Ahead of her upcoming webinars in August and September, read this exclusive article with Play Therapist and Child/Adolescent Psychotherapist, Hayley Rice. 

“There is nothing wrong with reward charts. They encourage good behaviour, the kids love them and I need them for classroom management. Besides, what else would I do?” This is exactly what I said to my friend and teaching colleague when she suggested I read “Punished by Rewards” by Alfie Kohn about 9 years ago. I remember being completely baffled by the title of the book and getting quite defensive about it. I had been taught in teacher training college to use reward systems and had been commended for my use of them during all of my teaching practices. What on earth was she talking about!? I did read the book, out of curiosity, and it changed everything for me. Over the years, I have become more and more passionate about this subject. When working with a young boy in my practice who declared he was “no good at anything” because he never got star of the week or student of the year, I knew I wanted to design a webinar that would spark the same interest and reflection in practitioners and teachers that sparked in me 9 years ago. I am delighted and so grateful to be able to bring you some insights on this topic in this blog and in my upcoming webinar by request of the ever forward thinking people at Canavan Byrne. 

Before I do, let me introduce myself.  My name is Hayley Rice; I am a play therapist and child/adolescent psychotherapist working in my private practice for the last 6 years with children from 3 years old up to teenagers. I began my career as a teacher and spent 10 years in the primary school classroom. I had taught in Ireland and in Dubai before deciding I wanted to know much more about children’s emotions and how I could help them. So, I began a four year masters training with The Children’s Therapy Centre. I qualified with a First-Class Honours Masters in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, specialising in Play Therapy. My teaching experience, along with my psychotherapy training and experience, has given me a unique vantage point for understanding the impact that reward systems have on children. 

I am a very creative person and have always loved arts and crafts. So, when it came to reward systems in my classroom, I looked forward to designing something new, bright and colourful each year. I remember one particular chart I made in Dubai. It was huge! I put it on the wall opposite the door, so when anyone walked into my classroom, it was the first thing they saw. It was bright blue and had 3 clouds of varying shades of grey or white and a one big sun at the top. The clouds were made of soft spongey foam and a photo of each child sat on either a cloud or the sun, depending on their behaviour. So, when I first read “Punished by Rewards” I remember cringing at the thoughts of all of those charts I had been so proud of. The research in the book was undeniable and as I allowed myself to digest the science and began to reflect back on the children I had taught over the years, the behaviours I saw and the responses the children had to my charts- it hit me. I needed to take this seriously and I needed to make a change. 

So, what was it about Alfie Kohn’s book that sparked this deep reflection in me and fundamental shift in my approach to behaviour? He begins the book with a reminder on how rewards systems began- a behaviourist approach used with rats and dogs by Skinner and Pavlov – quite a stark introduction to say the least. His first argument is that humans are far too complex, too emotional and have too many psychological vulnerabilities for such a simple ‘do this and get that’ approach.  But, of course, there was much more to unpack. For example, research spanning from the 70s tells us that children who were rewarded for completing tasks become extrinsically motivated. When motivated by external factors like rewards, they used less sophisticated learning strategies and scored lower on tests than children who were interested in learning for learning’s sake. Rewards removed the natural curiosity and creativity in figuring out a task and replaced it with an end goal that distracted from the learning. My mind was blown!

Kohn went on to discuss the impact that rewards have on relationships. A central part of my psychotherapy training and the most important intervention tool known to my field is, relationship. There is also an abundance of research in the education field that tells us it is the art of relationship that best helps teachers to engage learners, gain co-operation, truly motivate children and effectively manage behaviour. However, reward charts are disconnecting of relationship in their very nature because they create a power imbalance. One person, usually the teacher, has the power and is in judgement of another person, the child. This moves in the opposite direction of the restorative practices we know work so well. 

