In their 2022 report, Supporting the Whole Child: Reviewing the evidence for whole child development in the context of the English education system, IntegratEd researchers are clear that for ‘children living in, or who have experience of adversity … their ability to succeed in school depends as much on having their basic needs holistically identified and supported as it does on academic knowledge.
During my career in education, and particularly in SEND, I’ve always been convinced of the importance of understanding and meeting the needs of students in order create good teaching and learning experiences. The IntegratEd report takes into account a comprehensive range of factors in children’s development, including the importance of ‘encouraging, interesting and personable teachers’. (IntegratEd, 2022, p.7) For me, the relationships between children and staff in school or AP are crucial in a holistic, needs-based approach; the report’s description barely scratches the surface in terms of the authentic ‘coming alongside’ required if we are to co-create great outcomes with children who are experiencing, or are impacted by adversity.
William Glasser, who died in 2013, developed, out of his long psychiatric practice, a framework for understanding human behaviour based on the needs which drive our thinking, feeling, doing and physiology. In his lifetime Glasser was controversial in many ways, not least for his anti-Freudian approach to psychology and his insistence that all behaviour is a choice. However, Glasser’s needs-based model is one which endures as a relevant and accessible perspective on understanding and supporting children towards good outcomes.
Glasser proposes that all human beings are driven by 5 basic needs, namely: Survival, Love and Belonging, Power and Self-worth, Freedom and Fun. According to Glasser everything we think, feel, say or do (including physiological responses) are an attempt to meet one or more of these needs. (Glasser, W, Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom, New York, 1998) I’ve always found this to be a profoundly liberatory outlook; over the years it’s allowed me to understand behaviour which is difficult to manage, and to help children make alternative and more positive ‘choices’ in their responses to the world. I don’t propose that Glasser’s writings should be swallowed whole – his corpus of work is extensive and there are aspects which may trouble 21st century readers – Choice Theory is still readily available and is worth a look if you have time. In this blog I want to focus on one feature which has enabled me to develop practice which complexifies and gives substance to the notion of the ‘encouraging, interesting and personable professional’.
Glasser contends that we all have a Quality World –
This small, personal world which each person starts to create in his or her memory … and continues to create and re-create throughout life … (it) is made up of pictures that portray, more than anything else we know, the best ways to satisfy one or more of our needs (Glasser, 1998, pp.44-5)
I’m convinced that as professionals we need to do everything our setting allows to ensure that when they’re with us children feel safe and comfortable; that they have a sense of love and belonging; a sense that they have power and value as human beings and members of the school community; that they have agency in what happens to them and that they have fun. When we can meet one or more of these needs we find our way into the ‘Quality World’ of the child, and once there we are in a position to impact their outcomes, at school and in the wider world. Regardless of what we think of Glasser, in my experience, If we can’t find ways of meeting these needs we have no prospect of having any influence in a child’s life, regardless of our knowledge or skills as educators.
Supporting the Whole Child is well-researched and insightful; I want to suggest, though that it’s worth thinking about how we can build the relationships which will allow us to work holistically. We might do worse than glancing at Glasser’s framework …
