Major changes in the enforcement of discipline are to affect at least 10 post-primary schools across the State this term. The "Positive Learning Programme" is a new approach to discipline based on "celebrating" good behaviour in the classroom through public recognition, awards and rewards.
The programme was originally developed in 1995 for the Greendale Community School in Kilbarrack, Dublin, in conjunction with the School of Educational Studies, DCU. Since then it has been in practice in the three years of the junior cycle of the school where it has been fine-tuned by both the staff and pupils. In May, DCU, in collaboration with Greendale school, ran two workshops for 45 schools. Ten have already begun to implement the programme and more are preparing for its introduction. The basic idea, according to Joe O'Hara of DCU, is that that good behaviour is acknowledged and bad behaviour, while not ignored, is played down. "When the vast majority are well behaved this should be emphasised."
Sanctions, he says, are not abandoned but "success is the focus". A school that has decided to adopt the programme will begin by redrafting its code of conduct in consultation with the students. Each student will then be required to sign certain behaviour agreements. For a class a chart is drawn up and displayed next to the blackboard during each lesson. At the end of the lesson the teacher will mark their initials on the chart if they feel the behaviour has been good, or leave a blank box if conduct was dissatisfactory.
A number of marked boxes results in the awarding of stars which are accumulated to gain rewards such as a positive letter home or a field trip. Stephen Byrne, a year head at Greendale, was instrumental in developing the programme and says it has worked excellently in the school.
"It has created a positive atmosphere for learning and has resulted in more of our students staying on until Leaving Cert," Byrne said.
A guidebook to the programme, Positive Discipline, by Joe O'Hara, Gerry McNamara and Stephen Byrne, was launched last Friday by the Minister for Education and Science, Michael Woods.