When Kohn discussed the topic of ‘self-esteem’, he really got my attention. The last thing I wanted to be doing as a teacher was to be chipping away at a child’s esteem. As a therapist, 90% of the children and adolescents I work with suffer from low self-esteem, whether that’s due to bereavement, trauma, anxiety or bullying. The fact is that children are very vulnerable to words, comments and even body language from people, particularly in early childhood. The formation of their ‘internal working model’ or their self-concept is happening during those formative early years with 0-7 being a particularly important time for this. So, if you are the child who is sitting on the grey cloud each and every day and cannot seem to get to the sun, chances are you will internalise a very clear shaming message of ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I’m the bad kid’, or ‘I don’t belong’.  Ironically, if a child feels bad about themselves, and a reward chart is reinforcing that feeling not only to them but to any classroom visitor who comes in, that child will not let us down; they will continue to demonstrate this identity formation – they will likely continue to behave in a ‘bad’ way to live up to who they are being shown they are. 

What if the child is neurodivergent and sitting still is more difficult for them than the majority of their peers? In order to get off the greyest cloud, they must ‘sit nicely’, all day.  In this case, the reward system creates an ‘expectation gap’. A void between what is expected of the child and what they can genuinely achieve. I recall a child in my class who seemed to be on the grey cloud constantly, mainly for instances of hitting peers. He was 5. I really tried to encourage him to think, stop hitting and get off the cloud. Sometimes he managed to move up to the less grey cloud, but it was always short lived. Looking back, it is clear to me now that he was struggling with regulation. His father had moved out of the family home and he was going through a lot of emotional turmoil. I didn’t lower my expectations of him to sit and behave however. I expected him to self-regulate through his emotions, his loss, grief, confusion and to ‘be good’ like the other children. When he couldn’t do that, I became frustrated. The reward chart was extremely disconnecting for us both and became a real bone of contention. I know that he gave up trying to move off the clouds.  Looking back, I don’t blame him. What I was asking of him was unachievable for him. He wasn’t learning a thing about regulation and was just repeating the behaviour every day. We were both going round in circles. Now I know that children cannot fully self-regulate until about 7/8 years of age and that Reward charts do not differentiate or get to the root of a behaviour. They don’t teach alternative ways of coping or behaving and they can be shaming and demotivating for many children.

Reward systems can also be a hindrance for adults. I remember taking my class to the sports field and struggling to keep them contained. Without the physical presence of my star chart, the children seemed delighted to bend and break our classroom rules! I realised that my behaviour management skills were shaky without my chart and that my class were not co-operative. When getting ready to go back to the classroom, I asked the class for help with carrying some equipment. Most of them were delighted to help, but some of them quickly asked if they would get a star for helping. This left me with a dilemma- do I say yes or no? Do they all get a star for helping or just the ones who asked? What about the children who wanted to help but there was no more equipment for them to carry? What about the girl who helped but pushed her friend out of the way to get to the equipment because she wanted the star? Ugh, there it was. The extrinsic motivation interrupting the natural ability to be in the moment and be motivated by an internal desire to help.

Kohn’s book is not an easy read! It has taken me a few attempts to digest it. But, I did make big changes with my reward charts while I was teaching. I moved from charts to group methods to finally to no reward systems at all. Some of my little people did not like my new way of running the room. Rewards were all they knew. But we adapted together and the difference it made to their well-being still gives me goose bumps. They were so much more confident, content, co-operative and they all behaved better! Jealousy, competition, perfectionism and fights, common by-products of rewards, really reduced too. How did I do it? What approaches did I use instead of rewards? You will have to join me for my upcoming webinar on behalf of Canavan Byrne on September 27th to find out! 

I have put a question mark in the title of Kohn’s book, “Punished by Rewards?” I want to give you the science, the examples, the reward alternatives, even the flip side of when rewards, treats, praise aren’t so bad, and I want you, by the end of this exciting webinar, to make your own mind up! Are reward charts punishing, or are they harmless, helpful tools for Early Years Practitioners and teachers?