Dr. Gordon, an American Psychologist (11th March 1918 – 26th August 2002), is remembered for his championing and pioneering conflict resolution and communication skills methods to teachers, parents, leaders, youths, among others. Gordon strongly believed in coercive power as a key player in damaging relationships. As an alternative to coercive power, he advocated for teaching communication and conflict resolution skills, which could boost relationships at home, school and work (Gordon, 1975).
These skills included I-messages, active listening and No-Lose Conflict Resolution. These skills were first applied in 1950, but in 1962, he developed Parent Effective Training (PET). This course was adopted across many regions in the world from its ability to bring awareness on the role of parents in educating their children (Gordon, 1975). As this program developed, there was the need for the teacher’s rights to be recognized in learning. To meet this demand, Dr. Gordon introduced the Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET) course in 1974.
The introduction of this course was meant to provide teachers with the essential communication and conflict resolution skills that they require while undertaking their roles. This course, which has been otherwise referred to as the supportive program, is operational in many regions of the world and aims at elimination of punitive discipline and coercive or authoritarian teaching in the classroom (Gordon, 1975).
The supportive model is designed to contribute to the quality of teacher-student relationship, and assist students in realization of their teacher’s needs. It offers skills required by teachers in developing high quality relationships with students so that conflicts are reduced and more teaching and learning time created (Gordon, n.d). The course is a four-step instructional process with every step designed to involve the participants to boost learning. These steps include structure, involvement, process learning and application (Gordon, n.d). Each step aims at improving teachers’ involvement in active learning, and improving communication as well as conflict management skills.
The supportive model assists in reduction of unacceptable student behavior by the use of rewards and punishments, problem ownership skills, and use of alternative methods in solving conflicts (Gordon, 1975). This is achieved through the use of I-Message strategy aimed at increasing student awareness on the respect to teacher’s needs. I-Message is a non-judgmental or non-blameful way of communicating to students, and letting them know that certain behaviors cause problems to teachers. It motivates students to modify behavior which prevents teachers from meeting their needs (Gordon, n.d).
The TET also offers a solution to cases when conflicts between teachers and students go beyond the ‘own’ perspective. This solution is referred as the No-Lose Conflict Resolution (Gordon, 1975). This approach applies the win-win or no-lose approach instead of traditional use of power struggles whose results are retaliation, resentments, and fractured relationships. This is achieved through a six step process, which comprises of statement of facts, expression of feelings with suppression, description and understanding of feelings, conflict description from a detached point of view, statement of requests, and production of an agreement (Gurcan and Tekin, n.d). Implementing these steps allows working together and formulation of acceptable solutions, which are win-win situations for both teachers and students.
In a typical school setting, the supportive model can be used in creating sustainable relationships between students and teachers, and at the same time ensure that their needs are met. This can be achieved through involvement of students in setting of procedures and rules. By doing so, students provide opinions, which according to them meet their needs while teachers integrate the opinions in consideration to their needs. This ensures a common agreement, which builds up on behavior development. Additionally, the model can be implemented by teachers being honest with students. By doing so, the students understand their teachers better, and become aware of behavior that may be considered by their teachers as disrespectful.
Implementation of the model may also involve discussion of teachers concerns with students (Gurcan and Tekin, n.d). This creates a communication forum where teachers express their feelings towards some behavior, and how they expect students to behave in order to develop sustainable teacher-student relationships. Finally, it is crucial to assist students to function within a classroom if the implementation of the model is to be successful. This allows students to communicate about their problems and expectations and allows teachers to understand their needs as well as balance them to their own.
The implementation of the model has limited differences, which may be related to culture and customary beliefs within different regions in the world. In a Saudi Arabian perspective, the model may be limited in terms of power and authority, and value for education. However, recent years have witnessed most Arab countries making efforts to develop comprehensible education programs, as a result of the realization of importance of education in social economic growth. This implies that implementing the supportive model, in Saudi Arabian schools can be embraced in an effort to boost on education. This can be achieved through creating awareness on the importance of understanding, communication and conflict resolution among parents, teachers and students if the educational goal is to be reached. As a teacher in such a region, following the six criterion method in coming up with a win-win situation would boost communication and conflict resolution and management, which would boost learning.
Reference.
Gordon, T. (Jan 12, 1975). T.E.T., teacher effectiveness training. Broadway, New York: Random House Inc.
Gordon, T. (n.d). Origins of the Gordon Model. Work Cited, http://www.gordontraining.com/thomas-gordon/origins-of-the-gordon-model/#imessages
Gurcan, T. & Tekin, E. (n.d). Discipline. Is it a Dirty word; Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET). Work Cited, http://www.metu.edu.tr/~e133376/project/tet.htm
