First published in Teach Primary Magazine in January 2012.

The idea that behaviour management is simply about learning a set of techniques that emerge from a teacher's "toolkit" is a dangerous one. Outstanding management of behaviour and relationships is simply not skills led. Neither is it imported with ‘magic' behaviour systems, bought with data tracking software or instantly achieved by calling a school an academy. In behaviour management culture eats strategy for breakfast. Getting the culture right is pivotal. With the culture right the strategies that are used become less important.

Trashing out yet another new policy in late night coffee fuelled evenings will not create the culture that you want. Shaping the right culture means that the most important discussion is around values. Shared values between the staff that emerge from honesty, negotiation and compromise. You can have the funkiest policy but without shared values it will soon be undermined by staff and pupils alike. Structure negotiations values around using rights and responsibilities like Holly Spring Junior School in Bracknell or maybe around belief statements like a school on the Isle of Sheppey I visited yesterday. Keep them short, simple and memorable.

Although teachers share many values, those that relate to behaviour can be tricky. They are wrapped up in the type of schools each teacher has worked in, their own experience of school as a child, their own experience of parenting and their political beliefs. These are values that many people hold dear. You need to give them a reason to compromise, an appeal to the greater good. Resurrect the idea that we are more stronger and more consistent when we stand together, everyone compromising a little make the messages utterly clear for the children, all staff perusing common values for the good of everyone. Some teachers will need to adjust their own preferences for the good of the team. Others will need to be helped to shave the edges of their practice. True consistency comes when you cannot put a cigarette paper between the shared values of the adults. When values and practice work in parallel. Start an inch apart on values and by the time your get to classroom practice you will be out of sight of each other.

In managing behaviour your mindset is crucial. The values and beliefs that you hold affect every conversation that you have with children about their behaviour. The way that you interpret behaviour controls your response to it. In schools that believe children must give automatic respect castigations have a different flavour to schools who believe adults should earn the children's respect. Schools that believe children should get what they deserve respond to poor behaviour differently to schools that believe children should get what they need. If you believe punishment works then your sanctions will accelerate faster You know this on a classroom level. On the days that you see Kyle's chair throwing as a product of broken Britain, a symbol that we are all going to hell in a handcart, that the civilised world is ending: your beliefs drive your response and set the timbre for the conversation.

The values and culture of a school must echo through every classroom and critically in the public spaces. Take a fresh look at the entrance and reception area of the school. Does it scream shared values, high expectations and outstanding behaviour? Are there displays showing the success of past pupils as well as the work of current ones. What are the messages related to behaviour, personal discipline and conduct. Is it peeling paint and a few old leaflets or does it shine with pride and scream ‘outstanding'? Some schools I visit have signs that tell waiting parents ‘not to worry if you hear screaming' others make it clear that there is a consistent approach. ‘All visitors are expected to treat the children with unconditional respect'. Everyone who walks into your school walks through the same entrance point. The messages it sends set a first impression that is quickly set and hard to change. What simple messages do you want to remind children and parents every day? How creatively can you present this so that it is a daily talking point and not just another set of words on the wall.

For some children the values that are held at home conflict with those they meet at school. They need your entrance hall to be a reality checkpoint, a gateway to a different set of expectations. Children can manage two sets of values with practice. They struggle however when each adult they meet holds a different set. Of course creating an entrance that makes the point to the children also reminds the parents about the values and behaviours that you insist upon. This will allow many to echo them at home and other pause for thought.

Post this up in your staffroom and see where your values are consistent and where they need some work.

Shared values in behaviour mean that you can simplify your strategy and uncomplicate the messages that you send to the children. With the culture right you can drill down to practical agreements. Ask everyone to list 5 consistencies in staff behaviour that would have a positive effect on the children. 5 ways that you can change your behaviour to change theirs. What would you choose? Removing emotion from castigations, always offering three choices, repeating the ‘You own your behaviour' mantra, stepping through consequences slowly, anchoring good behaviour with positive notes home, using ‘Praise boards' to reinforce good conduct, always giving children who are doing the right thing your first attention. Quickly you see the values translating into a plan and colleagues see that it is tweaks to their practice that are needed not wholesale changes.

Replicating values does not work. The Miracle Primary Academy is a PR mirage. Your values cannot be borrowed from other schools, imposed by politicians or bought in with new signage. You values need to reflect the nuances of your community, the ambitions of the children and the expectations of the adults. As government tries to pull teachers apart and the economy puts strains on every home we need to be work harder to stick together so our values ripple through the development of every child.

Q: Hi Paul, 

I am working in quite a different (private) primary school, with different ideas on how to manage a class and deal with behaviour issues. Teachers are forbidden to tell parents anything negative that may have happened in class, which makes it difficult to create effective home-school links, and children know they can "get away with" inappropriate behaviour because their parents will not be notified (for instance, I have been physically hurt by young students and I couldn't tell parents. I was also questioned what I did to instigate such behaviour!). We are also not allowed to issue any kind of consequence or sanction (no minutes off break/lunch, no trips to the Head teacher, no warnings, no red cards, no "traffic lights," etc.). We are also no allowed to issue any rewards (positive notes, tokens or tickets, sticker charts, etc.), because it is not like "real life." All staff are finding it difficult to manage behaviour at the school because our strategies are forbidden, and behaviour is a huge problem as a result. 

What strategies would you suggest we can use in our classes to help with the behaviour, without going against school policy?

A: Hello,

The school policies are not making life easy for you and I am not surprised staff are finding it difficult to manage behaviour.

