Monday - October 20, 2008

Schools bribing pupils to cut truancy.  School days, School days, Good Old … take it guys …

Maybe I’m just a dinosaur and way out of date with the modern world. But I just don’t understand rewarding or bribing bad behavior.
Sure, there were incentives when I was in school.  Like, you wouldn’t get hit if you behaved yourself.  I remember we used to get these little tiny glued on stars of different colors to rate how we did.  There was gold, green, and I think blue. Or maybe red. Can’t recall the third one.  The teacher would put one on some bit of work you turned in I think.  Golly. Rewards like what?  In my day I think the most they could have given would have been a radio. This would be before TV of course.  And you can be certain we were never given anything in the way of bribes.  We worried more about how parents might react then we were about the teacher. You’d get punished 2wice.

Once upon a time England really did have a first rate education system and it allowed for NO nonsense.  This country produced outstanding people in every field of endeavor you can name.  It was a glorious country with a totally fascinating history and traditions.  Sure, they had juvenile delinquents.  Who hasn’t?
And who among us never ever played hooky? Gosh that’s a word I haven’t heard or used in years.  But we darn well never received any rewards of the nature this story exposes. And you can bet your life the Brits never did either.

Schools bribing pupils to cut truancy
Schools are spending up to £30,000 a year on “bribes” to keep order in the classroom and cut truancy.


By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Last Updated: 7:18AM BST 20 Oct 2008

In some cases, children can win plasma televisions, games consoles, iPods, lap-tops and even flights abroad for turning up on time and working hard.

Under a new reward scheme, pupils are being urged to collect good behaviour “points” which they can cash in for prizes.

Habitual truants can get extra rewards for turning up regularly to classes, with headteachers claiming incentives are now more effective than detentions.

The disclosure comes just days after Ofsted suggested rewards were a “powerful incentive” for students who struggled with school.

But critics claim taxpayers’ money is being wasted as many pupils “play the system” to get their hands on prizes.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that the Government’s flagship academies – semi-independent state schools in deprived areas – are among those spending the most on reward schemes.

Barnfield South Academy, Luton, is investing £28,000 this year on prizes and incentives.

Mark Bennison, associate principal, said attendance rates had already soared from 88 to 93 per cent under the scheme.

“Some people say that you should not bribe children, and I am prepared for the fact that it is going to be controversial, but the fact is it has played a big part in motivating children at this school,” he said. “Learning and earning are inexorably linked and if children don’t see that they are not going to survive when they leave school.”

Many schools already operate small scale reward schemes, handing out certificates for good behaviour.

But Barnfield is among 14 to sign up so far to the Vivo Miles programme - a new reward scheme administered by a private company offering expensive gifts to the best pupils.

Under the system, pupils earn points for good behaviour, attendance, healthy eating, smart uniform, hard work, excelling in sport and helping around the school.

(a reward for “healthy” eating too? Boy did I miss out when I was a kid. When any of us cut up in class, our teacher would make us hold out a hand, palm up and slap it with a ruler. Damn it that stung. Kept kids like me in line too.  For a while anyway. I was a class clown and it is not any wonder that I should have ended up a DJ. Still remember the ruler on the palm after all these years though. Wasn’t a delinquent in my class.And there wasn’t a boy in the class that wasn’t in love with pretty Miss Beers. That was really her name.)

Each point is worth a set value – depending on the school - and students can save up for prizes, cashing them in at any time on a specially-accessed website.

Mr Bennison said the scheme was funded largely from renting school playing fields and facilities to community groups, and he insisted it was cheaper than expelling pupils altogether.

Westminster Academy in central London is spending £20,000 on the scheme this year.

Rod Boswell, a house principal, said pupils could win “anything from three tennis balls to a plasma TV”.

Prizes for the most credits include a Sony laptop, a PlayStation3 and a Palm Tungsten handheld computer. Pupils can also get a Nintendo Wii, iPods and sporting equipment, including cricket pads and footballs.

“Simply imposing detentions doesn’t work in an inner-city setting like this, because the punishment is quite often little in comparison to what some of these children see outside in their day-to-day lives,” he said.

Another school is in negotiation with a local airport to turn points into air miles. Pupils in other schools can use Vivo cards to get reduced or free entry to local cinemas or swimming pools - and discounts in some high street stores.

George Grima, chief executive of Vivo Miles, said it could spread to other state schools.

“Several schools are spending £30,000-plus on the rewards themselves” he said. “They have also successfully turned around the behaviour of some very disruptive students who were at risk of being expelled. They saved around £4,500 per student in out of school provision as a result, even though more traditional thinkers would see it as unethical.”

But critics say the scheme effectively rewards bad behaviour.

Richard Gerver, a former headteacher and Government advisor, said: “This is all about short-term impacts rather than making sure pupils really have a deeper understanding of the negative impact of bad behaviour. There are a large number of children who will simply play the system without really changing their attitude.”

A study last week by Maurice Galton and John MacBeath, from Cambridge University, found “little sign” reward systems led to improvements in pupil behaviour.

http://tinyurl.com/65nr4k

Posted by Drew458     on 10/20/2008 at 03:26 AM   
Filed Under: • Education • UK •  
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