Positive Discipline 

Positive Discipline is a discipline model used by schools that focuses on the positive points of behaviour, based on the idea that there are no bad children, just good and bad behaviors. You can teach and reinforce the good behaviors while weaning the bad behaviors without hurting the child verbally or physically. People engaging in positive discipline are not ignoring problems. Rather, they are actively involved in helping their child learn how to handle situations more appropriately while remaining calm, friendly and respectful to the children themselves. Positive discipline includes a number of different techniques that, used in combination, can lead to a more effective way to manage groups of students. Some of these are listed below.

Positive discipline contrasts with negative discipline. Negative discipline may involve angry, destructive, or violent responses to inappropriate behaviour. In the terms used by psychology research, positive discipline uses the full range of reinforcement and punishment options:

·         Positive reinforcement, such as complimenting a good effort;

·         Negative reinforcement, such as ignoring requests made in a whining tone of voice;

·         Positive punishment, such as requiring a child to clean up a mess he made; and

·         Negative punishment, such as removing a privilege in response to poor behaviour.

However, unlike negative discipline, it does all of these things in a kind, encouraging, and firm manner.

Five criteria

There are 5 criteria for effective positive discipline:

1.     Helps children feel a sense of connection. (Belonging and significance)

2.     Is mutually respectful and encouraging. (Kind and firm at the same time.)

3.     Is effective long-term. (Considers what the child is thinking, feeling, learning, and deciding about himself and his world – and what to do in the future to survive or to thrive.)

4.     Teaches important social and life skills. (Respect, concern for others, problem solving, and cooperation as well as the skills to contribute to the home, school or larger community.)

5.     Invites children to discover how capable they are. (Encourages the constructive use of personal power and autonomy.)^[1]

Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a form of child discipline that is a proactive and positive approach used by staff, parents and community agencies to promote successful behavior and learning at home and at school for all students. PBS supports the acquisition of replacement behaviors, a reduction of crisis intervention, the appreciation of individual differences, strategies for self-control, and durable improvement in the quality of life for all.

Preventive measures

Part of using positive discipline is preventing situations in which negative behaviors can arise. There are different techniques that teachers can use to prevent bad behaviors:

Students who "misbehave" are actually demonstrating "mistaken" behavior. There are many reasons why a student may exhibit mistaken behavior, i.e. lack of knowing appropriate behaviour to feeling unwanted or unaccepted. For students who simply do not know what appropriate behaviour they should be exhibiting, the teacher can teach the appropriate behavior. For example, the young child who grabs toys from others can be stopped from grabbing a toy and then shown how to ask for a turn. For students who are feeling unwanted or unaccepted, a positive relationship needs to develop between the teacher and student before ANY form of discipline will work.

The sanctions that are listed at the end of the article would be less needed if students have a strong connection with the adult in charge and knew that the teacher respected him/her. Teachers need to know how to build these relationships. Simply telling them to demonstrate respect and connection with students is not enough for some of them, because they may also lack knowledge on how to do this.

Teachers need to view each child as an account; they must deposit positive experiences in the student before they make a withdraw from the child when discipline takes place. Teachers can make deposits through praise, special activities, fun classroom jobs, smiles and appropriate pats on the backs. Some children have never experienced positive attention. Children long for attention; if they are not receiving positive attention they will exhibit behavior that will elicit negative attention.

Teachers can recognize groups of students who would not work well together (because they are friends or do not get along well) and have them separated from the start. Some teachers employ the "boy-girl-boy-girl" method of lining or circling up (which may be sexist or effective, depending on your perspective).

Another technique would be to be explicit with the rules, and consequences for breaking those rules, from the start. If students have a clear understanding of the rules, they will be more compliant when there are consequences for their behaviors later on. A series of 3 warnings is sometimes used before a harsher consequence is used (detention, time-out, etc.), especially for smaller annoyances (for example, a student can get warnings for calling out, rather than getting an immediate detention, because a warning is usually effective enough). Harsher consequences should come without warnings for more egregious behaviors (hitting another student, cursing, deliberately dissobeying a warning, etc.). Teachers can feel justified that they have not "pulled a fast one" on students.

Using gerunds

Gerunds are words ending in "ing". It is believed that using gerunds can help reinforce the positive behaviour another would like to see rather than attacking a bad behaviour. For example, a teacher might see students running down the hall and calmly say "walking" rather than yell "stop running" in an agitated voice. He might say "gently" (an adverb) instead of insisting "calm down!"

Positive Recognition

(This addition is an example of "Behaviourism" and is not part of the original Positive Discipline that does not advocate punishment or rewards.) Positive discipline includes rewarding good behaviour as much as curtailing negative behaviours. Some "rewards" can be verbal. Some are actual gifts.

Instead of yelling at a student displaying negative behaviours, a teacher/leader might recognize a student behaving well with a "thank you Billy for joining the line", or "I like the way you helped Billy find his notebook." Recognizing a positive behaviour can bring a group's focus away from the students displaying negative behaviour, who might just be "acting out" for attention. Seeing this, students seeking attention might try displaying good behaviours to get the recognition of the leader.

One person’s submits this as a reward method: Students are given stamps in their planner if they do well in a lesson. When they receive enough stamps from the same subject (usually 3 or 5) the student has a credit. When 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 credits have been awarded to a particular student, that student receives a certificate. If a student meets certain behavioural criteria, they are rewarded with a trip at the end of term.

Other rewards:

·         A special chain or necklace students pass from one to another for doing good deeds.

·         High fives and positive words.

·         Awards/achievements on the wall of the classroom or cafeteria.

Benefits

Better student-teacher relations. Less teacher wasted energy/frustration. Students recognize desirable positive behaviors, rather than feel attacked.

Statistics show that each year, close to one third of eighteen-year-olds do not finish high school (Bridgeland, 2006; Dilulio, 2006; Morison, 2006). Minority and low-income areas show even higher numbers. 75 percent of crimes committed in the United States are done by high school drop-outs. In order to know how to intervene Civic Enterprises interviewed dropouts and asked them what they suggest be done to increase high school completion numbers. Here is what they came up with: 81% said there should be more opportunities for "real-world" learning, 81% said "better" teachers, 75% said smaller class numbers, 70% said "increasing supervision in schools", 70% said greater opportunities for summer school and after-school programs, 62% said "more classroom discipline, and 41% said to have someone available to talk about personal problems with (Bridgeland, 2006; Dilulio, 2006; Morison, 2006). Through use of Positive Discipline, efforts are being made to prevent occurrences such as dropping out of school.