The Horse Whisperer is called in to tame children

Education chiefs back film hero to improve discipline
It was immortalised on film by Robert Redford - the story of a Canadian who tamed wild horses with near-mystical sounds and signs. Now the techniques revealed in The Horse Whisperer are to be harnessed to improve discipline in school classrooms. Sir Mike Tomlinson, the former chief inspector of schools who headed the government's review of A levels, is one convert, as is Dr Elisabeth Passmore, a former Ofsted director of inspection.

Monty Roberts, the original whisperer who inspired the film and has tamed more than 70,000 wild horses, flew to Britain last week to hold a three-day workshop for Global Education Management Systems (Gems), one of the biggest operators of independent schools in the UK. Gems hopes that its teachers will agree to adopt his ideas.

'Some people might think it's wacky to turn to an approach best known for horses, but this also has interesting things to say about children,' said Tomlinson. 'We think it's worthwhile listening to Roberts's opinions and to expose our headteachers to different and interesting people who have ideas that might be of use to them,

'We want to try everything that is innovative and interesting for headteachers; we want to encourage them to question current practice. We want to explore difficult and different areas [in education].'

In Roberts's programme, children are encouraged to draw up two contracts: one for positive, the other for negative, behaviour. If they behave badly, they know precisely the penalty they pay, such as a missed playtime, because they will have negotiated this in their contract.

The key to Roberts's approach to horses is what he calls 'join-up': the moment a wild horse chooses to initiate contact and nuzzles the trainer. He said teachers must achieve an identical moment of breakthrough with children.

'It takes a leap of faith because here's a cowboy with ways of working with horses, then he starts talking about children,' he said. 'It's a difficult leap for some people, but not for me.

'I am not for a moment suggesting that animals and humans are the same but, psychologically speaking, their behavioural patterns have more similarities than they have differences.

'Horses and children are almost identical emotionally and psychologically: they are both flight animals who wish to avoid trouble, but will become first bashful, then aggressive, if intimidated.'

According to Roberts, the main fault with most education systems is that they call for a high level of achievement in children, then punish them for not succeeding.

'We used whips to punish horses for not doing what we decided they must do, and we use words to punish children for exactly the same reason,' he said. 'I enable the children to create their own road map to excellence, and then my role is to help them achieve what it is they want. Sure, there will be children who draw up a mediocre road map, but most children, when treated right, will excel to a higher level than we could have predicted.'

Pat Preedy, executive principal of Sherfield School in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and Gems's director of training and research, came across these ideas five years ago. 'I was sceptical about transferring Roberts's theories from horses to children until I saw him persuading a wild horse to make a connection with him out of sheer respect. Then the penny dropped,' she said. 'I realised that if we get it right with children, it could be utterly inspirational.'

Preedy, who has introduced Roberts's theories at Sherfield, invited him to demonstrate his skills to the heads and teachers of all 13 Gems schools in Britain.

'The Monty Roberts approach helps bring out children's potential by encouraging them to take responsibility for their actions, free from the threat of violence, punish ment or even raised voices,' she said. 'This is not a soft option. Monty is very kind, but extremely firm about children understanding the consequences of their actions. The most effective discipline is when the children have discussed it and agreed to it.

'Monty teaches us how to have a positive relationship between the children, and between children and teachers. He enables children to realise they are responsible in their own learning.'

Lee Sanders, the head of another Gems school, Brabyns Preparatory in Marple, Cheshire, is also planning to adopt Roberts's ideas. 'Obviously children are much cleverer than horses, but this is not a matter of talking to them, but getting into their minds and talking to them non-verbally,' he said.

'I have taken Monty's advice on avoiding direct eye contact with children and not facing them square on,' said Julie Lawford, a teacher at Brabyns for 20 years. 'I have realised that just as that sort of interaction is intimidating for horses, so it is for children.

'The contracts form a bond between teacher and pupils, and help children to respect themselves.'

[[[[BOX Monty Roberts: from stable to classroom

How do you talk to a horse?

'You don't talk to them with sound; you speak as though you were speaking to the deaf, with gestures. It's their language, not mine.'

Monty Roberts

The Queen is a fan of Monty Roberts, having seen him work with her racehorses. She encouraged him to write his first book in 1996 and found him a publisher. He has a farm in California, where he has 300 horses. He and wife Pat have fostered 47 children and have three of their own.

His autobiography, The Man Who Listens to Horses, was a bestseller from 1998 to 2000. Shy Boy: The Horse That Came in from the Wild followed in 2000. Horse Sense for People and From My Hands to Yours: Lessons from a Lifetime of Training Championship Horses, co-written with Jean Abernethy, were published in 2002.

Roberts was brutalised by his father, and compares his anger then to the feelings of horses forced into submission. [[[[[END BOX]

Amelia Hill
13 March, 2005

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1436542,00.html

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