Paul Dix

Are any teachers struggling to agree with Paul Dix practise? We’re you consulted before it was implemented?

 

His name rings a bell - is a Bill Rodgers, Jason Bangbhala ( sp ) ,Hook ( first name escapes me ) ‘ on the circuit ‘type of ‘consultant ‘ ?

 

He wrote the book When the adult changes everything changes. Lots of schools seem to have jumped on the bandwagon.

 

Ahh I shall familiarise myself with his approach . I recall when ‘ Assertive Discipline’ was doing the rounds

 

Maybe I am being cynical but I wonder how many teachers will be sacrificed on the pursuit of this one (by the bright young things).

 

I don't believe there is any such thing.

The chap wrote a book with some good ideas in.
Some ideas are better suited to secondary schools, some to EYFS, some to somewhere in the middle.
Some ideas are best suited to schools with largely middle class, no EAL schools, some to more diverse schools.
Some ideas suit some classes and some suit others.

And school which uses a book of ideas as a whole school, total policy is just plain daft.
But that is the fault of the school not the author of the book.

 

Heard him speak twice, one thing I noticed, and he even commented on at one stage, was that he often contradicted himself. I don't believe that he has a method. He was I believe suggesting ideas, and that in some circumstances they work, but in others they don't.

I have seen ideas imported from a school were they worked well, to another were they were quietly dropped because they didn't. There is no magic formula!

 

A bit of context would have been nice! It's annoying when people just presume that we all have the same level of knowledge on a topic.

 

I am. I’ve left after 30 years of teaching. Dreadfully sad.

 

Reading the first half of his book, I was having a little giggle to myself at how things wouldn’t quite fit! Fabulous walking (or whatever it’s called) wouldn’t work at all in some of the settings I’ve worked in!
The 2nd half/ looking out for the “over/above children” made more sense.

 

Lol! It's called pivotal. Just a whole bunch of common sense wrapped up in eduspeak. Got to admire the man( I think his wife is involved) schools actually pay money for "training" to implement this common sense approach.

 

Peter Hook, an excellent speaker, entertaining, with some good lines to use with kids. Not worth the money schools have to pay for his training sessions but one of the most entertaining cpd sessions I've had in recent years.

 

He was belting in New Order - nice to see he's got a new gig...

 

I think that was one of his lines!

 

Does he still look like a German U Boat Captain?

 

When I say recent years, I mean last 10 years, I can't remember what he looks like at all, just an engaging personality.

 

Sorry I meant the other Peter Hook. Was a gag.

 

We had the Pivotal training in my FE college last year. Not a lot new to me as a long serving teacher experienced in euphemistically labelled challenging schools but seized on by the non specialists and young teachers in the team. Kudos, I suppose, that he and his wife have turned this into a money spinning idea.

 

I read Paul Dix's book Taking Care of Behaviour and took the online course of the same name. The book is now out of print.

As CTB suggests, the author puts forward ideas some of which will work and in some contexts and not in others and it is not a method or practice, but simply some methods or ideas try and see which ones work in the context you are in. Some of the things he puts forward in the Taking Care of Behaviour work and a lot of it isn't anything novel or what others haven't written about before: for example, the importance of establishing routines and he sets out some ways of doing it.

I enjoyed the book and it is a shame it is out of print because I would recommend it.