Behaviour Management for Primary NQTs

Mark Holdaway

Associate Trainer

(Brighton & Hove Pupil Referral Unit)

Session Three:

Teaching positive behaviour

Responding to inappropriate behaviour

Common barriers to learning

Aims of the session

We will explore:

• Why we need to teach positive behaviour (surely they know that by now?)

• How to teach and model behaviour (don’t they just pick it up?)

• A solution-focused strategy for promoting positive behaviour

• How to select appropriate responses when inappropriate behaviour occurs

and will build on:

• A proactive checklist for positive behaviour management

‘Behaviour can be an area where we expect so much and teach so little’

Galvin, Miller and Nash, 1999

Teaching behaviour

• Teach the behaviours which will enable children to meet the stated expectations (how can this be done in a crowded timetable?)

• Make this teaching explicit rather than implicit

• Make time for this explicit teaching a priority

• Help children understand the idea of learning behaviours

• Plan for regular reinforcement

Teaching behaviour

• Focus on one behaviour that you will need to see in order that everyone’s rights and responsibilities are fulfilled

• Describe the behaviour you need to see

• Teach the required behaviour – discussion, modelling, practice

cont...

Teaching behaviour (cont..)

• Develop and use a script which is consistent each time so that the children become familiar with your prompt words

• Explain the positive consequences if the children get it right. Reward systems – whole-school, class-wide, individual.

• Explain the negative consequences if they don’t get it right. Sanction systems – whole-school, class-wide, individual.

Preferred futures (the miracle question)

• Life without the problem

• How would I behave?

• How would I feel?

• What would I say?

• How would others behave?

• A ‘miracle’

• An ideal scenario

Guidelines for responding

• Low-level, unobtrusive interventions

• Choice and consequences

• Hierarchy of consequences

• Certainty not severity

Managing behaviour is not an exact science; it can be upsetting, repetitive and leave you questioning your actions. These are all very normal feelings and responses. The more this is transferred to you from a child, the deeper their need and the more need there is for you to seek support and share this load.

Least to most intrusive interventions

• Non-verbal messages (the teacher look)• Tactical or planned ignoring

(concentrating on those doing the ‘right thing’)

• Description of reality (“Johnny, you’re talking”)

• Simple direction (“Stop talking, thank you”)

• Rule reminderCont/…

Cont ….

• Question and feedback (“Johnny, was that you again?”)

• Blocking or assertive statements (“Stop, sit down!”)

• Choices and consequences (“If you make the right choice, we can get on”)

• Exit procedures (“I need you to leave so you can calm down)

We have covered:

• The need to teach positive behaviour

• How to go about teaching a behaviour

• Planning how to teach a specific behaviour in your classroom

• How to respond to inappropriate behaviour in your classroom

• The use of preferred futures as a solution-focused technique to promote change

The effect on children’s learning of environmental factors

Children’s social,

emotional and behavioural skills

LEARNING

Anxiety Parental support

Mental health needs Physiological needs

(hunger, thirst, lack of sleep etc)

Sense of belonging

Why ‘learning behaviours’?

• Moves away from negative discussions about behaviour

• Behaviour that enables and maximises learning

• Can range from high-level skills to earlier,less complex skills

• The concept is applicable to all children

Inside classrooms

• Unique complexity

• Busy places

• Public places

• Events are multi-dimensional

• Events are simultaneous

• Events have a high level of unpredictability

Watkins,1997

Our structures need to address

• Motivation

• Well-being

• Expectations

Building on success

The helper’s role:• Bringing individuals’ strengths to their

attention• Using questions to help the individual to

focus• Amplifying small successes through

questioning• Ensuring that the description is as

concrete and detailed as possible

Cont/…

Cont…

• Identifying the small things the individual does well

• Giving feedback constructively, objectively, genuinely

• Reinforcing identified strengths in order to increase the likelihood of their being used in future

We have looked at:

• The concept of learning behaviours

• Selecting interventions to increase the likelihood of learning behaviours occurring

• Classroom procedures/routines which promote learning behaviours

• A solution-focused strategy for managing behaviour

Our own feelings

• Annoyed

• Angry, provoked

• Hurt

• Defeated, discouraged

In this session we have:

• considered the importance of and shared ideas for building positive relationships

• considered why and how to use praise

• discussed why it is more difficult to build and maintain positive relationships with some children than with others

• discussed why ‘labelling’ children happens and how it can perpetuate negative behaviour

• applied solution-focused strategies to a classroom issue