Talk 1 | Creating a Space

Talk 1 – Creating a Space

‘To Sir, with Love’ is a 1959 autobiographical novel by E.R. Braithwaite, made into a movie of the same title.   In the mid 1960’s, Mark Thackeray, played by actor Sidney Poitier, an immigrant from British Guiana, accepts a teaching position for a Year 12 class at a school in the tough area of the East End of London.  The pupils have been rejected from other schools and Thackeray is an interim replacement with no teacher training, as he has been unable to get a job as an engineer.  The students are unmotivated to learn and only semi-literate.  They attempt to discourage and demoralise him by their disruptive noises and their bad behaviour.

After losing his temper, he tries a new approach and sets some ground rules about the culture of the class.  As they will soon be leaving school and enter adult society, he will treat them as adults and in return, he demands respect.  Over the course of the movie, he creates a space where the students become more engaged in their learning and begin to treat one another with dignity and respect.  They learn a new way.

Mr Thackeray created a space in the classroom, which was their Monday to Friday home, a place of hospitality, where he offered them a new way of seeing themselves and others.  When the entire class leaves school, they buy him a silver tankard with a card inscribed ‘To Sir, with love’.  Thackeray comes across as a real person who embodies self‑discipline, respect and integrity, who refused to accept bad behaviour.

If we think of teaching as an act of hospitality that fosters positive relationships and our students are our guests, it is important for each of us to reflect on the kind of home we are making in our classroom.  This space is not the physical space “but the space we carry with us” [1] where students trust that we will seek to do our best for them.  In our culture where our students are bombarded by false messages and people’s lives are increasingly unmoored from relationships with others, discipline is about evaluating and challenging the way the world works.  If love is the heart of people, then discipline is the skeleton, giving it structure and protection.  In the school, loving is centred in the patterns and practices of the faith community, woven together in a coherent, consistent and sustained way of life.

In developing a class community, where grace, forgiveness and justice are practised, the teachers trust that the Spirit of God will work in the lives of the students, so they might understand and embrace the love of God because of their experience where selfishness is replaced by the virtues of the Kingdom of God. Students can flourish and grow to wholeness if they are raised in a community where they experience caring relationships and where clear instructions are given on how‑to‑live in accordance with God’s truth (Deuteronomy 6: 4 – 7).  The culture of the school community – its relationships, its discipline practices and acts of service, provide the environment in which students are encouraged to be responsive to the work of God’s Spirit in their lives.

Therefore, in developing a class community marked by the love of God, teachers need to ask:

“What kind of class culture nurtures the growth of students?”

“What is the role of discipline in supporting the growth of students?”

Creating this space is the context for the outworking of the purpose of discipline, to train students in the way of Jesus.  At its heart, discipline is not about mindless obedience or the control of students.  “Rules and guidelines help us to know what types of behaviours are more likely to build character associated with the Kingdom of God.  But the end result is not primarily obedience (although obedience is an outcome), it is transformation of our character so that our inner being is characterised by love, faith, hope, kindness, humility and gentleness.” [2] As students grow we want them to internalise those patterns and practices that have been imposed upon them in school, so that they learn to live wise and self-controlled lives.

But, like a Bonsai Tree which when grown from seed takes around 10 – 15 years to mature, students growing up can be messy with the journey full of ‘bends in the road’, ‘twists and turns’, struggles and heartbreaks.  As teachers, we face the daily reality of how to discipline well in the midst of a confused and complex culture.  Let us remember as we explore our theme this term, that the Lord promises to be with us and give us wisdom, as we discipline our students in love, recognising that the seeds we sow in their lives may not come to fruition till years later.

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.  From Him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  (Ephesians 4: 15, 16)

Grace and Peace
The Excellence Team

[1]  Editors Ken Goodlet, John Collier & Tony George, Better Learning- trajectories for educators in Christian schools, (Barton ACT: St Marks NTC Publishing, 2017), 165.

[2]  J Pietsch, Character Reborn- A Philosophy of Christian Education, (Sydney: Acorn Press, 2018), 177.