I asked my new class group if they wanted to clarify anything after my intro.
“Do you give punishments when the homework is started but not finished?”
Paul had clearly been reluctant to ask, but being the least reluctant meant he was the most qualified in the eyes of his peers, so he was cajoled into it.
Over the next few minutes I learned about the punishments they had received in school on a staggered scale of severity for offences such as homework not attempted, homework not completed, copybook not in the room counts as multiple offences, and so on. Instinctively, I knew not to ask if there was a corresponding set of rewards.
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“Punishment” is a word I never use with my students, yet I hear them use it a lot. Despite its absence from my classroom, it clearly features heavily in their lives.
I would question its place in any classroom, since it is vocabulary that barely features in the National Educational Welfare Board’s guidelines on developing a code of behaviour for schools. When mentioned, it is in the context of what is not deemed appropriate. “Sanction” is the preferred word in the guidelines and the emphasis is on the word’s full range of connotations, including positives and incentives. The guidelines specifically refer to sanctions as “positive interventions”.
The mindset we develop around punishment during our formative years may impact on how we perceive others’ expectations of us and what we in turn try to achieve in life
Yet pupils still talk of punishment, which is how we know that the message is getting lost along the way and that the true spirit of these important guidelines needs greater attention and clearer promotion in schools.
The guidelines are clear on our unwavering duty of care, and that we as the adults hold the greater part of the responsibility for establishing and maintaining the mutually respectful student-teacher relationship which is conducive to healthy interactions and effective learning.
Successful messaging
That the greater part of the responsibility for the relationship lies with the adults is absolutely core to successful messaging and conditioning around crucial themes when it comes to student behaviour. A non-exhaustive list would include taking responsibility, being held accountable, agency, ownership, consequences as well as rewards, and other (perhaps less desirable) sanctions.
Mentioning the penal system may seem extreme in this context but it isn’t entirely irrelevant. The mindset we develop around punishment during our formative years may impact on how we perceive others’ expectations of us and what we in turn try to achieve in life. A sense of self-worth depends on incoming messages that we have value in the eyes of others, and such messaging is hard to convey through punishment. As educators we wield powerful influence when it comes to young people’s relationship with punishment, outside the home at least.
Damien Quinn is an inspiring ex-offender who spent three years in Castlerea Prison and now holds a masters in co-operative and social enterprise from UCC. He actively assists those who have served time in prison as they navigate the challenges of persuading prospective employers of their suitability for work despite their past.
Damien’s story and his work with Spéire Nua (New Horizons) gives us invaluable insights into the lasting impact of formal punishment. He drives home a crucial point concerning the challenges of turning a new leaf by sharing the statistic that 82 per cent of people with convictions believe that their past will prevent them from securing opportunities. Damien is keen to highlight that lots of good things are happening in the criminal justice sector but that the stigma ex-offenders encounter once released limits what they can do with any changes they have worked hard to make.
As educators we strive to set our students on paths which will hopefully mean they never encounter the prison service. And yet the reality is that many have family members with lived experience, or have themselves encountered it in their communities. More broadly, we must also be sensitive to the role that punishment potentially plays in all young lives already, entirely independent of the prison service.
At a young age, messages such as the idea of deserving punishment can become unhelpfully ingrained unless we reinforce other – and more accurate – alternatives
Parents may have inherited from their own parents’ beliefs around punishment which they pass on, not necessarily conscious of the impact it is having on their children. While the law prohibits all forms of corporal punishment of children, it would be naive to think that it no longer exists in any home. Regrettably, Covid increased the time that vulnerable children spent at home, and their dramatically reduced time interacting with others outside the home lowered chances of abuse being detected.
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At a young age, messages such as the idea of deserving punishment can become unhelpfully ingrained unless we reinforce other – and more accurate – alternatives. What never helps is creating a world which normalises punishment, especially for offences that barely merit it. And even when they do, there’s a host of more creative approaches we could adopt, one being to express concern and/or curiosity about what has led to reduced standards of behaviour in a student.
There are three little words I use all of the time with my students and I frequently hear them back too. Mostly pupils are addressing each other, but occasionally they will direct them at me. These three little words sum up my approach to behaviour management, and are the reason why my classroom is one the pupils genuinely enjoy being in. Small though these words are, they carry enormous weight and provide constant assurance to the pupils that there is nothing to fear here. They are helpfully applicable to pretty much any situation which requires intervention and I’ve had a 100 per cent success rate in avoiding conflict since I started using them.
You can try them for yourself; you know them well already. You’ll nonetheless be surprised by their impact when offered in place of an anticipated punishment: “Are you okay?”
