Klassestrijd

Klassestrijd
VPRO Noorderlicht / 24 min / 18-04-2002
Op scholen in achterstandswijken is nauwelijks meer les te geven. De houding van de leerlingen ten opzichte van school varieert van desinteresse tot vijandigheid en de school neemt z’n toevlucht tot een steeds strenger regime. Is er een uitweg uit deze wurggreep? Volgens de pedagoog H. Jerome Freiberg van het College of Education van de universiteit van Houston wel. Hij ontwikkelde het programma Consistency Management & Cooperative Disciplin (CMCD) speciaal voor probleemscholen. Noorderlicht vergelijkt een Freiberg school (Marshall Middle School) in Houston met een probleemschool in de Bijlmer.

VPRO NOORDERLICHT – TRANSCRIPT
AFL. ‘KLASSESTRIJD’
DOOR JOS WASSINK EN ANJA VINK
UITZENDING 18 APRIL 2002

00:00 LEADER NOORDERLICHT 2001/2002

00:20 PAN VA SPOOR NAAR ARMOEDIGE WIJK
TITEL: HOUSTON, TEXAS
MUZIEK DR. DRE, THE WATCHER

KLASJE:
ONDERWIJZERES:
Good afternoon to each of you!
KLAS:
Good afternoon, Miss Harris!

RIJER DOOR WIJK RECHTS

ONDERWIJZERES:
I remember one incident where I did have a boy, one of my students did bring a gun to school and the whole time I thought he was playing. Until the students finally told me: he does have a real gun.

KNAL VAN PISTOOL

RIJER DOOR WIJK RECHTS

ONDERWIJZERES VERVOLGT:
You always had to be alert, making sure that when we left the gangs would not be fighting right outside the school for the safety of the kids and ourselves.

PAN NAAR SCHOOLGEBOUW

COMMENTAAR
Zeven jaar geleden was Marshall Middle School een gevaarlijke plek. Maar nadat tijdens de zomer van vijfenegentig de hele staf werd bijgeschoold, veranderde Marshall in een oase van cultuur en ontplooiing in de arme wijk.

JUAN GONZALES
SCHOOLHOOFD MARSHALL MIDDLE SCHOOL
I think that in our efforts striving for excellence, we’ve converted good gangleaders to become good classroom leaders. And we’ve empowered students to become leaders, but in the right kind of sense.

01:51 SHOT TUNNEL BIJLMER
MUZIEK DR DRE, STILL D.R.E.

TITEL KLASSESTRIJD

PAN OVER GRAFFITIMUUR NAAR HEK; TOTAAL EXTERIEUR
TITEL BIJLMER

PICTURE-IN-PICTURE:
LIJAN:
Ik voel me niet meer echt veilig de laatste tijd. Laat maar zeggen
na de steekpartij. Voel ik me niet meer echt veilig hier
op school.

CYRANO:
Ik vind er helemaal niks an, ik vind het gewoon saai.
Je mag bijna niks doen hier op school.

DION:
Die regels ik vind ze best wel stom. Ik vind ze stom. Ik vind
ze shit. Want je mag niet met pet in aula lopen enzo.

NB ONDERTITELS IVM VERSTAANBAARHEID

LEERLINGEN LOPEN NAAR BINNEN

AREND POUWELS, ADJUNCT-DIRECTEUR:
De doelgroep die hier zit, leerlingen met grote leerachterstanden, met minder leercapaciteiten, dat is een groep die ook andere problemen met zich meebrengt. Of meer problemen.

POUWELS VERVOLGT:
Het is gebruikelijk om een muts op te hebben, liefst daar nog een capuchon overheen van een jas die een aantal maten te groot is, waardoor je uiterlijk verborgen wordt.
En dat geeft een wat dreigende indruk.
– Leraren voelen zich bedreigd?
Ja. Beslist. Voelen zich bedreigd en dan heeft een leerling dat geuit in lichaamstasal, door zich te bewegen. Ze worden ook bedreigd. Er zijn leerlingen die bedreigingen uiten.

