The Interconnection Between Formal Inclusion and Internal Exclusion: How the `Training Room´ Program in German Schools Seeks to Improve Classroom Discipline, but in Doing so Inhibits the Development of a Participative and Empowering Learning Culture

Beschreibung

Since 2003, the `Training Room´ Program (TRP), a time-out model that is based on the American `Responsible Thinking Process´ (RTP), has become established in German schools in response to students’ increasingly challenging learning and social behavior. School administrators and academics alike recommend the implementation of the TRP as part of their efforts to conform to the UN convention in order to ensure the success of inclusive schooling for students with emotional and social needs. But in doing so, formal inclusion and temporary exclusion within the school become interconnected. The results yielded by this program evaluation show that there is to date no convincing empirical evidence as to the effectiveness of the TRP. On the contrary, the data indicate that the TRP actually has a negative impact on teaching and learning processes and on the culture of the school as a whole. While the TRP aims to enhance levels of classroom discipline and relieve pressure on the teacher, the program simultaneously impedes the development of a participative and empowering learning culture, even though it is precisely this factor which is indispensable for the successful inclusion of learners with emotional and social needs. The TRP’s educational ideals and its conception of human beings are also a serious cause for concern. The conclusion outlines alternative concepts which are more suitable for the provision of inclusive schooling for students with emotional and social needs.

Autor*in

Joachim Broecher
Already integrated in his studies in the field of educating learners with emotional, social and behavioral difficulties, at University of Cologne, Germany, Dr. Broecher began his work as counselor in summer workshops, e.g., for the HighScope Educational Research Foundation in Michigan, and later as co-director and director of summer programs in Germany, in the fields of gifted education as well as special education or inclusive education. Dr. Broecher then worked in the German school system for 19 years, as teacher in specialized and inclusive school settings, and finally as school principal. During these years he did his habilitation studies and taught classes at the universities of Cologne, Munich, Hamburg, Halle and Gießen. Dr. Broecher was also active in the field of in-service teacher training and school consulting. Since 2008 he served as professor for childhood education at University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Campus Stendal. Here he built partnerships with Lenoir-Rhyne University North Carolina, Hickory, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg and Wheelock College Boston. This included an active exchange of students and faculty members. Several transatlantic workshops and field trips, particularly with Lenoir-Rhyne University, have been operated either in North Carolina or in Germany. 2010 Dr. Broecher went to Wheelock College Boston, as International Presidential Visiting Scholar, to do research and discuss the current educational challenges in the field with the colleagues from the United States. Since 2012 Dr. Broecher is professor and head of department at University of Flensburg, Germany, with the focus on the education of learners with emotional, social and behavioral difficulties, in the school context.

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