It’s time to talk positively about pupil behaviour

PAUL FEATHERSTONE, former primary school teacher, asks - is too much focus placed on negative behaviour in schools?

Issues such as bullying, conflicts between pupils and lowlevel disruption in the classroom can have a negative impact on a child’s enjoyment of school and the progress they make in their learning.

Managing challenging behaviour can be stressful and time consuming no matter how experienced the teacher. But putting effective strategies in place to help staff understand the issues, nip problems in the bud and shift the emphasis to the positive can make a real difference to teachers, pupils and the wider school community.

Help Teachers Spot Issues Sooner

There can be small tells in a pupil’s behaviour, such as a child not settling easily at the beginning of the class or regular absence on certain days, that give teachers an early indication that something is going on for them. It might be they are having an issue with another pupil or there’s been a change in circumstances at home.

The reasons behind lack of engagement in lessons can be complex too. It could be an indication that a child is not being adequately challenged, but it may also be that they are struggling to access the curriculum due to an as yet unidentified special need, or they don’t have the right equipment to participate fully in the activities being set.

With the ability to spot changes in pupil behaviour early, schools can uncover the reasons behind it and take appropriate action to provide support in a timely way to help children get the most from their time in school.

Tracking behaviour across the school can reveal developing issues that need to be addressed too. If you know scuffles between pupils tend to break out when the corridor outside the canteen gets busier at lunch times, a new policy of staggered break times could eliminate the issue altogether.

Whether it’s tailored support for an individual child or group, extra midday supervisors or additional training for teachers in how to de-escalate tension that’s needed, with greater insight into the reasons behind behavioural incidents schools can target budgets more effectively to reduce problems.

Accentuate The Positive

There is often great emphasis placed on recording details of the negative behaviour that goes on in school to help flag where investment is needed to prevent it. This approach has its place, but it is just as important to capture details of positive pupil conduct.

Pupils are likely to feel alienated and disengaged if the only attention they receive about their behaviour in school is negative. Imagine the delight on a child’s face if their headteacher sees them around school and makes the effort to congratulate them for getting their homework in on time or praises them for helping another pupil in the playground.

Technology can help by enabling teachers to record all behavioural incidences centrally within the school’s management information system. Automatic alerts can then be set up so that notifications arrive directly to a staff members mobile device when certain criteria are reached.

This also supports reward schemes, such as pupil medals or class-based initiatives where positive conduct points can be swapped for sports equipment or extra time in the playground with friends. The gamification of positive behaviour helps to motivate children and makes it more fun.

STRENGTHEN HOME-SCHOOL LINKS

Parents have a key role to play in supporting positive behaviour in school and with carefully designed communications, they are much more likely to be able to make a difference.

Receiving a timely text message from school to let a parent know their child has just received a kind pupil award or scored full marks in a maths test gives them the opportunity

Capture details of positive pupil conduct

to congratulate and reward the pupil when they get home. This personalised communication has much greater impact than a generic email sent home as a reminder of the school’s behaviour policy.

How parental communications are delivered matters too. Simple text messages letting parents know how many days of school their child has missed, delivered at the right time can boost the proportion of students maintaining good attendance for example. Parents will often favour text messages as they are easy to read on the move and tend to be shorter, so they are be more likely to read them than an email or letter stuffed into the child’s school bag.

Working Together

If a behaviour management policy is too complicated or time consuming for teachers to manage, they will not feel supported in delivering it consistently across the school.

Schools that implement efficient and effective behavioural strategies focused on the positive can bring about significant change and make it easier for teachers, parents and pupils to work together to create a happy and productive learning environment for all.