According to the Department for Education’s White Paper (2010: 32) “two thirds of

teachers say that negative behaviour is driving people out of the profession, and the
most frequent factor cited as a cause of classroom stress is pupils’ lack of respect
towards teaching staff: in 2007, almost 18,000 pupils were permanently excluded or
suspended for attacking a member of staff”.
As a trainee teacher that figure is terrifying, but more than that, it is tragic.  It begs the
question: what can be done on a practical level to prevent these statistics from rising?
How, can we equip ourselves with effective management techniques to minimize the
impact of negative behaviour?

Paul Dix’s lecture, highlighting the habits of highly effective behaviour management, was
both practical and inspirational.  In his showman style, his passion to change how
negative behaviour is tackled in schools shone through, and an over-arching emphasis
on positivity – even in the face of extremely challenging attitudes – is what I drew from
it.
Some teacher practices he encouraged included:

Establish a “keystone routine”

Whether ‘meeting and greeting’ students every morning before registration, or ‘fantastic
walking’ throughout school, the importance lies in creating unique routine(s) for your
class and to perpetually model the behaviour you want to see.  In effect, practice what
you preach: as the adult your behaviour is a mirror, and when you change, the child
changes too.

I saw creative evidence of this in a Year 3 class, where the teacher used a verbal cue of
“TO INFINITY” (to signal he wanted class attention) for the students to call back with
“AND BEYOND” (to demonstrate they were listening and ready for instruction).  The
pupils really enjoyed participating and the method worked well (perhaps
subconsciously) to mentally prepare them for transitions into a new topic or change of
activity.

On a wider note, establishing rules and routine at school helps provide structure and
support for children who may be especially lacking it in their home environment.  I feel it
is arguably one of the most pertinent ways to deal with low-level disruption.  Whatever
age or stage, routines promote a sense of physical and psychological safety and set up
clear expectations for learning (Chaplain, 2003).

Make children feel important

‘Rules alone do not guarantee good behaviour’ (Chaplain, 2003: 110).  Most school
behaviour policy relies on the principle of consistently rewarding pupils who follow the
rules and applying sanctions as a deterrent to those who don’t.  Although commonly
practiced in various forms – issuing red/ yellow cards or moving up/ down  a happy to
unhappy face scale, for example – Dix challenged the belief that any good action can
cancel out a bad action as ‘corrosive game play’.  He argued receiving such punishment
acts like a reward to the particular students who crave attention and who see acts of
defiance as a claim to class fame, which to an extent I have witnessed happen.  He
actively encouraged us instead to ‘strip out the negative emotion’ and focus more on
positive attention.

Interestingly, he noted that the positive attention children were likely to crave were not
necessarily tangible objects but more likely recognition and acknowledgement.  A phone
call home; a note.  Simple and yet extremely powerful.

Limit your emotional responses

Reacting emotionally (i.e. raising your voice) to negative behaviour fuels further
emotional responses from the children.  As Bennett (2010) puts it, “keep your cool.  One
of the best ways you can show that you’re in charge is to show you’re in charge of
yourself…This is all an act, of course – you’ll no doubt be boiling or wilting inside, but
have some control.  You’re a professional.” Learning how to manage our teacher voice,
as well as our body language then, can effectively minimize incidents from escalating.

To a large extent I see the need for a level of balance and restraint with rewards and
sanctions.  Praise should be given regularly and fairly, but to children with ‘over and
above’ standards so as not to lower expectations.  The teacher’s mindset should aim to
focus empathetically on the misbehaving student(s) whilst not being controlled or
manipulated by them or their actions.

According to the Department for Education’s White Paper (2010: 32) “two thirds of

teachers say that negative behaviour is driving people out of the profession, and the
most frequent factor cited as a cause of classroom stress is pupils’ lack of respect
towards teaching staff: in 2007, almost 18,000 pupils were permanently excluded or
suspended for attacking a member of staff”.
As a trainee teacher that figure is terrifying, but more than that, it is tragic.  It begs the
question: what can be done on a practical level to prevent these statistics from rising?
How, can we equip ourselves with effective management techniques to minimize the
impact of negative behaviour?

