TITLE OF GOOD PRACTICE:

Supervision of the pupils

KEYWORDS:

Education, monitoring, supervision, follow-up, care, dialog

GOOD PRACTICE TYPOLOGY:

School project

TARGET GROUPS:

1300 students of the school

WORKING GROUP COORDINATING THE INITIATIVE:

Institut Marie-Thérèse (IMT), Liège, Belgium.
Catholic Secondary school

COUNTRY WHERE IT TOOK PLACE:

Belgium

LANGUAGE OF THE REVIEW:

English

DEFINITION OF TARGET GROUP:

Parents, Teachers, Young People.

DESCRIPTION OF THE GOOD PRACTICE:

This school offers a technical and vocational training in the following fields: economy, applied sciences, arts and design, human services.

It is the choice of the school (headmaster and school organising authority) to invest in the supervision staff.

In this school, almost 9% of the total number of education staff is dedicated to the supervision, when the decree of the French Community only plans 3%. This figure has been exceeded with the agreement of the works council.

The supervisory staffs include supervisory assistants (educators, rector, chief supervisor…), as well as a numerous administrative staff (reception, library, regularity, external activities, informatics…) that allows the first ones to entirely devote themselves to their educative task. All together, 27 persons are devoted to the supervision of pupils.

The supervisory assistants act in two different ways: prevention in the beginning of the school year, direct intervention as soon as a fact is brought to their attention.

 

Prevention at the beginning of the school year

The rector runs, in each class, a preventive PowerPoint in which the bullying problems between pupils are broached.

Too often, the bullied pupils keep mum or speak only when they don’t control the situation anymore and when the problem has become very serious.

Intervention and sanction

As soon as a precise fact is brought to the attention of a supervisory assistant, he/she takes it on.

There is always a follow-up whatever the problem is, individual or collective, and even if it is about a minor fact (i.e. a pupil always complains because his/her cap is always stolen during the break).

There is no standard practice, but a response is given individually.

Types of complaints

From the less serious to the most serious: work not done, class skipping… to vexation, insult, fight and racket…

Complaints management

It is made in several steps :

1. First listening of the parties (concerned pupils, prospective teachers)


2. Writing of an “incident report”. Each concerned pupil is asked to write down his/her version of the facts


3. Rereading of the report with the pupil and definitive statement of the complaint


4. Second listening of the parties by the rector


5. Listening of the prospective witnesses and statement of their testimony in an “incident report”


6. Meeting or phone contact with the parents, if needed


7. Statement of the sanction

 

The level of the sanction changes according to the seriousness of the problem.

This one can be a simple verbal observation, an observation in the homework diary or detention, exclusion within the school, dismissing at home or even definitive expulsion.

The sanction is the solution of first intervention, but in some cases, it does not solve nothing and additional measures have to be imagined: school project with the chief supervisor’s support, meeting of teachers, call to the psycho-medico-social workers, call to the family planning for self-esteem, social, affective and sexual relationship, or call to the police or the local policeman if the school knows that some phenomena can occur outside the school.

In the case of averred sexual harassment, theft, insult or violence… the pupil is advised to file a claim and the rector can transmit his/her file to the police.

When it turns out that the complaint is difficult to manage (the rector has not a clear view enough of the problem, he does not know how to react, what kind of sanction to be given…) he can be helped by the “chief supervisor”.

The chief supervisor has a double mission :

1. Internal mediator: conflicts between pupils or between teachers. For this reason he can attend the interviews for the complaints management and advise the rector on the response to give. For instance, a school or class project, as the “hook on” project in order to re-motivate the pupils.


2. Decryption mission. Ex. he has an individual meeting with all the adult pupils of the 3rd and 4th classes.

RESULTS:

When the education assistants intervene, the problem is finally solved. There are no reprisals between the pupils subsequently.

The real bullying problems between pupils are few (only 2 cases in 2010, when many conflicting situations could have led to).

INDICATORS:

Detection protocol, Intervention protocol, Disciplinary methods, Classroom management, Whole-school anti-bullying policy, Peer support.

EVALUATION:

This example shows a whole-school policy oriented both toward prevention and intervention that substantially reduces bullying facts within the school (and even outside). By reacting to the slightest fact reported, the device implemented in the school allows to deactivate the conflicting situations that could degenerate into more serious bullying phenomena.
Nevertheless we should acknowledge that not all the schools can (or want to) acquire a so impressive device (27 persons dedicated to pupils’ supervision).
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REFERENCES TO OTHER EVALUATION:

School website http://www.imt-liege.be/qui_sommes_nous.html

NAME OF COMPILER:

Martine PRIGNON

NAME OF INSTITUTION:

INFOREF

ROLE:

Projects realization