When I took this photo at the weekend I had no idea it would end up on this post. I was just surprised by how close it was and thought it would make a nice shot. I was at the Commune de Bellevue dump which is located underneath the approach to Geneva airport
Later, when I was cropping the shot I made the connection that much as the Swiss pilots prepare for a safe landing our students with challenging behaviour need us to prepare them for a 'Safe Landing'... There can be no room for assumptions.
I was thinking about Relational safety, where, what we know and understand about the students in our care can inform 'appropriate responses and care'... preparing their runway for their 'Safe Landing'.
When we are considering how to determine whether a child feels 'safe' in a given situation we must also try to look from their perspective. The building of positive relationships in positive environments would seem a relatively easy approach... But, it is all too easy for us to determine what we see as 'safe' but unless that mirrors the child's perception we will not be able to help. An example of this would be to assume that merely removing what we perceive to be the 'threat' to the child would make them feel safe. However, as long as we do that without first considering and understanding how the child is feeling we will not be in a position to help... There can be no room for assumptions.
According to Mona Delahooke (2019) the 'child's response to the environment' is the critical element when looking to improve their behaviour where the environment can be both physical or perceived. It is not helpful for us as adults just to strive for what we perceive as the 'optimum environment'. This highlights how every child who is exhibiting challenging behaviour will have different needs even within the same physical environment. This can create organisational issues for the adults involved but as this is not a 'one size fits all' approach to challenging behaviour we can be sure that by listening to our students and valuing their individual needs we will improve their success in the classroom.
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