calling all UP parents....

[thisisyesterday]

does anyone have or can any of you find, any links regarding "star of the day" type rewards in schools and why they are not good????

why are they not good?

over the course of the year every pupil will get one, so why are they not good?

they de-motivate, they teach children that their worth lies in a sticker on the wall, that their success depends on the failure of others, that even if they've done their hardest and been on their best behaviour they might not be "star of the day" (so 2why bother trying?), because they don't teach a child to work hard and behave nicely because it's a good thing to do- but because they might get an award.

hence me asking for UP parents in the title but thank you for the bump anyway

I've found this although it might not be quite what you are looking for:
www.naturalchild.org/jan_hunt/rewards.html
(John Holt is quoted in that article too so it may be worth looking at his books)

Have you looked at "Punished By Rewards" by Alfie Kohn? I haven't read it but the title alone sounds interesting.

I think this is something different though, isn't it? The star of the day isn't even about recognising good behaviour or individual achievement, it's a process which "rewards" each child, pretty much at random - I understand that that week's child is chosen because he or she has been "good" but if they have to choose every child once then how can they predict each child's best week in that year? What do they do when two children are equally good? What happens if a child is awarded the star of the week and then two weeks later they do something even better, but it's nearly the last week of term and the "naughty" child of the class has yet to be chosen?

exactly BB, a friend wants to talk to her little boy's teacher about it as he has been extremely upset at not being star of the day despite being super good! this is in nursery too, so not really even old enough to understand that he'll get to be it eventually.

have already had a good trawl through AK's website and found a few bits :)

just going to read your link now

At nursery? Well that just seems ridiculous! While I could see the point of a star or sticker chart at a nursery/school to encourage good behaviour (even if I don't agree with it) - what on earth is the benefit of this star of the day? I don't get it

Surely it is encouraging competition as well? Is that not frowned upon under EYFS?

What is an UP parent?

I think you are reading way way way too much into it all and the little boy in question should learn and be taught to be pleased for others efforts as well as appreciating his own. I think it's the parent who is upset more!!

Poor teacher - ban it as my little boy is upset - ridiculous, but if he had been star of the day he would have been delighted no doubt with no regard to anyone else in the class.

Is she going to march in with some research of the internet; how dreadfull. Anyone can Google anything to get the answers/research they want to make a point. Waving some printed pages of the internet is not the way to talk to a teacher. 'Your friend' needs to talk to the teacher and understand how the system is used, the approach and context.

After all everyone in a 100m sprint works really hard but there is only one winner.

carocaro, you're being ridiculous. you have no idea what I am talking about

go and educate yourself on unconditional parenting, THEN come back and debate the pros and cons if you like

Alfie Kohn's website is VERY well referenced. it isn't just "awful research off the internet"

I don't mind discussing it with you, but as you have NO knowledge of it it's kind of pointless.