Without material reward your verbal praise needs to be refined so that it has maximum impact. Find a ritual that allows you to mark the moment of achievement clearly with the student. For some children this will be done privately for others benefit from the whole group sharing in their success. It is after all not the reward that you give but the way that you give it. I can give you £20 and make you feel worthless, I can tell you why your work is so impressive and make you feel like a king. I suspect that many of your children have their material needs met. Some will have grown bored of stuff. The fact that you cannot give them any more stuff may allow you to concentrate on meeting their emotional needs. Children seek other rewards that are more important than stuff. The rewards that most humans value above others are pride, being part of a community, having responsibility, being valued, feeling successful.  Look at how you deliver praise. Is it directed and sincere Does sit allow the children to reflect on their own behaviour and achievements? Are there opportunities for children to praise and reinforce each other? You might like to scale your praise so that children get a sense of different levels of achievement. You might need to reserve your praise a little; if you are overusing it the impact is diminished.

You may not have control over sanctions outside of the classroom but you do have control over the seating plan, who is first to break and who is last, who takes responsibility for the jobs in the classroom, who holds the puppet and who reads the first line of the story. There are plenty of appropriate sanctions that are within your control. They seem smaller consequences but can be just as unappealing. When students behave inappropriately refer them back to the moments of good behaviour that you marked, ‘Chantelle, do you remember when you helped me tidy up the room. You were kind and polite. That is the Chantelle you need to be today, that is the Chantelle I believe you are.’ By using a model of the child’ previous good behaviour you can adjust today’s behaviour without recourse to sanctions. Try it, it is irresistible. You are beating her with your kindness!

Try changing the language and focus when talking to parents. Don’t talk about behaviour, discuss learning. Highlight the areas that you are trying to develop and underline the ‘learning expectations’ clearly. Seek their support with the learning rather than the behaviour. Parents will understand that behind the difficulty in learning there are behaviours that need addressing. You might even be able to get away with sharing your behaviour curriculum (the behaviours that you are teaching this term) with information about the academic curriculum

As a final thought I am intrigued by the thought that rewards do not operate in ‘real life’. I fundamentally disagree.  In the best businesses people are rewarded not just financially but emotionally. They are given responsibility, shown appreciation through kind words and encouraging emails, they feel valued by their managers with positive appraisals and seasonal gifts, they have a say in how they work and the direction the company is moving, there are awards, certificates, cards and signifiers of achievement. Just talk to the workers at Nissan in Sunderland about how a balance of financial and emotional reward motivates for the long term. 

Q: Hi Paul,

I'm an NQT at a secondary school and, while I'm quite pleased with how things are going behaviour-wise so far, I'm having the same issue with some two of my lower ability year 8 classes. These classes are mostly boys and they all seem intent on getting each other into trouble. 

They constantly shout things like "Miss, so and so just swore at me!" and "Miss, so and so just called my mum fat" etc. The other pupils will of course always deny the accusations saying things like "No, he just called me a..." etc. 

It is always very difficult to determine who is actually telling the truth even with a T.A. in the room! I have had some of the worst offenders back after school for a detention to discuss the problem with my HOD present and this has resulted in them all accusing each other of "bullying" and I've separated the worst of them on the seating plan, but they still snipe at each other across the room.

As you can imagine this is quite disruptive to the lessons and trying to work out "whodunit" often stops me from actually teaching which is unfair on other members of the groups.

At the same time, I have always told members of both these classes that they must not take matters into their own hands (i.e. by retaliating) and that what they should always do is tell the teacher... but as all they seem to want to do is get each other told off, how am I supposed to know who the real trouble makers are?

Any advice appreciated! Thanks!

A: These behaviours must be disrupting your teaching and the learning of others. Sometimes these behaviours escalate quickly from whispered insults. Often the boys are just playing a game and trying to out do each other ‘Ya mum….’ etc. What starts as a game however can often result in others being harmed. As you deal with this issue you need to get your poker face on. Model phenomenal emotional restraint. You can’t allow the students to feel they are having an impact on you.

Explain to all the children that you will no longer tolerate name calling (the children I work with know it as ‘blazing’) and calmly set out your stall. Agree a new rule or highlight your existing agreement. Be clear with the students. There are some behaviours that you need to teach them. You are going to put effort into doing this. It is going to be a priority.

Children who choose to speak politely and kindly will be recognised, appreciated and rewarded. Those who choose not to, either as the protagonist or as the responder will be given a reminder of the rule, a warning or then invited to a reparation meeting. In the initial stages catch and heavily reinforce those students who are speaking kindly and demonstrate the behaviours that you want.

Early intervention is really important. Meet the students at the door with a reminder of ‘Our new agreement’. Be clear with,  ‘What I am looking to see today is…’. Check with individuals privately; ‘Tell me what behaviours are going to work today’. Set your expectation high and make it obvious. Convince the students that there is no place you would rather be than with them in this classroom right now. At the first sign of name calling issue the first sanction on your ladder calmly and privately. Step persistent offenders calmly up the ladder, each time giving them space to consider their next move.

If you are using ticks/names on the board then you might like to try a more subtle and private way of giving consequences. Systems like these often encourage the behaviour of one person to be everyone’s business. Students will often compete to get their friends names on the board

Separate the students and deal with them individually. Invite the parents of the worst offenders in to join this meeting. When you are discussing the behaviour map out their pattern of behaviour for them. Get some postcards and markers and show them the ritual that they go through. Identify the parts that you want to change. Be specific about the behaviours that need to replace these bad habits. Be clear about the expectations you have for the next lesson. Repeat this process if necessary with more senior colleagues alongside you until the penny drops.

