Why teachers have to be social workers: Adlerian individual psychology and positive approaches to behaviour management: a lost legacy in the UK

This paper considers the current guidance and discourse underpinning positive approaches to behaviour management in England and compares this to the clinical and conceptual framework articulated and developed by Adler(1930a, 1930b, 1963) and his followers including Driekurs (1972, 1998) and Dinkmeyer (2000). The paper will argue that much of what is presented as the folk wisdom of classroom behaviour or as popular catchphrases in TV behaviour management have their origins in the work of Adler and his colleagues. Furthermore, the paper will outline what can be gained by a re-examination of this work in the current climate to provide a conceptual framework and a consequent research agenda.