Shouldn't we be encouraging intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards?
Q: I am already a convert to Circle Time and have a firm belief that you raise standards by raising self-esteem. I do have some small doubts, though, about rewards.. . . I want the self-esteem of the children, staff and parents to develop from within, so we have stopped giving stickers, smiley faces and so on. Instead we encourage children to put themselves forward by saying what they are good at and how proud they are of themselves. One member of staff has suggested that Golden Time is a reward and as such should be stopped. I agree that it is an entitlement. What would be your comments on this?
A: There is a huge debate about extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. I do not subscribe to the theory that extrinsic rewards prevent children from moving towards an inner locus of control; I believe they create the right ethos in which children can move towards esteeming their own work and relationships. In an early book I wrote about how children should be encouraged during Circle Time to bring to the circle any piece of work for which they wished to award themselves a special dot - or they could draw a picture of behaviour that they had engaged in which they were proud of. As long as they could justify their choice, they were entitled to receive their own special reward. But more importantly than this - in step 4 of the five-step Circle Time model, we have a script for teachers to use to encourage children to nominate other children who are very calm, create a lovely working atmosphere by not shouting out, are learning to walk away from fights and so on. Once they are nominated, if the majority of the class agree (which 95 per cent of the time they do), something called a Class Team Certificate is awarded. If the child or the class don't feel they deserve the certificate yet, the child places themselves on the achievement ladder at what they feel is the appropriate rung. Golden Time is a different issue. It shouldn't be earned - the children should walk in shining with it on a Monday morning because the whole school trusts them to keep the Golden Rules. In this way every 'middle-plodder child' receives their just entitlement. It is an entitlement because, as I explain to the children, if they keep to the Golden Rules, they save the teacher and the mid-day supervisor so much time that it is only fair that they are allowed to enjoy that time by celebrating together once a week.
Jenny
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