Background

George and Barbara started work together in 1984 when George was the head of a special school in Bristol and Barbara was the educational psychologist to the school. Their shared belief in the importance of self-esteem and their rejection of traditional methods of behaviour management inspired them to develop new and challenging initiatives.

Their starting point was the understanding that �If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got!� The young people they worked with had already experienced detentions, suspensions and other punitive interventions intended to change behaviour. The result, more often than not, was that they now believed themselves to be 'bad kids'. To change this George and Barbara introduced a programme of initiatives that included:

celebrating success
teaching appropriate behaviours
differentiating expectations
replacing punishments with restorative justice methods

In spite to increasing demands from the department, and sometimes the unions, that the solution was removing the problem children from the schools, the success of their work gradually spread through their training and writing. In 1998 the publication of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman (Bloomsbury, London 1998) gave a new and widespread credibility to the importance of teaching emotional literacy.

It is Barbara and George�s combination of experience, training and writing which has made Lucky Duck a unique venture and it is testimonies like the one quoted below which validate their work.

We were delighted to receive this email from Julie Clark, who was sorting through her papers after recently retiring;

"I came across the notes which accompanied a course run by [Lucky Duck Publishing], and was moved to tears! I felt I had to let you know that of all the courses I attended during my career, this is the one that had the most impact, influencing me both towards being more effective in my support of children, and more able to help colleagues. I still quote many of the anecdotes to colleagues, family and friends � powerful stuff! A recipe for succeeding in relationships in life generally, not just in teaching."

Lucky Duck has now become one of the main sources of support materials for teachers who believe in positive approaches to behaviour and self-esteem. The materials are not only being used throughout the UK, but also in many places overseas including; the United States; Canada; Australia; France; Germany; Holland; Switzerland; and many more.

Find out more about the philosophy behind our publications and work in the Approach section.

The Name

The first workshop we provided was called "They Can Because They Think They Can" - a saying from the Iliad. We saw a poster which was illustrated by seagulls flying across the page. We worked with young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties and nobody seemed to regard them as beautiful birds in flight. Our campaign throughout the years has been to urge teachers, parents, carers to recognise behavioural difficulties as a special need and respond with teaching methods rather than punishment. We decided to choose a "Lame Duck" instead of a seagull and our logo is a cartoon duck with a bandaged foot. We hope that this duck will heal and fly.

"Even the most insensitive parent or teacher can usually recognise and take into account a crippling physical handicap. Negative self-esteem however is often overlooked because we fail to take the time and effort it requires to be sensitive to how children see themselves and their abilities."
Self Concept and School Achievement. Purkey, W.

Language that was acceptable in the 1980's was regarded as insensitive in the 1990's and we decided that the word lame carried a meaning that might offend some people. We changed the name to Lucky Duck but kept the logo as a reminder of a purpose that we hold dear and remains at the forefront of all the courses and publications we provide.