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Canberra Today 12°/16° | Saturday, March 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Kidsplay’s the way to better behaviour, says Des 

Des Linehan… “Imagine how better our society would be if we had kids who could control their impulses and self-regulate their emotions.” Photo: Belinda Strahorn

A BEHAVIOUR education program that does away with rewards and punishments, could be the answer to a more productive and functional society, a retired teacher says.

Des Linehan argues that children need help regulating their emotions, so that, as adults, they can “behave appropriately” in society.

The 63-year-old thinks the “Play is the Way” program, which uses physically interactive games to help school children build character and skills to guide their behaviour in tricky situations, would be a good fit for ACT schools to adopt.

Mr Linehan, now a mentor to vulnerable kids, says helping young people master their emotions is the key to a successful society.

“The most critical skill a child can learn is self-regulation or self-control because this is the chief determinant in a person’s life pathway,” Mr Linehan says.

“Imagine how better our society would be if we had kids who could control their impulses and self-regulate their emotions. There would be less trouble, less police officers, less interventions, less community services and a much more productive and functional society.”

Founded in 1990 by Wilson McCaskill, “Play is the Way” has been embraced by about 250 schools in Australasia, including one ACT public school in Tuggeranong.

Students play three, 20-minute games per session per week, for every week of the school year, Mr Linehan says.

The games, including “bull’s eye”, “team brandy” and “zig zag ball” are coupled with “empowering” language designed to develop students’ cognitive functions helping them make decisions, stick with a task when it becomes difficult and overcome fear when trying something new.

The idea, Mr Linehan says, is to play the games regularly, encouraging students to form “habits”.

“The more the games are played, the more the habits are formed, the more the habits are formed, the more influence we have helping children to be  independent, able to control their emotions and being self-motivated,” he says.

The program does not support rewards such as stickers for good behaviour, Mr Linehan says, but is built around being “authority independent”.

“If you get a kid who learns to manage their behaviour in kindergarten, then by the time they leave in year 6, they don’t need rewards or punishment because they know what to do intrinsically, they know what’s right and what’s wrong and they know how to control themselves, and therefore they do that,” Mr Linehan says.

“Imagine if we had a society like that, if we had authority-independent people, we wouldn’t need as many cops, jails or interventions.”

In fact, Mr Linehan envisages a “half full” Canberra jail in a generation’s time if we can teach kids to successfully control their impulses.

But that will require “systematic” changes to the education system, he says.

“We need to have social and educational reform,” Mr Linehan says.

“We don’t need to overhaul the ACT education system, our teachers do a fantastic job, but we need to provide a formal structured and day-to-day approach, across all schools, when it comes to teaching social and emotional learning.

“This program can be introduced into schools in the ACT straight away, it’s completely dovetailed into the national curriculum; it doesn’t need approval by anyone because it has already been approved.”

Beyond just teaching academics, Mr Linehan argues that schools should equally be fostering students’ development in their relationships, identity, and overall well-being.

“Everyone agrees that social and emotional well-being and educational outcomes are equally as important as each other but there’s no take up by the education department to implement these as a systematic approach,” he says.

Having spent seven years mentoring troubled kids, Mr Linehan believes it is possible to positively change a young person’s life trajectory. 

“If you grow up in a functional home then self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship and decision-making skills are usually modelled by mum and dad,” he says.

“But, sadly, that’s not the case for everyone; there is an extremely dysfunctional part of our society. I think it’s cruel and inhumane that we are not helping these people develop the skills they need so that they can be better human beings and in turn change our whole society.”

Mr Linehan hopes to present his case to ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry in the near future.

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Belinda Strahorn

Belinda Strahorn

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