The detention room and the other new sanctions that await students in the new school year are only temporary solutions, which do not solve the causes of violent behavior, psychologist Domnica Petrovai claims. Change should start with teacher training.
School starts with new rules. PHOTO: Mediafax Photo
The detention room and the other sanctions that are expected of the students according to the new school regulations have been analyzed intensively in the public opinion.
“Adevărul” talked to Domnica Petrovai, a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist with over 20 years of experience in counseling and family psychotherapy and couple therapy, about the effect of these new school regulations.
What caught the specialist’s attention is the large number of sanctions, led by the uninspired so-called detention room, which will solve behavior in the short term, but will have no effect on the root causes that produce violence and lack of discipline in schools.
Petrovai believes that the change should start with the way teachers are trained, who, in addition to the subject they teach, must also understand the emotional needs of the students, considering that the learning process cannot take place optimally if students do not have a safe space.
“Unfortunately, these measures represent a somewhat extreme reaction and solutions, without looking at the real causes, medium and long-term solutions, which also means changes at the level of the initial training of teaching staff. Because point solutions will not work as long as, in practice, education and school are not rethought from the perspective of the skills and developmental needs specific to children in this period and in this context in which we live“, claimed the psychologist.
Change must begin with teacher training
The truth: How do you feel about the introduction of the so-called detention room/room, where students with discipline problems will be taken?
I think the most important thing is that the detention center is perceived by children as a form of punishment. And I suspect that parents and teachers somehow have the same perception. And unfortunately, this shows that there are no alternatives to difficult, uncomfortable situations. For example, if the child has an emotionally difficult day, he does not have a space where he can go to adjust, to relax, to be able to recover.
That is, rather a space of reflection, not a space of detention would be necessary.
And the fact that somehow the regulation comes with so many consequences and sanctions without a prevention program, prevention meaning whether we are talking about the training of teachers, the training of parents and an appropriate curriculum for children, through which they learn to be aware of the moments in which they are reactive, how to regulate themselves emotionally, how to regulate their intense emotions, how to recognize their moments of anxiety and how to prevent microaggressions between them. Or how to resolve conflicts without aggression.
The lack of these alternatives means that sanctions, like the detention room, are perceived as too threatening. And this is certainly not going to help either the children or the teachers to reduce aggression in the school.
The detention cell can be an alternative or a consequence, or a useful space of reflection to the extent that we also have alternatives. We only come up with a solution for extreme situations, without also having solutions for almost daily situations, micro-aggressions, unresolved conflicts, which if managed could prevent violence.
We, practically, not having this link and only coming up with a solution for situations of violence or extreme aggression, we do not solve the problem. Violence prevention basically means resolving conflicts and tensions or daily micro-aggressions, the little ones. In practice, the school should become a safe space, this means that the teachers should have these skills, through which to build a relationship, which would support the children to regulate themselves emotionally.
The child is tense, agitated, worried, maybe has feelings of hostility, and the security that the teacher offers should help him to adjust without this anxiety or hostility turning into aggression towards another child.
What are these alternative measures?
Practically, it would be necessary that from the initial training and then also from the continuing training, the teacher should be prepared to create secure attachment relationships in school with children, because a secure attachment relationship is the basis for increasing academic performance and learning.
Children need a safe space to learn and put effort into learning. Children are motivated by the relationship with the teacher, the relationship with the adult.
No smartphone until 16
What do you think of the measure to eliminate mobile phones during classes?
That’s a good thing, I totally agree. And somehow it’s a regulation that appeared in many other states in Europe and the United States. Why? Because it is increasingly evident the impact that phone use has on children and access to social networks. So the international recommendations are that children up to the age of 16 have access to a phone without internet and during the lessons practically do not use the phones.
Why? First of all, they need to practice the social skills of real connection with the other children, with the teacher, and to regulate themselves through other mechanisms during the breaks, during the lessons.
Unfortunately, nowadays, many children regulate their boredom, fatigue by spending time on the phone, which only increases restlessness, fatigue, anxiety, risk factors for aggression.
Basically, we are talking about a so-called social deprivation and children having this social deprivation, that is, they don’t spend a lot of time playing together, spending time together, this increases the risk of hostility between them and obviously aggression. It is a very appropriate measure.
There are studies that show that banning phones in school reduces aggression among children, because it will basically allow them to socialize, relate to each other and stay connected with what they feel, without being distracted by mobile phones.
The child must learn skills to regulate himself emotionally
A series of gradual sanctions are also introduced, from individual observation, written reprimand, temporary withdrawal or for the duration of the entire school year of scholarships, etc. and until expulsion. What do you think of these sanctions?
Again, somehow it’s a series of punitive measures, without both addressing the real cause and without giving children the context to learn emotional and social regulation skills that actually prevent aggression.
Reprimanding or observing does not mean developing skills and competencies. It basically just shows the student that they have a problem.
But the simple fact that the problem is recognized does not mean that it is solved.
That’s why I was saying that it is very important that from the moment the child enters school, depending on his level of development, speaking of his age, he must learn these skills to regulate himself emotionally and socially that prevent aggression.
Sanctions stop the behavior but do not solve the cause. Basically, children become aggressive because they do not have the necessary skills, such as stress regulation, emotional regulation and to feel safe in the relationship with others. And the sanction practically does not support them, it only stops the behavior of some, in the short term. Most likely, for others this will mean an amplification of aggressive behaviors, because they will feel rejected, misunderstood.
It is not enough to ask teachers for a medical certificate, we must support them
How do you feel about the obligation of teachers to present a medical certificate, legal record and a certificate of behavioral integrity in order to be employed?
I think it’s a good thing that there is already a certain standard and certain expectations. On the other hand, all these expectations without their training in their initial training and continuing training, do not give them the skills they need to be with the children and to be able to support the children in their process of learning.
So it’s a good thing that we’re looking at the skills and abilities that teachers have, but if that doesn’t come with support then it’s going to be very difficult to put into practice.
After all, it is very difficult to assess what resources a teacher has in his day-to-day work. We are talking here rather about situations where a teacher is constantly reactive and reacts by punishing or criticizing the children. And that’s unlikely to show up in a behavioral assessment. Probably, the behavioral assessment should detect very difficult, extreme situations of psychological incapacity, but we are talking about supporting all teachers.
The fact that there is no such support means that there is an expectation from the state institutions that the teacher can cope, simply manage on his own, without training, without support, sometimes without counseling.
And if we look, for example, at international programs, such as programs for the prevention of burnout among teachers, they show the fact that when you support teachers through these programs, aggression in the school also decreases, precisely because teachers can support children.
What is your conclusion vis-à-vis the circulated changes to the school regulations?
My conclusion, looking at all the proposals, is that unfortunately these measures represent a reaction and extreme solutions, without taking into account the real causes, medium and long-term solutions, which also means changes at the level of initial training, because specific solutions will not work as long as, in practice, education and school are not rethought from the perspective of the skills and developmental needs specific to children in this period and in today’s, economic, historical context in which we live, which practically also involves changes at the level of training and teacher training. It should start from there.
