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Underlying causes of challenging behaviour.

A hotseat facilitated by Geri Gowans.

people

Underlying causes of challenging behaviour.

(Photo to be added)

 

Dr Geri Gowans works for the London Borough of Ealing as the Borough's Lead behaviour Professional. She works across phase and with both schools and stakeholder services to facilitate, inform, scaffold and support any work which helps children and young people enjoy and engage with learning in a safe, predictable environment. Geri began teaching in 1981 and has taught and managed in mainstream and special schools, and in the primary, secondary and university sectors since.

 

HOTSEAT : Underlying causes of Challenging Behaviour

Hello all,

Over the next fortnight I am looking forward to our online discussions about the underlying causes of challenging behaviour.  I though we might start by framing our discussion with some thoughts. 

 

I am going to chart some of key research areas and invite you all to reflect on your own practice, add confirming and disconfirming evidence, and find ways forward in your settings.    A good discussion will move practice a bit further down the road towards supporting quality teaching and learning in our schools, and we can signpost good resources along the way.

 

There is a difference between managing behaviour and leading change in behaviour. Many schools have good systems to manage behaviour; classroom techniques, staff patrols, fixed term exclusions and inclusion rooms with modified curriculum.  This structure is vital to a safe, calm environment but it does not change behaviour. Most of our inclusion rooms [or consequence rooms or whatever you like to call them] have a ‘swing door’ clientele. Young people who keep bouncing back with variations on the same behaviour; young people who go from green card to red card in an ongoing cycle.

 

‘Behaviour does not occur in a vacuum. It is resultant of a complex transaction between the individual, with his inborn strengths and weaknesses, acting and reacting with an environment which sometimes encourages and sometimes discourages certain actions.’ Page 49

M. Herbert. (1988) Working with children and their families, London: Routledge

 

To change behaviour you have to intervene and TEACH young people alternative behaviours. Why?

 

Because behaviour is the outcome of need. If I want food I try to get food. If I have no food I will ask for food. If I’m refused food [eg it’s not lunch time] the need does not disappear, I am not magically sated. If I have learnt self control I will wait. If not I will try other ways to get food.

Maslow developed his hierarchy of need in 1943 and its still a key model for our understanding.

Maslow
 

 

Self-Actualization: fulfilment of potential


Esteem Self –esteem and respect for others                    

Belongingness 
Friendship, love, feeling part of a group

Safety
Physical, economic and
emotional security

Physiological
Food, water, shelter sensory homeostasis

 

As a society we have conventions and rules for behaviour. Many children either do not know these rules and mores or they ignore them. Why?

 

Moore, an ex-headteacher and leading consultant, proposes a model called the circle of intimacy.  I find it very useful for conceptualising the gap in some children and young people’s understanding of appropriate behaviour.

 

Link here

 

What behaviours are we looking for in school?  There will be a new OFSTED framework in September and we expect Behaviour and safeguarding to be one of the 4 categories this time. Currently behaviour is not a category so It will soon have a higher profile in inspections. Let’s

look at how the current inspectors view behaviour in their judgements.

 

Behaviour as a an OFSTED judgement

A Good behaviour judgement means:

  • Consistently thoughtful behaviour
  • An extremely supportive school ethos
  • Pupils being very supportive of each other in lessons
  • Pupils encourage others to conduct themselves well

An Inadequate behaviour judgement means:

  • There is evidence of behaviour which disrupts

      learning or threatens well-being.

Where are behaviours observed?

Lesson observations:      

  • A range of lessons; groups, years and abilities
  • A range of staff; experienced & less experienced,
  • Behaviour with non-teaching staff
  • Pupil groupings; including bottom sets, variations, modified curriculum

Transitions: Anywhere during lesson change over times,

Breakfast, morning break and Lunch: dining room 

Playground: breaks & lunchtime

Assemblies: whole school gatherings; joint activities

Arrivals and departures: into and out of  lessons and to and from the school.

What negative behaviours should you watch for?

  • Overt & persistent shouting out
  • Pupils deliberately ignoring each other
  • Talking ‘over’ the teachers
  • Persistent low-level chatter
  • Passivity and non-engagement with learning
  • Quiet refusal to participate in group work or to co-operate with each other
  • Refusal to start tasks
  • Lack of respect for teaching and non-teaching staff
  • Behaviour that is affected by lack of supervision

Note: Behaviour of one individual with identified SEBD will not be overemphasised

Evidence of positive response by school

  • Behaviour policies that are robust, shared and adhered to by all staff.
  • Strategies used to modify behaviour & more specialised strategies
  • Evaluation of these strategies using documentation
  • Appropriate consideration of pupils with different needs

·         Clear structures and systems, clear expectations, as well as additional support for BESD students

  • Logging and analysis of Racist & bullying incidents
  • Recording of incidents which occur at break, lunchtime & social times
  • Use of ‘on-call’ system
  • Use of quality ‘seclusion’ or ‘withdrawal’ rooms
  • Evidence that pupils’ response to action taken was sought

           and that where necessary referrals were made

  • Creative solutions such as Restorative Justice Approaches are trialled and assessed
  • Where alternative provision is used there is evidence of impact assessment, quality control and planning for re-integration

Evidence of poor response by school

  • Repeated use of ineffective support or sanctions
  • Poor quality teaching and learning in the withdrawal rooms.

