I am a fan of the TV hit series ‘Lie to Me’ and this led me to the research of Dr Paul Ekman. I read his book, albeit little heavy going, and clearly see the relevance between deception detection and the demands placed on teachers. Deception detection is a skill developed by almost all teachers, in almost every school, with some teachers and school staff considered unofficial deception detection experts. Commonly, it would appear that pastoral staff possess refined deception detection and resolution skills as well as a high degree of Emotional Intelligence (I would assume). Yet, despite having to call upon our deception detection skills nearly every lesson and even in between lessons, every day, I don’t think that I have once seen a training event or CPD session assigned to help teachers and school staff refine these skills?
In fact, I don’t think that these skills were highlighted in the recent, very useful, crowd sourced #PGCE Survival Guide? (I will ask).
@tomhenzley were there any tips on how to deal with students not telling the truth??
@KristianStill. Eh? In the book? Not really I don’t think. Why?
Why… as I think many teachers, especially teachers in training would benefit from some guidance on deception detection.
How do teachers detect an untruth? What strategies do experienced teachers employ?
Here are a few ‘magpied’ strategies from colleagues that have influenced my career.
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Give the students an early opportunity to correct themselves, to be honest. Don’t back the student into a corner, there is only one way they will come back at you.
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You don’t always have to uncover a lie immediately. Some lies are best left unchallenged in the short term. Students may lie to avoid embarrassment or hid difficult personal circumstances. Some lies are best revisited at a later time.
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A confrontation, deflected humour, rudeness – may in fact be a cloaked lie. Remember not all lies have to be resolved NOW.
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Allow sufficient time between the student response and your next intervention. Time (often filled with silence) can be powerful.
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Listen to the whole students. What / how they say it (language, pitch, fluency). What they don’t say. Watch the body language. Appreciate there are culture differences, for example the
eye contact is not consistent across cultures.
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Be willing to clarify your understanding and ask students to explain or re-phrase an answer. Asking students to ‘re-phrase’ a response will often identified rehearsed lies.
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Ask the student to write down their viewpoint. This provides an uninterrupted response and a permanent record. This commitment raises the stakes.
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Would this ‘untruth’ be better handled by another member of staff? Deferring a situation is a valid strategy.
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Keep the door ajar, a room with a window, share a 1-2-1 appointment schedule with a colleague.
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You don’t have to respond verbally. Write something down (fact or fiction), change your expression either way the students attention will be perked. Enough to come clean??
Online colleagues offered their perspective as well
@KristianStill difficult one. Gather evidence, ask appropriate questions, link evidence, talk on their own, with fiends in front of parents
A three part tweet outlined a key point.
@KristianStill Talk to EVERYONE and be sparing with what you know yourself. "I need you to be honest and I want to understand…" Give them time to think. Smile and empathise (but don’t undermine seriousness) And, of course, a big pile of written statements from others can help too #ukedchat
A very different strategy (depending on the situation) was offered,
#ukedchat @KristianStill dpds on situ. but i talk to others privately first pretend i know more then i do. want their side of things.
@KristianStill let them know if done something wrong, fine, we can work on that. they lie = loss of trust = less opportunities #ukedchat
@KristianStill clicking on their name on the register, bring up their behaviour record and see they have previous for the thing they deny
I would have to conclude that as I have developed my deception detection strategies, the more time I give my students to be honest. Reduce to punishment for telling the truth (be consistent) and raise the punitive measures for prolonged lies.
Our aim is not merely to discover the truth but to understand why they lied,’ Dr Cal Lightman.
Thanks @ajking1, @janekilpatrick, @onmejack and @paulhaigh for your contributions.
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