Balancing Act

I have increasingly been considering the dilemma posed by situations in which advocating for students at risk and managing the needs of the individual student comes into conflict with the needs of the school.

Students at risk, students who have or are experiencing abuse and students with mental health issues often exhibit as behavioural issues within the classroom. Teachers react in a variety of ways to these behavioural issues, mostly with consideration of the bigger picture and working to support the individual as best they can within the classroom environment. However, inevitably there comes a time when classroom teachers are unable to manage the behaviours which accompany these students. Here in lies the dilemma.

How do we manage the needs of the child and the needs of the school?

Schools have policies and procedures in place to manage situations where students are continuously being disruptive, aggressive and/or disregarding others rights. Sometimes, however, these policies/procedures do not support the needs of the individual student. (Natural Justice is a useful tool for ensuring students are managed as individuals. However, Natural Justice can be viewed as inequitable by other students and staff involved. Natural Justice requires education amongst the school community to ensure people understand that it is not necessary or helpful to apply the same consequences to every student and for every incident. By considering the individual and the incident in question a consequence can be decided upon which is appropriate to the circumstances and the individual.)

Back to the Balancing Act

The needs of the individual are such that policies and processes often exacerbate the issues and behaviours which are causing the problems to begin with. How do we then manage the unique needs of these students as well as the needs of the school?

The students need support structures and tailored programmes. They need to remain in their classes and they need to develop a sense of connectedness. This is not going to occur if they are exited form classes, instead this is going to reinforce or perpetuate their self belief of worthlessness. Conversely staff need to feel supported by the structures within the school and other students need to believe that these students are not being rewarded for their negative behaviours due to the programmes/support structures that are put in place.

Thus the dilemma.

The needs of the individual VS The needs of the school community
The safety of the individual vs The safety of the school community
Duty of care to the individual vs Duty of care to the school community

This sparks a philosophical debate around the greater good.

Students at risk are often hyper-vigilant, in a constant state of alert and as such prone to what we label as “overreacting”. When they act inappropriately and consequences are incurred that they perceive as threatening these students react to that threat instinctively with a fight or flight response. I would like to remove the perceived threat. I would like to create a way of broaching a discussion around natural justice that is non-threatening.

There needs to be a balance between meeting the needs of the individual and having a clear structure and boundaries.

At the end of this waffle I am not entirely sure what I am struggling with – maybe it is just the frustration of being in a position of advocating for students who are often disserved by the current structures of our schools, students who we lose because of the inflexibility imposed by a struggle where the needs of the many out way the needs of the few.