Taming the Troublemakers
Melbourne Age - Profile
'Taming the troublemakers'
March 7, 2001

Randall Clinch smiles at the irony of his situation. The man who left school at 14, unable to read or write, to clean toilets on a building site, is back in schools working with the most difficult and troubled students. In a final twist, he's also "teaching the teachers" how to get through to them.

Mr Clinch admits he was a trouble-maker. "I thought I was too clever for school, and I didn't want to listen or learn. But I was really terrified that someone would find out I couldn't read or write because that would mean I was dumb. I preferred the cane to reading a book," he says.

Mr Clinch, a self-described "attitude coach", has worked with hundreds of students in New South Wales and the ACT, achieving remarkable success, despite lacking formal qualifications or training. Now he is visiting Victoria, training student teachers at Monash University and running workshops for parents. Professor Tony Townsend from Monash's faculty of education describes Mr Clinch's work - which is not easy to describe - as "unique". It's necessary to understand his extraordinary background to gain some understanding of what he does.

At the age of 32, with a wife, two sons and a mother to support, he lost the use of his legs as a result of a bad back from years of work as a brickie's laborer. He was deeply depressed, in enormous pain and frantic about who would employ an illiterate man. Through sheer will-power, he dragged himself out of bed each day, crawling across the floor and increasing his movement until he regained the use of his legs. In a foretaste of the way he works with schools, he says: "I had to learn to use my mind conquer the pain, and then conquer the fear of pain."

This gave him the confidence to enrol in night school to learn how to read and write, which led to managerial positions in the building industry. Tragedy hit when his son Ted, who suffered from mild cerebral palsy, was diagnosed with cancer. "Life was a challenge from the day he was born, and when the cancer turned up, it was the next thing," says Mr Clinch, visibly moved by the memory. He worked with Ted to control the pain, teaching him to focus his thoughts with the same techniques he had used when he was bedridden and immobilised.

"I'd ask him what the pain was (on a scale of one to 10) and he would say an eight. I'd say: let's make it a five and then a three." The doctors could not believe that Ted no longer needed his Morphine drop, he says. Ted died six years ago. "I had six months of despair and loss, then I decided I wanted to contribute to the way we educate our kids," says Mr Clinch. "I saw that my work with Ted had made a difference to his life and I knew I could make a difference to other people. I could take what my son shared with me and share it with them.

Mr Clinch who was featured last year on ABC TV's Australian Story, has spent the past three years working in schools with the most difficult and disturbed students. He asks teachers to tell him only their names and ages because he believes their pasts are irrelevant. He also believes the students have the ability to learn, although many don't think so, but lack the skills to focus their thoughts. This in turn affects their attitude to school and their behaviour.

Through a series of "non-confronting and closed questions", he teaches students to "choose their thoughts", which gradually changes their behaviour. His methods are simple and common-sense based, he says, and relate more to instinct than intellect. It is not counselling but it's more than positive thinking. Most students come to Mr Clinch feeling angry and resentful, but, after several sessions, have an increased self-esteem and awareness, he says.

He also works with teachers and says many are amazed by the changes in students previously regarded as impossible to get through to. "I've heard teachers say: I've known this kid for two years and I've never seen him laughing and cooperative like this," says Mr Clinch. At One school, he talked to a notorious trouble-maker in front of the staff. Half of the teachers were crying at the end of the session because they had seen a different side to him.

How successful is the approach? Mr Clinch says about a third of the students he works with are not suspended or thrown out of class again, a third have a greatly reduced rate of punishment and a third continue with the same behaviour. However, he believes this would change if he could spend more time with them. Professor Townsend describes Mr Clinch's techniques as interesting and impressive, with a focus on students enjoying what they do.

"For years we have taught teachers to respond to students' behaviour, and to try to change it," says Professor Townsend. "But Randall has found that people who do well at school tend to have different thoughts to those who struggle. He is saying: 'Let's go back two steps and change their thoughts (about school) and build new concepts,' This in turn will change behaviour."

While the approach has been shown to change their attitudes, it's unclear whether it also changes their academic performance, says Professor Townsend. In an effort to determine this, Monash University will work with Mr Clinch in one primary and one secondary school in the Latrobe Valley this year. The project will also examine whether his approach can be taught successfully to teachers. Professor Townsend hopes the research will give credibility to Mr Clinch's work and that governments will be prepared to support it.

"We've chosen Latrobe Valley because it's a challenging area, with high unemployment and social problems," says Mr Clinch. "I want to show that these things don't have to have the bearing (on students' attitudes and performance) that they are believed to have. "Over time, we have channelled teachers to look for non-learners. I want to teach them to look for the learners. Once they identify these, they understand that learners are also the students playing up."

Professor Townsend says that a lot of what Mr Clinch does is related to his "charismatic" approach, and his attitude to young people. "I love the work," says Mr Clinch. "There's nothing more inspiring than to see their eyes light up and to hear them say: I can do it."

Margaret Cook