Australian classrooms are more disorderly than ever – prompting an intensifying debate about how to control bad behaviour.
With her booming voice, no-nonsense attitude and gaze that could wilt cactus, Megan*, a 30-something teacher, oozes authority. The untrained eye might see her as petite, but to students she’s towering. One day, as she walked down a corridor of her boxy, ageing Sydney public high school, she heard a six-foot, year 12 boy curse. “F---, you’re short!” he said in surprise. “It’s so weird. You don’t seem like that in front of the classroom.
The reasons are myriad. Complications of technology, such as social media fights and bullying spilling over into school; the lingering effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on social development; scant resources to deal with skyrocketing diagnoses of autism, anxiety and ADHD; a “crisis of adult authority”, as one expert described it; and a more diverse social landscape than ever before, in which children bring wildly differing family norms to the classroom.
Politicians admit there’s a problem. A Senate inquiry considering “the issue of increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms” is set to report next month, and a federal government-ordered report this year ruled that universities must include lessons in how to control classrooms in their education degrees. But those are longer-term fixes, and right now, many students are having their one shot at education curtailed by constant interruptions.
Parents used to back schools when it came to discipline. Some still do. But others don’t and will believe their child’s version over the teacher’s, or complain about the unfairness of consequences – something teachers say is more common in wealthier areas where there’s more “snowplough parenting” . One principal tells of a mother who offered to sit her daughter’s detention.
A meltdown can involve punching, says Kate. “Or throwing chairs. Destroying the classroom. It would be written up in a behaviour plan … ‘If Johnny starts to swear or calls you a f---wit, evacuate the room so it doesn’t escalate.’ ” That means telling all the other children – they could be as young as five – to file out of the classroom while the teacher calls for help. In 2018, more than 600 kindergarten students were suspended from NSW primary schools.
Discipline might be back on the table, but the debate is fraught. Educators are divided along ideological lines. The progressive philosophy – that behaviour is communication – is deeply embedded, as it has been taught in university education facilities over decades at the expense of technical classroom skills such as a teacher’s use of voice or physical position to command authority.
John Stewart disagrees, deeply, with the Michaela-style approach. The blue-eyed, shaggy-haired, crinkle-smiled 56-year-old educator also has an impressive pedigree; he was educated at Cambridge, taught at some of London and Sydney’s top sandstone private schools, including The King’s School prep campus Tudor House, and ran Bali’s famous Green School, where students learn in bamboo-and-grass classrooms.
When it comes to managing behaviour, however, private schools have a key advantage: they select their students, so can tell trouble-makers to leave. Students who are told they’re “no longer a good fit” usually become the state system’s problem. No one knows how often this happens, or the reasons why, since non-government schools are not required to disclose that information.
Since the beginning of this year, every class at Rosebud has followed the same script. Lines at the door. A cue to start. Bite-sized instructions. When routines and expectations are taught plainly and are consistent across all classrooms, or so the thinking goes, students find it easier to comply since it becomes automatic. Their teacher wastes less time quelling disruptive behaviour and can devote more attention to teaching.
Relationships – which many teachers argue are the bedrock of managing behaviour – are important, he says, but not the starting point. Rules and routines come first, “and then the connections happen. You can’t form a relationship if you don’t have trust. Teachers need to be the leader in the class, and the students need to see that.“
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Anxiety, ADHD, ‘snowplough parents’: Behind our worsening school discipline crisisAustralian classrooms are more disorderly than ever – prompting an intensifying debate about how to control bad behaviour.
Read more »
Anxiety, ADHD, ‘snowplough parents’: Behind our worsening school discipline crisisAustralian classrooms are more disorderly than ever – prompting an intensifying debate about how to control bad behaviour.
Read more »
I have a new job, but the thought of universal credit still gives me anxietyJeremy Hunt’s plans to toughen the rules for universal credit are nonsensical, says Sharron Spice, who is in her 30s and lives in London
Read more »
Brisbane news live: Brisbane pedestrian dies; US says Gaza behind hospital blastA man in his 70s hit by a cyclist while walking along the Bicentennial Bikeway has died of his injuries. And ahead of tenders being called for the Gabba redevelopment, a construction industry figure questions how a decade of major projects will be delivered.
Read more »
US intelligence suggests Gaza militants behind deadly hospital blastThe assessment echoed comments by US President Joe Biden during his eight-hour trip to Israel where he said he would seek an 'unprecedented' aid package from Congress, amid fears the Middle East is at 'the brink of a deep and dangerous abyss'.
Read more »
Israel-Hamas conflict updates LIVE: US intelligence says Gaza militants were behind hospital blastThe assessment came during US President Joe Biden Israel’s visit; locally, Anthony Albanese will boost security for religious facilities. Follow updates here.
Read more »