This is going into special measures but is sometimes necessary to prevent exclusion. It is also used to prevent the rights of other pupils being violated and abused.
Every child has the right to an education, but extremely disruptive pupils stop that process. They are often powerful and exert a negative influence on the work of the class. That has to stop. ‘Call out your dead’ is never used until all other strategies have been exhausted. I did this for a whole morning a week with persistently disruptive pupils. The criteria were strict. No teacher was allowed to use this facility unless they could persuade me that they had tried to turn the situation round.
The class council was useful. Children expressed their exasperation at the behaviour of the miscreant. They were allowed to have a voice and their com- plaints were listened to and acted upon. Disrupting a class of children who want to work is just another form of bullying.
Although the EBD child has problems that have to be dealt with, there is another element. There is a real ‘buzz’ in defying authority. It becomes a power game, but all psychological games are stupid and destructive because someone has to lose. There is no better way of getting energy and attention than by ‘kicking off’. An immense euphoria comes with it – just ask football hooligans or rioters. There is no ‘buzz’ like it. When you work
BULLYING
in approved schools or residential care establishments, you become well aware of that factor.
Children or adolescents who wreck rooms or destroy property will tell you that they were not angry – they did it for a laugh. That is their way of express- ing the ‘buzz’. At that stage, they are in the position of having ‘nothing left to lose’, which is dangerous for us and dangerous for them.
The aim and objective is to stop any child going that far. We have to respond in a way that ends the game. ‘Call out your dead’ is one such strategy.
One head teacher gave me the old music room which stored chairs for assembly. There was nothing else in the room except for some cardboard boxes. The chairs were put in a circle. The rules were strict. The pupils aged from 6 to 11 sat in silence. I did not want to talk to them. That was my choice. It was thinking time. They had to think why they were sitting in this dingy room, missing break times and being bored to death. I told them that I did not care, as I would be paid whether I worked hard with a whole class or sat read- ing my book while they did some thinking.
They found that hard as they were used to me being warm and friendly and having fun with them. I think that is important. If you build the bridges in the good times you have something to negotiate with. If you are seen as aloof and unfriendly, children do not care if they lose your approval. They never had it in the first place. The same goes for parents, and a smile costs nothing.
I think that the reality of exclusion had escaped them. It was time to think about it.
Disruptive children rarely truant. They need the peer group and the com- munity of the school to operate in. Isolation is the quickest way to end disruption. Exclusion can be a misery for any child. They lose their friends, their sense of identity, education and status. Parents get fed up with them home all day.
Starting a new school, if one can be found, is often traumatic, as they have to travel longer distances, have to start at the bottom of the pecking order and have to try to catch up on missed lessons in a new group. Often they are not accepted by their new set of peers, especially if the new school is not in their neighbourhood. This is particularly true if they come from a large housing estate which is territorial.
After sitting in silence till the first break, the discussion started. These were their conclusions about the stupidity of being excluded:
Penalties:
1You will lose all your mates.
2You could get bullied at another school.
3You would have no friends to walk home with.
4Other schools would not want you if you were a troublemaker.
5Your mum might have to give up her job to look after you.
6Your parents would ground you and stop your pocket money.
7You would get bored being alone all day.
8You would have to do more chores in the house.
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The first week that I did this I had 17 pupils. On the second week there were only four. By the third week there were none.
Make sure they realise they have something to lose. Spell out the reality to them. Then respond in a way that ends the game.