A NEW method of teaching badly-behaved children in being pioneered in an East Lancashire school.

Phil Thompson, a teacher at Pleckgate High School, Blackburn, has been using the Pearl technique after studying the methods in America during the summer.

It involves trying to get the the root of pupils’ behavourial problems and encouraging them to develop the ‘correct internal attitude’.

Mr Thompson said the results have been “stunning” and he expects the programme to be gradually picked up by schools across the country.

He said the Pearl method works from changing a child’s behaviour “from the inside”. He said: “It is all about telling someone what has happened in the past is irrelevent to how they behave in the future.

“Everyone has the potential to be a better person and it is as simple as that.

“Once a child realises that they are capable of behaving differently then changes can happen.

“Aleady there have been great changes. I just let the pupils know that the future is in their hands.”

Mr Thompson is the only teacher in the UK who uses the technique but said he was winning over his colleagues.

He added: “The pupils come to think of themselves in a new light. It is just a different way of thinking.”

Kevin Long, from Breakthrough Communications and Training Ltd, is organising a seminar at the school on the Pearl system next week.

He said: “Everything you need to build your education is through behavioural change, but the problem is, behavioural change is usually dealt with externally and therefore is less or not effective.

“Performance Enrichment and Accelerated Results Learning (PEARL) has been devised to find the root cause of behavioural problems and offers solutions internally rather than externally.

“External results is like putting a plaster over an open wound, it doesn’t work.

“For the last three months PEARL has been piloted in Pleckgate High School, where Phil has had enormous success with changing the behaviours of some very challenging children.

“Pearl’s foundation is based on having the correct internal attitude, which controls the external behaviour. Combined with accelerated learning, this produces greatly improved results.”

A workshop on the Pearl system takes place at the school at 2pm on Wednesday.