Make a plan for intervening with the most tricky students and set yourself a realistic timescale. Don’t expect overnight success. Some children will take longer to adjust to you.

Good luck.

Q: I have the same issue as the nqt in year 5 'strawberries'. I am an NQT, I teach in yr. 2 and my class is extremely demanding, they are a VERY tough class, even more experienced teachers say this.

There is a child with definite behaviour problems (his previous teacher thinks he may be autistic due to some of the behaviour he shows sometimes - it's as if he needs a separate adult working with him otherwise he is everywhere). I've then got some extremely noisy children to instigate others and to top it up there are children who will not be quiet when I am talking. I have also tried various strategies both for individual children and the whole class but no luck.

These behaviour issues make going to work depressing and learning seems to shut down as a result of this and this isn't fair on the other children :(

Help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

A: First of all I need to tell you that I was rubbish at managing behaviour in my first year of teaching. We all were. I thought that I couldn't do it. They didn't seem to respond in the way I wanted and I was teaching them very little. This affected my view of the job, the children and my view of my own capabilities. What you are going through is normal. It is a right of passage that most teachers have had yet few will admit to. 

I think that you need to refer the child who you believe has particular difficulties to the SENCO and see if his additional needs can be met. If you feel that he may have some behaviour related condition I would keep any thoughts on diagnosis private until he has been properly assessed.

Check how much time you are demanding the attention of the whole class. Too much teacher talk time' is the primary driver for low-level disruption. Consider giving instructions to small groups rather than to everyone at once. Have activities that children can self start. After a few weeks of reinforcing the ‘one voice' rule in small groups the children will know you better and understand that when you speak they listen.
When you want to get the attention of the class use a countdown that is embellished with positive reinforcement, ‘5, great Altaf you are the first to follow instructions, 4 thank you this table, 3 and if you could come back to your seat Darren etc...' Children who choose to continue their conversations receive a proportionate and immediate consequence.

You might also try a class rewards system where appropriate behaviour is rewarded with a tally, 30 tallies by the end of the day and we can listen to that story we love/watch the exploding science experiment/ etc. Encourage collective responsibility for appropriate behaviour and individual responsibility for poor behaviour.

I know that behaviour strategies often seem not to work straight away and it is tempting to try something and give it up as it doesn't have the immediate impact that you want. The truth is that to really test a strategy you need to give it at least 30 days to embed. Give the children time to change their habits and expectations. Give the strategy time to be challenged and tested. Be dogged, persistent and utterly determined. Teach the behaviours that you need by teaching new routines. Set your expectation high and try not to listen to the doubtful voices in the staff room and in your own head. If you think that this class is going to be trouble then it will undoubtedly come true. But if you change the way you look at the children, the children you look at may change.

The following transcript is from an online chat between a trainer and a user on our online course, Taking Care of Behaviour.  Trainers are available for regular online chat discussions for all users of our online behaviour courses.

Frank Farrell: Hello, *User

*User: Hi Frank, I was wondering how to make sure to keep class’s attention.

Frank Farrell: Hi. Please tell me a little more about the class. Age, subject etc.

*User: I have some pupils after a long day at school and they are not very focused.

Frank Farrell: Do you mean you are running some after school sessions? How many pupils and how old?

*User: I teach French and children are aged between 6 and 8. I try to play as many games as possible but then they get too excited. I find it hard to stroke a balance.

Frank Farrell: How long do you have them after school?

*User: Yes, after school lessons. I teach them for 30 mins, which is very short.

*User: I tend to ask them count up to ten until they simmer down that works. Do you have any other suggestions?

Frank Farrell: Well, first of all, I know 30 mins is short but at that age and by that time of day it's about enough. Part of the problem is, as you say, they are tired. They may be hungry, too. Perhaps some biscuits and drinks could be built into the session to create a break. They could have to ask for them in French. You are doing the right thing to try and find a balance. What about 'games' such as word searches and simple cross words (these can be created for free online, as can word searches)? It might be worth trying some simple role-play but perhaps they have to begin as a silent movie and then are gradually allowed to add speech.

Frank Farrell: I don't know how much space you have. Are the children able to move around very much?

*User: Yes food might work especially at the end of the day. A cross word could be inserted to warm them up while they are sitting, Brilliant! We have the use a good size class at the moment

Frank Farrell: I teach my pupils a silence signal. I raise my hand and when I do so they have to do the same, stop what they are doing and look at me. If a partner doesn't see me, then they just touch them on the shoulder to get their attention and point at me to show I have my hand raised. We play game to try and get the class from noise to silence in, say, 5 seconds. They like the challenge.

Frank Farrell: If they can move around then you could have them do three things: walk around slowly, walk around briskly and stop completely still. The instructions could be given in French. This allows for some brisk movement but part of the 'game' is to freeze, so it encourages them to stop.

*User: Thanks Frank that’s very helpful. I will start trying these tips and I will build up their behaviour from there.

*User: Thanks! Speak to you soon :)

Frank Farrell: Wait!

Frank Farrell: I have one more!

*User: Oh sorry still here!

Frank Farrell: Pair up. One is a mirror. You give instructions in French (brush your hair; brush your teeth; smile; frown etc.) So, one does the action and the other has to mimic as if a mirror. After a while they can swap around. It requires concentration but seems like a game to them.

Frank Farrell: Google Free ONLINE crossword maker and you will find s few to choose from.

*User: I have taken notes. Thanks so much for that. I have ideas for some weeks now! I am so glad I managed to chat to you. I will start using these tips ASAP.

