One of the advantages of consulting for Nelson on a part time basis, is that I am able to access the wide array of professional learning that is offered. Most recently, I’ve been involved in the webinar series Relationships First: Rethinking the Post-Pandemic Classroom that is led by Dr. David Tranter. I’m currently in the midst of reading the resource, The Third Path- A Relationship-Based Approach to Student Well Being and Achievement, and am finding the information extremely helpful to the work I do in leadership and also personally.
Long before I retired in 2020, many school divisions were trying to address the need for trauma informed instruction and a more concentrated effort on social emotional learning. Students experiencing mental health challenges continued to soar, and educators, long before governments ever acknowledged the crisis, knew that something different had to occur to address this growing need. Even while governments, and too often the public as a whole, continued to lash out at the teaching profession on the lack of “academic” results, school divisions, educational leaders, and teachers in the trenches, understood what was most important, especially in this pandemic world, which was the emotional health of children. So, with little to no additional funding or supports, (don’t believe government propaganda) schools were tasked with doing it all under significant pressure and top down accountability. Add in, that some governments relish in the desire to completely obliterate any relationship with the teaching profession or “invent” a curriculum that is neither appropriate nor relevant, it is easy to see the scrutiny that the education sector is under.
Often government officials and “Joe Public” want to bring us back to the time when they went to school. While that might be an appropriate thought for them, today’s classroom is vastly different from what they remember. We have a spectrum of children in our schools and although the percentages are not fixed, the generalities should lead anyone to see that teachers are facing some monumental tasks long before they see the faces of the students. As an example, here are some facts from Dr. Tranter about who is in the current classroom, found in The Third Path resource. (pg 37-40)
- The Secure Child- Approximately 60% of all children fall into this category. They have caregivers who have been consistent, responsive and reliable and feel worthy of love. Secure children tend to be “happy, resilient, and able to sustain exploration and learning.” (pg 38)
- The Avoidant Child- 15% of children in our classrooms exhibit an avoidant attachment pattern since they have grown up with caregivers who tend to be rejecting, resentful, intrusive, and controlling. We might characterize these children as loners and are often perceived as sad and disengaged.
- The Ambivalent Child- About 10% of these children live in our classrooms. Their caregivers have been typically unreliable and inconsistent leading them to feel unloved and unworthy. They tend to be seen as attention-seeking and can be whiny, clingy, or simply angry. Concentration is difficult for them and so they are easily distracted.
- The Disorganized Child- The last category involves about 15% of all children. Given that their caregiver’s behaviour is volatile and unpredictable, they exhibit a wide range of behaviours from fearful, to angry to controlling. In the classroom they are highly disruptive and have little respect for rules, property or personal space.
While it is certainly not my desire to lay the blame on parents/caregivers, the attachment spectrum above is linked to caregiving. Raising kids is probably the toughest role that we have and most of us have little training beyond how we were parented. That being said, school divisions in partnership with other agencies have again taken the lead to fill the void and help parents/caregivers develop better child rearing practices. Part of the issue is that all of us have a difficult time in saying out loud that we need some work in our parenting skills and more importantly access the supports to do just that. I don’t believe there are any caregivers out there who wake up on a daily basis and ask themselves how they are going to “screw up” their child today! It is not intentional but as you can see, it happens!
So wouldn’t it be nice if all children felt secure- not just from a social emotional perspective but from a learning perspective too? Society as a whole, needs to be part of that fix but until then, teachers and educators throughout take the challenge head on.
But that’s not all! You see, if we want to build a more compassionate world, we welcome all children (as much as possible) into our classrooms. Our desire to create a more inclusive environment (which is the right direction) provides an additional complexity into classrooms today.
Even if we assume that children with diverse needs fall into the category of the secure child, they require additional programming to support their learning. THIS CLASSROOM is very different from the one that most of us grew up in and it is not overly helpful to want to go back to the “good ole days!” What is needed from governments and the general public is recognition that teachers are not miracle workers but instead superheroes. I say superheroes, because given the complexity of the classroom, the vast majority of teachers still work toward creating an environment that supports social emotional learning and academic growth. While those have typically been in conflict with one another, The Third Path provides a recipe for successful achievement of both.
Teachers don’t need our pity but they certainly deserve our support. The needs of the (at most) 60% of secure children must be met just as the needs of the other students in the classroom. In the business world, most organizations wouldn’t survive if only 60% of their staff were ready and able to work every day. And business, have the ability to terminate those who don’t fit in as required. In education however, we don’t “fire” kids. Instead, teachers lose sleep trying to figure out how to connect with a child when nothing seems to work. They hear parents say, “He never behaves like that at home” or “It wasn’t until she came to your class that this all began.” Instead they listen, even though they know there is another story that is not being told or shared and enter the classroom bruised and bloodied but still willing to be there for EVERY CHILD!
No, teachers are not miracle workers, but what they do for children who are not there own, is pretty darn remarkable. Let’s try and remember that the next time the topic of education comes up and someone belittles these superheroes.
