To think all these primary school award type things are more trouble than they're worth?

[Dancergirl]

Following on from the thread below. I am referring to Star of the Week and the like.

I understand the reasoning behind them, but I have read so many posts on here about them, are they really worth the trouble? People getting upset if their child hasn't had a turn, that the naughty child DOES get a turn, the middle of the road child gets overlooked etc etc.

At risk of sounding like an old fogey, we didn't have this sort of thing when I was at school in the 70s and 80s. So why do children these days need so much praise all the time? What's wrong with a sticker for good work or behaviour and leave it there?

Sticker? Luxury! We considered it a good week when we didn't get thrashed!

The only people that get annoyed are those who have children who don't "win" anything

wrings hands in angst and has a bit of pearl clutching for good measure.

Exactly Jumping

It's good to reward kids who actually do behave/perform well.

And if the 'naughty' kid gets Star of the week, that'll be because that week they did particularly well for them.

It's not to be compared to other children who aren't 'naughty'.

I do think they are a good idea, but..
I picked up my godson from school a few years ago and was met by his teacher telling me he'd done so well he'd been allowed to sit on the special cushion and ring the bell for the end of lunchtime. So I dutifully got all excited on the way home and said things like "Wow - you must have been brilliant if you got to sit on the gold cushion. I'm so proud and I bet Mummy will be really happy too." etc etc. And after a few minutes I asked "Are you happy that you got to sit on the special cushion?" and he said "Not really. I knowed I was special anyway."
The lesson is that if you can instill inner confidence to that extent your child won't need the external praise!

I can see the downsides, but in the case of DS, who has SEN, star of the week has been a fantastic way not only of rewarding him for his efforts, giving him an incentive to keep up the good work, and raising his self-esteem, but also of communicating to the other children in the school, who maybe mostly see him as the 'quirky' kid, that he has abilities as well.
He is in mainstream school, and they always do a little speech explaining to the assembly why the star has been awarded. Also, essentially every child in the school gets one.

The lesson is that if you can instill inner confidence to that extent your child won't need the external praise!

Every child and adult for that matter needs praise sometimes.

This is why (imo) some kids rebel in the end because they stop getting praised for being good. People expect it and give them no attention for it...so the only way to get that attention is to rebel.

DD is always very proud of herself when she gets star of the day. It only happens about 4-5 times a year, and I know that the 'naughtier' children get it more often. But if it motivates all of them, and as long as they all get it at least once a term then I really don't see the problem.

And SC13 is right - the star is given for a reason, and all of the children are told the reason. So it means that everyone can see that the children who are different for whatever reason are part of the school just as much as the most conformist. IYSWIM.

Exactly Worra - no good being the best behaved/kindest/cleverest/whatever if it is never acknowleged.

From my POV - remembering infant school for mine - the Of The Week Award was to take home a cat in a basket and write a story about it's weekend.

Punishment really, an extra essay to write. Not to mention it was all in a little booklet, so you could look and back and see if you were keeping up with the Joneses. All rather dull if you didn't go and watch your granny do her first parachute jump/play as a child prodigy with the Royal Philharmonic/achieve a black belt in tae kwando/go to your child modelling photo shoot for vogue etc etc

Ah yes, this reminds me of the competative holidaying with Dogga and Doggem, the class 'pets' who children could take on holiday with them. Those two grubby and rather snooty pets had amazing holidays (with photographic evidence no less) of globe-trotting adventures in New York, Sydney, Jo'burg etc, etc. We took them for a camping weekend in the New Forest. They were not happy and refused to come away with us again.

I don't think star of the week is a good idea as it is very much a case of everyone gets a turn and I don't see the point in that. Ds1 was very upset in year 1 because we got to the last week and he hadn't received it and all the other children had. He eventually received it on the last day, I think his teacher remembered at the last minute.

The school where my friends children go issue merits for a good piece of work or particularly good behaviour and the child with the most merits receives an achievement award at the end of the year. This makes more sense.

I've just started a thread linked to star of the week upset, I think I may have been the thread below

I absolutely think schools should abolish it, the trouble it causes. DD1 always gets a certificate every year without fail but because it's only one person a week and what have you, some of hers have been for really stupid things she does all the time anyway, and then in weeks she's done something really spectacular she hasn't got it because someone else did too. And then DD2 has worked hard all year, hasn't got one and now she seems to have ended up on the 'underachieving' list just because she hasn't got her name in the gold book when her report says she's overachieving. It just seems ludicrous to me.

Every child should have the opportunity to win star of the week, but not every child should have a turn to win it for the sake of it.

I suppose to some parents who have children upset that they've never won it, it can seem more trouble than it is worth. However when you've got a group of children underachieving it is a valuable tool to get them to reach their potential.

We can all look back and say "I never needed that" etc... but educators are under far more pressure to push children harder and children are under far more pressure to achieve. I'm 24 and have had the pleasure of working in the same school I attended. My first teacher showed me her planning from the days she qualified... she literally chose what to teach her students and wrote it in a book, nowadays planning is annoyingly meticulous. The reason star of the week exists is because we have to find some way to engage students somehow. I think it's safe to say the education minister has made it harder for them then you had it.