 

Exclusions

  • High exclusions can indicate a lack of effective systems & structures to support pupils and unmet learning needs (would have an impact on the judgements on curriculum/teaching & learning).  Schools can be asked for: analysis of fixed term exclusions & patterns & trends

 

Some of the first ideas to share….

 
 

Understanding behaviour: from the NPSLBA materials, National Strategies, Department of Education, 2010

Personal motivation

Does the child recognise that his/her behaviour or attendance is problematic?

Does he/she want to find solutions?

Personal goal

Does the child have a reason or explanation for his/her behaviour or attendance?

What do they appear to get out of it?

Stamina/persistence

In what ways does the child show stamina and persistence in any aspect of his/her lives?

How can this resource help to bring about change in his/her behaviour or attendance?

How can you help him/her build resilience and ‘stickability’?

What skills would he/she need to develop?

Existing skills

Does the child have the necessary social and emotional skills to allow them to deal constructively with strong or uncomfortable feelings and experiences (such as frustration, anger, failure and hurt)?

Previous successes

Has the child had any previous success in dealing constructively with strong feelings and experiences?

How can you help him/her utilise these skills and experiences to find solutions to the current problems?

Support from adults

How do the significant adults in the child’s life support him or her in developing appropriate social and emotional skills? (Parent, carer, teacher, teaching assistant, learning mentor, etc.)

How can you develop this support further?

What help and support could you provide for the significant adults?

Role model                                           

Who are the role models for this child?

Are they providing a positive influence?

How can a positive role model be incorporated into the child’s experience?

Peer pressure

How are peer pressures influencing the behaviour or attendance?

How can any negative pressures be reduced and positive pressures encouraged?

Incentive/reward

What seems to be motivating the child to behave in this way?

Can this motivation be harnessed to create more positive behaviours?

What kinds of incentives and rewards might help?

 

Please respond and let me know your concerns, areas of expertise, theories such as Attachment theory that you find useful….

 

Cheers, Geri Gowans

 

Readings:

Please read some or all of the readin below (via the link). These will help inform our discussion.

 Follow this link to the materials folder (coming soon).

 

talking computers

 

Please add your comments below.

Let's share and create new knowledge.

PLEASE READ THE MATERIAL ABOVE.

Document Actions

Restrictive behaviours

Posted by Tarek Zoubir at Apr 12, 2011 10:07 AM
Restricitve Behaviours
Posted by Morag Scally at Apr 11, 2011 07:15 PM
Hi Geri and everyone

I'm interested in this area, not for this specific research, but in my work generally. I work with students who have complex needs, severe autism and extreme behaviours. We tend to call them "restrictive" at our school. As it is the behaviours which restrict them from accessing opportunities.
We focus on what motivates the child and use this as a basis for developing skills in small incremental steps.

I was speaking at a conference on behaviour last week and Sally Slater gave a really interesting keynote speech on just this. It is us who need to find the approach that best works. I spoke about using creative strategies to manage behaviour.

Looking forward to hearing other peoples comments

Morag

Restrictive behaviours

Posted by Geri Gowans at Apr 14, 2011 04:05 PM
Are you using ABA Morag?

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by Teresa Reeves at Apr 14, 2011 03:46 PM
Hi,

Ive read the above and just wanted some advice. I work in a secondary school, we have 38% of our students on the SEN register and 15% are on the register for SEBD. At the minute we have just moved into a new ALC, we currently do not have an up-to-date behaviour policy (ive been told it being updated), the remove room and 'on-call' system we had in the old building has currently been removed and we have a vague policy where if behaviour is threatening we can call for a member of SLT or Year teams.

Emphasis on behaviour is very much on the class teacher however with such a high number of behaviour 'challenges' it sometimes feels like a constant battle ground! With little support from above and also we live in an area where parental involvement is poor. Students with SEBD in our area seems to be a direct influence of their home life. Many have difficulties at home and little boundaries or consequences to actions. A phone call home makes little or no difference apart from the student being more hostile in the next lesson. How do you reach students who have such a poor home life and motivation and who dont want to 'better' themselves or achieve any goal or just dont care?

