What Does Behaviour for Learning Mean to Me - Part 2

By Daphne Cole, Key Stage One & Two Teacher

“In my opinion a positive, nurturing approach is best.

If someone is not following the class rules its best to look behind the reason for the misbehaviour and talk to the child. Shouting is not acceptable because it is loud, frightening, and counter productive. At the school I work in most people speak gently towards children, if a child has behavioural problems you need to treat them gently. Children need to be able to make a fresh start the next day.

Children do have to follow guidelines and a teacher needs to be consistent and not give in when these guidelines aren’t followed. At the beginning of the year a teacher works with the class to set the rules together; for example ‘Please walk, please share, please don’t disrupt the others, please speak quietly.’ And then the class agrees to use individual and class rewards for good behaviour including smiley faces and sometimes even a party.

I believe in working as a team, so that even when a child starts in Nursery and Reception they learn the importance of working together, developing their social skills, building their self-esteem and helping each other. Role models are very important, as are Classroom Assistants.

Behaviour for learning is all about using positive praise, making a contract with the children, having sanctions and being consistent. If a child is misbehaving you start off with a first level warning. If they continue to misbehave you try Time Out. If the child still doesn’t follow the behaviour code they may be asked to go into the parallel class for a few minutes or miss Playtime. Finally, if these sanctions haven’t been successful, there may be a discussion with the Deputy or Headteacher who may decide to contact the parents/carers to devise strategies to assist the child to settle in class. It is very important to work with parents as a team.”

We want your feedback

Tell us what you think about Behaviour for Learning strategies in the classroom and in schools in general.

What kind of environment do you find children respond to?
What are your experiences of Behaving for Learning within the schools that you have worked in?
If you’ve worked in a particularly challenging school what strategies worked best for you?

Did you find this blog interesting?  Would you like to read some other teachers’ opinions on Behaviour for Learning?  We’ll be sharing more with you next week, so come back to read and comment on those too.

If you’d like to know more about all the courses we run at Prospero Teaching, including Behaviour for Learning, please visit our CPD For Teachers Event Calendar or email us at cpd@prosperoteaching.com or call +44 (0)20 7404 6383