Q: I am an NQT and my first class (year 5) has a lot of 'big characters'. Due to home life a lot of the children are needy and attention seeking repeatedly calling out or causing silliness. I also have 5 girls who are constantly falling out with each other and causing drama. I'm using techniques but don't feel there is a technique that fits the whole class. I am always whispering, clapping, praising, making examples of children, acting cross, referring to rules etc the list goes on but nothing is working for such a demanding class! Help!

A: If you have an unsteady home life, if you have started to mistrust adults, if people don't stay when they promise they are going to then you treat each adult you meet with suspicion. You don't have a relationship with them and that is what is at the core of your problems. The techniques that work for experienced teachers will not work for you straight away. Without relationships things don't work so well. 

They are testing you. Testing to see if you will stay. Testing your patience, your determination and your commitment. If adults had lied to you at home, you would do the same. Tell them every day ‘I am here for you, I am not going anywhere, we are going to succeed together'. Tell them until they believe it and then set about getting to know them. You need to build mutual trust quickly. Above all the tips and techniques it is this relationship that will improve behaviour. It is this relationship that will provide a solid foundation for behaviour change.
It sounds as though you have a range of strategies, some of which make sense, others I would question (acting cross/making examples of children). It might be worth stepping back from the daily firefight and behaviour ‘tricks' to consider your own philosophy on behaviour. How do these techniques fit with your own beliefs?
I agree with you that there is not one technique that fits the whole class. One size does not fit all. You need to differentiate how you teach behaviour just as you differentiate teaching literacy. What works with Ashraf on a Monday may not work with him on a Wednesday. As you get to know the children better you will be more informed and more able to refine strategies for individuals.

Hold tight, it could be a rocky ride.

Below is the excellent contribution that Caroline Glorioso, a Taking Care of Behaviour Course delegate, has agreed to share with other teachers. For more contributions, please visit: http://www.pivotaleducation.com/contributions/

I work in a further education college teaching level 3 Btec nationals in Information Technology and Business. Teaching in further education to a group of predominately 16-18 year old boys brings with it its own challenges but none more prevalent this past year as lateness.

I followed the college guidelines and at the beginning of the year during Induction it was pointed out that consistent lateness would be addressed by management and the disciplinary procedure. It was agreed by all the students and staff when doing the classroom contract that it would be taken seriously and addressed accordingly. The students were in no doubt that the beginning of the lesson was the most important part as the main input would be delivered and aims and objectives shared with the class so that they would be aware and prepared for the session. Alongside this all students were given contact numbers of staff specifically placed to pass on messages of lateness to staff to minimise disruption and to communicate effectively.

However with all this support I had a few serial offenders who just seemed unable to get to class on time. I did some research and it was not just my class, thank goodness, so I set about trying to change this. I am not totally naïve I have teenage kids myself and am perfectly aware of the lure of a lie in, however I thought it was more than just laziness. I arranged to meet up with these students for an informal chat and soon eliminated the most common forms of lateness: laziness, no they were often seen on the college premises before the session start. Transport, no they lived very close by and as identified above were here in plenty of time to start promptly. External distractions such as friends from elsewhere, no, didn't seem to be an issue. Was it just not cool to turn up on time?

I could not see any obvious reason why they were unwilling to turn up on time so I decided it must be me. Armed with this conclusion I began to examine the start of my classes and soon realised that they were a bit dull. I had used starter activities in the past but had never kept it up. I needed to shift the focus of my session so that students didn't want to be late and miss out.

On the whole my relationship with the group was a good one where banter was good and respectful so I capitalised on this and began to greet students at the door with an envelope and general chat about the weather and how they were. I asked them to sit down and open the envelope and then act on the instructions inside. Some were asked to set up the smartboard, some were asked to open the blinds/windows, some were asked to get out the resources required for that day. Some were asked to write the days objectives on the board etc. If any students needed to see me about something this was the perfect time as everyone else was busy. To mix it up a bit some students would do research on the business/Technology tab of the BBC website and then give the class a brief overview. So in the first 10 minutes of the session all students were either engaged in helping prepare for the session or involved in de-briefing the class on the day's news events.

The whole dynamic changed in the classroom and it didn't require a lot of extra work from me in terms of preparation as the news is different and available every day and envelopes were given out randomly so all students got the opportunity to participate. As required I put in new tasks to represent new topics covered and always adapted my conversation to incorporate relevant and current events such as football, music events and TV/movies etc and more often than not was on the receiving end of being educated myself on the latest must have technologies and gossip from the world of showbiz.

Why does it work, well it's my opinion that students like responsibility, they like to help and for the teacher to have faith in them and at times depend on them to be the facilitator and educator. My certainly do and they have all responded to this positively.
So in terms of my latecomers, well they are seldom late anymore, as one of them so eloquently said to me the other day. "I'll set up the smartboard miss, you always break it!"
It works for now, my mission is to keep it fresh.

Q:As a 61 year old who started a PGCE when 57, my viewpoint on negative behaviour is that it is sometimes a truthful reaction to teachers who are trying to impose a pseudo world on the young(er), not least as a result of a lack of experience outside education. Classically we had a dreadful thing called COPE or Certificate of Personal Effectiveness, which we tried to impose on year 12 and 13. They in my view quite rightly - and in our case politely - rejected it over the year. My main subject is maths, and again I wonder at our attempted imposition of getting across the D/C boundary which is subsequently of use neither to further education nor employment, but critical in league tables for the status of the school. I wonder sometimes whether the pupils can see through it and we can't. There are so many cases, and the pupils seem to have often prematurely so much experience that what masquerades as bad behaviour is perhaps an inarticulate insistence on the truth.

