Given the immense role that schools play in our lives, it’s no surprise that challenging school-related issues (e.g., homework, grades, bullying, truancy, and conduct) are often at the center of the discord between children and their parents. Fortunately, the Positive Discipline concepts and tools that parents practice at home can help mitigate those issues, and many of them are adapted for use in the classroom/school. Ultimately, though, parents are their children’s primary teachers and best advocates, and they can play an active role in their children’s educational experience. One way to do so is by educating teachers and school administrators about the benefits of Positive Discipline!
While not all educators use Positive Discipline, many schools now use Positive Behavioral Intervention Services (PBIS), a respectful school disciplinary system. Both PBIS and Positive Discipline interventions are designed to enhance academic and social behavior outcomes for students. Positive Discipline interventions, however, also address students’ emotional needs, entail an understanding of brain function, developmental stages, and the impact of trauma, focus on long-term goals, and help students develop cultural proficiency. Further, like PBIS, Positive Discipline helps to motivate students, but it does so through the use of encouragement (not rewards).
Psychology Paired with Pedagogy
Positive Discipline theories and practices are heavily influenced by psychologists Alfred Adler, Rudolf Dreikurs, and Abraham Maslow, all of whom promoted the idea that a sense of safety and belonging are fundamental needs for children to feel and do their best. Those theories and practices, however, are also inspired by educators and philosophers like Maria Montessori and Paulo Freire.
Montessori understood that showing respect to children teaches them respect, that education should be individualized and holistic, that children are naturally motivated by their curiosity and interests, and that education of all types should help children learn social and life skills. Most interestingly, she asserted that when provided a supportive environment, children possess the ability not only to learn from others, but to teach themselves.
Freire observed that children were undervalued, underestimated, and treated solely as recipients of education, and boldly asserted that children are co-creators of knowledge. In both the pedagogical and social context, Freire recognized that education should be a transformative practice of gaining cultural knowledge and effecting social change.
In their efforts to instill in children a sense of influence and agency Montessori and Freire were fierce advocates for children who helped shape Positive Discipline’s approach to educating and protecting them.
Addressing Childhood Adversity
For more than 30 years, psychologists have been studying what are referred to as ACEs (adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, neglect, abandonment, death, divorce, incarceration, mental illness, and substance use to which children are directly or indirectly exposed in their households).
As social determinants of health, these ACEs not only cause trauma, but profoundly compromise people’s health and well-being both during childhood and throughout adulthood. According to the Center for Disease Control, ACEs contribute to mental illness, chronic disease, substance abuse, poor educational and vocational outcomes, and, most notably, early death. Essentially, the presence of adversity—especially in young children—significantly affects human development.
Trauma-Informed Care
Alfred Adler believed that immersing people in supportive environments could help them recover from adversity, a notion known as the equipotentiality of growth. With our modern-day understanding of trauma, healthcare providers, educators, social workers, and anyone working in human services are now widely practicing what is referred to as trauma-informed care.
As a trauma-informed approach, Positive Discipline not only supports children’s social-emotional development and learning, when implemented in the classroom, it helps mitigate the negative impacts of the trauma that results from ACEs.
In the context of educational environments, Positive Discipline works in concert with the HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) Framework, which supports educators in providing what are referred to as PCEs (positive childhood experiences). This public health framework was developed to be adopted and adapted by people who regularly interact with children to ensure that they are exposed to PCEs on a consistent basis.
The Four Building Blocks of Hope include:
Safe and supportive relationships
Safe, stable, equitable environments
Opportunities for engagement
Opportunities for emotional growth
The following is a list comparing The Four Building Blocks of Hope with Positive Discipline (PD) concepts and tools:
HOPE: Safe and supportive relationships
PD: Encouragement, connection before correction, discovering the beliefs behind the behaviors, and special time
HOPE: Safe, stable, equitable environments
PD: Authoritative discipline (mutual respect and balancing firmness with kindness), modeling positive behavior, and practicing self-regulation (e.g., positive time-out)
HOPE: Opportunities for engagement
PD: Gemeinschaftsgefühl (e.g., planning and making positive contributions via job charts and class meetings)
HOPE: opportunities for emotional growth
PD: “I” messages, wheel of choice, and role-playing
With children spending half of each day under the care and supervision of teachers, it’s important to remember that between their home and school environments, consistency promotes children’s emotional safety.
When disciplinary approaches at school vastly differ from what is practiced at home, such inconsistent messaging can lead to confusion, manipulation, and anxiety in children, all of which impede their learning.
Positive Discipline not only promotes consistency and safety both at home and at school, it incorporates the core principles of trauma-informed care so that children can feel and do their best and live happier, healthier, and longer lives.
Sarah Nofi and Steven Weiss are Certified Positive Discipline Educators
