Affective Psychological States

As I was reading Bracher’s book Radical Pedagogy Identity, Generatively, and Social Transformation, I found myself reflecting on our education system and how it attempts to meet the needs of children and their affective - psychological states. Although some may disagree, I don’t believe that our current education system has put in place effective resources and supports that will enhance students learning through supporting their psychological states.

There are so many learning styles and psychological states within our large class sizes that it is near impossible for one person to teach to all of the students needs. The lack of support and resources available in schools may be due in part to the fact that for the past number of years the education system has been going through a transformation. With more research and studies being conducted we are learning what works and what doesn’t based on the current needs of students. Administration and teachers in the education system are aware that the system is not currently working to its full potential and that things need to change but they are not sure how to do it. A large part of decision making in the education system is based on budgets and money and not with the best interests and needs of individuals in mind. Resources and supports are expensive, so they are often cut out of the budget which also cuts out the best interests of the individuals in the system. As a parent and as someone who is involved in the education system this is very frustrating for me.  What investment is more important than our young people who will ultimately shape our future?

Everything that I am learning in this class I can relate to my seven year old son who last year was diagnosed with ADHD.  I seem to be able to put everything in context when I relate to him. His diagnosis has given me an entirely new understanding of affective - psychological states and the effect they have on learning, social interaction and all aspects of life. Bracher states in his book that affective - psychological states such as hyper-arousal “make it difficult if not impossible to learn”. http://www.amazon.ca/Radical-Pedagogy-Identity-Generativity-Transformation/dp/0230621112/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332184211&sr=8-1 p 32. This has been our experience with our son.

Bracher also states in his book that we see the importance of affective-psychological states when they interfere with learning http://www.amazon.ca/Radical-Pedagogy-Identity-Generativity-Transformation/dp/0230621112/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332184211&sr=8-1 p 32. It was not until our son began school that we became aware that there was more to his struggles than we were able to help him with on our own. Prior to him beginning school he had a tremendous amount of energy that we tried to channel through lots of activities but when he began school and conformity was mandatory there were problems. Although he is a bright child, he could not concentrate for extended periods of time and he was not able to sit for any length of time. His condition was clearly having an impact on his learning, his social life and also on his identity. He became so used to getting in trouble for not sitting, not doing his work and being disruptive it was almost as if he gave up on trying to conform, and he began to seek recognition for the negative behaviors he was getting attention from. Perhaps without noticing, the teacher  labeled him, the students were beginning to label him and so were their parents. He was starting to not sleep at night, have night terrors and his personality was beginning to change, he was accepting his new identity and he was becoming a different child. That is when we knew we had to seek help. To some extent we are still dealing with the effects of his experience. I think it is important that we as educators realize the impact we can have on an individual’s life in such a short period of time. It almost seems impossible that what may seem like such small experience can have such an effect on us, but I think we can all recall experiences in our own education that did have an impact on our lifelong learning and our school experiences. Many have related to such experiences in these blogs.

The public school system is challenging for our son because it is not able to provide the resources and support to his hyper-aroused affective-psychological state. He is not eligible to have a teacher’s assistant with him nor does he require one full time. However, like many other children he does require extra guidance. Following verbal directions and staying on task can be challenging for him. He also needs extra guidance in social settings because not only is he hyper- active, he is also hyper-sensitive which often leads to miscommunications amongst him and his peers. Affective-psychological states such as hyper-arousal which cause impulsive behaviors that demonstrate a lack of control can be almost unimaginable for someone who has never experienced it. This is why it is so important for us as educators to be aware of various affective-psychological states and the impact they have on learning. However, it is not enough of the educators to be aware, the system also needs to put in place the resources and supports that will enable the educators to tailor their teaching styles to meet the needs and best interests of the individual.

I do believe that the education system has recognized that individuals do have independent needs, which is why they have developed programs such as IPP’s for children who are struggling. However, creating more paper work and outcomes for teachers is not the answer and it only adds to their already large work load. I believe that they are trying to promote independent, interactive hands on learning because they are learning from research that it works. However, increasing class sizes, decreasing the number of teacher assistants and cutting funding is not going to enable any improvements! In order to improve the education system, money can’t be the determining factor. Providing the resources, supports and the education required to make this transformation complete and successful will cost more money especially in the beginning. However, as a result teachers will be able to teach to the needs of the students creating healthy and supportive learning environments.