However, I really liked your clip about the parents being the best to know the reward, and shall redouble my efforts at ringing home.

A: Pupils can see what is happening as clearly as teachers can. They learn the game at a young age and are taught to the test for the benefit of league tables in Primary schools. We teach them to play the game and some are surprised when they play it skillfully and differentiate between subjects that mean something and those that don't. Look at the difficulty that FE colleges are having with Functional Skills. When students see that the work they are asked to do is not examined, not directly relevant to their exams/interests and not helpful to their study they vote with their feet, or in this case with their behaviour. 

I know that the C/D borderline matters for the league tables but it also matters for FE and employment. Particularly in English and Maths. These are gateway subjects. I want my students to get a C or above not because I want to satisfy the data trolls but because I know how limited choices are if you have a D or below. I understand that employers and FE complain that the curriculum is not relevant for their needs, they have done for the last 30 years. They probably will do for the next 30.
I sense that you are feeling the pressure of top down decision-making: tasks and targets that are imposed on you from above. Nobody is motivated by being told what to do. Your students are the same. When they have responsibility for their own learning, for directing their own study and controlling their destiny they are enthusiastic learners. When they are shown hoops that have no logic they are no more inspired than we are.
PS. I really like the phrase - ‘Inarticulate insistence on the truth'. It sounds like the title for a new Michael Moore movie.

Q: I struggle with a characterful year 10 tutor group who resent tutorial time. As Michael says, they challenge the idea of it being a useful way of spending their time. But how best to address this? Suggestions welcome...

A: Thanks for your question.
Effective tutorial programmes are not bought in from a catalogue or imposed from above but created by the tutors themselves. You need to be sure of the relevance and direction of tutorial work before you can endorse it fully or teach it with enthusiasm. If you feel the material is not relevant and you cannot approach it with enthusiasm then this is quickly translated to your students. Sticking plaster courses never seem to have any real impact. Suggest to your line manager that each tutor devises 6 tutorials. Active, engaging and genuinely useful lessons. Share the lessons between the team and create a tutorial that is tailored to your school, and the needs of your students. Don't pretend that anyone is going to be motivated by a certificate. Create a rationale that is intelligent, linked with future pathways and relevant to the needs of the students.
If you have no control over the curriculum you need to make this time relevant for them without undermining what is happening elsewhere in the tutorial team. Draw out what is genuinely useful and build on it. Use the time to help them structure their independent learning, invite students to lead the tutorial, make it less teacher led and more balanced.
Change your own approach to the tutorial time. They are influenced by your perceived lack of enthusiasm. Raise your expectations of what can be achieved and be over excited about seeing them! Their disinterest may be a tactic that they use elsewhere, ‘what's the point of maths.....', ‘my dad says that History is a waste of time' etc. You need to strike a balance between making the content appropriate and not making the curriculum optional. I think that once you have revamped what you are delivering you can make a fresh start with gusto.
Good luck.

Q: I'm a TA in a secondary school, I work one on one with SEN students, I always have trouble keeping them focused after lunch any suggestions on some simple activities to settle them back in to lessons?

A: I often have trouble getting focused after lunch too. Try some walking and thinking. Take a walk with the student as you ponder the task at hand. Get the blood flowing and the digestion working.
Be enthusiastic, keen, and urgent. Be pleased to see them. Let your interest in the lesson and task is infectious. Almost irritating. Keep a timer on the desk and use it to break down tasks and negotiate short deadlines. Be ready to make a deal, ‘Ok, I understand you would rather be watching Loose Women, if you have a go at the first one I have an idea to give you for the second'.
How about good lesson hooks? Or small elements of competition which will encourage students to concentrate on the task at hand? Mix up the format of after-lunch lessons and present them with tasks or methods that they don't expect.

Q: Working in FE I often find that after the census date there is precious little we can do about low level, persistent issues like poor punctuality, patchy attendance, poor commitment to handing in homework and general lack of work ethic. Myself and my colleagues use the sanctions available to us - letters and calls home, putting students on "report", reviews with tutorial managers etc as well as providing rewards to students with good studentship. However, we cannot give detentions, temporary exclusion only serves to put students further behind and is practically a reward for a kid who can't be bothered to come into college, and as retention is the major factor that impacts on our pay, continuation of our employment and general esteem within the workplace, realistically, students will not be excluded for this kind of issues. We attempt to remove any students who, after being set targets and encouraged still seem like they just can't be bothered before the census date but this doesn't entirely solve the problem at all. Any tips?

A: If punitive sanctions prevented reoffending the prisons would be empty, the police eating donuts and I would be out of a job.

It would be worth auditing the positive reinforcement that you use to see if there are tweaks that you could make. How many students, for example, have had positive communication with home since the beginning of term? Do colleagues use positive referrals? How often? Does everyone have positive notes to give? Is positive reinforcement written and held or spoken and lost? Could you tweak the culture within the department to make behaving well and turning up more attractive? How are you building positive relationships with the ‘hard to reach' students? What about the students who turn up every day, on time, prepared, determined and committed, how are they rewarded and reinforced? How is success celebrated within the department? Are displays fantastic or flopping? Is there a sense of community, belonging even? I know that the students who don't meet your expectations won' t immediately fall into line because you focus on rewarding appropriate behaviour. It does however send a clear message. It creates a consistently positive environment and sets a high expectation. Over time it is irresistible.
Think about the behaviours that are most damaging to achievement and focus on one or two over the course of the term. Give emphasis to teaching students behaviour. I know that it seems odd to teach a 17 year old how to behave but if you don't they go into HE and employment and fail. Teaching behaviour can be as important as teaching professional skills or academic content.
The truth is sanctions only work when they are designed to improve behaviour not simply to manage it. In classrooms where sanctions are used to re chalk the boundary lines, negotiate appropriate behaviour, repair trust and concrete agreements for future conduct then they can have a sustained impact. When they are personal retribution, revenge or born from an adult's emotional response they are remembered for the wrong reasons.

