Rudolph Dreikurs. The Democratic Discipline Model Rudolph Dreikurs. The Democratic Discipline Model. Starring: Kathy, Michelle, Shirley, Linda, Nicole and Simon.

“All behaviour is socially useful or socially useless.” DEMOCRACY # the political orientation of those who favour government by the people or by their elected representatives # a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them # majority rule: the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn the central motivation of all humans is to belong and be accepted by others.

THE DEMOCRATIC DISCIPLINE MODEL. Rudolph Dreikurs. Parts from Freud. Autocratic/permissive and democratic. Social beings/ Vygotsky. Highly compatible with the VALUES system well (civic responsibility and participation, basically training for “society”.)

Responsibilities of the teacher. Social beings / Acceptance and Belonging. Be wholly accepting of the system. Goals for mis/behaviour. Active participation / government (consequences). Student centred/ students assume responsibility.

4 KEY CONCEPTS Democratic Teaching Encouragement Democratic vs Autocratic Encouragement Effort vs Achievement

4 KEY CONCEPTS Logical Consequences Mistaken Goals Logical consequences vs Punishments Mistaken Goals gain attention, power seeking, revenge or feelings of inadequacy

Student Behaviours in pursuit of The Mistaken Goals. Social Recognition/Unfulfilled needs. Seeking Attention. Seeking Power. Seeking Revenge. Displaying Inadequacies.

Identifying & Addressing Mistaken Goals. All students desire & need social recognition.

Attention – Seeking Students talk out, show off, interrupt others and demand teacher attention.   It is best to ignore the student and accompany this with the reinforcement of good behaviour.

Redirect the need for power by giving them a leadership role. Power- Seeking: They drag their heels, make comments under their breath, and sometimes try to show that the teacher can’t make them do anything. Make it necessary for errant students to confront the whole class in the quest for power. Avoid confrontation.   Redirect the need for power by giving them a leadership role.  Do the unexpected 

Revenge Seeking They try to get back at the teacher & other students by lying, subverting class activities and maliciously disrupting the class. A very difficult task as may be a result of external factors. Need to encourage the class to be positive as often the student is isolated because of revengeful behaviour

Display Inadequacy They withdraw from class activities & make no effort to learn. Provide an abundance of support & encouragement – especially when students make mistakes. Student needs to feel success. Encouragement to re-enter group discussions or activities

Benefits of Identifying Mistaken Goals: Teachers can take more decisive action and implement specific strategies to change mistaken goals into positive ones. Help students find legitimate ways to satisfy needs. Revealing the behaviour encourages students to understand their own motives. Students have a choice – learn to be responsible.

Implementation. Build on the positive, avoid the negative. Encourage independence and the assumption of responsibility. Encourage students to strive for improvement, not perfection. Give clear cut directions for action expected of students; make sure they understand the limits. Show that you accept students but not their misbehaviour. Emphasize student strengths while minimizing weaknesses. Treat students consistently with a ‘firm but fair’ manner. 

Impact in the Classroom. Students must take on responsibility for behaviours and transgressions. Teacher must maintain a high degree of familiarity with students especially those that misbehave. Decision making and discussions will impact on learning experiences in both positive and negative ways.

What are the shortcomings of the Model? Allowing students to have input in school governance is a worthy goal, but there are implications?

Shortcomings. It may be difficult for inexperienced teachers to identify the reasons behind the student’s misbehaviour. Q. Why is he behaving that way? Because he’s a second born child. He has a learning disability? He comes from a dysfunctional family? A. I don’t know, I don’t have psychological training?

Shortcomings. Logical consequences for certain behaviours can be planned for during the ‘democracy making’ process. However a teacher’s decision making is often on the spot. In the heat of the moment, faced with a challenging situation, one’s logic might be spent.  

Shortcomings. Some teachers may feel threatened reducing their control over students. ‘Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.”   We cannot forget the teachers' wellbeing. The teachers' rights are just as important.

When adopting this approach, teachers need to consider: A classroom’s miniature democracy should be set up at the start of the year. Values teaching should be incorporated in lessons so students know how to behave.

When adopting this approach, teachers need to consider: All students need to contribute to the decision making process, not just the loud or confident students. Otherwise some students are going to feel left out and may rebel.   Solving discipline through classroom discussion can be time consuming and should not interfere with the teaching curriculum.

A teacher practicing the Dreikurs’ model is committed to: Overall, his method has considerable potential for managing student behaviour. If I respect the students, providing them with the means and opportunity for some decision making then hopefully they will respect me as a teacher and behave.

However teachers have responsibilities which include: Adequate supervision and the safety of students at all times. Teaching of the curriculum and student achievement. Therefore students may have some input in some areas but there are areas that are exclusive rights of the teacher (Edwards & Watts, 2008).

1. Sarah constantly taps her pencil on the desk. This is an example of: Exacting revenge Exercising power Gaining attention Displaying inadequacy

2. Bob refuses to follow the teacher’s instructions and line up 2. Bob refuses to follow the teacher’s instructions and line up. This is an example of: Exacting revenge Exercising power Gaining attention Displaying inadequacy

3. Jane writes nasty messages about her teacher on her pencil case 3. Jane writes nasty messages about her teacher on her pencil case. This is an example of: Exacting revenge Exercising power Gaining attention Displaying inadequacy

4. Fred constantly sighs and mutters, “this is too hard”, while doing his class work. This is an example of: Exacting revenge Exercising power Gaining attention Displaying inadequacy

5. Would you incorporate this method into your teaching? Yes No