Thank you

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by Geri Gowans at Apr 14, 2011 04:28 PM
Congratulations on your new ALC. Now you really need a good behaviour policy, with an agreed structure of consequences and rewards, otherwise you are battling with young people at every incident, about procedures instead of getting on with the real job of unpacking the old and teaching them the new behaviours. The schools with consistency across the whole school [and I agree with you that it absolutely has to be top down as well as bottom up]are calm and predicatable and that goes a long way to making teachers and young people feel more secure. I'm not sure where you are geographically? but your behaviour consultant will help you review the policies? and put the new processes in place. We have great practice in some of our schools if you could get a day to go and visit, I might be able to suggest a school? or I can send you some materials to help you to set up the structures and systems with a working party? Let me know if I can help. Cheers, geri

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by Teresa Reeves at Apr 21, 2011 04:27 PM
Hi Geri,

Thank you for the above advice. I am based in South Yorkshire so im quite far away for you to recommend a school? I would like to visit to another school who have a similar number of SEBD pupils with good practise. We dont have a lot of support from parents with SEBD, and those who do support - they seem to have little effect on their childrens behaviour - at this point they are teenagers who do as they please. In the area where the school is there is high drugs and crime - in particular with young people causing anti social behaviour - it isnt just the behaviour in school - it is a community issue which the local police also battle with. I just wish I could get the students to see that there is more to life and than their micro community run by bullies and peopple selling drugs. Their aspirations and motivation to achieve and to want more from life is scary! Geri it would be great if you could send me some materials to help with structures and procedures.
Thank you

Teresa

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by Jessica Jacob at Apr 14, 2011 04:33 PM
This is all very interesting.
I've worked in both sectors secular schools and Christian. I found a noticeable difference in children's behavior. Students at Christian schools seemed better behaved, not necessarily perfection from individual pupils,but overall. Clear concise expectations of intrinsic values as well as outward behavior. The standards and procedures were simple and students had good knowledge of what was expected of them; the school, classroom, and teachers. The one issue is that much of those schools had smaller classroom which made interpersonal easier to access and expectations valued. Their seemed to be a sense of belongingness as though the pupils were a team working on common goal. Consistency was visible along with much parent communication and involvement. I have seen consistency in both and high standards in both sectors, but usually a noticeable difference in pupils when there is more parental involvement in schools. These seem to improve behaviour. Being in theatre, it has shown to be a good outlet for student expression and esteem building. I had read that there was a correlation with theatre and improved behaviour. It is something I am looking at to do for my desertion. these are just a few things I've learn from experience and other research. When kids feel like they belong anda good relationship with the instructor is built, they are more apt to maintain more desirable behaviour.

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by Jessica Jacob at Apr 14, 2011 04:40 PM
If a child feels cared for, for example the chart indicate the breakfast club. I had a student who came to school very hungry. I'd bring bananas and bread fro her to eat. She was normally a well behaved child, but after she ate something she had better focus for her school work.

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 15, 2011 10:59 AM
I totally agree that if the school community shares values and beliefs it is a much more cohesive community and everyone understands how to contribute and what is expected. The Ten Commandments is a behaviour policy after all. Amazes me that we are still trying to convince schools/teachers of the need for good relationships and belonging, 68 years [and endless evidence] after Maslow wrote his hierarchy of needs! Our best secular schools develop community by great communication, an open door, sharing goals and celebrating achievements, but where there is no shared vision, people can be at cross purposes and unsure how to contribute. The theatre is a fabulous training ground for behaviour because it’s so tangible for kids; control, teamwork and creativity and huge, visible and quite speedy results. It’s a place where all our kinaesthetic learners get a chance to shine, and emotion is valued. Such a shame that the school musical has faded out of so many schools. There is some recent research, which identifies the support of parents as the key variable in young people's attainment at school, I think you'll find it interesting;
Gianni De Fraja, Tania Oliveira, Luisa Zanchi “Must Try Harder: Evaluating the Role of Effort in Educational Attainment Review of Economics and Statistics August 2010, Vol. 92, No. 3: 577–597.

cheers, geri

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by Nicola Masters at Apr 15, 2011 02:56 PM
I completely agree with what is being said! Social, emotional and behavioural skills underlie almost every aspect of school, home and community life, including effective learning. Therefore,If schools and communities shares their experiences and expertise, then, practitiones will best know and ultimately understand how to contribute and what is expected of both them and the pupils.
Thank you Geri!

causes of challenging behaviours

Posted by Jessica Jacob at Apr 18, 2011 04:22 PM
Thanks so much for the information. I appreciate your input. I do want to look more into this.
best
Jess

causes of challenging behaviours

Posted by Christopher Gunning at Apr 20, 2011 12:47 PM
Hi all.

I work in a large primary school which often takes in previously excluded pupils from other schools. We find that most of these children come with statements and genuinely need 1:1 support throughout the day. However, it is clear that these children are often the exceptions to the rules. I have one of these children in my class and am very aware that they need to be cared for and spoken to in a different way to the rest of the class, but to what extent should the rules be bent to contain a child's poor behaviour?

Working with the younger children I am also aware that basic skills must be learned well. However, this particular child becomes incredibly aggressive when asked to attempt some basic skills. I am making all work as accessible and achievable as possible, and ensure all activities are based around strengths and creative, but how long can I carry on seeing little academic improvement? I feel that the behaviour is improving steadily but academic learning is not.