Punitive sanctions that satisfy the desire for mild revenge make students resentful. This includes loss of time that is delegated to others (right you are sitting next to Mr Savage for the next three weeks'), repeated sanctions that are subsumed into the student's day (‘I stay behind every day because I am naughty'), humiliating or disproportionate sanctions (‘Right that is the second time I have asked you to sit down, go and wait outside the Principal's office') don't set the right model or have a positive impact on behaviour.

You might want to consider using a Reparation meeting to hold up the mirror for the student and encourage them to take responsibility for their behaviour. If retention and engagement are the priorities then repairing trust and building relationships are worth investing time and energy in.

A reparation meeting should take no longer than 15 minutes and must be held with the adult who dealt with the original rule breaks. It isn't a prelude to the student apologising. It should be a genuine conversation. In many institutions this has been introduced in place of traditional detention systems. The change in emphasis has had a profound impact on teacher/student relationships and significantly reduced the number of students leaving courses.

Reparation will not give you the instant satisfaction that comes from pure punishment. It will give you a platform to build relationships that change and improve behaviour for the long term.

The Reparation meeting is often structured in 6 steps as follows:

1. What's happened?

2. What was each party thinking?

3. Who feels harmed and why?

4. What have each party thought since?

5. What behaviours will each of us show next time?

6. Reaffirm your commitment to building a trusting relationship

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

I have a pupil who has just been diagnosed with ADHD. We treat his behaviour issues as we would any other child's, but his parents don't think he is responsible for his actions. They have talked about the Disability Discrimination Act - could we be accused of treating him unfairly?

The Expert View

I agree with the parents. Yes, he may not be able to take responsibility for his actions at the moment. Yes, you will need to tailor strategies to manage and improve his behaviour together with his parents. Yes, his condition would be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.

You cannot afford to have an adversarial relationship with the boy's parents even if you find yourself at odds with their views. The diagnosis is recent and their approach may soften: in time you may be able to shift the focus from the child taking responsibility to the child developing more control. Allowing the child to blame his behaviour on ADHD/his parents/the weather is not going to help anyone to manage or improve it. If you are to have a chance of managing the condition, you are going to have to do it together.

In many ways you will treat him as you would any child: build a relationship, set clear boundaries, encourage appropriate behaviour, model emotional patience and have the flexibility to respond to individual needs. If you are persistently using high-level sanctions and nothing improves then you should look for ways in which you can refine what you do.

Where it may be different from the way you treat other children is in the time that you take to plan ways to manage and improve his behaviour, to share strategies that work and to devise an intervention plan for when his behaviour is most challenging. You will have to spend time listening, learning and negotiating with the child about how he can be helped to manage his condition. You will also have to explain to colleagues why he is different, why it matters that you are consistent and why he cannot "just go somewhere else".

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

As a cover supervisor I have had to do internal exclusion duty and was left alone with a very aggressive boy. He was rude and threatening. He has been sent in for another incident and I'll have to cover it. Can I request not to be alone with him?

The Expert View

The straight answer is yes, in the short term you can request not be alone with him. But you will need a longer-term solution that develops your relationship with this child. In the end, we have to find a way with all the children, and play the cards we are dealt.

Examine your response to children sent to internal exclusion. They often arrive angry, frustrated and aggressive. Be careful not to open a Pandora's box of emotion. Give time for the child to get back in control. Resist the urge to intervene. Take a step back.

Find a member of staff who has a strong relationship with the child. Ask them for help. Be open about what has happened and the strategies you have tried. Don't be afraid of "the behaviour conversation". Most of us had to learn behaviour management skills from great teachers. Ask for a meeting with the child, led by your colleague. But resist laying down the law. Make it clear that you understand the anger, the motivation and the rage. Confirm that the boy understands you are there to supervise, not judge. Make sure he leaves the meeting with a better opinion of you and not with a fistful of targets. When you meet him next, don't mention the meeting. Show him that even if your role is different you are first and foremost an adult modelling emotional restraint.

It is so much harder to be rude and aggressive towards someone who has shown understanding or kindness. Some colleagues might try to persuade you to call in the artillery. It is worth remembering that "children see, children do".

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem:

I was subjected to a tirade of swearing by a pupil. Senior management seem to sympathise with him as he often does this, so he will only get a telling off. What should I do?

The Expert View:

You don’t come to work to be sworn at. The consequences need to be immediate and predictable. If you are not confident of support from senior management, a good head of department will be able to impose a sanction that fits and involves parents. Swearing at staff is out of order. Pupils know they are crossing a line, staff recognise it and even the most unhelpful parents see it. Ideally, the leadership team would hold a clear line and the message would echo through the school. If this line is not obvious, ask for it to be clarified.

Exclusion might seem the obvious response, but is not necessarily the most effective. I understand the urge to have some respite from the pupil. But if the immediate consequence is exclusion, you are giving some pupils an open door to a day of watching TV. Some pupils fear the cliff edge of exclusion; others have learnt that it isn’t really that far to fall.

