Training for teacher jobs to include body language lessons?

Staff in teacher jobs are being taught how to read the body language of pupils in a bid to help them better control classroom behaviour.

Thousands of teachers are reportedly being trained to read schoolchildren's postures, mannerisms, gestures and facial expressions, as well as being taught a thing or two about their own body language, as part of the government's fast-track teacher training programme.

Dave Vizard, a specialist in training teachers in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), told the Telegraph: "Matching body language and tonality means looking at the world through the young person's eyes.

"The back drop is consistency and firm boundaries, which is the core of all managing of behaviour."

NLP training involves techniques such as 'mirroring', in which teachers are encouraged to imitate specific gestures by pupils, thereby relaying the subconscious message that they empathise with their situation, according to the newspaper.

The technique has been defined as the study of the structure of subjective experience.



Published On 19/02/2010