School Policy – Behaviour

Research evidence suggests that pupils behavior can be influenced by all the major features and processes of a teach. These include the quality of its leadership, classroom management, behaviour insurance, curriculum, pastoral c be, buildings and physical environment, organisation and timetable and relationships with p atomic number 18nts. (Elton Report, DES, 1989) The secondary education issue I engage chosen to focus on for this presentation is Whole tutor deportment Policies and how such(prenominal) policies can influence the teaching method and learning experiences in school through the purpose of sanctions and rewards.I chose this area to focus on because, as a student teacher on a teaching placement, behaviour in schools is one of my biggest concerns and also because, according to the Elton Report and other literature I surrender read, it appears that this is a major area of concern throughout secondary schools in the UK. The Elton Report, a national enquiry into disci pline in schools, was established by the monument of State for Education and Science in March 1989 in response to concern about the problems facing the teaching profession.Their task was to recommend action to the government, topical anesthetic authorities, voluntary bodies, governors, headteachers, teachers and parents aimed at improving behaviour in schools for effective teaching and learning to take place. (Elton Report, DES, 1989) The Elton Report has formed the innovation of much of the electric current legislation on school behavioural policies and passs guidance for schools in drawing up their own behaviour policies.The main findings and recommendations of the Elton Report can be summarised in the following points (Teachernet, 2008) Schools should adopt a whole-school approach to their behaviour policies and the teachers approach should be one of consistency and fairness Schools should have a blow over vision for managing behaviour through establishing uninfected rules and boundaries, with emphasis on the corroboratory. All must adhere to policy principles, and teachers should model behaviour and interactions in a positive and supportive way. Boundaries should be made clear and sanctions should be in place, nevertheless the emphasis is on praise and rewarding good behaviour. All staff should choose that the quality of teaching and learning has a significant impact on pupils behaviour A schools central purpose is that children should learn. Good behaviour makes effective teaching and learning possible. Bad behaviour disrupts these processes. (Elton Report, DES, 1989) In September 2003, the governments Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) launched the Behaviour and Attendance strand of the Key Stage 3 Strategy.This political platform aims to provide advice, support and training for all secondary schools in England to promote positive behaviour and tackle issues of low-level disruption. It recommends that senior leadership team s in schools pull up stakes carry out audits of behaviour and attendance and, from these, depart establish priorities for the whole school. They will then plan actions to further improve their policy and practice and will draw up training plans for their staff. (Behaviour4learning, 2008) At my year one placement school I witnessed these recommendations put into practise in the classroom through the writ of execution of the schools Behaviour Policy.The placement school is a mixed comprehensive school in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. The head teachers perception of the schools catchment area is that it is a predominantly souring class area of London with high levels of poverty and unemployment. According to the schools latest Ofsted inspection report the number of pupils who are registered SEN (Special Educational Needs) is above the national average. Although not all special needs are connected to behaviour, it is by and large acknowledged that if a child finds learning ve ry difficult it is possible that incidents of poor behaviour can occur. Cowley, 2006) The school has a behaviour policy in place and, by adhering to it, aims to promote a positive learning and teaching community for staff and pupils. (Swanlea School Behaviour Policy) The main aims, as summarised in the policy, are To ensure that behaviour is a whole school responsibility To ensure that rewards and sanctions procedures are applied fairly and consistently To foster compassion and tolerance, celebrate qualify and develop a sense of citizenship and care for the whole community and environment To enable all pupils, ir think ofive of race, class, gender and ability, to achieve their personal best. Swanlea School Behaviour Policy) The policy also sets out the rights of staff and students, which are summarised as Every student has the right to learn at his or her optimum rate, without being hindered by others Every student has the right to live each day in school without fear. Bullying, threatening behaviour, racial or sexual harassment and damage to shoes will not be tolerated. All staff have the right to go about their work without being hampered (Swanlea School Behaviour Policy)This reflects a clear alignment with research by Cowley (2006) who states that Different types of school have very different and specific behavioural problems, and i wieldly the whole-school behaviour policy should be cerebrate closely to the particular difficulties your school faces. (Cowley, 2006, p172) The schools behaviour policy is clearly in place to create a positive environment for pupils but it is also there for the benefit of teachers and staff to create a positive working environment and enable the teacher to effectively teach without disturbance. Its historic to keep in mind that the reason we need to manage behaviour at all is so that we can actually get on with teaching. (Cowley, 2006, p96) The policy was established by the head teacher, deputies and heads of department together with the behaviour support team. It is managed by the deputy head teacher and is reviewed each term, through consultations with heads of department and the behaviour support team, at designated Behavioural Policy Review meetings.These meeting allow for changes to be made if the policy