The pupil needs to apologise. Even when behaviour is appalling and the natural response is to back away, it is wise to stay connected to the event. Ask for support, but don’t pass responsibility over. The long-term solution lies in your relationship with the pupil. Through this difficult incident, you may find you come to a better understanding of each other.

Pupils decide who they direct poor language at and which lessons they will try to swear openly in. With a consistent line, you will make it hard for him to choose to direct it at you.

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem:

I'm doing supply, and eight boys in my class of 30 are unruly. Although I have applied the school's behaviour policy, if I ask them to do something they don't want to do it results in kicking furniture and sulking under tables. How can I prevent disruption?

The Expert View:

Supply teachers pick up the baggage when they take over a class. Children feel let down. You will need to work hard to deal with the broken trust even though you didn't cause it. Children don't like it when adults who they thought were going to be there leave. Some are upset, others see the gap and exploit it.

You need to build trust with this group of boys while delivering consequences without flare-ups. There will be no excuse or motivation for the defensive reactions you are seeing.

You can follow policy to the letter, but it is in your practice that the answers lie. When you intervene, the pacing of the consequential steps is critical. Leap through the consequence ladder with emotion and you will appear unfair and irrational. You will encourage emotional responses. Apply sanctions softly by using examples of the child's previous good behaviour. Get down on their eye level, be utterly dispassionate, go slowly and give children time to consider their next move. Constantly encourage pupils to take a different path. Be firm and rarely angry.

Ask more established colleagues for guidance and advice. Ask them to drop in and send the boys to them when they do something remarkable. Record in detail the good and bad, then bring in parents for the trickier cases. If you need to tackle group behaviour, deal with pupils one or two at a time.

Go out of your way to make the children who are disrupting the class feel important and appreciated for the right reasons. You need to find out what interests and motivates the boys who are rebelling. Taking an interest in an individual is the first step to building an appropriate professional relationship.

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

I have just started in a school and there is one class that is very noisy and easily distracted. One boy keeps shouting and two other boys act up and encourage him. How can I get them to settle?

The Expert View:

Ticks on the board and class punishments make an individual's behaviour everyone's business. Public humiliation encourages defensive reactions, creates an audience out of the class and builds up resentment quickly. Deal with the issue privately and calmly. Using fear and pure punishment might satisfy your own needs, but it will never meet the needs of your pupils. I don't want my pupils to be wary of me; I want them to be able to trust me.

Meet the pupil who is causing the most disruption and underline your boundaries with him. As you are new to the school you might choose to ask a more experienced colleague to sit in on this meeting. Tell the pupil precisely the noise level that you need. Describe it. A "three-bar voice" (from the volume setting on a phone) or a quieter "private voice".

You might choose to agree a cue for the pupil so that he knows when his volume control is appropriate and when it creeps over the limit. I have used volume crescendo bars to create a sign on the wall or a reminder on the desk that I can subtly refer to while teaching: "Clive, your five-bar voice is making my ears bleed, you need to bring it down to two bars."

Confront the behaviour and not the pupil. I once taught a pupil who would shout at full volume in private and group conversations. He wasn't seeking to disrupt, he was just loud. It was not until I visited his house and realised that eight people were living in a two-up, two-down that the penny dropped. Everyone shouted. He had learnt that unless his volume control was constantly on full, he might go unnoticed. Without referring to his home life, we managed to negotiate a diminuendo in learning time.

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

I'm having issues with a Year 9 class. There are about six boys who are intent on making every lesson a disaster: they won't sit in the correct seat, they mess about and they wreck every practical I try. How can I win them over?

The Expert View:

You need some leverage with these pupils. It is tempting to imagine that you could punish them into behaving in a different manner. The truth is that pure punishment might satisfy in the short term but will not solve this problem in the long term.

Speak to the pupils individually. Even though there is history this is not the time for emotion but for simple, clear and assertive explanation. Be honest about the fact that things have not been going well. Redraw the lines. Write down your expectations for and with each pupil. Map the consequences that follow from their behaviour. Emphasise your determination to support them in choosing better behaviour. Gently reveal that you intend to closely monitor changes from this point. Record the good and bad behaviour of each pupil over the course of the next six lessons.

Make it clear that the report will be sent to the head of year, form tutor and parents. Keep this report sharply focused on three identifiable behaviours that you are going to see every lesson. Frame it in a positive light and highlight the opportunities to prove to everyone that things are changing. Send the parents a letter that explains how you are trying to address the behaviour.

Now repair any damage of trust with the pupils. Make a point of catching them doing the right thing and recognising it in your comments, marking, rewards and comments to other staff. Stop and speak to the pupils when you see them. Slowly build a positive relationship, even if they are trying to keep their distance.

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

How do I deal with a girl who is constantly smirking? I tell her classmate off, she catches their eye and smirks. I tell the class off, she smirks to other people and smiles sweetly at me. I feel like I am losing. What can I do?

The Expert View:

Resist the urge to "wipe that smile off her face" - it makes you appear as emotionally driven as she is. The power of the smirk elicits a disproportionate response. You need to decide if you want to play the game, or if there are bigger battles to win. You feel as though you are losing; in reality, smirking is a safe way to protest. It would be braver to complain loudly or throw a chair out of the window. Perhaps the smirk is a minor irritant, not a major concern.

Each time you respond emotionally, you confirm that her strategy is working. Each time you refocus attention on the work, compliment her for her smirking ability, ignore it or lighten the response with humour, you take the sting out of it. She will adjust her behaviour when she does not get the reaction she expects.

