We are currently engaged in a series of CPD sessions aimed at improving teaching and learning in our school. As I was sitting in last week's session I was struck by the inherent hypocrisy that is rife in our organisation.
The session was about positive behaviour management and there was nothing that had not been heard before if I'm completely honest, but I'm always willing to listen and to remind myself of former lessons learned. There was nothing I could disagree with in principle, turning negatives into positives, catching students doing something good and using more inventive ways of gaining attention than shouting.
Essentially, there was nothing I could argue with and it did make me see a certain class in an alternative light, recognising that I needed to approach them in a slightly different way in order to challenge their own challenging behaviour.
It was when the direction of the training turned to modelling good behaviour that the alarm bells of insincerity started to chime. "No one, no matter what they say, doesn't like being praised," the course leader espoused. "If you're constantly telling a pupil they are doing this or that wrong then they are not going to respond very well and it will have a negative impact on their self esteem and confidence." I was in complete agreement but was also struck very rapidly that she could have been talking about the approach of the SLT in our school and couldn't help but smile at the irony of the situation.
Ask any middle leader whether they have felt bullied or belittled in my current establishment, and if they are talking off-the-record, they will respond with a resounding yes. Ask how many times they have been told they're doing this or that wrong and they will probably have lost count. So how does this add up?
Why is it acceptable to have an unwritten and unspoken policy of bullying at senior leadership levels? Why is it acceptable to constantly tell people they are not doing a good job when they are doing their very best to do just that? And why doesn't anyone do anything to stop it?
Every school has an anti-bullying policy and some of the very people who are responsible for creating these policies can't see that their behaviours are akin to the behaviours they are trying to eradicate in their pupils. This can only be seen as complete double standards in a workplace that seeks to teach against such conduct and shape the young minds of the future.
The current climate in education is one of denigration of the profession, both in the popular press and in missives by government ministers. You only have to look to the current head of Ofsted for the overarching attitude based on the belief that self-esteem being at an all-time low being an indication that the right approach is being taken. And yet, if teachers were to treat their pupils with the same disdain, they would probably be pursued under capability proceedings. Double standards seem to be the high standards that schools are aiming for, but this cannot continue if education is to improve at the rate deemed essential by Ofsted and government ministers.
I would suggest that next time any school is aiming to put across the positive behaviour model to their staff, that they first hold a mirror up to their own behaviour, a little self-regulation goes a long way when you are trying to take your staff on a journey.
Today's Secret Teacher teaches at an academy in the south of England.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion