When I talk about the effect on children of behavioural practices which are used in some schools, I’m often told that these are trivial.
Telling children that if they don’t attend school every day their future lives will be blighted?
Whole class rewards like a lollypop for every child in a class with full attendance?
Line-ups for uniform checks with instant detention for minor issues?
Behaviour points projected onto the white board every morning so the whole class can see who the ‘bad kids’ are?”
I talk about this stuff because for kids, this is the important stuff.
This is the stuff that keeps them up at night. This is the stuff that means that they sink into despair. This is the stuff that affects their peer relationships. For many, this is what makes them feel that school isn’t a place which welcomes them, just as they are.
I know it doesn’t have to be like this, because some schools are doing things very differently and those families talk to me too. Just because something seems trivial to adults, doesn’t mean that it is for a child.
This, after all, is the very nature of childhood.
(Illustration by Eliza Fricker, www.missingthemark.co.uk).