Teacher Julie McCracken uses Clean both in the classroom and in the playground with her five-, six- and seven-year-old charges.

In the playground, it can be a great way to put a swift end to those "Teacher! Teacher!" moments, she explained. "When two children have a squabble the traditional thing they do is to come rushing up to the teacher saying, "They did it first, It's their fault!" They are expecting the teacher to solve the problem, to find out the truth of it, and then to decide that the culprit has to say sorry. The other child then accepts the appolgy and they go about their business ...until the next time. It's a routine and role they seem to expect.

"Now they come skipping up and I say, "What do you want to have happen?"

They think for a bit and then come out with, usually something along the lines of "I want to be friends with them," or "I want them to say sorry," or "I want to make up, or "I want them to leave me alone". I don't take it much further than that - I keep quiet, and they normally then do whatever it is. That takes about ten seconds, whereas the old way would take about 20 minutes to sort it all out.

"And this way the children choose what they want and get it for themselves which is good for self esteem and self reliance. They find their own solutions.

"After a while they see the pattern, and become able to do it themselves without a teacher. Some children I have had in my class for two years and when they come running up to me I don't even have to ask a question, I just make a face, and they say "I'd like to....I'll just go and do it shall I?" and off they go... I'd definitely recommend it!"

In lessons, Julie asks the Clean Language questions 'What kind of X?' and 'Is there anything else about X?' of the children's classroom contributions, to help them think more deeply about their ideas. 'And then what happens?' and 'And where could X come from?' help them to extend their thinking or reflect on ideas. 'And is there a relationship between X and Y?" (gesturing to indicate the meaning ) has helped them to identify and articulate patterns in Maths, for instance.

"The major part of education is to help children to think at a higher level, more reflectively. Using Clean Language questions about their thoughts helps the children to become more aware of their own thinking," she explained.

She uses Clean Language questions to help 'difficult' children to become aware of what's behind their actions - for example, kicking their neighbour in the classroom.

She said: "Quite often they are not aware that they had a want - they kick somebody next to them and they're not really aware of what the kick meant. In fact they wanted the other child to move, and it would be much more sociable just to ask them! I ask "What happened just before?" to help the kicker become aware of the feeling, so that they can use words to describe it in future."

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