Any advice is appreciated

Cheers, Chris

causes of challenging behaviours

Posted by Sandra Mundle at Apr 20, 2011 06:53 PM
Hi Everyone, I have been working in an Infant school for nine years. We have a behaviour policy and simple workable strategies in place. My analysis of behaviour in our school suggest most unacceptable behaviour occurs during breaks or while walking along the corridor unsupervised. We follow the SEAL programme so children are given strategies for working out conflicts. I agree with a comment made earlier about being creative when dealing with some challenging behaviour.

To Chris, it seems as if you are doing your best. I assume there is an IEP for the child you are conserned about. It sounds as if this child needs 1:1 support if he / she displays aggression when asked to attempt a basic task. (Sandra)

causes of challenging behaviours

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 26, 2011 11:12 AM
Hi Chris,

It is wonderful that you are keen to support a child who is obviously exasperating and disruptive; these are the children who most need us but they don’t reward your efforts quickly so they do test our commitment.
Behaviour is the expression of need. So easy if the child understands their own needs and has the language to express it, but that requires an early parenting experience that supports development of emotional literacy. In those first four years of life we come to understand the family we live in as the norm; if our immediate ‘family’ are aggressive, we become aggressive. David Moore developed the model of the ‘circle of intimacy’ [he was a headteacher, inspector and latterly one of the national strategies team] the norms and mores we learn from our small circle in the first years are our reality. If we have extended family, our behaviours are then filtered by that group, so we start to understand about adapting our behaviour. If we go to playgroups or clubs we learn how to get along with authority and rules before we get to school. Lots of our children are separated from extended families and don’t go to gymboree/ ballet/ football/ scouts etc. They bring the behaviour from their home straight into the classroom unfiltered and it’s often inappropriate.
If the parents didn’t teach children how to adapt and moderate their behaviour then we have to. And it takes a long time because the fast paced early learning up to four years of age is so powerful and is now their default.

I don’t think you should ‘bend the rules’. Every child should know the rules and the consequences as agreed in your behaviour policy. If you do X then Y happens. Consistent application of rules makes for a reliable safe environment for all the children. They do need boundaries. But it’s not enough. The sanctions for their behaviour do not teach them anything, they just keep order. If you want to change a child’s behaviour you must teach them a new behaviour which is acceptable and which still expresses their need. We’re teachers. This second step [teaching the new behaviour] after the sanction is so often skipped and the child is back in the same situation with no new skills and so the challenging behaviours happen again.

The child in your classroom has been excluded, which is a huge rejection and it takes a long time for them to re-establish trust. It would be good if you could read up on attachment theory and focus on giving this child a safe base in your room. This is easier said than done, but so necessary. We know that the teacher/school is very often the single protective factor in the chaotic lives of children. You may not see a change yet but you will. If this child has domestic violence, drugs, alcohol, poverty, disaffection, lack of parenting skills etc in his or her home life than your work is his or her only chance.

Having had disrupted education it is also likely that this child needs lots of catch-up on foundation concepts in order to learn new things. If there is any possibility that he or she could have a little regular one-to-one time with a member of the school staff, it would be very useful, but it would have to be someone who will reliably be there in order to build trust.

Let me know if you need signposting to any reading or help. I won’t pretend it will be speedy, it could take 2 years but you can change a life here.

causes of challenging behaviours

Posted by Christopher Gunning at Apr 29, 2011 05:13 PM
Thanks alot for advice. The child already has a full time statement and 1:1 support throughout her whole day.
My initial thought was that this will be a long process and I am really pleased to hear you a mention a time scale like 2 years. Unfortunately many of the above mentions domestic issues apply to this child so I am prepared to do as much as I possibly can to help.

Thanks again

Chris

causes of challenging behaviours

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 26, 2011 11:19 AM
Hi Chris,

It is wonderful that you are keen to support a child who is obviously exasperating and disruptive; these are the children who most need us but they don’t reward your efforts quickly so they do test our commitment.
Behaviour is the expression of need. So easy if the child understands their own needs and has the language to express it, but that requires an early parenting experience that supports development of emotional literacy. In those first four years of life we come to understand the family we live in as the norm; if our immediate ‘family’ are aggressive, we become aggressive. David Moore developed the model of the ‘circle of intimacy’ [he was a headteacher, inspector and latterly one of the national strategies team] the norms and mores we learn from our small circle in the first years are our reality. If we have extended family, our behaviours are then filtered by that group, so we start to understand about adapting our behaviour. If we go to playgroups or clubs we learn how to get along with authority and rules before we get to school. Lots of our children are separated from extended families and don’t go to gymboree/ ballet/ football/ scouts etc. They bring the behaviour from their home straight into the classroom unfiltered and it’s often inappropriate.
If the parents didn’t teach children how to adapt and moderate their behaviour then we have to. And it takes a long time because the fast paced early learning up to four years of age is so powerful and is now their default.

