed discussions of the reasoning and effectiveness of different teaching approaches with the teachers I had admired most as a child.

 

“Permissiveness leads to anarchy, and strictness leads to rebellion”

(Dreikurs, et al., 1982, p. x)

Striking the ‘happy median’ is a difficult task and unfortunately the skills of maintaining such balance only develop through experience and constant critical reflection of our students and of own feelings, responses, and actions within the classroom. These “gut reactions”, Dreikurs et al. attribute to the sympathetic or adversarial response we have to a child’s stance in a conflict situation, aligned as they are with one of four mistaken goals; to seek undue attention, to seek power, to seek revenge or to display inadequacy (1982, pp. 14-17). Through awareness and control of our own impulses we can prepare and adapt our restorative actions to mitigate or even subsume conflict in the process of resolution, leading to a ‘fair and reasonable’ appraisal of the situation from the students witnessing the exchange that does not diminish the teacher in their eyes. (Rogers, 2015, p. 94)

To achieve this elevated status, Kuriacou extols us to ‘act with authority’ (2001a, p. 82) highlighting the basic technique of crowd control employed by magicians and confidence tricksters for centuries (TEDx Talks, 2011). Though not to be mistaken with acting authoritarian, which as established encourages resentment and rebellion (Kyriacou, 2001b), acting with authority “exerts a momentum of its own leading pupils to behave accordingly” (Rogers, 2015, p. 114). Implementing this requires reflection on the other side of Bandura’s argument, the conscious consideration of the student’s home life and the social learning stimuli prevalent within their communities. For example, in this school there are significant contingents of Eastern European and British Asian Muslim communities that remain patriarchal by tradition, externally defining the role and expectations of gender conformity upon the male (Pinkett & Roberts, 2019, p. 51). It is this societal influence shaping aggressive male behaviour patterns more than the biological factors (ibid. p. 146) that mean directly challenging sexist or homophobic behaviour can prove futile and instead merely instigate conflict by ‘weakening’ the male in front of his peers (Kyriacou, 2001b, p. 134). Understanding and accepting this allows for longer term developmental processes, such as through the creation of steel man arguments and effective Socratic questioning (The Modern Rogue, 2020), to be implemented to break down these socially conditioned barriers instead (TEDx Talks, 2012).

Reflecting on shifts in accepted social norms from the nineteen seventies through to the present, whilst anecdotal, reveals both a dramatic transition and a divergence in social thinking, exemplified in the fall of the Berlin Wall. The separation of East and West Germany created mental barriers within the Germanic people (TED, 2020), the experiences of each community diversifying to the point where reconciliation was difficult, if not impossible, even after reunification. As seen in the Black Lives Matter marches of 2020, this is not an isolated phenomenon and is further exacerbated through unfettered access to social media (Gardner & Davis, 2014, p. 191). This mental division is especially pronounced in the classroom between the narcissistic but liberal attitudes (ibid. pp. 61, 76-77, 86) of ‘Zoomers’ and social values displayed by children of former Soviet communities, the latter having, comparatively speaking, closer ties to British cultural sensibilities of the nineteen seventies toward a person’s race, gender identity and sexual orientation. The prevalence of social media is hastening discussion but optimistically, it can only be claimed that a Generation X equivalent is awakening within these communities and about to face similar idealistic hardships.

These are the challenges of the classroom, a multicultural class requires a multicultural approach (Kyriacou, 2001b, p. 70) so who better to implement an inclusive learning policy than the students themselves. As teachers, recognising who in our class reside within our own Proximal Development Zone, who are our More Knowledgeable Others (McLeod, 2018), means we are not provoking unnecessary conflict. This is especially true of behaviour management; it is impossible to know the mental health status of every student under our care or how they will respond on any given day to our implementation of the school rules, but it is probable that their peers, having been with them most of the day, will.

It is this fundamental shift in perception that allows recognition that the same socially situated managerial skills that illicit successful cooperation in adults are equally applicable to children (Lave and Wenger, 1991 in (Bates, 2019, p. 192). A benign firmness is always preferable to aggressive assertiveness (Kyriacou, 2001b, p. 106) (Rogers, 2015, p. 56; Petty, 2018, p. 83) and the rules of social engagement can be communicated implicitly through negotiation rather than explicitly through a ‘punishment fitting the crime’ mentality that, along with the necessity to fence off school to protect the students, only enhances a student’s belief that they are attending a prison. (Coles 1989 in Bates, 2019, p. 200; Rogers, 2015, p. 179)

For this purpose, an important consideration of the project was re-designating the corridor as an informal safe space instead of a punishment zone in the teacher’s mind. An instruction to “Step outside, calm yourself down and come back in when you are ready to learn” contains all the salient points required for the student to reflect on their behaviour and make an informed choice, there is little to no reason to isolate and confront, like a lion stalking its prey, other than for the teacher to victimise and vent a frustration (Rogers, 2015, p. 249). The perception that the corridor is a safe space also encourages students to be more forward in their expressing their concerns, it is a place they can invite the teacher that is distinctly different to the classroom domain.

