I understand Reality Theory to be useful for counselling adolescent behavioural problems. I am a high school teacher , and my studetns are 17-18 year olds. I wonder how RT can be used to improve test scores and encourage cooperative learning among students ? Has anybody tried ?

-- goh (ghj@moe.edu.sg), November 11, 2000

Answers

As this particular discussion thread has attracted reasonable attention I just want to clarify that the William Glasser Institute Ireland's web-site is now www.wgii.ie

-- Brian Lennon (brianlennon@socc.ie), July 08, 2003.

Reality Therapy offers an excellent counselling model for use in a school and, naturally, any good counselling will enhance the overall working environment.

However, I think your question really needs an answer that talks about Glasser's Quality School ideas. At the heart of his therapy is the idea that we are all controlled internally. Therefore we cannot control others and others cannot control us. This forms the core of his Choice Theory. Apply the same ideas to education and what emerges is his Quality School material. We cannot control students! We cannot MAKE them learn anything. If we learn how to work WITH them, then a whole new environment of creative learning comes into being. Academic results improve but that is only one of the many improvements that result in a Quality School environment.

You will appreciate that your question requires a much bigger answer than I could ever give here. I recommend you to read Glasser's works on education. His very latest "Every Student Can Succeed" is a good starting place. See the WGII web-site for further details (http://indigo.ie/~irti)

-- Brian Lennon (blennon@indigo.ie), November 12, 2000.