I don’t think you should ‘bend the rules’. Every child should know the rules and the consequences as agreed in your behaviour policy. If you do X then Y happens. Consistent application of rules makes for a reliable safe environment for all the children. They do need boundaries. But it’s not enough. The sanctions for their behaviour do not teach them anything, they just keep order. If you want to change a child’s behaviour you must teach them a new behaviour which is acceptable and which still expresses their need. We’re teachers. This second step [teaching the new behaviour] after the sanction is so often skipped and the child is back in the same situation with no new skills and so the challenging behaviours happen again.

The child in your classroom has been excluded, which is a huge rejection and it takes a long time for them to re-establish trust. It would be good if you could read up on attachment theory and focus on giving this child a safe base in your room. This is easier said than done, but so necessary. We know that the teacher/school is very often the single protective factor in the chaotic lives of children. You may not see a change yet but you will. If this child has domestic violence, drugs, alcohol, poverty, disaffection, lack of parenting skills etc in his or her home life than your work is his or her only chance.

Having had disrupted education it is also likely that this child needs lots of catch-up on foundation concepts in order to learn new things. If there is any possibility that he or she could have a little regular one-to-one time with a member of the school staff, it would be very useful, but it would have to be someone who will reliably be there in order to build trust.

Let me know if you need signposting to any reading or help. I won’t pretend it will be speedy, it could take 2 years but you can change a life here.

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by Ian at Apr 22, 2011 10:53 AM
Class teacher versus school system versus social and cultural environment.?

Surely all must plkay a part. The sum is as good as each of the parts. So a class teacher can only do what they can do eg as role model, by behaviour, by professionalsiom, establishing high expectations etc. It really helps if the school systems are alos in place, and it helps if the society norms are supportive (eg motivational , aspirational, moral) etc. But its no good just complaining. The problems have existed for ever and will not go away. They are not new. (See 19th century education. Everyone must look to themselves and their own part in the sytems

Causes of Challenging Behaviour

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 26, 2011 11:54 AM
 Hi Ian,
I agree we are part of a system. A well-planned and robust behaviour policy that everyone follows consistently, does make for a calm learning environment. Restorative practices [I can send you information if you like] have been proven to significantly improve attendance among staff and students alike because it makes for a safe predictable school.
I think it is good to complain, if your complaint is a realization of what needs fixing and you then go on to change things.
And I also wonder if we are dealing with the same old problems? Mobility has broken up the extended families that used to give support to dysfunctional or broken nuclear families. The fabric of neighbourhoods has changed and surveys show that we no longer know the person next door. So children can have nowhere to turn if things go wrong. Domestic violence figures have soared; poverty is still endemic and we have generation of disaffected parents who do not believe in education and the work-ethic. The school has never been more important or more challenging to work in. Society is now so complex …just look at the information which assaults children every day to unpack and understand. We have children in our classrooms anxiously attached, parentified, unfed, worried about war and famine in Africa or bailiffs at home. We have, increasing numbers of children with communication difficulties. Maybe the problems aren’t new, but the frequency is certainly much, much, greater. Teachers do a brilliant job. It’s just important to remember that, as Maslow pointed out in 1943, you can’t learn until you feel safe and secure and you believe you belong and can contribute.

Cheers, geri

challenging behaviour

Posted by Lorna Tuck at Apr 23, 2011 11:38 AM
Reading some of the comments already I wanted to convey that I currently work in a Christian school where there is a very clear behaviour policy with rewards and sanctions. I would have to agree that Christian schools are more consistent with their approach to behaviour management - consistency being the important part here.
We are also very fortunate to have a learning mentor who works specifically with groups of children who are able to identify what triggers their behaviours and work towards that patience and use calming down strategies to help them to improve their behaviours, but enabling them to recognise themselves, when they need to work at their behaviour themselves, this proves to be very successful.
I would also agree though that playtimes are difficult my own belief is because playtimes are not constructive enough, children do not seem to play games or use playtimes in the ways that perhaps they were in the past and schools do not allow children as many games anyway because of risks etc.

challenging behaviour

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 26, 2011 12:07 PM
Hi Lorna,

So good to hear. And let’s hear it for Learning mentors, they do excellent work! It’s interesting to discuss the unstructured time. OFSTED have a revised framework coming out for September but they have said that they will not recognise passive, docile behaviours as ‘good’. They want to see children and young people, in situations where they are learning to manage their own behaviours. They want to see teachers helping children and young people to manage themselves, as you have suggested. And we expect that behaviour will be a category in the new OFSTED, not just a mitigating judgement.
Cheers, geri

challenging behaviour

Posted by Emma Donnelly at May 02, 2011 11:39 AM
I am lucky enough to work in a range of primary schools, and have worked as a class teacher in both a secular and a Christian school. I must say that the key issue is a clear, shared vision of behaviour and belonging and in my experience this is not linked to the school's religious leanings, rather good leadership and team work with all stakeholders. I see no objective evidence that Christian schools manage this better.

challenging behaviour

Posted by Christopher Gunning at May 02, 2011 04:28 PM
Last year I had a class that really struggled with playtime behaviour. They are fortunate to be in an environment where the outside area is particularly well equipt with plent of space to play many different games. However, the main issue was that the children found it very difficult to listen to the instructions of the adults who were outside with them. I lead weekly sessions for MTS and gave many strategies for dealing with the challenging pupils appropriately, yet they could never achieve the same results as I could with the children. Eventually, due to the specific needs of a few of the children in the class, I had to spend all playtimes outside with the children. I had individual and class reward schemes running at the time to improve the behaviour but for some children this did not work. They genuinely seemed to enjoy winding up the adults who were outside.