Arrange a time to talk to her, identify the behaviour that you want her to adjust and reset the boundaries. Explain how she appears to you and to the class. Be honest about the fact that you do not expect her to roll over obediently, but nor do you appreciate her subtle subversion. Her smirk may hide nerves at your "telling off", or be a way to gain creditability with her peer group. If you feel it is appropriate, place her on a class report for six lessons so that you can see if the behaviour has changed.

A radical approach would be "no smirking" signs or "smirking only in designated areas", practising smirking with the class as a brain break or smirking back at her. Make sure that your strategy does not damage efforts to build a positive relationship.

You mentioned "telling the whole class off". It may be worth keeping the behaviour of an individual private - this would take away smirking opportunities and allow you to deal with behaviour without an audience.

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

I have very loud Year 1 class that are driving me mad. One boy, who has been mothered a lot, has tantrums where he ends up sobbing a lot and upsetting the rest of the class. Should I make him sit on a special cushion when he behaves like that?

The Expert View:

Be clear, tantrums are not going to work in your classroom. You are not going to play this game. To change the behaviour you need to remove the benefits of negative attention, directly address the tantrums and teach new behaviours that work for the child and the class.

The instantaneous move to a thinking spot with a cushion, chair, mat or carpet gives the attention-seeking child all the physical cues they need to realise that something has gone wrong.

Do not speak to the child about their behaviour while they are crying. Be prepared to repeat the same lines and walk away for a minute or two, ‘I will come and speak to you when you have stopped crying', ‘Crying doesn't get you what you want here'. Obviously, we are talking about persistent, deliberate crying and not crying due to genuine upset.

When the child has stopped crying (or at least the breaths in between lengthen sufficiently), confront behaviour. Run through the same script every time. Sustain your poker face, let the child know what they have done and which rule it contravenes. Practice a routine that is predictable, safe and easily repeatable. Most importantly the same smile at the end of the conversation and make sure he knows the behaviours you are looking out for. Simple, consistent, repetitive rituals targeted at specific behaviours will accelerate change.

Re-focus your reinforcement and reward around the tantrum behaviours and take every opportunity to tell him 'on' rather than 'off'. Mark the moment with the child with stickers, stamps and smiles. Tell home at the end of the day or send a note home with the child. Let everyone know that new behaviours are welcome and appreciated.

Deal with ‘he said, she said' triggers by refusing to discuss hearsay evidence in ‘learning time'. Tell the children that they can speak to you a lunchtime if they are still worried. You may find that the clamour at the door at break reduces to a trickle by lunch.

Encourage all adults to send exactly the same message with the same words. At first the child might try to amplify and elongate the sobbing to see if this will get them what they want. Expect and plan for this. Ride through the eye of the storm and the tantruming will slow and then stop. It might still work at home, it will never work in school.

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem:

I'm a trainee teacher at a predominantly Muslim school and I'm white. Today a group of boys interrupted my lesson to pop their heads in and say I was looking sexy. How do I deal with them without seeming prudish or racist?

The Expert View:

Some teachers link pace to being able to plough through a certain amount of material in a lesson. Instead, says Paul Dix, a former teacher and now managing director of behaviour management specialist Pivotal Education, it should be seen as the ability to keep pupils interested and motivated.

He knows how a drop in pace can affect pupils. "I was an awful teacher in my first year," he says. "An observer pointed out after one class that I'd talked for 35 minutes, and towards the end the children were messing about.

"We all go through that baptism of fire."

Problems tend to arise when pupils are expected to be silent for long periods. A mistake teachers often make is in thinking they have to address the whole class all of the time, he says. "Teachers can get preoccupied with delivering content and end up forgetting what motivates pupils."

To help prevent a lull, make sure anything you need to use - computers, equipment, handouts - is ready before the lesson starts. Getting pupils to distribute resources will also help you to teach undistracted.

Rather than talking for long periods, incorporate short exercises, so that pupils are active and involved, not waiting for you to finish. Asking pupils to have a discussion with a partner about any questions you pose is a good way to ensure everyone is engaged.

David Miller, an English teacher at St Ninian's High in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire and winner of last year's Guardian award for secondary school teacher of the year, suggests breaking up the class as well as the lesson: "Try some active learning approaches. Have them moving around."

Using art, music or film to take the lesson somewhere unexpected can also help.

"Music is a great classroom calmer," he says. "In my probation year, I had a class of 15-year-olds who were not as focused as I would have liked. Pupils were suddenly becalmed when they became aware of distant baroque guitar music emanating from my radio. I had been listening to it during lunch and forgotten to turn it off. This was one of those epiphany moments when I was able to chat to the class about my love for classical music. Sharing something of yourself always improves the way pupils regard and, therefore, respond to you."

However well you prepare, there will be occasions when the pace of your lesson takes a downward turn and pupils respond by messing around. When this happens, Mr Dix suggests taking a "brain break".

Don't treat it as bad behaviour, he says. Accept that their attention has waived and move to accelerate the pace to draw them back. "Brain gym and brain exercises are good for this," he says. "Ask them to do something distracting, such as rubbing their tummies and patting their heads, something weird and funny that will take their minds away for a moment." This will also give you a chance to think about how best to proceed.

Teachers need to have an "armoury of the unpredictable" for these instances, Mr Miller says. "I find talking about myself instantly brings pupils' eyes front. It's good to have a battery of interesting, reflective stories."

If your approach is not hitting the mark, do not persist, he says. "Do not persevere when the lesson is not working. Change the direction or use another type of stimulus, such as music. There is no reason why Bach's Goldberg Variations shouldn't be employed in teaching maths."