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Week 7 : Democratic approaches - Glasser

Glasser on Choice Theory and Quality Schools

a democratic classroom management model
William Glasser(link) has been and continues to be a major influence in the creation of more democratic school systems that incorporate learning systems based on meeting students needs and interests while emphasising mastery in key competencies, and discipline systems designed to correct and guide students towards behaviour that helps them achieve the 'quality' world which they hold as their goal.

The two main areas for which he has been widely noted are Choice Theory(link) and Quality Schools(link). While Choice Theory provides a framework for teachers to work within classrooms and with individual students, Quality Schools looks at the bigger picture about how we approach teaching and learning within the classroom and school setting. Many of his teachings are incorporated into forward thinking for education by people such as Sir Ken Robinson(link).

Implications for schools in the area of curriculum design, structure and assessment are considerable if the ideas of Glasser are to be adopted. Many alternative and some mainstream schools have made the move to establish a Quality School(link) with varying degrees of success - depending on the buy-in from all staff and the flexibility of the wider school system in which they are based. The role of standardised testing and the need for assessment to reflect the goals of a differientiated curriculum are also raised with a look at the lasted statistics from the PISA(link) and TIMMS(link) websites.
Powerpoint of this week's lecture looking at the Glasser's work with Control Theory, Quality Schools and Reality Therapy. Pdf version of the presentation
(Suitable for printing)
Sir Ken Robinson extends many of the arguments made by Glasser into the present day. This presentation is entertaining and thought provoking as it focusses on an image of education into the future.


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