can be great, too
Article | Published in The TES on 29 April 2011 | By: Catherine Paver
“Brilliant!”
Really? Are you sure? Praise is a powerful drug. It makes everyone feel
great - those who give it as well as those who take it. But do we ever
think about its long-term effects?
Of course praise is important. It motivates, boosts
confidence and therefore builds independence. Praise creates good relationships
between teachers and pupils. It’s free, it’s easy and it works. Yet
when did praise become so extreme?
“Fantastic! Right, class, excellent, facing this way, that’s great…”
There is nothing wrong with being positive, but if you constantly use
superlatives, there is nowhere to go when something truly is brilliant.
You have made everyone feel great but you have devalued your own currency.
What is wrong with encouragement, constructive criticism and praise
where it’s due? Disproportionate praise can sound slightly demented.
This term, as we prepare our pupils for their exams, it is tempting
to be lavish with praise. “Praise five times for every criticism!” is
one daft example of this. A lot of kids can count to five. So they see
our game and rightly lose respect for us. Instead of having to work
for our approval, it is almost as if we are working for theirs. This
is nuts, but nobody challenges it because it’s all about being positive,
right?
Yet just imagine what all this is like for our pupils.
They take their exams pumped up with praise, then bounce around in praise-filled
air on results day. Then they enter a world of few jobs, less praise
and “Can I have a word? This report needs re-doing”. Praise is a powerful
drug; overpraise is a dangerous one. We should measure our doses with
care.
“There is no such whetstone, to sharpen a good wit and encourage a will
to learning, as is praise.” So wrote Roger Ascham in The Schoolmaster,
published in 1570. His words imply a keen edge to praise and intelligence
in its use. Praise can be cunning. You can burden a naughty child with
your good opinion; trap a lazy one in your high expectations. “You’re
perfectly capable of this” contains praise, but it also carries a push
towards future goals.
Jesus, one of the greatest teachers in history, very rarely used praise. In fact, he often sounds exasperated. “O ye of little faith…Do ye not yet understand, neither remember?” Jesus “taught them as one having authority”. He would somehow have had less if he had kept saying “O well done!” to his disciples.
Are we supposed to be as sparing as Jesus in our praise, then? No - just calibrate it more carefully. And, crucially, check now and then that pupils understand what they are being praised for.
Praise needs a dimmer switch. There is nothing wrong with a simple “Yup, that’s it” or a frank “No, but close”. Then when you do say, “Ah, now that’s good,” it will mean a lot, because the recipients of your praise will know that it is true.
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