My presence in the playground immediately improved the behaviour but this is not an acceptable solution for me. Any thoughts on training less confident members of staff to deal with extreme behaviour?

thanks

Chris

uderlying causes of challenging behaviour

Posted by Yasmin Stephenson at Apr 23, 2011 01:10 PM
I teach in a primary school where exclusions are high while we have a behaviour policy which provides us with a system to manage behaviour in class it does not lead to pupils changing thier behaviour.I am reviewing our policy and we are going to adopt 'stay on the green' system. I believe this sysyem will not lead to change in specific pupils with challenging behaviour but will provide a more positive system. What are the creative approaches to dealing with challenging behaviour are these realistic or do we simply need to an adequate behaviour management system?

uderlying causes of challenging behaviour

Posted by Ofori-Kyerah at Apr 23, 2011 09:33 PM
I work in a school where behaviour policy does not seem to be working effectively. As I read through the material, I clearly understand that our behviour management practices do not bring about a change in behaviour. The focused has mainly be on rewards system because our belief is that these children already have low esteem, lack of parental support, and also the school population is small, however, I think this system is a failing one, as behaviour is a big issue in the school. In what other ways can we change behaviour effectively?

uderlying causes of challenging behaviour

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 26, 2011 04:56 PM
Hi BOK,

It's really good practice to review your behaviour policy every year and it's enjoyable if you do it as a small working party of 3 or 4 staff. Lots of schools have posted their policies on line as a stimulus to discussing yours. Schools which are doing well will always welcome you to visit and see how they develop positive behaviour through the school, could you get some time to go and visit?
A good place to start is to list the behaviour you now see in your school but don't want to see and then list the behaviours you want to see in the school. Then make a plan. There is a lot of good research and tools available; in the first instance I have sent Tarek [Midwheb] some national strategies tools, or see the department of education publications; teachernet; youtube; or check out Midwhebs reading list.
Do you work with parents? It would be good to give parents, staff and students a questionaire to find out how they all feel about behaviour and what they would like to see. Do you have a school council? You could always run a behaviour week and have the classes discuss and present their vision for the school.
Do you run parenting courses to enable parents to get better at sypporting their children? let me know if I can help. cheers, geri

uderlying causes of challenging behaviour

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 26, 2011 12:27 PM
Hi Yasmin,

Sorry to hear you have high exclusions. I hope they are fixed term and not permanent? Having doors close in your face from an early age is hard to recover from. I’m so glad you are reviewing your policy. The National Strategies document, ‘Securing Good behaviour’ is still the best guide and its suitable for secondary or primary [I have sent Tarek @ Midwheb a copy if you don’t have it].
The policy should focus more on praise than on sanctions [we know carrots really do work better than sticks] but sanctions must be absolutely clear and consistently applied. Most schools now audit to see that teachers are using a balance of sanctions and rewards.
Most schools are making very clear the progression in events, and distinguishing between random or repeated behaviours.
Do you have a working party of three or four other staff to work with you? Are you downloading other schools policies to look for good practice? Are you being released to visit schools, which don’t exclude, to see what they do?
There is a lot of good help out there and nothing works better for ‘sharp-end’ problems than a good multi-agency team around the child/around the family/around the school. Good luck. Let me know how I can help.
Cheers, geri

Peer Pressures

Posted by Christina at Apr 25, 2011 12:48 PM
Our school ethos is supportive and encouraging as well as promoting ambition and self responsibility .This is also reinforced by our parents and local community .We have a mix of cultures and beliefs, largely Muslim, Sikh and Hindu and there is a heavy emphasis placed on religion in the community which I believe encourages self identity, however as a school we do not focus on religion but more on the whole child and their own individual self worth.
While I am aware that Peers can contribute to negative behaviour, I am in the fortunate situation whereby Peers and the community actively contribute to positive behaviour values.I have personally experienced situations where children who have transferred to our school with a 'Troublesome' label have transformed almost immediately. This I believe is partially due to the lack of peer support for negative behaviour and peer support and encouragement with positive behaviour .It is also due to peer expectations of all individuals’ responsibility to the whole school community and how they impact on it.



