The New Zealand classroom is not what it used to be, says Gisborne principal David Langford, who is equipping his staff with skills designed to help address the needs of troubled children at school.

With the help of Gisborne Host, Wainui and Turanga Lions Clubs, the Awapuni School principal signed up all 33 of his staff for a two-day workshop in the Lions Quest Skills for Living programme, facilitated by Ian Thurlow, from Christchurch.

Mr Langford and some of his staff had participated in the Lions Quest Skills for Living workshop 11 years earlier, and is absolutely sold on its worth. He says it works best when all staff, including teacher aides, the librarian and office staff, have been trained in encouraging virtues such as respecting oneself and respecting others.

The exercise is directed towards providing additional skills and tools for teachers to enable them to instil the values in kids to grow and become good community members. The character-building programme is directed at giving kids the willpower and skills to withstand “peer” pressure to use drugs and all the other worrying influences young ones are exposed to these days. Self-respect and respect for others are the underlying qualities aimed for.

It might sound pretty straightforward, but the sad reality was far more complex for troubled children growing up with little guidance, Mr Langford said. A rise in abuse with the influence of drugs and gang culture in some children's home life contributed to schools inheriting a "very different social climate".

"As a principal who has been in the Gisborne community for a very long time, I believe there is a greater need than ever before to have programmes like this because of the diversity of the needs in the students that are enrolling today. They are quite different from 20 years ago," said Mr Langford.

Seven percent of boys attending primary schools in the country are abused in their home life. The situation is one that potentially ripples through to the classroom, as troubled children attempt to make gangs and bully and intimidate other children as a result.

While the effects of abused boys were easier to recognise than girls in the same situation, there was concern that teachers lacked the skills to help identify and deal with these issues. As the environment has changed, the training teachers went through did not necessarily. Mr Langford's answer was to bring the Skills for Living programme to his staff.

"This programme is so important . . . it is such a great resource," he said. "Success around children requires them having a sense of empathy for each other and being accountable to those values. It underpins everything we do. But the solutions are actually in the hearts and minds of the teachers who work with the kids every day. It's the relationships that these teachers have with their students that have the greatest effect on students' learning."

Mr Langford acknowledged that the programme, at $12,500, was expensive but "worth every cent".

The school put forward some of the money while the Lions Clubs assisted with the rest.

"If it were not for their support we could not afford it. We would not be doing it and we would be the worse off for it," said Mr Langford.

Wainui Lion Hans Kwak said they chose to assist Awapuni School because they knew how effective the programme was when the school took part in it 11 years ago.

"I am not an educationalist but when I was working I would hear from builders working at the school, and people in general, how amazingly polite and kind the children were," he said. "It's worth its weight in gold."

Photo: Awapuni School principal David Langford and Wainui Lion Ken Huberts (right) celebrate the success of Lions Quest with the school children. Q-Bear is an integral part of the programme, rewarding children for their successes. Courtesy of the Gisborne Herald.