MONITOR BEWAKINGSCAMERA’S

POUWELS VERVOLGT:
De afgelopen maanden is het een paar keer voorgekomen waarvan een aantal keren buitengewoon ernstig waardoor een collega nu ook al maanden thuis is.
En zulke bedreigingen zijn in de laatste maanden ook tot twee keer toe in fysiek geweld ontaard. Ouders die de schoo, binnenkomen en de docent aanvliegen.
– Heeft u het gevoel dat u de zaak hier nog onder controle heeft?
Niet altijd. En niet volledig.

04:17 SCHOOLPLEIN; INTROSHOT BOWEN PAULLE
MUZIEK DR. DRE, STILL D.R.E.

COMMENTAAR:
De Amerikaanse socioloog Bowen Paulle doet hier in de Bijlmer onderzoek naar wat hij noemt het schoolklimaat, de sfeer in de school. Eerder deed hij dat in de Bronx. Dergelijke achterstandswijken interesseren hem omdat dat de plekken zijn waar maatschappelijke integratie plaats zou moeten vinden.

SHOT BIJLMER (Z/W EN SLOMO ZOOM IN NAAR SCHOOL)

BOWEN PAULLE, SOCIOLOOG, UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM:
The kid’s life chances are being determined by ofcourse family and the neighbourhood and the school. The mainstream society cannot do a whole lot about what’s going on the the kid’s livingrooms. It’s very hard for the mainstream society to control or heavily influence, shape what’s going on in the neighbourhood, on the streetcorner, on the soccerfield. We have a permanent integration site and we call it school.

05:22 RIJER HOUSTON DOOR ARME WIJK
GETROKKEN SHOT LANGS RUINE NAAR UNIVERSITEITSGEBOUW
DR. DRE, THE WATCHER

FREIBERG (OFF):
We have surrounding us empoverished area’s and the university is very much committed to improving the quality of the lifes of children because then they come here to become students.

DEUR ZWAAIT OPEN, FREIBERG SCHRIJFT ACHTER BURO

COMMENTAAR:
Ook pedagoog Jerome Freiberg doet onderzoek naar schoolklimaat in achterstandswijken. Sterker nog, hij is de architect van het programma dat de sfeer op Marshall Middle school zo drastisch heeft veranderd. Zijn uitgangspunten stammen uit zijn eigen ervaringen als leraar.

CROSS NAAR KLASSEFOTO

FREIBERG (VIA CHROMAKEY): When I taught at the middle school during the day, I taught at the maximum security prison at night. And I kid people by saying I did that for my relief. The reason I taught at the prison is I’ve discovered an interrelationship. The inmates that I worked with all had reading problems, they all had problems realting to adults or authority and the way they got attention was by getting into trouble. And I would teach at the prison at thursday night, friday morning I’d come back an teach my classes and I had students who had reading problems, the way they got my attention was by getting into trouble and they had difficulty relating to authority or to adults. And so I began seeing a relationship between my students that I was teaching and the inmates that were at the prison.

06:54 PAN NAAR KLAS MS. HARRIS

MS. HARRIS:
All pens down from your warm-up.
Good afternoon to each of you
– Good afternoon, Ms. Harris
Thank you very very much. Now at this time, everyone that has their homework, I need you to take your homework out. If you don’t have your homework what will I need?
– A homeworknote
And what does your homeworknote say?
– Rabarber rabarber
And what else do you have on that sheet?
– Mompel mompel.
Thank you very very much.

COMMENTAAR:
Freibergs programma draait momenteel op 140 scholen. Een ervan is Marshall Middle School in Houston waar de sfeer spectaculair veranderd is. Agressie en onverschilligheid zijn goeddeels geweken voor samenwerking en betrokkenheid. Hoe is hem dat gelukt?

MS. HARRIS SLOMO EN COLOR F/O

FREIBERG:
What I began learning as a teacher is that I can prevent problems from occuring, which reduces the amount of energy that I need to take. I found that I was preparing for a 45 minute class and maybe I would get through ten minutes of instruction, because the other 30 minutes of 40 minutes were being utilised by management and discipline.

BG DISS TO MENSEN OP VERVALLEN VERANDA
JONGENS SPELEN OP BASKETBALVELDJE (SLOMO EN Z/W)
MUZIEK: DR DRE

FREIBERG VERVOLGT:
I also began realising that when I was in the community and did my shopping, the students began seeing me in a different way. And I began realising that students don’t want to know how much you know, they want to know how much you care.