Peer Pressures

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 26, 2011 12:35 PM
Yea! School can be a wonderful place and we never do forget our experiences there. Congratulations and I agree, there are no 'bad' children, just children who have only learned 'bad' behaviours and need someone to teach then a new way. I do not doubt your hard work, I'm just glad you are there.
cheers, geri

Insentives

Posted by Celeste Aucamp at Apr 25, 2011 09:45 PM
I am a year one teacher with 2 SEBD children in my class. Because of thier age, the school behaviour policy has little effect on their behaviour. I have developed a reward system where these children recieve 'special time' at the end of every day for a set period of time. However, they can 'win' or 'lose' time depending on thier behaviour. Some researchers argue though that children with problem behaviours should only recieve attention in response to POSSITIVE behaviour and that any negative behaviour should be ignored. Dr Geri, how do you feel about this? I have been attempting this stratagy for a few weeks, but find it VERY difficult to ignore some of the behaviour that these children exhibit.
Also, does anyone have any particular insentive stratagies that have proven successful with young chidren?
Lastly, how can improvement in chidrens behaviour (due to an applied stratagy) be assessed or measured for our data collection?

Insentives

Posted by geraldine gowans at Apr 26, 2011 12:59 PM
Hi Celeste,

It seems a good bet that these children are not in a safe, secure, supportive home environment? The more you can work to support and include the parents/carers, the better for the child. There are some fantastic parenting courses around now to help parents develop their parenting skills.
Do you have any support from an educational or clinical psychologist, family workers or any other multi-agency professionals? Not just to help the children but to support you?

You can’t ignore behaviour because the behaviour is an attempt to communicate a need. If you ignore the child he or she will not suddenly have no need, the need will still be there and they will just be more frustrated. Talk to them; share with them a language for their feelings.
The behaviour may be a very bad attempt to communicate because the child may have little or no self-knowledge or emotional literacy, no words to express this…. but it is their attempt. If you can find out what the need is, you can help the child to find better ways to deal with it, and appropriate behaviours for getting the needs met.

If a child wins golden time you can’t take it away…imagine if you had a brilliant day and the next day you were below par and the head docked your pay. Maybe you could just do golden time less often? But the credits or stars or whatever the child gets in recognition of doing the right thing, needs to be kept on a card or chart or book and valued.

Usually we assess improvement by keeping a log of incidents. You can code the incidents as you like and you should see a decrease in frequency and severity if what your are doing is working. You can’t do this alone, you need to work with the parents and the team around the child, but you are probably the single most important protective factor in those children’s lives.

Make sure you are supported and stay with it. Change won’t be quick and there will be many returns to poor behaviour [perhaps especially on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons], but they will respond. Let me know if I can help.

Cheers, geri

Insentives

Posted by Vivett Sharpe at Apr 27, 2011 09:42 PM
I think positive reinforcement is very good. Students, however need to learn at an early age that their are consequences for both positive and negative behaviour (just like in the real world).

Insentives

Posted by geraldine gowans at May 04, 2011 05:29 PM
I agree. Consequences need to be very clearly explained and articulated in behaviour and inclusion policy, and they must be totally predictable; consistently followed by all staff and expected by all students. The consequences aren’t going to change the behaviour, but they can create the ‘moment’ for teaching new behaviours and breaking unproductive patterns. The child or young person can just be standing outside the door or shut in a room with no change possible or they can be offered a restorative conversation, we can help them unpack and understand what happened and we can offer them alternative ways of negotiating their world. Most of us get our needs met quite easily but some children and young people have had no role-models to show them how to navigate social situations or maybe they have a learning difficulty, but whatever the cause they need us to teach them how to behave. cheers, geri

