The key, though, is that if a child has one adult in their life whom they can confide in and who cares about them, then this can help them to cope. But when the decision was taken, teachers all over the country did not know what to do - how would they manage behaviour if they did not use fear? Now, we are in the same kind of place.”Ĭhange is coming, believes Zeedyk, because the ACEs movement has put a spotlight on the impact that experiences such as domestic abuse, parental mental health problems or poverty can have into adulthood. It does not take a lot to realise that probably did not work. “Once upon a time, we thought we could punish them into not making mistakes. “We strapped them if they got a maths problem incorrect, if they were using their left hand to write or if their writing was messy, as well as for behaviour problems. “In 1987, we were still strapping children in this country, and we are now horrified at that idea,” Zeedyk says. A good starting point, she believes, would be to make programmes such as Massage in Schools standard. Children need to be hugged and held but “we have ended up in a culture that is afraid to touch children”, she says. If Zeedyk had her way, not only would behaviour charts be scrapped but shouting would also be banned in school and cuddling would be commonplace. She says punishment of pupils who behave badly is set to become a thing of the past and that, instead, teachers are going to become more “curious” about why some children misbehave. And there were also phone calls from angry parents to be fielded.ĭr Suzanne Zeedyk, a research scientist and prominent campaigner on adverse childhood experiences or ACEs, believes we are on the cusp of a major change in the way behaviour is managed in Scottish classrooms that will be akin to the abolishment of corporal punishment in the 1980s.
Then there was the administration - just keeping track of who had been on red and how many times was onerous, says St Joseph’s depute head Tricia Mooney. Meanwhile, the “three strikes and you’re out” policy for those who ended up with three red cards meant that the children who needed experiences, such as school trips, the most were often missing out. The reality was that, by Monday lunchtime, some pupils had lost their golden time - usually an hour at the end of the week dedicated to fun activities - and had nothing more to lose. And if you changed your behaviour, you could claw it back.” “We thought that was a positive behaviour policy and that we were being fair,” recalls Frances Burns, headteacher of St Joseph’s.
#ANGRY GIANT TEDDY BEAR FULL#
The headteachers talk about the recent past, when the traffic-light system was in full swing, as if they can hardly believe it happened it led to children being regularly “shamed” with red cards against their names, which were visible for all to see. Just as English and maths lessons are differentiated to meet the needs of all children, they now believe that pupils are starting from different places when it comes to behaviour.
In many ways, he represents what the teddy bears are here to fix: children whose troubles weigh them down to such a degree that they can’t come into a classroom and learn.īehaviour charts in the vein of “Good to be Green” - where a traffic-light system is used to manage behaviour - have been abolished and now the attitude of the schools is that expectations have to be individualised. The bell has gone and the boy should be back in class, but he is clearly not ready to take part in lessons so has opted out. Today, engulfed by the bear, a P5 boy slumps in a tracksuit (it’s health week), oozing anger and frustration and bouncing a football off his forehead.
Another huge teddy sits on a chair at the entrance to the school. In the nursery at St John the Baptist Primary, a giant bear lies prostrate on the floor in the “cuddle corner” and is clearly no stranger to affection - he is as flat as a pancake. The three schools have teddies in their waiting rooms, in every classroom and in their nurseries. And, yes, they have lots of stuffed bears. They have teddy bear policies, as opposed to behaviour policies. The primaries - St Joseph’s in Whitburn, St John the Baptist in Fauldhouse and Our Lady of Lourdes in Blackburn - refer to themselves as “the teddy bear schools”. These are just some of the 50 or so cuddly, non-judgemental and ever-patient members of the teddy bear army that has recently been deployed to transform the culture in three West Lothian primary schools. Furball, Waffles, Dexter, King Bob II, Cookie, Baby Bear.
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