New authority in the context of vocational schools

Abstract

Due to social change processes, traditional authority has been undermined in recent decades. An authority vacuum has developed. As a result, teachers are increasingly confronted with strong disciplinary problems. Teaching becomes almost impossible in some classes. The teachers consider themselves to be unable to act. With the concept of New Authority, Haim Omer fills this vacuum. Based on the non-violent resistance, this concept is intended to strengthen teachers and parents in their authority so that their ability to act is retained. Teachers of the New Authority decide to play a role in the lives of their students, even when it becomes difficult to form relationships. Here they follow the principle of watchful care. While the traditional understanding of authority is based on distance and fear, the new authority is based on presence and closeness. The New Authority is bond-oriented, the teachers are caregivers and thus fulfill a function of constancy for their students. In contrast to the traditional authority, which relies on control and obedience, the New Authority focuses on the attitude and action of the authority person. Teachers make themselves independent of the behavior of the pupils. They know that they can only determine their own actions. Nonetheless, the New Authority’s teachers see it as their duty to resolutely resist negative behavior by students. In doing so, they rely on principles of non-violent resistance and largely dispense with sanctions. Instead of punishments, the New Authority relies on reparation. Power struggles must be avoided to avoid face losses. Here strategies of self-control and de-escalation are of great importance. In contrast to traditional authority, which has to react immediately to negative behavior, the New Authority relies on the principles of postponement and persistence. This allows everyone involved to calm down, the pupils also have positive voices and the students can react appropriately. Here they build on networks and helper systems. In addition to teachers, the school management, the school social work and the parents are important supporters. Authority figures of traditional authority do not justify their actions – questioning is not permitted. In contrast, the principle of transparency applies in the concept of New Authority. Omer emphasizes that an attitude alone is not enough. Rather, he speaks of an attitude that leads to action – only this way action can be maintained. The attitude serves as a foundation that underpins the levels of action. An important aspect of the attitude in the New Authority is the willingness to take on the role of a leader in the classroom. The teachers take on the responsibility for building relationships, for successful networks and are also ready to publicly stand up for their values. Omer builds various levels of action on this attitude. The action level of the presence is central here. Presence means a strength that is not power-oriented, but focuses on closeness and relationship. In everyday school life, different levels of presence can be described, e. g. physical or mental presence. All levels of presence are interlinked and influence each other. If one level is weakened, this also affects the other levels. The implementation of presence in the classroom is of great importance. Another level of action is that of self-control and de-escalation – it’s about the art of not being drawn into power games. Omer presents some strategies for this, such as the principle of delayed response. The level of action of transparency is about making destructive behavior of pupils and the subsequent reactions of the teachers in public. Public pressure arises that opposes violence. The level of action of the helpers and networks offers teachers the opportunity to step out of their isolation and the associated weakening of their authority. Different groups of helpers are set up. Getting help is not seen as a sign of weakness. Networks legitimize and strengthen the teachers. In addition to in-school helpers, parents are won as important alliance partners. On the level of action resistance and protest, Omer describes some methods and instruments of how these can be implemented non-violently. At the heart of this is a persistent determination. The level of action of the relationship and reconciliation expresses that teachers fundamentally like and respect their pupils and strive for a good relationship from the beginning. It is particularly important that the teachers also strengthen the relationship level in times of crisis. In the remarks on the level of redress, various possible effects of punishments are first examined. Subsequently, chances of reparations and options for implementing reparations are described. In the last chapter some impulses for the implementation of the concept in schools are given. This article examines the concept of New Authority using numerous practical examples. The author draws on his own experience.