This model was discussed in chapter two, paragraph 2.6.6 to underline the causes of a lack of discipline among secondary school learners. Carey (2009: 5) states that in the positive discipline model, principals and educators must teach learners to respect the rights of others and feel empathy and to learn how to behave. Nelsen et al. (2000: 27) state that the educator has to reach the heart before teaching the head. They add that any form of punishment or permissiveness is disrespectful and discouraging and should be
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avoided. Expanding on this view, Nelsen (2006: 13) reasons that punishment may work on a short-term basis, but educators are often fooled by immediate results when the long term results are negative.
Nelsen et al. (1997: 9) identify the significant seven, consisting of three empowering
perceptions and four essential skills that the principal and educators should impress on
learners so as to maintain positive discipline in schools. The three empowering perceptions are (a) perceptions of personal capabilities, that is principals should create a safe climate where learners may experience learning and behaviour without judgments about success or failure; (b) perceptions of significance in primary relationships, that is principals listen to the feelings, thoughts and ideas of learners and take them seriously; and (c) perceptions of the personal power of influence in life, that is principals give learners the opportunity to contribute in useful manners and help them to accept their power to create positive environments. The four essential skills are (a) intrapersonal skills, that is principals give learners the opportunities to gain understanding of their emotions and behaviour by getting feedback from their classmates, and they become accountable, for their actions and the results of their behaviour; (b) interpersonal skills, that is learners can develop interpersonal skills through dialogue and sharing, listening and empathising, cooperation, negotiation, and conflict resolution; (c) systematic skills, that is learners respond to the limits and consequences of everyday life with responsibility, adaptability, flexibility, and integrity because they do not experience punishment or disapproval; and (d) judgment skills, that is principals give learners the opportunities and encouragement to practise making decisions in an environment that emphasises learning from mistakes rather than paying for mistakes through punishment.
Manning and Bucher (2013: 153) assert that respect and encouragement are two most important elements for ensuring positive discipline. Yet, Nelsen et al. (1997: 24) maintain that principals and educators may create barriers to their use. Educators and principals use five barriers with learners that show disrespect and discouragement and builders that show respect and encouragement. Instead of assuming they know what learners think and feel without asking them (Barrier 1: Assuming), principals and
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educators should check with learners (Builder 1: Checking) to learn their unique perception and capabilities and to discover how learners are maturing in their ability to deal with problems. Instead of doing things for learners (Barrier 2: Rescuing/Explaining), they should allow them to learn from their own experiences (Builder 2: Exploring) and to help each other learn to make choices. Also, they often direct learners to do things in disrespectful manners (Barrier 3: Directing), that reinforce dependency, and eliminate passive-aggressive behaviour. Attentively, educators and principals should allow learners to be involved in planning and problem-solving activities that will help them become self-directed (Builder 3: Inviting/Encouraging). When educators and principals expect learners to do certain things (Barrier 4: Expecting), the potential becomes the standard and learners are judged to falling short. When the former demand too much in a relatively short period of time, learners may feel discouraged. The former should rather celebrate the direction of a learner’s maturity or potential. Fifth, they may forget that learners are not mature adults and expect them to act and think like adults (Barrier 5: Adultism). But, Nelsen et al. (1997: 24) recommend that principals and educators should interact with learners to understand the differences in how people perceive things (Builder 5: Respecting).
Nelsen et al. (1997: 3) recognise the harmful effects of a lack of learner discipline in schools and therefore they maintain that class meetings can lessen discipline problems. This is because they meet the two basic human needs of learners, namely the need for belonging and the need for control over one’s own life (Bohman 2003: 4). Pluchinsky (2010: 6) posits that the purpose of a class meeting in the secondary school setting is to collaboratively establish norms for behaviour, develop a sense of community, and maintain positive communication skills between all members of the school community. According to Nelsen et al. (2000: 60) and Manning and Bucher (2013: 152), the eight building blocks of class meetings can contribute to effective class meetings and help in a variety of classroom management situations such as understanding reasons for misbehaviour, developing communication skills, practising role-playing and focusing on non-punitive solutions. Nelsen and Lott (2006) in Charles (2008: 117) provide the following guidelines for holding effective class meetings: (a) form a circle which allows
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face-to-face contact; (b) show appreciation instead of compliments in the case of secondary school learners, (c) create an agenda; (d) develop communication skills such as turn-taking to speak, attentive listening, and using I-statements without blaming others, showing respect for others, finding mutually acceptable solutions to problems, and framing conclusions as a team, (e) learn about separate realities, that is there is more than one way; it does not have to be “my” way (Nelsen, Lott and Glenn 1997:64, in Manning and Bucher 2013:154); (f) recognise the reasons people do what they do (in terms of Dreikur’s four mistaken goals of misbehaviour); (g) practise role-playing and brainstorming; and (h) focus on non-punitive solutions, by considering the Three R’s of solutions, namely, what the principal and educators will do to help learners will always be related to what they have done wrong, respectful of them as people, and reasonable, ensuring them that they will never be punished. For class meetings to be an effective strategy to ensure positive discipline, there should be both the educator control and the learner input (Pulchinsky 2010: 6).
Charles (2008: 116-117) remarks that the Nelsen, Lott and Glenn model of positive discipline depends on the successful implementation of class meetings as an essential part of the instructional program when learners are given the opportunity to discuss about their behaviour and participate in decision-making. According to Hytham (2015: 3) and Browning, Davis and Resta (2000: 2), class meetings such as open-ended meetings, problem-solving meetings and educational-diagnostic meetings boost learners to use prosocial skills in their daily lives. Learners are also able to develop rules and structures, trust and respect, the feeling of personal safety, common goals for exploring issues, social competence, motivation and higher order thinking (Pulchinsky 2010: 6-18). However, though it takes time to get the appropriate approach operating successfully, yet once it is being used it will help learners develop skills that they will need for successful lives in schools and society.
Based on the Nelsen, Lott and Glenn’s model of positive discipline, the principal must have an open-minded leadership approach where he/she communicates a participative approach to discipline to the educators and the learners. The learners should be given the
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opportunity to think over and adjust their behaviour so that they have the right perceptions of the principal’s and the educators’ power and they understand fully the inter- and intra-personal skills as well as the systematic and the judgemental skills. The principal must therefore develop an invitational teaching and learning atmosphere that creates a conducive environment for character education of learners.