MS. AGNEW SPREEKT LEERLINGEN TOE IN DE KANTINE:

Now it’s time to go to class. The bell’s just rang and so you have…
Excuse me!
You have about three minutes to get to class so let’s move in a very orderly fashion, let’s go!
And thank you again.

LEERLINGEN LOPEN RUSTIG IN LANGE RIJ KANTINE UIT

FREIBERG VERVOLGT:
The other thing is: you can’t do discipline on your own. You need cooperation. So having cooperation from the students becomes very critical.

BG SLOMO WERKENDE LLN (SLOMO EN Z/W)

FREIBERG VERVOLGT:
Organisation is very important. Students don’t like chaos but they will participate in it. And so I needed a classroom environment that was both comfortable but organised.

KINDEREN OP RUG GEZIEN OP WEG NAAR HUIS

FREIBERG (CONT’D):
The final thing is community. There has to be a positive link between the school and the home. We should be able to contact parents when things are going well and not just when things are going bad. And particularly for youngsters from low backgrounds, low economic backgrounds, their parents most likely were not succesfull in school. So we cannot expect them suddenly to be excited about school, just because their child is in school.
So it’s really five things: it’s prevention, caring, cooperation, organisation and community.

MS. HARRIS OVER WARM-UP EN HOMEWORK

COMMENTAAR:
Een van de sleutels tot het succes van Freibergs methode is de grote betrokkenheid van leerlingen. De zogenaamde lieverdjes te betrekken is niet lastig, dat doet iedere leraar, maar hoe bereik je afstandelijke en onverschillige leerlingen?

BG SLOMO EN COLOR F/O

FREIBERG:
I did a content anaysis of everything that teachers do. There’s a hundred different things that teachers do every day. I said: of all the things that teachers do, what can students do? And so I created these managers in the classroom oportunity. Because students need to feel they’re engaged and they’re worthy.

RONDJE LEERLINGEN OVER HUN JOBS

FREIBERG VERVOLGT:
I formalised the process; we post the jobs, we have job applications, we have job interviews where students are actually interviewed for the positions by the teacher. They’re in those positions for about six weeks and then they rotate, somebody else gets it. They have to train the person who’s coming in new. It’s like real life.

MS HARRIS SLUIT AF:
When we get ready to go, what do we do?
– Mompel-mompel
We get the room ready as if it’s ready for a brand new class.
Let’s get the room ready to go!
KLAS RUIMT OP
All papers should be off of the table, all papers should be off of the floor and all the books should be stacked on the book table.

JUAN GONZALES, DIRECTEUR:
I think that the biggest message that comes through without being spoken is that a good citizen participates. That’s an active role. A good citizen in this country or in any country is someone that votes, that is concerned about the environment and does something about it, that gets an education. Because their role is important to society and I think that is the message that the kids are learning without realising that they’re learning.

13:01 INGANG SCHOOL BIJLMER.
MUZIEK DR. DRE, WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE

MET PETTEN OP AAN DE TE LAAT BALIE

AREND POUWELS, ADJUNCT DIRECTEUR:
Er is een harde kern van leerlingen die continu problemen veroorzaken die nauwelijks te beinvloeden zijn, althans door ons als docenten.
– Hoe groot is die groep.
Ik durf het niet precies te zeggen, maar ik schat die groep ergens tussen de 5 en de 10 %. Ik ben er wel van overtuigd dat er in elke klas wel een leerling zit die je tot die groep kunt rekenen en dat maakt het in elke klas al moeilijk om les te geven.

KLASLOKAAL, BOWEN PAULLE GEEFT LES

COMMENTAAR:
Vanwege het grote tekort aan leraren heeft de school Bowen Paulle verzocht om engelse les te geven. Met als gevolg dat Paulle tegenwoordig het schoolklimaat niet alleen meer observeert, maar ook ervaart.

