Behaviour Management is, one of the biggest challenges teachers face. You can spend hours planning a lesson with the intention of it running smoothly but, what do you do when disruptive class behaviour gets in your way?
When I think back to my own School education, particularly in the later key stages, I remember hours each week being spent listening to teachers battling with disruptive pupils. When I did my classroom experience in a Year One class earlier this year, I was happy to see that this wasn’t the case. The teacher that I observed demonstrated to me how, when attention is given to behaviour that is good, not bad, the results are more successful.
One day, after play time, there had been an issue with one of the students, ‘Charlie’, pushing another over after a disagreement over sharing. When the class resumed after break, the student in question brought this behaviour back to the class. ‘Charlie’ sat with the other children on the carpet to do a starter activity and continued being disruptive. Instead of addressing the issue in front of the class, giving him the attention he so clearly wanted, she pulled him to one side. Away from the limelight of his peers, ‘Charlie’ displayed more remorse when asked if he thought his behaviour was acceptable. Once he realised that his behaviour wouldn’t lead to positive attention, he calmed down.
In our Pivotal Education Lecture, this was one of the key points I took away. Pivotal talks about focusing on the positive behaviour of the 95% and emphasises this with his five pillar strategy.
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Consistent, calm adult behaviour
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First attention for best conduct
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Relentless routines
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Scripting difficult interventions
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Restorative follow up
(Pivotal Education, 2017)
The first pillar, consistent, calm adult behaviour is key in cases like ‘Charlie’s’. When students see that they can get a reaction out of a teacher, particularly an angry one, they will play too that.
The second pillar ensures that more time is given to good behaviour than bad. Charlie stopped behaving badly when the ‘attention’ element was taken away from the situation. When students can see reward and attention is given to positive behaviour too, whether it be through praise for work or schemes like reward charts, they will begin to demonstrate this. Pivotal himself shows how the first and second pillar work in practice.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMzSF4BeZ6M&feature=youtu.be>
As teachers, we must ‘have high expectations of behaviour, and establish a framework for discipline with a range of strategies, using praise, sanctions and rewards consistently and fairly’ (DfE, 2011). This ties in with not only Pivotal’s first and second pillars but also the third. By implementing rules and strategies for dealing with behaviour both positive and negative it makes it easier to take control. Ideally these strategies should be implemented throughout the school. Creating and implementing behaviour management strategies allows you to ‘take responsibility for promoting good and courteous behaviour both in classrooms and around the school ‘ DfE,2011).
This whole school approach is something that Bill Rodgers discusses in his book Behavior Management, a whole school approach. He discusses how there are seven key benefits of working as a whole cohort to manage difficult behaviour and praise positive behaviour. ‘They are staff management; establishing and maintaining internal and external communication systems; fostering a sense of community; taking the lead in setting aims and standards; encouraging collective responsibility; supporting staff and directing overall curriculum and organisational planning’. I have included these points as I think they are key in the discussion of working together to manage behaviour
Of course, with all methods of behaviour management there will come challenges. One of the exciting things about teaching is that no day is the same, you cannot predict how children will react and that’s what makes it such an interesting career. However, this can pose difficulties in areas such as managing a class or, implementing the same strategy throughout a whole school. While the whole <school approach and the five pillars practice may not always work, I feel t they are strategies that can bring real success.
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References
Department for Education (2011) Teacher Standards – Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies, Crown Copyright : 2011 DfE
Pivotal Education, (May. 2017), Achieve Exceptional Behavior, The 5 Pillars [online], Available < https://pivotaleducation.com/> [Accessed 29 September 2017)
Pivotal Education (Feb, 2016), First attention to best conduct [online], Available < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMzSF4BeZ6M&feature=youtu.be > [Accessed 29 September 2017]