Behaviour_for_Learning_L4

My journal is about challenging behaviour in young mothers in an educational setting. I will discuss a holistic approach that considers Transactional Analysis, Attachment theory, Neo Adlerain and Cognitism theories reflecting on my practice. The learners I am discussing are young mum’s age ranging from fourteen to twenty, who I support as a LSP (Learning Support Practitioner). The group was started by County Council to attract this particular group of young people back to education throughout the county. The group I work with is in a social and economically deprived area, with few job opportunities and high seasonal unemployment. These girls fit into the government report (Teenage Pregnancy Accelerating Strategy 2010), which states that teenage pregnancy is strongly associated with deprived areas, poor family relations and unhappy school life. All girls finished school with low success rate or not achieving any results. We look at the group holistically, we try and make it as much learner led as possible, as they themselves are young adults and should take responsibility. Within the first day they make a group contract, deciding on how to behave, e.g. group confidentiality, respect each other, freedom of speech, use of mobile telephones etc. Neo-Adlerian theory relates to this as it increases a learners sense of belonging and appropriate behaviour by starting democratic relationships within the group, by creating respect, cooperation and encouragement by all. (Porter. 2010. P103) In 2004 Powell and Tod conducted the EPPI Review (Evidence for Policy and practice Information). “All learning is rooted in relationships and positive relationships facilitate learning”. (EPPI Centre, 2004 p82 cited in Every Child Matters). Relating this to the diagram below if the learner’s relationships breakdown with anyone of the headings i.e. family, access etc then learning stops. Challenging behaviour may occur i.e. “reactions from children or adults that, in contrast with their peers, are more persistent, extreme or resistant to ordinary methods of guidance” (Lindon. 2009. P213). Challenging behaviour can take many forms from emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) with a specific disability i.e. Attention deficit Disorders (ADD), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Conduct Disorder (CD), or Obessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), or those just coping with life experiences. It can also be linked with learning difficulties like Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia, and Dyslexia. The group I am discussing has some EBD tendencies from family breakdown and there are some learners with dyslexia which creates some problems.  Relating back to the diagram the group’s main breakdown area are the outer rim; services we have had learners with money problems, by not receiving their benefits could cause homelessness, by bringing the worry of this to the session can cause arguments, verbal aggression (swearing), or by contrast the opposite being withdrawn knocking their self esteem/confidence, or just by not participating. To resolve this and continue with learning we identified the problem by talking to the learner outside the room, we would inform them about who they should seek advice from i.e. their social worker, job centre, benefits office etc. We then would encourage them to telephone who they needed to speak to, to make an appointment to rectify the problem. By meeting this need usually the learner would feel happier more secure to carry on with learning. By satisfying their need (worry) they then can focus on meeting their higher needs i.e. learning (Maslow cited in Porter. 2010. P130). Family; most of the learners have related to me that they have come from unhappy homes, or education wasn’t important i.e. no parental support to succeed/ achieve. Policies; some of the learners have social workers and key workers for them and their children one in particular lives in supported living and has regular meetings. These make can make her very upset, to help we do attend the tac meetings give feed back on her behalf. Again I would relate this to the hierarchy of needs and Maslow. Community/Culture; - There is no real sense of community where these girls live; today’s media culture does play a huge part in society which can lead to problems in a massive way. Facebook in particular caused disruptions to this group of learners, to the extent of one learner being threatened over the internet from an outside source. To resolve this problem we had to talk to the individuals concerned, to establish what had happened. There were two learners involved in this incident (Alice and Beth). Alice confirmed she was the instigator, but didn’t understand what she had done wrong. We tried Transactional Analysis i.e. talking adult to adult it didn’t work as she couldn’t grasp why her actions had caused the reaction from Beth, we reverted to adult to child. We asked her why it was wrong, would she like this to happen to her, remind her about the group contract finally how to put things right. It made her think about what her actions had caused and why Beth was so upset. This would lend itself to cognitive behaviourism as learner Alice had to think why she did it, and how to put it right i.e. moral reasoning, to analyse and control their behaviour. Bandura believed that each person is responsible for making their experiences whether good or bad, but as tutors and support workers we have to be there to guide them, to question their moral reasoning etc. Alice did apologise to Beth and put things right with the outside source and no further threats were made on Facebook. After this incident we did have a group discussion, talking about the event and how it shouldn’t of happened and how we could make sure it didn’t happen again and the importance of how we monitor the use of Facebook or other sources of internet use. We could link this to Solution Focused Approached –“rather than looking for what is wrong with children and how to fix it, solution orientation searches for what is right and how to use it “(Berg & Miller. 1992, in Davis & Osborn. 2000. Cited in Porter. 2010. P155). Engagement- relationship with self; all the learners are quite confident young women all focused on what they wanted to achieve from this group. Participation- relationship with others; most of the time all participated well with each other there were some heated debates all could vocalise their opinions including swearing we would use tactical ignoring (Rogers. 1990, 1997, 2002, Rogers and McPherson 2008 cited in Ellis and Tod. 2009. P191). As this was high frequency, if the swearing was aimed at an individual it was corrected but otherwise generally ignored. On the odd occasion if it was really obscene I would generally ask them if that’s what they wanted their children saying to back to them. Often they didn’t consider this and usually the obscenities would die down. Access-relationship to curriculum; the group has one dyslexic learner and one with dyslexic tendencies; both however manage their learning needs exceptionally. I do support them with their reading if needed and spend extra time with them explaining. As for the curriculum at times it has been undemanding and didn’t stretch the capabilities of the learners, which created boredom therefore created unwanted behaviour. So we did tailor it to our learners, after realising this, i.e. life skills using different strategies. One crucial factor I feel that isn’t mentioned in the EPPI framework is environment. Nutbrown and Clough (2006. p28 cited in supporting every child) suggests challenging behaviours defined the environment in which the behaviour takes place. With this particular group it certainly made a difference the room was a very small could become exceeding hot and stuffy by the afternoon. Most of the challenging behaviours happened at this point of day as the girls were hot and tired some were heavily pregnant so were extremely uncomfortable. The group were given more breaks in the afternoon the curriculum was delivered in the morning and craft and relaxation in the afternoon. Conclusion We have had a good success rate all learners passed their qualifications and two are moving back into education one of which is doing an access course, one training to be a hairdresser. Some are returning to the group next term I do worry that, we have made such a safe environment that a few do not want to leave us and become attached Like Bowlby suggests that children need to feel secure but need freedom within a framework of discipline (Bowlby. 1969.1982. P31 cited in Emotional and Behaviour Difficulties), and that were now their family. As for Alice mentioned earlier she kept doing very similar behaviours to create problems to be the centre of attention. I would have liked to have spent more time with this learner to try comprehend why her behaviour would keep reoccurring. College does offer a counselling service, but unfortunately the group is taught off campus and is nearly twelve miles away and there isn’t a way I could get Alice to see the councillor. Alice did leave the group before the end of term she did not receive any qualifications, we haven’t heard from her since. I do have to except that we cannot help everyone, especially ones that do not want to be helped. (Word count of 123)