 

Practical perspective

The project was shared with the head of Mathematics, with whom I team teach two low ability key stage three classes, and casually discussed with the rest of the department. Plans were in place to deliver initial feedback and possible implementation strategies however this was postponed due to lockdown. There were few external limitations on the project, but the most impactful were: covering lessons where established seating plans were in effect and school closures due to Covid-19, these limiting students’ to experience the concept of self-management and gain awareness of the scale, depth and breadth of opportunities agency provides. (Barton, 2020, p. 46; Csikszentmihalyi, 2013, p. 308)

Ultimately, the ambitious goal of this project was to provide a behavioural management methodology for lessons not just to flow, but to regularly achieve an active state of flow. By initially only shifting the onus of responsibility, it was simple to discern the changes within dynamics of the classroom (Lo, Chik and Pang 2006 in Barton, 2020, p. 49) and increase levels of enthusiasm and fun. (Csikszentmihalyi, 2013, p. 342)

The key stage three students rapidly adapted to the change in behavioural responsibility, and as the project progressed it was apparent the whole class discussions were lending themselves to exploration of the power-point slides, it was necessary to clarify more than dictate as the shift from teacher centric learning towards student centric learning occurred (Hopper & Waugh, 2014). They were intuitively beginning to recognise ‘Zones of Proximal Development’ and seeking out ‘More Knowledgeable Others’ (MKO) to complete the work. (McLeod, 2018)

Significantly the students that benefited most were those who hypercorrected their understanding of the policy structure (Butterfield & Metcalfe, 2001), L. and R. from a key stage three class, both of whom express emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD), were of particular note for showing significant behavioural and engagement improvements. It was also noticeable in the key stage four classes; though it was difficult to encourage them to seek out MKO’s as biases, prejudices and cliques of friendship groups were more pronounced.

The class that proved the most challenging were a low ability key stage four who uniformly believed they had little to no prospects, all bar one lived in an area ranked in the top seven to fifteen percent in the country on the index of multiple deprivations. The majority were labelled as English as a second language (ESOL), though for some English was the third or fourth language they had had to learn, however it was the cultural barriers that were the main issue within the classroom. Over half the class were recognised as having EBD, with the boys displaying macho behaviours common in overtly patriarchal societies and the girls willing to immediately verbally emasculate them whenever an argument erupted. This class preferred the authoritarian teaching approach of their main teacher, one even telling me “You’re not a teacher because you are not shouting and telling people off!” but also expressed ‘at least your lessons did not drag’. Strikingly it was the use of YouTube videos (Hill, 2020) to support an argument that elicited the strongest responses as they were more likely to immediately accept a path of reasoning once it was reiterated by a social media persona, even if they did not know or follow them. The number of followers a person had, regardless of actual content, was apparently sufficient to garner a desire for celebrity connection amongst children with low self-esteem (Gardner & Davis, 2014, p. 72).

 

 

 Conclusions

In immediately comparing Piaget (1936) and Vygotsky (1934) in McLeod (2018), the author inadvertently falls into the trap of attributing personal bias in his analysis, it is highly likely that this assignment will fail here too. Several sources of evidence have been used to support arguments in a manner that whilst contextually incorrect are at least logical in their application, the assignment was about applying creativity and innovative thinking after all.

Like much of the referencing in this essay, interpretation is a question of perspective. That Neitzche (2018) and Nitobe (2012), both referred to as being pacifists (Bates, 2019, p. 19; Flanagan, 2016), had their liberal works appropriated by the right wing agendas of the Nazi’s and Japanese military respectively at the turn of the twentieth century highlights that the assumption of proof lies, less in the quest for arguments to support our personal bias, but in the critical reflection and empirical study of data attached to an implemented practice.

Hattie (2012) established categorically that students do not just suddenly start performing better, it requires an ideological change within the teachers and the schools to give children access to formerly higher educational toolsets that better shapes learning. Through widespread implementation of his Building Learning Power programme (Building Learning Power - TLO Limited, 2014), Claxton applied fundamental teachings of Buddhism through an educational lens thereby making it palatable for the consumer. By effectively framing the students as young adults on an educational instead of a spiritual journey, the encouragement from teachers for students to continue to learn was placed in the realm of the tangible and is therefore intrinsically given. This is why, when Claxton and Lucas construct Ruby’s seven C’s monologue (2015, pp. 55-60), it is prefaced by assumptions of a teacher who equates success with academic achievement being convinced Ruby would feel like a failure for failing academically. In this romanticised imaginary construct, nothing could be further from the truth – though failing academically, Ruby has taken the critical thinking skills she gained at school and developed into a lifelong learner, she is on her spiritual/educational journey of discovery.

 

For me, this project proved useful for encouraging an environment conducive to the creation of the flow state, although full advantage was not always taken. To that end, how this project will ultimately affect my own practice is unfortunately a question for another day as several proven teaching strategies have offered aspects that merit deeper consideration, however it is an approach to classroom management that mirrors my personal ethics so further adaptation and enhancement is highly likely. What will change however is the way reflection practice is conducted, the research taken into educational theory demands more effective comparison and reasoning, as does the collation and examination of the qualitative and quantitative data. The conscious recognition that students are far less likely to use their mobile phones when sat with their friends, has far different connotations when considering the external reassurance needs of the narcissistic App Generation (Gardner & Davis, 2014).

Like Barton’s ‘Reflect, Expect, Check, Explain’ (2020) methodology for teaching mathematics, this innovative practice is too not without risk, but it is educated risk where failure is always an option and therefore should not be feared but embraced as an opportunity for learning. Contrastingly, a return to the status quo and the premise of remaining ever vigilant is nothing but multi-tasking in the purest form, merely taking focus away from the primary task of teaching and reducing our productivity and creativity by up to 70%. It is the oxymoronic message of “Do less, achieve more” (TEDx Talks, 2016; MasterClass, 2020).

 

“Nevertheless, mindful of my own weakness, I make no firm pronouncements, but submit all these opinions to the authority… and the judgement of those wiser than myself.” (Descartes, 1985)

 

References

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