Dr Doyle's Delicate Dilemmas - Schools Edition

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Dear Dr Doyle, We have positioned ourselves as having taken “a zero-tolerance" approach to bullying and harassment for as long as I can remember. I’m a recently appointed DH Pastoral and I’d like to reframe this because I think it’s contributing to an underground cancel culture amongst the pupils. What are your thoughts on zero-tolerance approaches???

Hiya! Love this question. Zero-tolerance policies really did come from a great place and I think have helped moved the pastoral and safeguarding line over the past few years. But yes, I agree with you, they're not implementable and can cause issues internally in terms of the nuance. I would second your perception that they're causing an underground cancel culture - I often refer to this as vigilante justice between pupils e.g. being removed from group chats, parties and being ignored. If we take it in the context of sexism, it can led boys to double down on their opinions and at its extreme can lead to openness to incel-type behaviour.

In terms of reframing it, I think it's worth exploring what your reality actually is - what would you do if a pupil were to say something homophobic, racist, ableist etc, what are the mitigating factors, how does restorative justice play out and then adapt your policy. Also involve your pupils in finding solutions to this.

Then communicating what moving away from zero-tolerance means will be key - it doesn't mean we now accept x, y or z. It means that we consider multiple factors when we receive a report of bullying or harassment.

Let me know if you'd like some more specific or tailored guidance - happy to help! It's not a small shift.

Dear Dr Doyle, I’m a white male teacher, and one of the pupils is I teach is a Black mixed-race boy, aged 13 or so. He’s quite reserved and has changeable self-esteem – he quite quickly switches off if he feels like teachers are being critical of him. Last term, he told me that he was giving out N-word passes and that I could have one. I politely declined, but upon reflection think I should have been more curious about what he was doing and why. Is it too late to engage with him on it??

Hi! Thanks for submitting your conundrum. Students handing out n-word passes is really common, and I often get asked some variation of this question!

If you've not already discussed this with your senior pastoral and safeguarding teams then I'd definitely recommend doing so soon. What do your school policies say about this sort of situation?

In terms of your ongoing relationship with the pupil: it's never too late to engage with pupils with regards to their identity, especially when you have a good working relationship with them. And you don't necessarily have to bring it back to this situation. Although, I think it's perfectly valid to say that you've been thinking about that situation and you were wondering where the idea came from? Ask a series of open, curious questions without being too critical in the first instance.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with connecting the self-esteem and sense of belonging with the giving out of the N-word pass. That's where I'd be curious to explore with him why he's giving them out.

Also you mentioned you're White - if that is causing you hesitancy to engage then please allow yourself to be curious about that child's experience without it being white adult experience v Black child experience.

I often say that there's always more than one opportunity to intervene. Talk to your senior colleagues, tell them what I've suggested and then come up with a plan together.

All the best

If you'd like to have your conundrum answered in future versions of Dr Doyle's Delicate Dilemmas then please head to this link

Contact me: hello @ enyadoyle.com