Through the Pivotal Blog, we are publishing in full "Views from the Bridge" a book about the Bridge Project in Chesterfield.
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Project Headlines and Foreword
Chapter 4
Containment?
The Teacher is explaining the plan for the morning to two of the boys.
"You will be working with Miss for twenty minutes. Then one of you will work with me and the other with Miss."
"Who will be working with you?"
"You will be."
"But I worked with you lots yesterday."
"I know that, but we will work together until break and then you can choose what you want to do."
"That's crap. I am bored working with you. Do I have to?"
"Yes, I would like us to do some literacy together, then you can choose what to do."
"That's f------g rubbish. I hate working with you, its so f-----g boring."
"Yes, we have worked together a bit lately but it won't be for long and then you can choose."
"I don't care. I don't want to f-----g work with you. Can't I work with Miss?"
"You can both work with Miss now. Then you can work with me."
"F-----g Hell! This is so crap."
"Well, I will come back in twenty minutes or so and you can make your decision about what you are going to do."
"Don't f-----g hurry."
Miss picks up the worksheet and asks the boys to come to the table where she has been sitting during this exchange. Instead the two boys head for the sofa and lounge on that, giggling and chatting inconsequentially.
"This is a real story from the local newspaper about a crime that went to court." Miss begins. "At the end I will ask you what you think about it and what sentence you would have given had you been the judge."
By now the boy who objected to working with Sir is lying on the sofa with his head close to the floor and his feet high up over the back. The other boy is trying to make his body into a bridge with his head on the sofa and feet on a chair.
Miss starts to read the account of a shoplifting incident in a local store, which has come to court. After a short while she asks whether the boys understand what she has read so far and gets them to re-tell it in their own words. They do this without a problem - still on the sofa.
Miss continues to read the account, throwing out occasional questions which get sensible answers. At the end of this activity both boys are engaged with the report, answer questions and say what sentences they would have given and engage in a discussion - albeit brief. The boys are both still lolling on the sofa. Ten minutes have passed.
"Right, now we can do a worksheet," says Miss, "but you need to come to the table."
The boys leave the sofa and come to the table quite readily.
"What is it? Have we done it before?"
"No, I don't think so. You have to write down as many fruits, cities and so on that start with the letter ‘A' then ‘B' and ‘C' and so on."
"Like the TV programme?"
"Like the TV programme." answers Miss.
"I'll win." says Sweary Boy.
The observer joins the other boy and the group splits into two competitive teams. A lively, ten-minute session follows in which each pair tries to come up with more words than the other. All four seem to be enjoying themselves. Well, the observer was!
Sir returns and asks how things are going. "Very well," Miss reports." The lads listened to the court report and answered questions on it and then we were competing to get the most words."
"Good stuff." says Sir. He looks at the Sweary Boy and says, "I have been thinking about what you were saying and I agree we have been working a lot together. You can decide who you want to work with for the next session after break."
"I'll work with you." says Sweary Boy!
"You sure?"
"Yep".
Reaction
I think I saw something unfold that wouldn't and couldn't have played out in the way it did if it had occurred in mainstream schooling.
I think also that the episode would have elicited a different response in provision where Behaviour rather than Nurture Principles applied.
Parents who are experiencing difficulties in managing their children quite often feel that the child has more power than they do. The children seize this power by bullying the parent with shouts, swearing and personal abuse. Children also learn that if they keep up the demands and awkwardness for long enough the parent may give in "for a peaceful life." So they keep up the attritional approach. It was known that Sweary boy had for a while been the youngest child in his family but when a new baby arrived in the household he became more demanding and often reacted in this aggressive attention-seeking way.
If either adult felt threatened, angry or insulted by the reaction of the boy they did not show it. Both remained calm and "contained" the emotions of the boy. The nurture principles which came to the fore were acceptance of the boy as a person, the patience to allow such ‘take-up time" and calmness.
In a mainstream class the teacher would have been compelled to react in the belief that any other pupils present would believe they could do the same if s/he did nothing. A teacher would not have been able to give the time it took to achieve a positive outcome for one pupil when there are thirty with competing needs. The nurture group teacher simply kept re-stating the plans, suggesting to the boy that he wasn't going to change them just because he was objecting and swearing. The Teaching Assistant deflected and defused the emotion by not reacting herself and by her calm and patient manner in getting on with the task. The task did get the boys' attention and in time Sweary Boy reverted to the likeable person he can quite often be. The temperature could easily have been forced upwards had she taken exception to the swearing - the teacher neither needed - or wanted her to do that. Neither did she react to the lying around on the sofa but ignored that too and focussed on the work.
Very often one adult feels drawn to supporting another on such an occasion. That can be one parent feeling s/he needs to step in and take control to support the other or a senior member of staff with a junior. If the intervening adult takes on an aggressive approach then the first adult may feel guilt at being thought not to manage or irritation at being undermined. If the senior teacher takes a conciliatory line then the child may think he sees a possible way to divide and rule. "I'll do it for you as you are nice to me, but not for him/her." In this episode, both adults played their part perfectly.
When Teacher returned after twenty minutes or so had passed he spoke in a conciliatory way to the boy, suggesting to him by his approach that he didn't need to swear and be offensive to be heard. The boy is more likely to respond in a reasonable way in future because of the way the adults behaved. One might read into this transaction that the boy would think it was the outburst which achieved his end but his response of agreeing so readily to work with Sir showed he recognised the fairness of the teacher's approach and was able to respond to him because of his calm and non-judgmental manner.