Teach Secondary - Issue 14.6

name of classroom control. Holding in your urine isn’t a learning strategy. Let’s talk about power Too often, schools prioritise control over care. Adults can have a tendency to interpret emotional distress as defiance, with the result that children who are afraid, confused or overwhelmed can end up being labelled as disruptive, manipulative or non-compliant. But what if we reframed those behaviours as communication?What if, instead of immediately reaching for punishment, we instead sought to offer regulation, connection and safety?What kind of positive shift might we see if every adult were to ask themselves: •Am I helping this child feel safe right now? •Am I treating themwith the same dignity I’d expect for myself? If the answer to either is no, then what are we actually doing here? Acompassionate education I nowwork in a charity SEN school that centres student wellbeing. It isn’t always easy, but it’s always intentional. We don’t use seclusion, and we don’t restrain. We do, however, reflect, repair and grow. There is another way. Every child, but especially those with trauma, SEND or emotional challenges deserves support, not suppression. They deserve teachers and staff who can see their full humanity, even in the hardest moments – because no child should ever have to bleed, break or beg to be believed. Choice theory The harm caused by seclusion, restraint, and coercive schooling practices becomes evenmore stark when viewed through the lens of the Choice Theory model first developed by psychologist Dr. William Glasser. According to this model, all human behaviour is purposeful in that it attempts to meet one or more of our five basic needs: 1. Survival (safety, health, food, shelter) 2. Love and belonging (relationships, connection) 3. Power (a sense of competence, agency, achievement) 4. Freedom (autonomy, choice, independence) 5. Fun (joy, play, creativity) When schools use seclusion or restraint, they often punish the very behaviours that are expressions of unmet needs. A child disrupting the class may be seeking power in a system that otherwise renders them powerless. A child begging to leave the roommay be grasping for freedom. A child who lashes out might be crying out for love and belonging, or simply for safety. Instead of seeing these behaviours as communications, adults will often treat them as threats to their control – and yet, the truth is that connection always precedes compliance, and that no real learning can take place until those five needs are honoured. If we want children to thrive, rather than simply obey us, then we need to design environments that enable their academic goals while also meeting their psychological needs. A compassionate, trauma- informed education will prioritise dignity over discipline, support over seclusion. It will value understanding over restraint capacity, and see children not as problems to be fixed, but people to be understood. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Emily Spring works for the education charity, Releasing Potential; for more information, visit releasingpotential.com 53 teachwire.net/secondary S E N D