Fri, 04 Dec 2009 5:38p.m.
By Emma Joliff
A Wellington academic is ruffling the feathers of some primary schools in Wellington where students address teachers by their first names.
He says the practice threatens discipline and that titles help children understand boundaries.
Like all classes at Berhampore Primary School, the students in the Montessori class address their teacher by his first name; it is something Richard Goodyear says helps his interaction with pupils
“I think if there was a title in front of my name, if I was Mr Goodyear, I would consider that quite a separation between the children and myself, and that actually may be harder to get a good class community going,” he says.
And the pupils agree.
“I really think it's a nice thing, it's not too long and it's not boring,” says pupil Siobhan.
Being on first-name terms with your teacher is not new; some schools have been allowing such familiarity for many years.
But anthropologist James Urry warns using titles like Mr or Mrs is an important part of creating boundaries for children; boundaries that are undermined by using first names.
“It has the potential to alter the relationship between teachers and pupils in terms of authority and control,” says Mr Urry.
Control that becomes more difficult as children get older.
“Most secondary schools would not allow their pupils to call their teachers by their first name, which makes it a puzzle why some primary schools are doing this,” he says.
But the principal of Berhampore School, Mark Potter, who also goes by his first name, says authority and respect are about much more than a title.
“My experience is you can call yourself Sir Galahad, and the respect comes from the interaction, not the name, not the title.”
He says Mr Urry has got it wrong.
“I hear more worries than facts.”
He says parents like it too.
The Ministry of Education does not have a policy on the matter and says it is up to individual Boards of Trustees to set the policy on how students should address their teachers.
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