When we have this kind of punitive form of
punishment, what I would ask is what is it
teaching children in the long run? Punitive punishment is
not the answer because it doesn't teach our
children anything. Welcome to Neuroeducation, where
we're exploring the neuroscience of how to switch on the brain to
supercharge learning. I'll be sharing with you innovative teaching techniques,
effective parenting strategies, and educational advocacy. I'm
your host, Angie Deeee. Together, let's revolutionize children's
learning. Hello
and welcome back to Neuroeducation with Angie Dee.
Thank you for tuning in for this episode. We're going
to be diving in deep to looking at
the reality of punishments and restorative
justice within education, but this is also something
that we can reflect on at home with how
we treat our children and what kind of consequences
punishments we're giving our own children and
what really works in the long term. Traditionally in
school we have what you would call a punitive method
of punishment. That means if you've done
something bad you get punished, you've been naughty,
here's your punishment. You get a detention or you get a suspension or
you get expulsion if you've done it enough times.
But I would ask you to think, what
is this teaching our children? If
they've done something that's incorrect, if
they've misbehaved and you give
them a punishment that doesn't fit the crime, they
bully somebody, they get a detention. Has
the bullying stopped or
will it stop? Maybe, maybe not. But has the child learned
anything to improve that behaviour? So
has they learned something to be, how to be more compassionate, how to relate
more empathetically to, let's say if they bully Jessica, have
they thought about that more deeply? Have they changed
their morals to be kinder to
others? So when we have this kind
of punitive form of punishment, what
I would ask is what is it teaching children in the long run?
Is it teaching them to be responsible for their actions? Is
it teaching them to make amends? to
resolve their problems, to resolve their
actions and ideally to reconnect with
whoever the person is that they've done it to, to make
sure they have made amends for the whole situation. Because
ideally that's the kind of skill we want for life. If
we fast forward 20 years and they're in a relationship and
we have a husband and a wife partnership, what
do we want each adult to be able
to do in that relationship. If they make a mistake, if they've
messed up, if they've done something wrong. We want them to be able to
make amends. We want them to be able to talk about it, maybe to
say sorry. We want them to have some kind of interception which
means understanding what happened, what was going on in their mind, what
was going on in their bodies, why did they act like that and
how can they make a positive change not to do that in the future. So
they're not re-acting negatively but they're responding consciously. If
we want that to happen between husbands and wives or
in between co-workers, in between adults, we
have to coach children how to be able to do that from a young age.
Punitive punishment is not the answer because
it doesn't teach our children anything. Yes, they get
disciplined for something they've done, but it doesn't teach them how
not to do it in the future or how to change their behaviour.
Restorative justice is the new buzzword in
America and it's a buzzword for a big reason. It
is working and transforming the lives of
parents, teachers, and students in
American schools. In one American school
where they implemented restorative justice, which means
we're going to restore relationships
and restore what has gone on to make
amends. So where they've implemented restorative
justice, they have seen misbehaviour.
That means students acting out, and
suspensions and expulsions reduce by
50%. Now if
you could go to any teacher in a primary school or
a high school around Australia and you could say I can
reduce misbehaviour, suspensions and
expulsions by 50% I'm sure
they would be all ears. tell me how you're doing it,
because it's something we all face. Unfortunately,
with the demands of the curriculum, which we can debate later
about how appropriate these demands of
certain curriculums are in Australia, with the demands of the curriculum
and the pressures that teachers face and the pressures students face,
They are literally on a steam train going through
subject after subject. How engaged are they? How interested
are they? How empowered are they in their educational journey?
Unfortunately for the teacher and the student, not a lot in
our educational structure in Australia. However, this
is something all teachers and even
parents at home can do to improve
student behaviour. And that is called connection.
Restorative justice is about preventative first. So
we're preventing the behaviour by connecting with a student. And
if you think about this, if there's a teacher that
you really like, how often did you
misbehave for that teacher? Very rarely.
If there's a teacher you didn't like, how often did
you misbehave for that teacher? In Montessori,
The first few weeks of any schooling year
is really about bringing the students and the teachers together
and making sure there's a cohesive classroom environment.
So just like when you get to finally go on a school camp
and they play all these team games, This is
what is done at the beginning of every school year in Montessori and
I feel like if teachers invest more
time at the beginning of the school year, yes demands
aside, into allowing children to
build those relationships in the classroom and consciously building
those relationships with their students then
what we see is better and better behaviour. And the restorative justice
and the research on it in America is so clear.
It works. Yes, it takes time. It's
not a one stop shop. It's going to be fixed in a minute. It
takes time, but it works. It's an approach that
works for the long term. And
if you want a positive classroom environment, if
you want your children to feel connected and
to be working positively
with you and with others around you for not
just fear of punishment but for the joy of
connection then this is something you
want to be able to implement and research more on. Restorative
justice, it's a buzzword and that's just
because it works. Thank you for tuning in
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