Challenging behaviour

Posted by Zeljko Kovacevic at Apr 27, 2011 12:45 PM
 I have read many of my fellow researchers’ comments. The most interesting are the comments by Geraldine Gowans and I agree with the majority of statements. My college has The Student Code of Conduct and it states clearly what they can or cannot do. The students are also aware of the consequences (warnings, departmental and college detentions, exclusions and finally expulsions). Some students are not respecting those rules and are in constant conflict with teachers and SLT (Senior Leadership Team). We teachers have a great support from the college management, but the same cannot be said for more important parent support. Usually, the parents of well mannered and behaved students are more supportive of the college staff than those of misbehaving students. I have read very interesting article on the BBC website and here it is: Teachers say that parents cannot "abandon responsibility" for their children's behaviour at school. The NASUWT teachers' union says a lack of parental support is a major problem behind pupils' lack of discipline. A survey from the union also claims that pupils turn up at school with iPods and phones, but without basic equipment such as pens. Schools minister Nick Gibb said the government was boosting teachers' powers to tackle bad behaviour. Lack of support The teachers' union, meeting for its annual conference in Glasgow, has published the results of a survey of more than 8,000 members and found many teachers feel let down by the lack of support from parents over behaviour. More than two in three teachers identified a lack of back-up from parents as the most common underlying factor for pupils misbehaving.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said parents' responsibility does not 'end at the school gate' "Teachers are not receiving the support they need from parents," said NASUWT leader, Chris Keates.
"Parents can't simply abandon their responsibilities at the school gate. "Teachers are not receiving the support they need from parents, school leaders or government to assist them in maintaining high standards of pupil behaviour." More than half of teachers in the survey also complained that too many parents were failing to send their children to school with the right equipment. "Too many pupils arrive at school with mobile phones, iPods and MP3 players when teachers just wish they would bring a pen," said Ms Keates. Mobile phones and electronic gadgets were also identified as a cause of distraction and disruption in the classroom. Teachers in the survey identified other causes of poor pupil behaviour, including a lack of support from their own senior management in schools.
'Blight' on system The negative influences of television and media were also blamed by teachers. The union's conference will debate a resolution about poor behaviour, warning that indiscipline "continues to blight our educational system". Last month teachers at Darwen Vale High School in Lancashire went on strike over pupil behaviour, claiming they were not given support by senior staff when they confronted pupils. Addressing the conference, Schools Minister Nick Gibb said that, on behaviour, the pendulum had "swung too far towards pupils in recent years" and government measures on discipline aimed to reverse the trend. Teachers' powers to search pupils for items such as mobile phones have been strengthened. "In turn we expect head teachers to back and support teachers in the decisions they take on a day-to-day basis in the isolation of the classroom to ensure that pupils can learn in a safe and ordered environment," Mr Gibb said. "And let's not forget the role parents have to play in ensuring their children are well-behaved at school and that they too support the school when teachers take action." The government also wants to preserve anonymity for teachers faced with allegations of misconduct. It is changing the law to make it an offence for a newspaper or media outlet to publish the names of any teacher faced by accusations of a criminal nature, Mr Gibb said. "It is also vital that pupils, parents and head teachers all fully understand their responsibilities and realise that there will be extremely serious consequences if a false allegation is made," he said. Mr Gibb also defended the schools budget, after shadow education secretary Andy Burnham criticised the government in a speech on Saturday, saying schools faced falling budgets. The schools minister said the coalition government had faced "difficult choices" as it inherited a budget deficit "that was costing £120 million in interest each and every day - enough to build 10 new primary schools, every single day". He said he was "proud" of the school budget settlement, under which per pupil spending has been maintained in cash terms to 2014-5, as other public services faced cuts. Mr Burnham had said this means school spending will still fall by 1.1% in real terms over the next four years.



Challenging behaviour

Posted by geraldine gowans at May 04, 2011 06:06 PM
Hi, I’m wondering if lots of our parents can’t support us in school, because they don’t know how to discipline their child. Lots of our kids have chaotic lives and parents who need to be taught how to parent. Parenting trainers are growing a solid evidence base that if you do teach skills through a good parenting course, you will see a marked improvement in the child’s behaviour.
I also believe teachers shouldn’t work isolated from other professional stakeholders. The multi-agency teams we have developed around the schools and around children and families, work with teachers and mentors, making interventions so much more effective. These teams are at risk in the new austerity.
Teacher’s know that lots of parents abandon responsibility a long time before they get to the school gate, for lots of reasons and particularly the toxic three; substance misuse, domestic violence and mental illness. I know I’ve said it before but teachers are often the single protective factor in a child’s life. That’s a privilege but its also very hard work and its developing endless patience, and everyone in our schools deserves and needs support, so that we never give up on a child. Do you think that with all this blustering about searching and restraining and children depicted as irredeemable that we will lose or never recruit some great teachers?
cheers, geri

The use of rewards

Posted by Claire Batchelor at Apr 28, 2011 04:57 PM
Hi.
I like to think that providing clear boundaries gives a pupil a sense of security. I have found that some pupils need an individual plan with their own targets and a choice of rewards which they have been involved in negotiating. These targets have then been monitored throughout the day at regular intervals. For the pupils I work with, this negotiaition has been crucial in their response to the plan.

The use of rewards

Posted by Emma Donnelly at May 02, 2011 11:47 AM
I agree. Clear boundaries, rewards and sanctions are vital for the child's sense of security. I think it's important that previously earned rewards are not removed; they are rewards for things which have already been achieved, but equally the child needs to know that certain behaviours will result in specific sanctions. As Claire said, negotiation and involvement with the child at every stage is vital. Also, any "nurturing" or one to one time needs to remain separate from the reward/sanction system and should be viewed as their entitlement as a child who needs to learn appropriate behaviours, and probably has a large burden of troubling and difficult emotions.

The use of rewards

Posted by geraldine gowans at May 04, 2011 06:15 PM
Totally agree. We all need clear boundries and a predicatble secure base to be able to fundtion and start to learn. And yes we need to negotiate targets with our learners in order to ensure their motivation, and help children to begin to learn to manage themselves. There is very clear evidence that we students will only attend school if they believe they can participate. We enable and facilitate and scaffold and then they can do the learning. Back to Maslow again! cheers, geri
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