In this installment we scrutinize the role of applying consequences for inappropriate behavior in our classrooms. This article is predicated on the belief that teachers have a significant role to play when it comes to teaching young people about appropriate social behavior and conduct. Resentment, bitterness, ill will, rancour. Those who teach with hurting in mind, with the intention of inspiring, are likely to meet with spectacular failure. Human beings, even kids, rarely change in the face of coercion.

 

How can consequences support young people when learning about how to behave?

Many people view consequences as a form of penalty or price to pay for infracting rules, in other words, an unpleasant outcome for a particular course of action. That is certainly the case for say, driving over the speed limit. Theoretically, the possibility of copping a hit to the back pocket reduces each driver’s willingness to speed. It seems to work, at least moderately well. Imagine a society without checks for speeding! I expect that would be a nightmare. On the other hand, is a fine the most logical way to reduce speeding?

A fine of $200 has minimal impact on a high-wage earner but enormous impact on a person earning the minimum wage. Surely, there’s an equity issue. Of course, one could argue, if you don’t speed you don’t cop a fine, so why bother with looking at the issue from an equity perspective. It is hard to imagine a society of motorists where no one speeds.

Governments who depend on the revenue raised by catching motorists would suffer. Maybe that’s why we don’t see speed cameras on every corner and attached to every set of traffic lights (is this the cynic in me?). The point of the speeding example is to highlight that education alone is insufficient to sway people’s driving behaviour, even when the natural consequence of speeding could cost lives. Punitive consequences do not necessarily deter kids from using unhealthy behaviour, nor do threat, impositions, isolation or exclusion.

Yet, these practices are the most commonly used consequences in schools. A one-size-fits-all policy for the use of consequences in classrooms simply does not work. As in the speeding example mentioned above, complex issues require multiple, case-by-case analysis. We can apply Blue Room creative thinking to the dilemma of consequences, followed by Green Room analysis. This type of thinking opens minds to new possibilities.

To break the common interpretation of linking consequences with pain, I propose a new definition. I define consequences as repercussions, or side effects of an event. Under such a definition, consequences need not necessarily lead to an unpleasant outcome. 

In schools, consequences enable teachers and their students to:

• Identify the limits of behaviour within

a particular set of circumstances

• Generate a course of action to repair, replace or rebuild whatever was damaged

• Impose sanctions

• Restore relationships

• Replay events with a different outcome in mind

• Accept responsibility for one’s actions by following up one’s actions

I classify consequences under three headings:

Punitive consequences – imposed externally with the purpose of generating pain

Characteristics of punitive consequences:

• Based upon personal authority

• Blame-oriented

• Arbitrary, subjective and illogical

• Judgemental

• Often emphasises the past

• Aims to instil pain-based Orange and Red Room reactions

• Generates anxiety, anger and fear cycles

• Demands compliance

• Builds resentment

• Removes responsibility by focusing on retribution (do the crime and do the time)

 

• When behaviour does not change, the consequence gets harsher

Natural consequences – behaviour is largely ignored. Nature will take its course

Characteristics of natural consequences:

• Based on other people taking responsibility

• The ‘law of the jungle’ operates

• Illogical

• Judgemental

• Can escalate into unsafe situations

• Strongest personalities take control

• Creates insecurity

Logical consequences – based on restitution not retribution

Characteristics of logical consequences

• Emphasises relationships and respect for others

• Relates directly to the behaviour in question

• Non-judgemental

• Concerned with present and future

• Builds respect

• Presents choices

• Builds self-responsibility and individual accountability (do the crime, fix up your mess)

Logical consequences do not have “hurt” as their centrepiece, as do punitive consequences. They have “fix it” as their

centrepiece. As such, a vastly different set of actions apply for each.

 

How do kids learn about consequences?

Ultimately, when children learn how to recognise and manage their own behaviour, the dependency on the teacher wanes and young people grow into independent adults. In the good old days, kids did everything asked of them, or paid the consequences with a good belting – at least that’s what some people believe. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was the catch phrase. Well, it hardly makes sense to apply the very tactics we educate kids against. Times have changed.

Models and frameworks are our essential tools and guides. Avoid excellence. Mediocrity is a fine starting point. Incremental steps forward, not massive leaps are the stepping stones for young people’s growth and development. Questions and explanations, logical consequences based on restoration and restitution, understanding how emotions can affect behaviour, developing intervention plans and providing coaching rather than punishment are the emerging new benchmarks for teachers when dealing with students’ behaviour. Are you ready to give it a go? Could your own behaviour stand up to the analysis we apply to our kids? Does your behaviour truly reflect the behaviour you seek from the young people you teach? The table below has some examples of consequences assigned to classroom behaviour. In my workshop sessions with young people, we examine behaviour that irritates adults and then consider a range of consequences.

Kids have a load of fun considering the logical, natural and punitive consequences. Use the lists of “Unpleasant

 

Incidents” (from the last article) and go through these with your kids. Add you own Orange Room, pain-based triggers as well to make it as relevant as possible.

In the long run, some of the greatest treasures in life can be found in the actions we undertook to fix the problems we created.

Show young people, by example, how to resolve their issues without degrading to pain-based behaviour. The least I need to know Understanding behaviour in biological terms has emerged as one of the central challenges for teachers. The “old-days” where kids should be seen and not heard are gone. There is no point in lamenting.

Rather, imbued with new knowledge about how the brain works, teachers can turn to loftier goals than management and examine, in genuine partnerships with their students the nature of behaviour and consequences. More significantly, we can learn how to apply that knowledge to manage one’s own behaviour.

 

 

 

 

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