Posts Tagged problem behaviour

New Government Will Crack Down on School Discipline – But Houston, We Have a Problem!

Interesting reading in today’s national newspaper! The current government opposition party, hoping that they’re predicting what the electorate want, are promising a crackdown on discipline in schools and say they will declare war on ‘yobbery’. They claim that children’s behaviour has got progressively worse, with over 3.5 million days lost in children’s education in the last 5 years due to exclusions.

They promise to put school discipline at the top of the political agenda when they get elected into government — well they hope they’ll get elected. Time will tell on that one…

Of course, the other lot claim that everything’s hunky dory and that the debate on children’s behaviour is all a great big fuss about nothing — they claim that behaviour in schools has improved… Try convincing a vast number of people about that, Mr Minister!

But, whatever the rights or wrongs of the political parties’ arguments there is a fundamental problem that goes beyond giving schools and teachers the extra powers to control the appalling behaviour of many children. In fact, schools and teachers have sufficient powers to deal with problem behaviour already. So why aren’t they using the powers?

Well, that’s where we come to the problem that needs to be addressed before any proposed further powers can benefit teachers and the majority of children who are perfectly well behaved, but whose education is frequently impaired and disrupted by the bad behaviour of others.

So, what’s the problem?

However much the government, schools, parents and even children want behaviour to improve in schools it can’t happen because the adults who are responsible for carrying out the task of dealing with the behaviour problems haven’t the skills and knowledge to do so.

Adults across society have lost their way when it comes to disciplining children. They’ve been undermined and given so much inaccurate advice over a long time, leaving them unsure, lacking confidence and sometimes even frightened to tackle children’s bad behaviour.

What’s needed then? Education — for the adults. They need to learn or relearn what they need to do to deal with behaviour problems, ideally to prevent the bad behaviour from happening in the first place. Is it possible to do this? It certainly is and it’s not difficult. Anyone can learn to manage children’s behaviour without a problem.

Most adults instinctively know that they should be in control of children’s behaviour and soon change their behaviour when they’re taught the basic skills of effective behaviour management and start to confidently use the techniques. Confidence quickly kicks in and replaces uncertainty. People know sense when they hear it… For too long they’ve been given information and ‘advice’ about dealing with children that’s at odds with that which they know has worked for generations.

Allowing and encouraging adults to act as adults, disciplining children in a way that encourages them to mature into healthy, confident youths and adults is vital for the improvement of education standards and behaviour standards throughout society.

Schools’ Targets For Behaviour Standards Are Wrong!

We live in an age of targets — doesn’t seem to matter what the real outcome of professional activity is as long as something’s happened to enable a box to be ticked!

Doesn’t seem to matter that the targets are pretty pointless either…

What’s this to do with the world of managing children’s challenging behaviour in school? Plenty…

A couple of weeks after starting to work with a child, there’s a meeting with school and parents to see how they think things are progressing. Any concerns are discussed and all the parties can air their views. There has been close contact with school during these initial weeks to check daily on the child’s behaviour in school so any problems can be addressed immediately. This is essential to avoid any delay in addressing a problem. The children have to realise the adults are communicating and are aware of what’s going on…

At this first review meeting we discuss the child’s IEP (individual education plan), a document schools produce and update each term. On the form, targets for problem areas are identified and the steps to be taken in an attempt to rectify the situation. This is largely a pointless exercise — yet another instance of form filling in and box ticking. Why? Because of the way schools are advised to determine the targets, particularly when related to managing challenging behaviour.

Schools often ask what targets they should include — sorry, but they’re asking the wrong person! The fact is that the advice schools are given about how to gauge appropriate targets for individual children are totally at odds with the real world — especially when dealing with behaviour problems!

Schools are advised to adopt a step by step approach to dealing with problem behaviour but managing challenging behaviour just doesn’t work that way. It’s no surprise that schools are so frustrated when dealing children’s behaviour!

So, what are schools advised to aim for when dealing with children’s behaviour problems?

An example may see a child may have a problem with swearing — not an uncommon problem. Some language heard in schools would make your eyes pop out!

Schools are advised to make the target for reducing swearing to perhaps — ‘for the child to be in class for half an hour and limit swearing to no more that 3 times…’

Oh dear me! It’s practically saying that swearing 3 times is fine. Don’t think so!

How about if a child’s problem is related to putting insufficient effort into their work in class?

Then the aim would maybe read, ‘to concentrate on work for 10 minutes’. No way is this realistic for any child. If that’s all you expect, then that’s all you’ll get!

Of course, these low expectations of behaviour and effort are always justified with the endless excuses, ‘Well, he can’t help swearing’, or ‘He doesn’t like writing’.

You don’t say…

There’s too much tolerance from teachers and head teachers who make endless excuses for bad behaviour and lack of effort with school work. Teachers should have the highest expectations of achievement and effort from children both in class work and behaviour.

How can children know what they can achieve if they’re constantly excused from adhering to what’s considered (or should be considered) normal standards of behaviour in society? Children must also be encouraged to experience that wonderful feeling achieved when they know they’ve done well — how can this happen if nobody ever expects them to aim towards their highest level?

Why should 3 instances of swearing be tolerated? Of course he can help swearing and should be expected not to swear at all!

He’s not going to like writing if he’s constantly excused from not doing work to his highest standard. How can a child improve their level of learning if they’re not expected to make an effort?

Managing children’s behaviour is unlike other areas of school work. When learning to read or to do arithmetic, progress is gradual because you can only learn a limited amount at a time and you need time to practise the skills. But behaviour isn’t like that. Teachers have to expect the highest standards from the start — it shouldn’t be gradual. The best has to be expected from the outset — nothing else will do!

What’s the answer to the swearing problem? It’s simple — swearing isn’t allowed and if you break the rule there will be an immediate warning followed by a consequence if further swearing is heard.

What do you do about the problem with the writing tasks? This is slightly different. Writing is a learning area and work should be differentiated. But, at an appropriate level, any child should be expected to do their work as independently as possible and at their highest level of effort. Refusal should lead to an instant warning that they’ll make up time wasted during breaks. Children have to know that you mean what you say. Don’t threaten anything you don’t follow through. Children should also be told that if their writing isn’t as good as it could be they’ll be repeating the task, again in their own time. Children very quickly get the message and before long they only need a warning — plus of course, acknowledgement and encouragement when they comply.

Ideally, you have to have the highest standards right from your first experience of dealing with a child or class. Plus, there has to be a great deal of encouragement, acknowledgement of effort and positive comments as deserved.

Having the highest standards and expecting children to achieve their best is a vital part of teaching and the successful management of children’s behaviour.