Effective behaviour management strategies imparted by the teacher is essential for the success of a classroom. On September 21st I participated in a university based lecture with Paul Woodward who is a behavioral specialist and focused on the importance of pivotal practice which focuses on structuring your approach of teaching by working effectively with 95% of your class which will have a positive impact on the remaining 5% to promote constructive aspects of behaviour management in the classroom.
The key aims behind successful behaviour management strategies stems from the head teacher stimulating measures within their schools behavioral policy which aims to promote good behaviour, respect and self-discipline (DfE 2016). According to DfE (2016) good behaviour is encouraged through the schools ethos which focuses on the discipline and mutual respect between staff and pupils.
The success of teachers who manage behaviour well, falls within the habits that they use in the classroom. Woordward (2017) explains this through different stages within behaviour management called “Five Pillars of Pivotal Practice”. These are as follows:
- Pillar One: Consistent, calm adult behaviour
- Pillar Two: First Attention to best conduct
- Pillar Three: Relentless routines
- Pillar Four: Scripting difficult interventions
- Pillar Five: Restorative conversations
Pillar One: Consistent, calm adult behaviour is an extremely useful tool to implement effective behaviour management strategies within the classroom. From my own perspective through experience I am a firm believer that emotions are ‘contagious’ and through different strategies we, as teachers, can control our emotions to model good behaviour for children. Woodward (2017) discussed how teachers should verbalise the behaviour you want to see and make it explicit through words and actions or through positive notices around the classroom reflects success from pupils. This idea is emphasised in Leo (2012) whereby she argues that to promote good behaviour you should encourage positive wellbeing for the child.
Pillar Two implies that as teachers, a successful strategy is to focus on praising good behaviour rather than criticising a child. An example of this could be from the teacher using subtle reflective praise to a child by asking: “Tell me why I am so pleased with this work?” which creates a sense of positive reinforcement and acknowledgment for the child.
From my own experience, I will also discuss the effectiveness of ‘Pillar Three: Relentless routines.” What I found difficult to manage within schools was the changeover between learning on the floor as a group within guided reading to then transitioning to individual work on their tables and the transition between ‘in and out of seat’ as this created a level of disruptiveness within the classroom which was difficult to manage.
A strategy that I introduced as a TA which eliminated the level of disruption was making the transition fun and inclusive for the children. I set clear instructions for children to move back to their table groups only when I called out their particular eye colour. This technique allowed the children to stay focused with my voice and the instructions given which intrigued the children to listen for their own individual eye colour and made the process personal to them in which I found effective for the transition and removed any element of disruption.
To summarise, Harper (2014) states that effective behaviour management strategies which are used within the classroom underpins the success of teaching and learning which compliments results from DfE (2016) that primary schools with good or outstanding behaviour have been found on average to have a higher percentage of pupils with a better outcome in Maths and English compared to schools with satisfactory or inadequate behaviour judgements.
References:
- Department for Education (2016) Behaviour and discipline in schools, London: DfE
- Harper, A. and Martin, K. (Eds.) (2014) Managing behaviour in the Primary Classroom. (2nd ed.) Berkshire: National Foundation for Educational Research.
- Leo, P. (Ed.) (2007) Connection Parenting: Parenting Through Connection Instead of Coercion, Through Love Instead of Fear. (2nd ed.) Oregon: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
- Pivotal Education Lecture with Paul Woodward (2017) University of Brighton, September 21st.