Punished by Rewards

As we offer our students more and more rewards in school, we ask the very simple question......Why?

This doesn't need to be a very long blog entry, its sole purpose is just to get people questioning why schools are so keen to offer so many rewards in school. Rewards for behaving in an appropriate way in class, rewards for bringing the right equipment, rewards for getting the highest grade in a test. One school we have seen bases its whole rewards policy on a points system to control student behaviour by linking it to whether or not students should go to the end of year ball. How can we expect our students to be intrinsically motivated if we are surrounding them with extrinsic rewards. There is too much research out there which shows how extrinsic rewards stifle intrinsic motivation (see earlier blog post) yet we continue to 'bribe' our students into learning.

Student Target Grades - Why?

Since our last blog post focussing on Intrinsic Motivation, we have been talking to schools about how we can make our school systems more supportive to increasing this type of motivation. We will, through time, address many of the outcomes, however the one which came up time and again and the one which I want to throw out there today is all to do with Target Grades.

Motivation - An Intrinsic Approach

The business model of the 20th Century was one based on carrots and sticks; If you do this you will get this bonus and if you don’t then you will get nothing, apart from more work to do by an even tighter deadline! The strange thing is this worked and it was fairly successful as a motivator. As with time however, things have moved on and the carrot and stick motivator is being proved time and time again to be ineffective as a method of motivation and so some of the largest business’ in the world are turning their attentions to a new model.

Teachers' Dress Code

More of a discussion starter as opposed to a blog post...

Does the way a teacher dresses affect behaviour?

Does a smart teacher command more respect? Is a casually dressed teacher easier to get on with? Should you dress smarter the higher up the ladder you are? What about a D&T teacher - is it practical to dress smartly?

Let us know what you think...

TR