Paul Dix’s lecture, highlighting the habits of highly effective behaviour management, was
both practical and inspirational.  In his showman style, his passion to change how
negative behaviour is tackled in schools shone through, and an over-arching emphasis
on positivity – even in the face of extremely challenging attitudes – is what I drew from
it.
Some teacher practices he encouraged included:

Establish a “keystone routine”

Whether ‘meeting and greeting’ students every morning before registration, or ‘fantastic
walking’ throughout school, the importance lies in creating unique routine(s) for your
class and to perpetually model the behaviour you want to see.  In effect, practice what
you preach: as the adult your behaviour is a mirror, and when you change, the child
changes too.

I saw creative evidence of this in a Year 3 class, where the teacher used a verbal cue of
“TO INFINITY” (to signal he wanted class attention) for the students to call back with
“AND BEYOND” (to demonstrate they were listening and ready for instruction).  The
pupils really enjoyed participating and the method worked well (perhaps
subconsciously) to mentally prepare them for transitions into a new topic or change of
activity.

On a wider note, establishing rules and routine at school helps provide structure and
support for children who may be especially lacking it in their home environment.  I feel it
is arguably one of the most pertinent ways to deal with low-level disruption.  Whatever
age or stage, routines promote a sense of physical and psychological safety and set up
clear expectations for learning (Chaplain, 2003).

Make children feel important

‘Rules alone do not guarantee good behaviour’ (Chaplain, 2003: 110).  Most school
behaviour policy relies on the principle of consistently rewarding pupils who follow the
rules and applying sanctions as a deterrent to those who don’t.  Although commonly
practiced in various forms – issuing red/ yellow cards or moving up/ down  a happy to
unhappy face scale, for example – Dix challenged the belief that any good action can
cancel out a bad action as ‘corrosive game play’.  He argued receiving such punishment
acts like a reward to the particular students who crave attention and who see acts of
defiance as a claim to class fame, which to an extent I have witnessed happen.  He
actively encouraged us instead to ‘strip out the negative emotion’ and focus more on
positive attention.

Interestingly, he noted that the positive attention children were likely to crave were not
necessarily tangible objects but more likely recognition and acknowledgement.  A phone
call home; a note.  Simple and yet extremely powerful.

Limit your emotional responses

Reacting emotionally (i.e. raising your voice) to negative behaviour fuels further
emotional responses from the children.  As Bennett (2010) puts it, “keep your cool.  One
of the best ways you can show that you’re in charge is to show you’re in charge of
yourself…This is all an act, of course – you’ll no doubt be boiling or wilting inside, but
have some control.  You’re a professional.” Learning how to manage our teacher voice,
as well as our body language then, can effectively minimize incidents from escalating.

To a large extent I see the need for a level of balance and restraint with rewards and
sanctions.  Praise should be given regularly and fairly, but to children with ‘over and
above’ standards so as not to lower expectations.  The teacher’s mindset should aim to
focus empathetically on the misbehaving student(s) whilst not being controlled or
manipulated by them or their actions.

Don’t forget the other 95%

In dealing with behaviour incidents in the classroom, it is easy perhaps to lose sight of
the bigger picture; that is the other 95% of the classroom that are displaying the desired
behaviour (Cowley, 2010).    Encouraging and rewarding ALL children who show
respect for the culture of learning including the school environment & teacher is
paramount.

 
By Natalie Prince

References:
Bennett, T. (2010).  The Behaviour Guru: Behaviour Management Solutions for Teachers. 
London: Continuum International Publishing.
Chaplain, R. (2006) in Arthur, J., Grainger, T., and Wray, D. (2006). Learning to Teach in
the Primary School. London: Routledge
Cowley, S. (2010).  Getting the Buggers to Behave. London: Continuum International
Publishing.
Department for Education, (2010).  The Importance of Teaching: The Schools White
Paper (2010).  Available
from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175429/CM
-7980.pdf
Dix, Paul.  (2015).  Keynote lecture on Habits of Highly Effective Behaviour
Management.  University of Brighton.

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