BO GRIJPT IN BIJ ORDEPROBLEEM

BOWEN PAULLE,
SOCIOLOOG, UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM:
You have -again- this hard core group of kids which are extremely, extremely hard to handle. It’s extremely hard to get the class moving in a productive way. I’ll give you a concrete example: talking in class. Quite simple: Jongens nu even stil. And the moment that you’re asking for silence: one two, three conversations. It can make you a little bit coo-coo.

KLASSEFOTO JØRGEN KRIELE; Z/W

PAULLE VERVOLGT:
The main problem, the essence of the problem is that the conditons necessary to teach, to create a healthy learning environment are missing.

STOERE JONGENS BIJ AUTOMAAT

COMMENTAAR:
Volgens Paulle is het hoog tijd om de orde in de klas en op school te heroveren. Desnoods eerst met harde hand.

BEELD SLOMO EN COLOR F/O

PAULLE:
The situation is so advanced in a negative spiral, it’s so far right now that we have to temporarily start with external constraints, external social constraints, positive and negative. And then hopefully when you -to say it dramatically- win the battle for cultural hegemony, when you have this stable situation, then you can hope it’s going to come from the inside from the kids.

16:14 MEIDEN BIJ COLA-AUTOMAAT IN HOUSTON; COLOR F/O

FREIBERG:
Discipline in itself is not a bad term. What we try to create is self-discipline. If the teacher has to constantly disciplin the children, they’re not learning a lot. What we try to acquire is self-discipline. So if you can prevent problems from occurring in the first place, you don’t have to worry about disciplining kids.

SHOT OVER TAFEL IN KANTINE (SLOMO EN Z/W)

PICTURE-IN-PICTURE:
CELIA:
It can be strict at times but it does sort of give you not a lot of freedom, but it does give you freedom. Like not very many freedoms but sometimes they give you. They trust you and sometimes they don’t.

RUBEN:
I think the rules that they have for us are good. ‘Think maybe the punishments sometimes are too harsh but I think the way the school is run is good.

JEANETTE:
I think about school like a disciplinary area where they try to shape you up for the future. You know, try to give you like an idea how it’s gonna be later on in life.

KIDS IN GANG; SLOMO EN Z/W

FREIBERG:
What I found in the students that I worked with is they lacked a level of consistency in their own lifes. They weren’t bad, they weren’t good kids, they simply lacked an environment that provided them with the consistency And support that allows them to function well in school.
I began looking at what kinds of levels of consistency can I provide them. And consistency isn’t rigidity, it’s predictability.

TWEE OBSERVANTEN IN DE KANTINE

COMMENTAAR:
Een gestructureerde leeromgeving is één poot van Freibergs systeem, maar de andere, minder belichte kant is de geoliede machine van voorschriften, surveillance en sancties.

GANG MET LEERLINGEN, SLOMO, Z/W EN LAAG STANDPUNT

PICTURE-IN-PICTURE:
MARITA:
In other schools, they can wear want they want but we’have to wear unifroms like they categorise us. Each grade has a different uniform so they can tell who’s who and everybody has a certain floor they have to be in. They don’t let us be all bunched up. We have to be separated from our grades.

JUAN GONZALES:
We have our concerns with discipline. We have set and established consequences for misbehaviour. For example having your shirt tail out is a dress code violation or not wearing the proper uniform to school. We’re a uniformed school and those kinds of issues.

HEK LEIDT NAAR APART GEBOUW
BINNEN ZITTEN LEERLINGEN STRENG GESCHEIDEN IN U-VORM

GONZALES VERVOLGT:
We also have in school suspension. We have a teacher on staff. His fulltime job is for students that have been suspended within the school for anywhere from one to three days. That is for significant offenses or chronic offenses. Disrespect to a teacher or to another student, profanity, vulgar language, these are issues that we set a high standard on.

MUZIEK DR. DRE, WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE

EXT. SCHOOL MET SCHOLIEREN AAN WERK AAN BORD

19:30 EXT. SCHOOL BIJLMER MET SCHOLIEREN AAN WEERSZIJDE HEK

BOWEN PAULLE VOOR KLASSEFOTO:
What Freiberg really emphasises is the self-discipline coming from the inside -self discipline- coming from the inside, the stimulation, the rewards but also the sanctions coming from the inside, not external but internal.
Every teacher wants that. Every teacher wants to stop being the policeman.
– So how does he succeed?
I think that when I see the footage that you took in Houston, I’ve never been there ofcourse, I see an underlying very very strict and very effective sanctions regime. Maybe just below the level. Creating a level of calmness, creating a level of organisation in which kids then have the space to develop this disposition, to develop this self discipline.

