Once in the classroom, we find ourselves first with a group of students. In the experiences of our school we also have the classroom environment, leaderships, conflicts and friendships. On the contrary, little work is done on the group dynamics in the Magisterium career and the theories of social psychology have been applied very little in education.

The Golden 5 program, which was launched for the management of coexistence, is based on two theories of collective relationships: the theory of attributions and the theory of expectations. This was explained by María José Lera, a pioneer in the program (PhD in Psychology by the University of Seville), at the conferences organized by the Berritzegunes of Gipuzkoa in May: “The theory of attributions was founded in 1958 by Weiner and is a fundamental theory of group relations. When a man performs an attribution, whether correct or incorrect, the natural tendency of other men is to affirm the attributions. Our mind will unconsciously seek some experience that confirms the attribution made by the other.” Lera, with a positive energy and a sense of humor, described how the dynamics of the attributes within the school work: “When a teacher says ‘what tomorrow has Room 6.A given me! How they are!’ is an attribution. The other teacher who has listened to us will look in the head for an experience that will confirm and say: ‘It is true, the reception clerk once again told me that we have a good relationship with this group...’. The relationship between these teachers is close and there is, nothing happens.” Or does it happen? She asked: “Does this teacher’s thought affect the classroom or not? Why? Because we end up seeing what we think. How am I going to get into that room? Seeing that it's very difficult. Before entering the room, I will look unconsciously (because all this is an unconscious process) at the three who are standing and the two who are talking and I will think ‘I already knew! This room is fluttered!’ What do we do unconsciously? Disturbance. And in the end, the group itself will think that they are predators.” It would be ideal for no attribution to be made, but this was impossible for men. Therefore, Golden 5 proposes a rule for the professional context: to do only positive attributions. “6.Atik When we come to the class of teachers, we can say that ‘6.A is that... a very smart room... and as they are... the group is very active... and the teachers are challenging us very interesting eh!”. Another professor will say, ‘It is true that very interesting ideas were launched the other day.’ ‘They go very active, very creative...’. It's the same, but it looks different. And the group will end up believing that they are very creative and we will all be harnessing their potential.”

Lera recalled the importance of teachers and the class hearing in terms of positive attributions: “It’s not the same to do the assignments in your house as in the classroom, or in front of the audience, inside the classroom. Suppose we cast it in front of the whole class, and I'm doing an assignment. This student has a great capacity for languages! What will other colleagues think? They will look for an experience that confirms ‘ah, yes, a weekend went to London, so speak so well in English’. My attribution is now shared and widespread, now the whole room will see it, as we've said, because we see what we think. And every time he says something in English, the others will perceive ‘ooo, which he says well’, but what if he is wrong? What will the audience say? He will attribute it to external factors: he has a bad day, bad luck, the text was very difficult ... But the group will believe that that person has good ability for languages.” But positive attributions are not always made: “Very rarely, the comment escapes us and we tend to ‘aix, you are not for this.’ We're doing an attribution, which is shared, and the whole class will see what they think, that is, it doesn't serve to read. When we tell this student: ‘Read aloud’. How will you read it? a weak and totally diminished voice. What does the audience say? You don't know, you do it wrong. But let's think that the child faces all of this and reads well. What will the audience say? He has achieved this thanks to external factors: he is doing well, but because he is lucky, that text would already know him, he has a good day ... But he does not know how to read for himself.”

The goal is clear: every child deserves a positive attribution in the classroom and before everyone. To say how good it is on a subject like this. “We are all good at something, so we have to look for each good. Some get out of us right away, others have to look for a little more.” Because positive attributions imply the Pigmalion effect associated with the theory of expectations.

Gold Glasses: Failure or success depends on what we expect

“If you think the student is going to go well, take good notes. If you think it's going to go wrong, take a bad note. What an eye the teachers have, we are almost magicians!” Studies have shown that an adult with high expectations of a student, without noticing, pays more attention, gives the explanations better and in his/her way, encourages him/her more (“you can”), disparages his/her mistakes (“quiet, this is nothing, you’re still”), engages... "What is that adult doing at last?" facilitating the learning process,” explains Lera. It behaves the other way when the adult, without realizing it, has modest expectations towards this student. What do you do about that? “We have to have high expectations for every child. That is, we have to wear our Gold glasses.”

In the classroom, as in life, there are always some that stand out, that go very well academically, with high expectations -- and others that shine less. The key is to bring all students the relationship model that is created with those who do well. Lera has underlined the importance of making it conscious and methodically, making visible the sense of number 5 of the Golden Programme: “We will take the children from five to five and write. If we don't write, we'll always forget about them. Let’s take the mixed students, who go two very well, who have two problems and one that is usually called ‘gray’. Working in five, in the next period (let’s say in a couple of weeks) we must make them shine in front of the other colleagues.”

Clear short- and medium-term results

The CAV teachers who have implemented Lera and Golden 5 have confirmed the following immediate results: those who do well will be fine and whatever is “gray” in a short time will begin to notice. It is called gray those who attend the class, perform housework and although the tests are passed, they do not stand out. “When you look at them, when you say “you are very good at this” they already look differently and start to change.” Those who went wrong in the academic field improve a lot, but Lera has explained that we have to give more fridges to the Gold: “They start to see changes within two months, depending on the case.”

The changes are small and simple, and the achievements are great. The head of Golden del Berritzegune de Lasarte, Ana Azkona, tells us that being small does not mean superficial: “Strategies are very reasonable, for example, keeping your gaze is what attracts that person’s attention. That's simple, but some of them can't. Touching a person in the classroom is very simple but what it brings is a great change and requires a personal change, seeing the other person, seeing that he can, believing in it... It's very deep. That teacher throws a new look at the students, you become Professor Golden. Where does it lead us to focus only on negative things? To justify that there is nothing to do. Even in the most disappointing cases is the road, you have to look for the positive side and from there get all its potential and its virtues to the lever”.

Fathers also Golden

The house is basic. When the family and school go together, the results are clearer: “Families have to involve themselves in this approach. Let us be called even when our children are fine, we share the good. Positive messages must be sent to the family. Everyone must be taken five in five so that we do not forget anyone's parents. If the child goes wrong, we will give him positive messages on a social level. My parents have been crying to us ‘No one has ever told me anything positive about my son, he is 15 years old and it is a failure’. If they only call me when it is a problem, I will go in a defensive attitude and if he calls me the professor will be because he doesn't know what to do with the situation, but I don't know what to do either. Let's not get together in what we don't know, let's get together well. If you call me ‘come, your son behaves in an impressive way and in mathematics amazes me’, I will grow up with seeds. We're going to enjoy these moments. Let us walk together with the gaze that unites us. The problems are still there, but we're going to make the problems a little bit smaller and we're going to try to solve them with a plan, with a staircase. Little by little we will climb the steps and if anyone is very large and we cannot climb, we will put smaller levels. But let's have that look: of course it's possible, of course we can. It’s in our hands.”