A new behaviour management system

So behaviour management. Or behaviour for learning. Welcome. Such a mammoth of a topic in teaching.

Today I just wanted to share a behaviour management system that I've been trialling and improving and refining over the past few months. I would say that right now, I'm streamlining some of the processes and tweaking some of the ways in which I implement it, but overall, it's been a really positive approach and definitely has made me a happier and a more productive teacher.

VISION

I wanted to be clear on what my vision for this behaviour management system would be. It took me a couple of hours and a good chat with a colleague to really get to the core of it. My vision was to enable students to make progress in becoming well rounded individuals. This meant progress in their learning but also progress in who they are as individuals that would mean they were better prepared for society and for the lives that await them.

- The impact it would have on me -

I was very adamant that spending time on putting this in place and seeing it through would result in long-term gains. The reality of behaviour management is that it takes large chunks of valuable time in the lesson that could otherwise be spent on teaching and learning, but also out of your day to deal with both from an administration and emotional point of view. I really wanted this system to cut down that time and make more time for building strong relationships and creating opportunities for learning.

SETTING IT UP

I designed a powerpoint that communicated a few key points:

* Why the need to change the behaviour system

* Time is valuable

* The importance of high expectations

* 10 classroom behaviours

* 5 classroom rules

* Sanctions

* Rewards

By doing this, it enabled me to have a clear framework to refer to and it allowed the students to have time to process it and fully understand it. I spoke through it with them in a lesson, allowing them to ask questions or raise concerns, and then also shared it with them so they could review it in their own time and if they wanted to, with a friend or a parent.

I also then created classroom sheets to track the sanctions and rewards. I explained that to them and showed them how I would be logging and keeping track so they knew what it meant when I wrote on my clipboard. This was important from an organisational point of view: it would make any administration much easier (contacting parents, logging it on the system, keeping track of detentions); it would allow me to better keep track of behaviour for learning within the lesson for specific individuals and have those conversations during detentions; and also allow me to track behaviours across the weeks to notice patterns that may need to be actioned further.

THE RESPONSE AND OUTCOMES

I only chose 2-3 classes to implement it with and I knew it would be hard work. Most students responded very positively towards it and appreciated the structure. It meant that the students who were struggling to find their place as a mature, responsible students with the potential to be one, now could become it. And it meant that the students who really struggled to have good behaviour for learning stood out much more, creating opportunities to nurture and teach them better choices.

I was also surprised to see that the students moulded fairly quickly to the system. And a number of students reflected a few weeks in how much more progress they had made in Science and how much more they enjoy it.

- The challenges -

Rules are vital but sometimes there is always a bit of a grey area when dealing with young people. It's a challenge to know when to draw the line and when to break the rule. I had to very disciplined with myself to be consistent and to adhere to my vision.

It was much harder to implement this with Key Stage 4 than Key Stage 3. It took longer and it was more emotionally draining and time consuming. But it's an uphill battle, a long-term vision, so I've just stuck at it.

Constant reflection is needed. I found that there were a couple of rules I needed to tweak, or that the rules needed to be scaffolded short-term so that students could follow it. Simply communicating this to students did the trick, but it's an on-going process that is never stuck in stone.

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It's been an interesting process reflecting on how this behaviour management system came about and how it's been working. I'd encourage you to also have a sit down and think about what you want to achieve with your classes in terms of their behaviour for learning. As teachers, without it, we can't actually teach, so it is such a priority to get right. Good luck and stay positive!

Sofia