MARSHALL MIDDLE SCHOOL: SCHOOLBEL EN HELE GANG STROOMT VOL MET LEERLINGEN

PAULLE VERVOLGT:
For example, on every floor all over the schools there are “Deans of Discipline”, people involved in discipinary procedures, who have a walky-talky constantly being able to say: I have a problem on the third floor. If there’s..
– Policeofficers?
Police oficers ofcourse. If these people with the walky-talky can’t handle it, there are two police officers in the school. Freiberg ofcourse would say: look, there are all these positive things this person is not mentioning right now. I think just under the level, just under the observation level what you see going on, there’s this world of sanctions ready to spring out.

21:21 POLITIEMAN VOOR SCHOOL, ZOOM UIT
EN ANDERE POLITIEMAN IN VOORGROND. SCHOOL GAAT UIT

PAULLE VERVOLGT:
And if this sounds terribly repressive, the walky-talkies, police in school and everything else, I think you need to realise that there’s a large percentage of kids who really thrive in a school like the one that Freiberg has set up.

PAULLE IN LEEG LOKAAL VERVOLGT:
And people might come to think of it as much less repressive than inaction; not trying to do something, not trying to radically change what’s going on also has it’s moral consequences, it’s also a decision in terms of social experimentation. Letting these schools function at the way they’re functioning now is also a decision which has consequences.

HEK BIJ SCHOOL BIJLMER SLUIT MET KLAP

23:05 SCHOOL GAAT UIT IN HOUSTON, POLITIEAGENT MAAKT PRAATJE MET LEERLINGEN;

FREIBERG IN KANTOOR:
Children neeed sources to build their resilience. If everything in their life is chaotic there’s nothing for them to draw from. But if they can come to an organised and predictable school environment, they can see that their home environment isn’t the norm. They can learn, they can go beyond where they are now. But if everything is chaotic, then they will not learn.
The classroom can be a stepping stone to a whole new life, a whole new carreer.

MUZIEK DR. DRE, FORGET ABOUT DRE

WS SCHOOL GAAT UIT (Z/W EN SLOMO)

PICTURE-IN-PICTURE
CELIA:
After the school I want to become a veterinary ‘cause I love animals. I have four dogs. I used to have five, but one died.

RUBEN:
I want to go into major into computer science, do computerdrafting or something. I like to draw a lot. So maybe design cars or something.

JEANETTE:
Oh, I want to be a writer. I’ve always adored writers and their books and everything.

UITZOOM, SCHOOL GAAT UIT

23:35 DAAROVERHEEN DE AFTITELING:

SAMENSTELLING & REGIE
Jos Wassink

RESEARCH:
Anja Vink

CAMERA
Niels van ‘t Hoff

GELUID
Menno Euwe

MONTAGE
Floor Rodenburg

MIX
Piet Rodenburg

KLEURCORRECTIE
Xandra ter Horst

MMV
Prof. Dolf van Veen
Theo Piets
André Vet
John Conrad
Jörgen Kriele
Saundra McNeese
Dr. Kim Agnew
Ms. Harris
Ms. Lara

LEERLINGEN:
Lijan Quinindongo
Cyrano Wiebers
Dion Lemmens
Celia Sosa
Ruben Pineda
Jeanette Saucillo
Marita Manzano

COMMENTAAR
Tessel Blok

LEADER
Laurens Orij, Bob Stel & Merijn Verhagen

REDACTIE
Eugene Paashuis
Simon Rozendaal
Karin Schagen
Marie Lou Schoenmakers
Annemieke Smit
Ger Wieberding
Robert Wiering

WEBREDACTIE
Jacqueline de Vree
Marc Koenen
Frank Nuijens

PRODUKTIE
Karin Spiegel
Madeleine Somer

EINDREDACTIE
Hansje van Etten

24:00 EINDE

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