Student, Teacher, and Administrator Perspectives on Harm: Implications for Implementing Safe and Caring School Initiatives

This article reports on a study that examines student, teacher and administrator perspectives on harm and how their schools address harm. It presents an overview of these perspectives within and across 3 different school environments. In doing so, the study contributes to a better understanding of the often ineffective implementation of safe and caring school initiatives. By drawing on restorative justice and relational theory, the findings illustrate how a focus on well-being and relationship is critical for meeting the needs of those harmed and those causing harm. Such a focus requires interaction rooted in social engagement rather than social control (Morrison 2012) and challenges current recommendations for combining the strengths of several current approaches for a more effective outcome (Osher et al. 2010).

The effects of audio cueing and an instructions, feedback and praise package on the distribution of teacher praise to students of differing on-task levels

In an audio cueing system, a teacher is presented with randomly spaced auditory signals via tape recorder or intercom. The teacher is instructed to praise a child who is on-task each time the cue is presented. In this study, a baseline was obtained on the teacher's praise rate and the children's on-task behaviour in a Grade 5 class of 37 students. Children were then divided into high, medium and low on-task groups. Followinq baseline, the teacher's praise rate and the children's on-task behaviour were observed under the following successively implemented conditions: (l) Audio Cueing 1: Audio cueing at a rate of 30 cues per hour was introduced into the classroom and remained in effect during subsequent conditions. A group of consistently low on-task children were delineated. (2) Audio Cueing Plus 'focus praise package': Instructions to direct two-thirds o£ the praise to children identified by the experimenter (consistently low on-task children), feedback and experimenter praise for meeting or surpassing the criterion distribution of praise ('focus praise package') were introduced. (3) Audio Cueing 2: The 'focus praise package' was removed. (4) Audio Cueing Plus 'increase praise package': Instructions to increase the rate of praise, feedback and experimenter praise for improved praise rates ('increase praise package') were introduced. The primary aims of the study were to determine the distribution of praise among hi~h, medium and low on-task children when audio cueinq was first introduced and to investigate the effect of the 'focus praise package' on the distribution of teacher praise. The teacher distributed her praise evenly among the hiqh, medium and low on-task groups during audio cueing 1. The effect of the 'focus praise package' was to increase the percentage of praise received by the consistently low on-task children. Other findings tended to suggest that audio cueing increased the teacher's praise rate. However, the teacher's praise rate unexpectedly decreased to a level considerably below the cued rate during audio cueing 2. The 'increase praise package' appeared to increase the teacher's praise rate above the audio cueing 2 level. The effect of an increased praise rate and two distributions of praise on on-task behaviour were considered. Significant increases in on-task behaviour were found in audio cueing 1 for the low on-task group, in the audio cueing plus 'focus praise package' condition for the entire class and the consistently low on-task group and in audio cueing 2 for the medium on-task group. Except for the high on-task children who did not change, the effects of the experimental manipulations on on-task behaviour were e quivocal. However, there were some indications that directing 67% of the praise to the consistently low on-task children was more effective for increasing this group's on-task behaviour than distributing praise equally among on-task groups.