After more than 40years of dealing with adolescents pretty much every day – as teacher, parent, boarding housemaster and headmaster –I believed I knew a thing or two about this frustrating and exhilarating phase of the human condition. I felt as though I had experienced most permutations of bewildered and bewildering behaviour, both from adolescents and from the adults around them. And then I met Dr. Herb Etkin.
Herb has been one of the top child and adolescent psychiatrists in the country: a person called upon to give expert witness in difficult legal cases involving young people. His professional and personal experience gave me a fresh perspective – he is a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has raised three daughters, mostly on his own.
While my experience is of the generality of adolescence, particularly in the context of schools, he has a deep and extensive knowledge of profound issues and problems that seem to me to be relevant to all of us.
In our conversations, it became apparent that we both took a long view: the behaviour of adolescents has been seen as awkward and irritating by adults for thousands of years, at least in developed societies. In less mature societies, where life is a struggle, adolescence is very short-lived. It seems, therefore, that the period we call adolescence is a self-indulgent, irksome, inefficient time, to be got over as soon as possible.
Not so. It’s the most creative and influential period of our lives, and we should celebrate it. Yet parents and schools tend to slip into the conformity of managing it as a condition, rather than embracing it as a transformation.
Denne historien er fra September 27, 2018-utgaven av TES.
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Denne historien er fra September 27, 2018-utgaven av TES.
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Try not to get hung up on linguistic convention, chic@s
Languages are like water – they take the easiest route. And, like gender, they are fluid. That is why, as world languages evolve to reflect cultural change, a revolution is under way in the use of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ terms, writes Heather Martin
Three simple psychology tips for better behaviour
When a pupil is acting up, their motivations are often hidden from view. It’s possible that teachers themselves are partially at fault for setting the wrong tone in their interaction with others, writes Lekha Sharma, who suggests ways to remodel a school culture
This research could be music to your ears…
Schools should resist putting additional time and resources into yet more English and maths lessons and instead give children’s learning a research-evidenced boost by encouraging them to join a band or an orchestra, says Martin Leigh
Minority (school) report
Predictive technology – powered by increasingly complex algorithms – is finding its way into schools, promising to pre-empt misbehaviour, violence or mental health issues before they happen. But does it work, and is its use ethical, asks Simon Creasey
Giving school a spin again
In a bid to improve parental engagement, one Edinburgh school is putting parents in their children’s shoes to experience a typical modern school day – and the results are breathtaking, finds Emma Seith
Averting Pupils' Social Stigma By ‘Poverty Proofing'
Do your school policies unintentionally ‘out’ children from disadvantaged backgrounds? One charity says such occurrences are all too common and have proposed ‘poverty proofing’ as the solution. Lucy Edkins investigates
A Plant-Based Diet Of Learning
Aware of the mental health benefits of green-fingered working, Nigel Cox helped to set up an outreach course at his college to support people recovering from substance abuse and other personal challenges
Social And Emotional Skills In The Early Years
Children who are able to focus their attention, manage their behaviour and interact positively with others from a young age experience better learning outcomes later in life, finds Irena Barker
How Centralised Detentions Get Pupils' Attention
By adopting a consistent whole-school approach to rewards and sanctions, we achieved a marked improvement in attitudes to learning – and reduced teachers’ workload, says Calvin Robinson
Homework Truths
With some studies claiming that homework has little or no impact on pupil achievement, schools have been tempted to cut back on it or ban it altogether. But we shouldn’t write homework off, warn two gurus of UK education research. Steve Higgins and Lee Elliot Major argue that the evidence on homework has been misrepresented – and out-of-school study can, in fact, have a major impact on learning outcomes
