Behaviour for Learning and Classroom Climate

The basics of classroom management:

• Consistency: being unscrupulously fair even in the tough times
• Persistence: keeping going in the face of students ignoring you
• Follow-up: when you need to see a student after a lesson, after school, always do so
• Certainty: students realise that what you say you will do … you WILL do

 Factors influencing classroom climate:

• Pupils' willingness to learn;
• Pupils' sense of community;
• Teacher-student relationships;
• Teacher's skills of managing culturally diverse classrooms

Van Tartwijk and Hammerness (2011)
'learning is much more difficult, if not impossible, in a disorderly environment'
 Low level disruption can impede progress.

Relaxed and assured control of the classroom VS not in complete control of the lesson

The moves towards a ‘market’ in secondary schools has created a system which means that (for understandable reasons), schools strain every sinew to present as positive a picture of pupil behaviour and classroom climate as possible (to both Ofsted and parents). As a government advisor on behaviour has noted:

What is very interesting around behaviour is that schools are very reluctant to admit they have an issue with behaviour. . . it’s also interesting because it shows an emotional component to behaviour. There’s an element of threat around behaviour that there almost isn’t around any other issue. Deep down, behaviour is our biggest fear. (Taylor, 2011).



Golden Rules

Jenny Mosley’s Golden Rules which cover all aspects of behaviour help staff to explain to pupils which rule they broke and why their behaviour was unacceptable. The rules are:

• We are gentle - we don’t hurt others
• We are kind and helpful - we don’t hurt anybody’s feelings
• We listen - we don’t interrupt
• We are honest - we don’t cover up the truth
• We work hard - we don’t waste our own or other’s time
• We look after property - we don’t waste or damage things

Value each student. 

Mutual respect.
Build positive relationships individually and as a class.
Ensure students feel they belong.
Clear and consistent behaviour expectations.
High expectation of learning.
Sincere praise.
Bring humour into the room.

Whole school approach: managing poor behaviour

https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/whole-school-approach-managing-poor-behaviour 

Staff response to misbehaviour

The school developed a clear response route for teachers to follow to ensure a consistent approach across the school when dealing with poor behaviour in the classroom. The pupil:

• is gently reminded that their behaviour is breaking the school rules
• receives a warning and their name is written on the board
• receives a yellow card, which means the child has to stay behind for five minutes at playtime
• receives a red card, which means they are sent to the headteacher’s office and a letter is sent home to their parents

Collective staff responsibility

It is made clear that all staff have a responsibility for the behaviour of all children in the school and not just the pupils in their class. For example, any teacher who sees a pupil running in the school is expected to positively remind them that they need to walk. Teachers will say ‘walk please’ rather than ‘stop running’.

School ethos

The school has developed a positive and supportive environment in which teachers and pupils respect each other. To help create this atmosphere, the school refers to each form group, including the teacher, as a ‘family’ with responsibility, respect and care for each other.

Inclusion unit

When pupils continually behave inappropriately they will be taken out of lessons and placed in the inclusion unit for a day. The inclusion unit is supervised by senior staff, with a separate timetable, and class teachers provide the pupil with their work for the day. The separate timetable means pupils are not able to socialise with their friends for the entire day and, at least in part because of this, it is an effective deterrent against poor behaviour.


References:

Haydn, T. (2014) To what extent is behaviour a problem in English schools? Exploring the scale and
prevalence of deficits in classroom climate.

Taylor, C. (2011) There’s an element of threat. . . deep down, behaviour is our biggest fear, The
Times Educational Supplement, 22 July, pp. 20–21.

Taylor, M. (2012) Our schools are being undermined by a constant rhetoric of decline, The Observer,
2 September,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/02/matthew-taylor-schools-are-getting-better