Therapeutic Education: Working alongside troubled and troublesome children

by Cornwall; John

• ISBN13: 9780415366618
• ISBN10: 0415366615
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-05-25
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The role of therapy in schools is a topic that has been significantly under-researched and often overlooked. Considering the number of students in full-time education with serious emotional and behavioural difficulties, the skills and tricks used by therapists can be usefully passed on to teachers in the classroom.This book traces a substantial four-year project that applied the principles of therapeutic education in one school setting and exposed how current educational contexts actually contribute to disaffection and disruption of young people's learning.The authors propose a practical model of school and curricular experience, based on therapeutic relationships, that has led to outstanding positive results in school development. With suugestions throughout for tried-and-tested strategies that really work, this book will help professionals turn troubled young people's experience of education from the nightmare it often is, into an adventure with positive results for lifelong learning.

Author Biography

Craig Walter is the Principal of Westwood School, a non-maintained special school in Kent. John Cornwall is Principle Lecturer in Special Educational Needs at Canterbury Christ Church University College, UK.

Table of Contents

List of figures	viii
List of tables	ix
Acknowledgements	x
1 Introduction: the 'human face' of education	1	(18)
Changes over the years or simply more of the same?	2	(5)
Therapeutic education: challenging academic tradition and social 'norms'	7	(1)
Roots, principles and paradigms	8	(3)
Contesting and developing notions of therapeutic education	11	(8)
2 Behavioural graffiti: ignoring the writing on the wall	19	(19)
Broadening the perspective and debating practice	20	(2)
Mapping holistic theories on to the reality of schooling	22	(6)
What characterises therapeutic education?	28	(4)
Mapping therapeutic education on to current practice	32	(6)
3 Education — adventure or nightmare?	38	(16)
Predictability, flexibility, coherence and values are 'seen' by young people	39	(2)
One size does not fit all: the child is at the centre of the learning process	41	(1)
The human element: everybody exhibits challenging behaviour	42	(6)
Troubled children growing into troublesome adolescents and adults	48	(3)
Self-efficacy, one key to successful personal development, change and growth	51	(3)
4 Who am I? Identity, agency and resilience	54	(17)
An activating approach: self-efficacy and human agency	55	(6)
Moral, social and emotional 'agency' as a result of self-efficacy	61	(4)
Discrimination and identity: self-worth and self-development	65	(3)
Vulnerability and resilience, key factors in personal growth and learning	68	(3)
5 A curriculum for life?	71	(19)
Therapeutic education and behavioural, emotional and social development (BESD)	72	(2)
Developing therapeutic relationships in learning and teaching	74	(3)
Are we making a difference? The nature and scope of BESD provision	77	(6)
How do we measure the quality of teaching and learning, quality of relationships and quality of life?	83	(7)
6 The case study and grounded research	90	(17)
Introducing the school-based research programme	90	(4)
Data sets, synthesis and analysis of data	94	(11)
Brief summing up	105	(2)
7 Measuring the effectiveness of holistic and ecosystemic interventions	107	(16)
Demonstrating that therapeutic approaches are effective in a school context	108	(2)
Applying the basic features of human agency and self-efficacy	110	(7)
Social and emotional skills: learning to behave, behaving to learn and learning for life	117	(4)
Keeping it all together: it is experience that counts in the end	121	(2)
8 A real alternative to an 'alternative curriculum'?	123	(18)
The interactive curriculum and young people's behaviour in the school context	124	(1)
Importance of a school's 'statement of purpose' (policy statements)	124	(6)
Theoretical and legislative precursors to creating a therapeutic environment	130	(2)
Implementation and management of the behaviour policy	132	(2)
Operational procedures and methods of promoting good behaviour	134	(3)
Handling conflict and potentially violent situations	137	(4)
9 Achievement and lifelong learning: A 'principled' approach	141	(16)
Therapeutic education: arguing for new solutions to old problems	141	(3)
Introducing empowerment concepts into the school ethos	144	(2)
Reviewing the problems of young people in education	146	(2)
Developing effective and empowering practices and a humanistic ethos	148	(2)
Monitoring and developing a learning environment that is 'therapeutic'	150	(7)
10 Putting it all together, together	157	(15)
From criminality, control and coercion to cooperation and consensus	158	(2)
From retribution and recidivism to ecology, relationships and learning behaviour	160	(6)
Interpersonal relationships and human agency in the facilitation of learning	166	(2)
From curriculum to relationships, personal growth and lifelong learning	168	(4)
Appendix 1: Evaluating areas of therapeutic working	172	(3)
Appendix 2: Therapeutic education assessment for shared values	175	(4)
Appendix 3: Proactive and pro-social management of behaviour	179	(3)
Appendix 4: The points system	182	(4)
Appendix 5: Handling difficult and violent situations	186	(3)
Appendix 6: Case-study data and preliminary analysis	189	(18)
Appendix 7: A schedule for observing and assessing a therapeutic approach	207	(3)
Appendix 8: Behaviour and PSHE profile	210	(12)
Notes	222	(2)
References	224	(8)
Index	232