Paul Dicks

[beepbeepsheep]

Anyone else's school been Dixified? I'd love to know how it went. Our head is very keen. So far the lack of consequences for poor behaviour is leading to chaos. Staff feeling unsupported and unsafe. Kids running riot. I would love to read the chapter in the book about teaching in the aftermath of a fucking pandemic but I haven't found it yet Any experiences? Does it get better? We're past the magical 30 day trial he recommends and it's still shit.

We are a therapeutic school. I'd say that there are still the exact same number of children running riot since we changed, but we're all just more chilled out about it and budget has been allocated accordingly. The children tend to do more work and tend to be in class more of the day, although it's inconsistent. We started last September, so still very new in practice.

I've worked in a school that was Dixified.

I left. Kids were ruling the roost and the wet and pathetic SLT let them. Didn't want to upset the darlings.

Think there was, a while ago now mind, a long thread either here or on tes, if you try a search.

Spoiler alert, everyone agreed it was hairy bollocks.

It's all a big bloody box of fuck and bag of wank.

Nobody stays for long in a Dix school.

Oh I forgot about that TES thread. That was a bit of a scary read. I feel like I'm on a sinking ship. I came home and started looking for jobs today. After crying for a while. I'm a strong person but I can't cope with this shit.

Our school has just been de-dixified. It's a wonderful thing!

Mine did. I left. Poor behaviour was one of several reasons why I could no longer stay there, but it was the final straw. I had been there, and happy to be there for well over 20 years but the Dix behaviour strategy made already worsening student behaviour far, far worse.

The students who want to disrupt are not stupid. They know exactly how to use this behaviour policy to their advantage. The hard core of very poorly behaved students now rule the roost. SLT (when they can be bothered) and the behaviour team spend all day on walkie talkies running after them in the corridors.
Back in the day we had no behaviour admin staff. What we did have were well respected, well paid heads of year who were qualified teachers. We also had a small SLT - and if a student got sent to them because of their behaviour they got dealt with - not offered a nice chat and a cup of hot chocolate.
I really felt for the majority. The well behaved students who wanted to learn but who had lesson after lesson ruined by the vocal minority. The small lesson wrecking minority who got all of the attention, praise when it was not due and constant rewards.
So glad to be out of it now.

Paul dix is a massive wanker and his ideas are BS.

I don’t actually mind some of his ideas, but en masse it just isn’t workable.

Of course you head is keen. Minimum work for them and maximum for the classroom teacher.

I left a school recently that had elements of dick for a school that has no dick - despite a very similar catchment they could not be more different. Dick is failing children.

We are just rolling out a “therapeutic approach”. Bog standard teachers have not had the training yet, but SLT and pastoral leaders are already doing “it”... To us mere mortals it just looks like they are pushing back everything onto class teachers while they swan about meaningfully and the school is descending into complete and utter chaos.
Can’t wait to be trained in the therapeutic approach myself one day, maybe I’ll then get told who to dump all my work on.

This is the thing, it's great for SLT. They can say "we have a nurturing, child focused approach, we've revolutionised behaviour management" and do sweet fuck all while the teachers struggle. A serious incident occurred in my colleague's class today and nothing was done. It's disgraceful.

The problem is that Dix doesn't offer a proper therapeutic approach.

I'm in favour of a therapeutic approach and restorative approaches, done well in the right environment for the right children.

What Dix proposes is some feel good chatter for SLT, who then pass all the issues onto classroom teachers who have to deal with defiance and insolence safe in the knowledge that if they raise an issue their SLT will ask 'but DID you cater for Timothy's interest in gaming into your lesson on Macbeth's soliloquy? No, well that's the problem. Get him on side and next week I'll hopefully see him for a hot chocolate date'.

It's not a restorative or therapeutic approach. It's bullshit designed to make money.

We were dixified about two years ago. We all nodded and smiled and now we've quietly dropped it.