appears to be ineffective and, for example, if incidents of uncool behaviour have increased. In order to check the effectiveness of the policy, the deputy head teacher analyses data, in the form of exclusion rates, details of incidents of bullying and racist abuse and the use of sanctions and rewards. All of the schools staff, including teachers and support staff, are responsible for ensuring that the behaviour policy and procedures are followed and applied.This guidance framework has made it easier for staff to respond to incidents of bad and good behaviour consistently and fairly and for all students to be made aware of the policy. As recommended in research by Rogers (2006) When schools h ave a usual framework for classroom behaviour agreements, each successive year group becomes increasingly conscious of the way we do things here. This enables some sense of public understandings and expectations about appropriate and fair behaviour and also some reasonable consistency in behaviour management by adults across the school. (Rogers, 2006, p46) The behaviour policy states that all staff are expected to model the high standards of behaviour and punctuality expected of pupils. Form tutors are also expected to support and go on individual pupils through praise, positive reinforcement and contact with parents. The policy also advises that form teachers are directly involved with low level behaviour issues, such as addressing school uniform issues. The school believes that maintaining a level of consistency across all staff and department, with regards to the behaviour policy, ensures that all pupils are aware of its contents.This is in line with Rogers (1995) and Cowleys (2006) findings, who say that a whole-school behaviour policy is effective when it- Is created in conjunction with all the staff undergoes a continuous process of change is consistently applied All pupils at the school carry a travelling diary to lessons in which homework and behavioural issues such as lateness are monitored and recorded. The travelling diary contains a summary of the schools behaviour policy and expectations further ensuring that the students are aware of the policy contents.Assemblies on the theme of respect and behaviour are also delivered to the pupils on a regular basis. The behaviour policy is well constructed and understood by most students and applied evenly by all staff. (Ofsted, 2007) The school has in place a system of sanctions and rewards to deal with negative and positive behaviour respectively. Depending on the severity of the negative behaviour in the school, the sanctions range from a verbal telling off to the child being placed in the schools iso lation unit. Sanctions are there to offer corrective measures to indicate to the perpetrator that the displayed behaviour is not acceptable and provide and opportunity for the individual to redeem him/her self. (Swanlea School Behaviour Policy) The behaviour policy states that the school aims to support a positive learning environment for students through the use of rewards for good behaviour. This ranges from praise from the teacher to formal awards and prizes at the schools one-year awards ceremony and during assemblies. This in reflected by Cowley (2006) who says Using rewards is one of the most effective ways of getting better behaviour. This will help you maintain a positive focus and atmosphere in your classroom. (Cowley, 2006, p81) However, it is challenged by Kyriacou (1998) who argues that it is effective teaching not rewards that create better behaviour. The most important point to bear in mind in considering discipline is that creating the necessary order is more to do with the skills involved in effective teaching in general than it is to do with how you deal with pupil misbehaviour itself. (Kyriacou, 1998, p79) To sum up, from classroom observations at my placement school I frequently observed incidents of students bad behaviour and how these incidents were dealt with in the design and engine room department. It was apparent that the design and technology department, like the rest of the school, is closely following the guidance in the behaviour policy and is very efficient at traffic with bad behaviour. This appears to have a positive impact on the school in that it creates a safe environment for the pupils.However, on a daily basis I observed poorly behaved children being given break time detentions and several children receiving the ultimate sanction of the isolation unit. While this appears to be effective in that it creates an ordered classroom environment for teaching and learning to take place, I frequently observed the well behaved pu pils going un-noticed in the schools efforts to bid out bad behaviour. .We can get trapped into giving lots of rewards to our tricky students, to keep them onside and get them to co-operate.But dont overlook those children who work hard all the time they deserve to receive recognition for their efforts as well. (Cowley, 2006, p83) This suggests that their behaviour policy is not working as effectively as it could and that a solution could be to have, embedded in the behaviour policy, a system of rewarding good behaviour and recognising hard working children, as well as responding to the students bad behaviour. References Cowley, S. 2006), Getting the Buggers to Behave, Continuum International Publishing Group, London HMSO (1989) The Elton Report Enquiry into Discipline in Schools, Her Majestys Stationery Office, London Kyriacou, C (1998), Essential Teaching Skills, Nelson Thornes Ltd, Cheltenham Laslett, R and Smith, C (1984) Effective Classroom Management, Croom Helm Ltd, Kent R ogers, B (2006) Classroom Behaviour A Practical Guide for Effective Teaching, Behaviour Management and Colleague Support, capital of Minnesota Chapman Publishing, London Rogers, B (1995) Behaviour Management A Whole-School Approach, Scholastic Australia, Gosford Swanlea School Behaviour Policy, London Web references Behaviour4Learning. Accessed 20. 11. 08 www. behaviour4learning. ac. uk Department for Children, Schools and Families. Accessed 20. 11. 08 www. standards. dfes. gov. uk Office for Standards in Education. Accessed 20. 11. 08 www. ofsted. gov. uk Teachernet. Accessed 20. 11. 08 www. teachernet. gov. uk