PART FIVE: CORRELATION BETWEEN OLYMPIAN STARS AND INVITATIONAL EDUCATION

Chapter 12. INCREASED OPPORTUNITIES FOR USE OF; Incentives Praise and Rewards

In 1992 a study of five diverse North Carolina Middle Schools and their efforts to bring about positive changes with At-Risk Students Through Invitational Education found faculty members reported improvements and beautification of school facilities, more community involvement and increased use of incentives, praise and rewards.

All five teams reported that their schools could be characterised as having more "family-type" atmosphere in their schools, increased teamwork and collaboration and modifications in discipline policies which included clear consequences and more positive reinforcement.

Olympian Star Token Guidance System creates more opportunities to use incentives from a reward menu of privileges and treats that lead to school improvements, greater use and beautification of school facilities, and more community involvement.

The awarding of token Olympian Stars to each student up to five times a day for successfully accepting and achieving the teachers inviting acts, gives teachers many more opportunities to convey unconditional love by making eye contact, physical contact such as patting or shaking hands, focused attention and giving feedback.

Most important of all the awarding of Olympian Stars throughout the day, establishes the climate and relationships within which the impact of skills can be maximised.

However, more critical than the mode of organisation is the quality and character of the discourse between teacher and pupil. Like discourse everywhere, the classroom version varies enormously in pace, richness and effectiveness. It is the nature of the interaction, which matters most.

What ever the purpose and manner of his or her interaction, the teacher is conveying values and expectations, for example of appropriate behaviour, the nature of knowledge, how ideas should be handled, what counts as achievement in learning, and how adults and children should relate to each other.

Olympian Stars enables teachers to focus on the power and quality of this discourse and the nature of the values and to attending to deeper layers of professional skill.²

Olympian Stars gives Teachers more Opportunities for Autonomous Professional Judgement

Good teachers are necessarily autonomous in professional judgement. They do not need to be told what to do. They are not professionally the dependants of researchers, of superintendents, of innovators or supervisors. This does not mean that they do not welcome access to ideas created by other people at other places or in other times. Nor do they reject advice, consultancy or support. But they do know that ideas and people are not much real use until they are digested to the point where they are subject to the teacher's own judgement. In short, it is the task of all educationalists outside the classroom to serve the teachers; for only teachers are in a position to create good teaching. (Stonehouse, 1984, p.69).

Olympian Stars Enables Teachers to Implement Invitational Education into their Schools

Traditionally, efforts to effect change have been predicated on altering people's attitude as a prerequisite. There is considerable evidence that such an approach is self-defeating. Unless people get involved and "muck around" in a new process, or at least witness their colleague's involvement, change will not occur. Similarly, if one waits to initiate change until every one is included, it could be a long wait.

The solution is "ad hoc" committees and pilot projects. Rather than establishing permanent structure for change, people who think politically start with an "ad hoc" group of members who are willing to experiment. The more broadly representative of the various sub cultures of a school the better. Politically astute leaders let such groups pilot innovative ideas. They provide support, profile, and rigorous evaluation of the process. As others begin to show interest, these leaders encourage involvement. At the same time, they let participants know that not everything will be a success. When things go "off the rails" they help people try again. Followers and developers of invitational theory know the importance of "I can" for students. This belief is as important if not more important with adults who also need to nurture their self-concepts. (Dean Fink).

Olympian Stars Promote Inviting Teacher Characteristics and Teacher Effectiveness

School systems that attempt to respond to outside pressures of accountability have an obligation to seek changes that make schools and teaching more effective. Any factor, administrators should carefully consider including affective factors, proven to have an impact on the degree of teacher effectiveness.

Sabine's (1977) teacher effectiveness research demonstrated that students prosper under two teacher characteristics; teachers challenging students, and teachers caring for students. (Challenge of another Olympian Star Award).

Lunenburg and Schmidt (1989) defined quality of life in school as the students' satisfaction with school, commitment to class work, and students' reactions to teachers. Their research supported the hypothesis that custodial pupil control ideology, defined here as disinviting teaching, was related to unfavourable quality of school life. In contrast, humanistic or inviting teaching was correlated to favourable quality of school life.

Willower and Laurence (1979) found a significant relationship between teacher-perceived threats and "custodialism" of teachers. The custodial orientation favours a rigid and highly controlled setting concerned primarily with the maintenance of order. According to these researchers, impersonality, pessimism, and "watchful mistrust" imbue the atmosphere of the custodial school. The greater the perceived threat to teacher status, the greater the custodialism. Licata (1980) found a positive relationship between humanistic acts and classroom robustness. Robustness involved interest level, "eventfulness", and the stimulation of the class. The researches concluded that high interest levels, eventfulness, stimulation in these robust classrooms clearly make them interesting places that do not require strict control.

Lundenburg (1983) found a direct relationship between custodialism or disinviting acts in teacher's pupil control ideology and children's projections of rejections and hostility onto teachers. They also found that inviting acts on the part of teachers were related to low student rejection of teachers. More humanistic schools had less student alienation. Humanistic control ideology and an open school climate were positively related to motivation among teachers.

Olympian Star Awards and the humanistic inviting acts involved, create a benevolent climate that leads to better teaching and teaching effectiveness.

A custodial pupil control ideology stresses the maintenance of order, impersonality, unilateral-downward communication, distrust of students, and a punitive, moralistic orientation toward the control of students. At the other end of the scale, a humanistic pupil control orientation emphasises the psychological and sociological bases of learning and behaviour, an accepting, trustful view of students, and confidence in their ability to be self-disciplining and responsible.

The Compatibility of the Invitational Model with Olympian Star Tokens

The primary aim of Invitational Education was to encourage educators to establish relationships that valued students and viewed all students as capable of learning.

An expanded vision predicts the emergence of the Human Age. The human Age is a period of evolution when people, institutions, and organisations begin to focus on the tremendous potential of human beings to create beneficial relationships in schools and other settings. During the Human Age, the primary aim is to cultivate relationships and nurture environments in which emerge the higher order behaviours of loving, thinking, and sound physical health.³