Dave Whitaker - The Kindness Principle: Making Relational Behaviour Management Work in Schools

This is a wonderful book, which anyone who cares about children and young people will find compelling. It challenges so much of the current orthodoxy about macho no excuses school cultures and has lessons for us all about relationships and the impact of fear, humiliation and shame on young people.

Fiona Millar, education journalist, The Guardian

Dave Whitakers book is a game changer. Its a behaviour management book for teachers, support staff and school leaders written by someone who actually does it for a living whilst carrying themselves with credibility and integrity. This is no self-help book. Its a call to loving arms.

Hywel Roberts, teacher, writer, speaker and humorist

The Kindness Principle captures decades of Dave Whitakers thinking and experience in an inclusive and practical book.

Stephen Tierney, Chair, Headteachers Roundtable,
and author of Educating with Purpose

How can anyone object to kindness? Particularly when it comes to children. There are so many elements of this book that resonate: the need for adults to be their authentic selves with lived values, the power of recognition and intrinsic motivation, the value of play and co-constructed rules, the rigour of flexible consistency, the effect of seeing attention-seeking behaviour as attention-needing behaviour, and the fundamental problems of using fear and sanctions to control children and demand respect.

Fran Morgan, founder of Square Peg

Daves work is so much more than kindness: it is relational, successful and replicable. And what he shares in The Kindness Principle is unconditionally excellent and seriously useful.

Paul Dix, behaviour specialist, WhenTheAdultsChange.com

The Kindness Principle is a book I want to read again and again. Since reading the book, my interactions with dysregulated pupils have improved and my belief that kindness and relationships should be at the heart of every school has been strengthened.

Simon Kidwell, Head Teacher, Hartford Manor Primary School and Nursery B

Dave Whitakers The Kindness Principle is a book that speaks up for children and it is a really good read. It sheds light on the rituals, routines and habits of the school system and shares current research findings and practical advice to enable teachers and others in school to consider how best to give children every opportunity to succeed and to enjoy their education.

Mick Waters, Professor of Education, University of Wolverhampton

The Kindness Principle is a wonderfully crafted book that reminds us of the value and impact of kindness and authentic leadership in schools. Dave poses a series of provocations, encouraging the reader to consider the systems and leadership behaviours evident in their schools and challenges them to rethink them. A must-read for anyone who works with children and young people.

Kate Davies, CEO, White Woods Primary Academy Trust

In The Kindness Principle Dave takes us on a 25-year learning walk with a coherent philosophy of education, a characteristic humility and a sound grounding in neuroscience. Whether its practical insight into micro-structures and de-escalation, new knowledge on neurochemicals needed for learning, or the emotional resonances of tricky situations recounted with students and staff, the book shares a lot of powerful learning for educators and leaders at all levels.

Kiran Gill, CEO, The Difference

The Kindness Principle is a must-read book for enlightened educators which provides a practical guide to relationships-led practice. Between these covers, youll find everything you need in order to become a school where teachers love to teach, learners love to learn and where curiosity and empathy turn adversity into opportunity.

Dr Pooky Knightsmith, expert on child and adolescent mental health

In The Kindness Principle, Dave provides invaluable insights into the essential ingredients that shape successful behaviour management strategies in schools. I have known Dave for a decade and I believe that he is one of the wisest and most highly respected voices in this field.

Jon Chaloner, CEO, GLF Schools, Vice Chair, Headteachers Roundtable

Perhaps one of the greatest mistakes we can make in education is to see the virtue of kindness as somehow irrelevant or, worse still, weak. What Dave Whitakers beautiful book shows us is that the opposite is true.

Ben Walden, Director, Contender Charlie

This is for Josie she was a principal, she had strong principles
and she was kind. I wish she were here to read this book.