Token Economy: Reinforcing GENUINE thinking or Ulterior Motives? Bethany Oddy 2014 Department of Education The School The Marchant-Holliday school is an independent school for boys aged 5-13 with Behavioural, Emotional and Social special needs. Most boys board and teachers and care staff work together to support socio-emotional development and academic and behavioural progress. The school aims to provide a safe and nurturing environment that raises development to a level that will allow the boys to become a valued member of society and potentially lead back to mainstream schooling. Marchant-Holliday School Brochure. The boys often come from unstable, dysfunctional and troubled family backgrounds. Their experience of school can be solely as a chaotic and debilitating place. The school transforms these negative associations by promoting happiness, Placement Experience self-esteem/worth, physical and During my placement, I worked both as a TA, and as part emotional wellbeing and positive of the care team including before and after-school experiences within and attitudes routines, social activities, clubs and day trips. I worked towards ‘school’. with children of all ages and with a multitude of BESDs such as Autism, ADHD, ASD, ODD, Attachment disorders, Dyslexia, Anxiety disorders and boys capable of particularly violent, hostile behaviour. Token Economy: Reinforcing Eddie GENUINE thinking or only Ulterior Motives? Leo The school uses a well-established Token System to modify Chris behaviour. Based on the principles of operant conditioning, it rewards and punishes the children with ‘tokens’ and ‘blips’ for positive and negative behaviour (respectively).The number of ‘Thinking about Others’ Token Sheet in the youngest class. tokens achieved each day affects the extent of choice each boy has over their free-time activities. At the end of the week, boys with a sufficient number of tokens are rewarded with token ‘cheques’, which are used to redeem prizes. Although research indicates that Token Economy is particularly successful for children with ADHD and behaviour disorders (Bender and Mathes, 1995; Truchlicka et al.,1998), my own personal observations suggest that Token Economy cannot guarantee the reinforcement of GENUINE thinking and concern for other’s feelings. The question is raised whether all forms of operant conditioning used in institutional settings instil a deep-down change in thinking and behaviour, or whether this is only surface-level and superficial. Significant issues for the sustainability of the reinforced behaviours are therefore a concern, and requires further research. Readings Notes on paper Text book Google-whether genuine Malawi, Africa: Volunteering as a secondary school teacher Claire Jardine - Department of Education My Placement- I worked in a secondary boarding school in very rural, northern Malawi. The school has around 400 students and has 24 teachers. I taught English and Life Skills to form 1 (first year) and form 4 (final year), with 100 students in each class. The school lacked basic recourses like text books and necessary teaching materials, meaning that a lot of my teaching required creative thinking and improvisation. I lived in a small brick, tinned roofed house My role as a teacher – about a 5 minute walk from the school. I had no electricity or phone signal, limited access independently taught classes of 100, • I to clean running water and was taught to enthusiastic students build and cook on an open fire. • I planned lessons and marked homework • I wrote and marked exam papers •I ran several English and Drama clubs within the school. My role in the community – • I helped teach some of the teachers basic computer skills and set up email accounts for Malawi as a country – them Malawi is a beautiful small, landlocked • I orchestrated a large scale pen pal scheme country in central eastern Africa, and has between two schools in England and nearly 200 rightfully earned its nickname ‘The Warm students at the school in Malawi Heart of Africa.’ The African culture is very • I became very integrated in the community and simple, honest and humbling and I found the have learnt a lot about a truly different way of life whole experience truly fantastic. Sydney International Grammar School: Life as a Teaching Assistant Emma Sparkes 2013/2014 Department of Education ‘Unity in Diversity’ The International Grammar School adopts an Immersion Language Program to promote a bilingual education starting from preschool. This is an important part of the school in promoting the acceptance of difference, following the school’s Pros motto; Unity in Diversity, derived from the Latin • Living in Sydney phrase; ‘Concordia per Diversitatem’. - I lived in Sydney for the entire first term of the Studying a second language is compulsory for all school year. It was amazing to explore Sydney during students from preschool to year 10. Students can weekends and experience a different school setting to choose to study French, German, Italian or Japanese. the UK. • Responsibility - I was given the opportunity to work with smaller groups and even teach the whole class under the supervision of the class teacher. Cons - Cost - As the placement is unpaid the overall cost of flights and living expenses amounts to a lot. Therefore, this can limit the amount of time you could spend doing this placement. - Finding somewhere to live - This can be difficult to arrange in advance with the time difference in Australia. It can also be challenging to find somewhere reasonably priced and close to the International Grammar School if you do Importance of Language not know Sydney that well. The biggest difference I noticed from working in a school in the UK to Sydney was the focus on language from such a young age. The importance of a bilingual education was not something that was held by the UK state school that I also worked in, so it was interesting to observe the children’s attitudes towards learning languages from preschool. Youth Cafés – what’s the point? Faye Smith 2013/2014 Department of Education Bath: it’s the “elegant, unique and stylish city” - But– how does it look through a teenager’s eye? In Literature… “There are no places to go when “Hanging around in groups on it rains… street corners… is viewed as at least none that inappropriate in the structured are free.” ordered streets of our cities”. (Rush & Wiles (Malone 2002). 2013). “Public space therefore is not… a space where teenagers are freely able to participate in street life… but is a highly regulated – or closed – space.” “Jack-Shit.” – What this teenager does with her weekend. (Valentine 1996). Young people arriving at a Bath YFC Youth Café Bath Youth for Christ is a local charity that aims to serve and support the young people of this city. This is done in a large variety of way, including: . Mentoring . Schools work . Sex and Relationship courses . Street Dance Projects . Football Projects . Kids Clubs Young people need a space in which to socialise and . Breakfast Clubs claim ownership of. Youth Cafés provide this space. Youth Cafés Here, youth workers can create a safe environment in which to meet with young people and support them through any issues or concerns they may be facing. The Hope Project - Cambodia (March-May 2014) Organisation Logo Lily Stickland 2013/2014 Department of Education Cambodia is a small country During my second year at university located in south-east Asia. When we investigated the Education for all deciding on my placements for my proposal. At the time I had not visited placement year I decided not only a country such as Cambodia, and did I want a vast variety in the therefore, thought it was mad that not types of things I was doing, but I everyone had access to free also wanted to visit a different education. From my time spent in country. Cambodia is a developing Cambodia it is evident to me that the country that has had a harrowing idea is being introduced, however, it past following the Khmer Rouge is much harder to enforce due to a regime and this is still present in under developed government, and every day life for the Cambodians. many hard to reach/keep track of There is no national curriculum put rural areas. into place in the country and many Many of the children and children are unable to attend families living in the village in school due to lack of money and which the school was based in having to help at home, e.g. cannot even afford the basics, childcare or farming with parents. which is very hard to sit back and see. There were families The duration of my placement was spent that could not afford food, in the south east of Cambodia, in a small resulting in their children being school in the traditional village of Bakod. very ill due to malnutrition. I The Cambodian culture is very different think this was one of the to the western ways, and therefore, it hardest things that I found took nearly a week to adapt to the during my time in Cambodia climate and to the living conditions as it is something that we take (sleeping on the floor, bucket showers for granted at home. etc). Therefore, to try and help we picked some of the poorest The volunteers families and delivered food didn’t only help with parcels, which for some of the teaching side of them, saved their lives. the project, but also the children’s general health. At By teaching my two classes a day I grew to really the end of each get to know the children and their families. I was lesson the children often invited round to the children’s homes for lunch would go to the which was an amazing way to see their culture first water pump just hand, and to experience how lovely and welcoming outside the school they truly are.