Course Description for EDY 428 Assertive Discipline
The course aims to add value to the teaching and learning and classroom management practices of teachers (in-service students).Assertive Discipline (AD) is considered as best practice for teachers the world over. Thus, learning in this course will further provide the opportunity for teachers to creating conducive learning environments for effective teaching and learning outcomes for children.
The course provides teachers the opportunity to explore the theoretical underpinnings of Assertive Discipline (AD) and its principles and critically analyse the practices of AD and adopt them into their own practices. AD is considered as a systematic approach to classroom management and is designed to assist teachers apply best practices in dealing with students’ behaviour in order to create optimal learning environment that enhances and maximises students learning. AD is a classroom management model developed by Lee and Marlene Canter and brought it to prominence in the 1990s when teachers and schools were ‘failing to control student behaviour’. AD has developed over time from somewhat an authoritarian approach to behaviour management to one that is now more democratic and co-operative.
Central to AD is the belief that the teacher has the right to determine what is best for the class, and to expect compliance. Students also have the right to know the teachers’ expectations and comply by behaving appropriately in ways that promote conducive classroom learning environments. In other words, students' behaviour should not inhibit the teacher from effective teaching or deny another student the opportunities to learn. Hence, AD is built on effective relationship between the teacher and students. Teachers and students need to create and maintain an effective and efficient learning environment. The goal for teachers is to act assertively as opposed to being aggressive or non-assertive.
The assessment tasks are designed to further expand the idea of AD and its application in in typical PNG classroom and school settings.
- Lecturer/Tutor: Alwyn Kawona