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.