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Looking inwards
It`s always difficult when you have to reflect on where you are. Self-analysis can be quite painful but, as a teacher, I felt it was key to do this on a regular basis and in doing so, improve one`s practice.
For a school, or a manager, to evaluate how well behaviour management is working within your institution, it`s fairly important but difficult to try to be objective.
All of us went to school at some time and had behaviour management imposed on us. As teachers, on the whole, we are receptive to learning and coping with the management of our behaviour and as a consequence probably consider that the process we went through was reasonable.
So here`s the first point - what if it wasn`t well thought out and reasonable and was simply built on the experiences of your teachers and how they were treated by their teachers. If this is the case, and I think it may be, isn`t it time that we bought behaviour management into the 21st century where it belongs.
Just to quote an example, I have read a behaviour management policy which states that if a detention is not done properly by a student, then the detention should be repeated only this time with the student standing up. If we follow this to its logical conclusion, we need to start installing stocks into schools and providing tomatoes for the students for break times. This type of behaviour management, in my opinion, has no place in our schools.
A good start point is to consider the basis on which you set up your policy in the first place. Was it a review of an old policy or did you bring a policy with you from your old school?
When you started writing it, what was your goal?
Ferre Laevers' Experiential approach in early years has a triangle of:
Standards (achievement)
Engagement (Involvement) Emotional well-being
Which one of those were you focussing on when you wrote your policy? Which one do you think you should be focussing on?
So how can you tell if your school is running a compliance program am not a supportive one? Well here are some guidelines:
It's a Compliance institution if you do many of these
with respect to the staff and the school
- your school policy talks about punishments
- it has sequential and escalating consequences
- it has lots of details concerning referrals and how to deal with each incident and any subsequent incidents
- you still hold detentions
- if the detentions are not completed, they are repeated and after that it is onto exclusions
- isolation is commonly used
- you take time off children from golden time (primary schools) for misbehaviour
- you prevent children and taking part in enhancement or off-site activities for misbehaviour
- children are sent out of class to be dealt with by the headteacher or senior manager when there are problems
- staff at shout at the children
- children are either behaving or not, there is no middle ground for differentiation - zero tolerance
- staff consider they are the final arbiters in their classrooms
- staff have complete autonomy and independence
- For some staff, the closed-door policy means they have little support and are isolated, on the whole
- there is a strong perception that this is the most effective way to manage behaviour
with respect to the children and their well-being
- punishment is often meted out without them having an opportunity for discussion
- they feel like they're being trained to obey
- questioning is not an option
- antecedents are often not considered
- It's a ' What I see is what I punish' approach
- it's designed to make the children feel small
- it`s about control and obedience
- it is negatively oriented
- Very much a done-to program
This approach encourages children students to:
- blame
- deflect
- deny
- point
- ignore
- walk away
- view school negatively
- be aggressively defensive
- arrive late to school
- not bother to arrive at all - currently the preferred choice of around 66,000 children a day
So what should you do as a manager if you find yourself with many of these characteristics pervading your school and behaviour policy?
- You could choose to ignore it
- Justify to yourself that it`s too difficult to implement culture change
- Convince yourself that if you continue consistently applying your current behaviour policy that it will get better in the end
- If staff only did what they were required to do, behaviour would not be a problem
- Convince yourself that because your policy works for 85% of the children if only the other 15% would behave themselves things will be okay
- Convince yourself that the reason your school is performing academically at such a low level is due to poor quality teaching and learning, inadequate planning, catchment area and lack of support from parents
- or you can just blame society on the whole!
And of course you know in your own heart that none of this is right. If you build self-esteem, self-worth, self resolution in a culture of care and respect, then the spin-off will be dramatic; better attendance, happier teachers and students, less graffiti, abuse and resistance and more ability to build at a fantastic community within and outside the school.
Oh yes, and standards too
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