“Behaviour management is a subject that causes a lot of heat, and sometimes a lot less light”. That is the view of Ofsted’s Amanda Spielman, who made improving behaviour in schools one of her greatest priorities when she took over in office.
Monitoring behaviour can be the first step to eradicating bad behaviour from your classroom. Providing pupils with feedback backed up with results you can evidence is more likely to trigger a reaction from your students.
This is where a behaviour tracker comes in. But what is one and how can it help in your school? This blog post explains.
What is Ofsted’s focus on behaviour?
Under Ofsted’s inspection regime, pupil’s behaviour is assessed under two judgements.
Ofsted has said it will be looking to schools to ensure pupils have positive attitudes and high attendance. They also want schools to create a positive environment in which bullying is not tolerated.
Spielman said that there was a need for school’s behaviour management policy to be “clear, consistent and communicated to staff and parents”.
Schools, according to Ofsted, should embed routines to minimise disruption and ensure classroom lessons run smoothly and that pupils should move safely around the school.
How to manage behaviour in schools
If a pupil is misbehaving in your lessons they may be doing this for two reasons:
- They’re bored
- They’re struggling with work and looking for a distraction
As a teacher the ability to remain calm and patient, control your emotions and act professionally at all times are essential skills.
You can follow these tips to establish ground rules:
Be proactive, not reactive: A proactive teacher has strategies and solutions in place for children who misbehave and implementing them. Reactive teachers, on the other hand, wait for confrontation to arise to work out how they’ll deal with it. Being proactive can diffuse a situation seamlessly; being reactive leaves you in a vulnerable position if the situation escalates.
Watch your language: Small changes to the way you address pupils can impact the point to what you’re saying. Changing a statement to a question
Read more: behavioural repair – a quick guide
