| Dev Diary #3 - Policies [message #186] |
Sat, 04 November 2023 09:58  |
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Horemheb
Messages: 86
Registered: October 2022
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Hello everyone. This is our third developer diary for School Builder. Today I'm going to talk about policies. The policy screen is accessed by clicking the third icon with the scales on the command bar. There are four tabs: Core Policy, Authority, Corporal Punishment and Misc.
When you begin a new game you will need to set your core policies before opening your school. This set of policies will determine the kind of you school you will run. You can choose to have an all boys, all girls or co-ed school. You can also set if you want an all male, all female or co-ed staff.
You will also need to choose for Western or Asian for how classes will be organized and structured.
Typically in schools in western countries each student has their own unique daily schedule and changes classrooms for each subject during the day. They have different classmates in each class. Each student has an assigned homeroom with a homeroom teacher that they report to each morning; however homeroom serves little more than a place to check daily attendance, make announcements, etc. Their homeroom teacher has no special relationship or authority over the student.
In many Asian schools students do not change classrooms. Individual teachers will come to their classroom to teach their subject. An entire class will go together for subjects like gym or computers. For the most part a student will have the same classmates for their entire three years at the school. These classes will have a Headteacher with a considerable ammount of authority over the class as well as other responsbilities.
Finally you will also need to choose if your school will have class monitors and prefects.
Class monitors are commonly found in Asian schools and particularly China. They are nominally elected by their classmates and are typically high academic achievers. They represent the authority of the Headteacher when he or she is not present and will often note down any disciplinary infractions. In some cases they may dispense punishment themselves. They also commonly assist the Headteacher in taking attendance, checking homework and other administrative duties.
Prefects serve as essentially school wide monitors and often have considerable power and authority. Their duties can vary widely - from something as mundane as assisting fellow students cross the street to administering corporal punishment. Typically they have their own hierarchy and will answer to a Senior Prefect or Head Boy/Girl.
The next tab is Authority. On this screen will decide what sort of punishments will be used and your school and specifically who (roles) has the authority to use and/or order them. You will be able to give different amounts of authority to Teachers, Gym Teachers, Headteachers, Team Coaches, Prefects, Security Personal and Administrators. There are eight punishments that you may grant authority to use:
Detention: Student is required to stay after school, typically in the classroom or office of whom assigned the detention
Send To Hall: Student is sent out in the hallway for rest of a lesson
Exercise: Student is assigned a physical, but non-corporal punishment such as pushups, running laps, etc.
Work Order: The student will need to engage in some work around the school; most often cleaning tasks.
Corporal Punishment: The student gets corporal punishment
Saturday Detention: Also known as office detention; the student must report to school on Saturday morning to serve detention in an office.
Assembly CP: The student is punished in front of the entire school (or a good portion of it) during an assembly.
Suspension: The student is suspended from physically attending classes and must do his or classwork in an office.
The third tab is corporal punishment. If anyone in your school has the authority to use corporal punishment then you will set specific policies for it. Like authority, corporal punishment policies are set per role.
Same Sex: Spankers/Spankees must be the same sex
Witness Required: A witness is required for corporal punishment
In Private: The corporal punishment must be conducted in private, away from other students
Butt: Corporal punishment is allowed on the buttocks
Palms: Corporal punishment is allowed on the palms of the hands
Feet: Corporal punishment (bastinado) is allowed on the bottom of the feet
Calves: Corporal punishment is allowed on the calves
Clothing: How much (if any) clothing can be ordered lowered/removed (choices are Clothed, Underwear, Bare or Naked)
Cane: May use a cane
Paddle: May use a paddle
Strap: May use a strap
Slipper: May use a slipper
Hand: May use hand
Misc Tab
On this screen there will be miscellaneous policies, not all of which will appear at the start of the game.
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One thing that is important to remember with policies is they are just that - policies. Just because you have decided something does not mean every student and staff member will follow it to the letter. Your students are staff are not robots. For example even though you may require a witness for teachers giving out corporal punishment, there may be a teacher who ignores this requirement. What happens to that teacher? If no one complains or reports it, maybe nothing. Or perhaps you'll need to make a decision if it gets that far. More on decisions in another diary.
Lastly I will say that your policies are not set in stone. While core policies cannot be changed on a whim (i.e - it may take some time for all boys school to become coed for example), you will definitely be able to tweak others as the school days go on and see what works best for you and your school.
I'm going to leave it there for today. Next time we are going to talk about hiring staff for you school, something that you will need to do once your core policies are in place.
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