National Behaviour Support Service Promoting Positive Behaviour

1. National BehaviourSupport ServicePromoting Positive Behaviour

2. The NBSS is working with 73 post primary schools identifying, developing and disseminating current good practice and assisting with behaviour issues which impede teaching and learning. Additional schools will be supported in 2010 - 2011 NBSS

3. Mission Statement Promoting and Supporting Behaviour for Learning Our mission is to promote and support positive behaviour for learning through the provision of a systematic continuum of support to school communities, grounded in evidence based practice. National Behaviour Support Service

4. NBSS Guiding Principles The NBSS is guided by the following key principles: Schools can make a difference in young people’s lives. • A whole school approach, founded on respectful relationships, is essential in promoting and supporting positive behaviours throughout the school community. • Behaviour is intrinsically linked to teaching and learning. • Inclusion is a core educational value. • Good practice in schools is acknowledged and disseminated.

5. NBSS Team • National Coordinator • 4 Assistant National Coordinators • 10 Regional Development Officers • Literacy Development Officer • Research & Development Officer • 2 Administrators

6. Positive Behaviour Support Programmes Framework for Intervention (FFI) – Birmingham, Scotland, Norway Restorative Approach – Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, North America, Sligo and Donegal Solution Oriented School Programme (SOS) – Scotland, Jersey, United Kingdom attendance and behaviour strategy School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) – North America, Canada, AustraliaSocial and Emotional Learning (SEL) – North America, Europe, Asia Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) – DCSF, England

7. Designing School-Wide Systems for Student Success FEW 1 - 5% SOME 5 - 10% ALL 80 - 90%

8. NBSS Model of Support Academic and Behavioural Support at Level 1, 2 and 3

9. Level 1 - Whole School School System Vision Systems Structures Policies Practices

10. Consistency Preliminary findings from a survey conducted by the NBSS on Low Level Disruption found that:- • Only 5.8% of the 982 respondents agreed that school rules were “enforced consistently by all staff”. • 47% stated that enforcement was “consistent most of the time”. • 43.2% reported that consistency ranged from “some of the time” to “never”.Henefer, 2007-2008

11. English RE Irish Maths Art History Home Ec Student Geog Wood Tech Science Business SPHE CSPE Consistency

12. English Irish RE Maths Art History Home Ec Student Geog Wood Tech Science Business SPHE CSPE Inconsistency

14. If our students don’t know how to read, we teach them If our students don’t know how to multiply, we teach them If our students don’t know how to play sport, we teach them If our students don’t know how to behave, we… teach? punish?

15. Present Reality • The behaviour of a very large majority of pupils remains satisfactory or better • Most schools are successful at managing behaviour and creating an environment in which pupils feel valued, cared for and safe • The most common form of poor behaviour is persistent low-level disruption of lessons that wears down staff and interrupts learning. Source: ‘School Matters’ 2006,Ofsted 2006

16. Nine Contextual Factors that Contribute to Punitive School Environments and Promote Antisocial Behaviour • Low student involvement in school activities • Unclear rules for student deportment • Weak or inconsistent administrative support • Student academic failure • Student deficiency in social & personal management skills • Problems discriminating prosocial & antisocial behaviour • Consequences delivered inconsistently • Inadvertent reinforcement of antisocial behaviour • Over reliance on punitive methods of control (Mayer, 1995; Similar to home-based contextual factors noted by Loeber, Stouthammer-Loeber & Green, 1987 and Reid & Patterson, 1991), Hattie, J., 2003

17. Facilitating change 15 – technique 15 - reputation 30 - relationship 40 - strengths focused Lambert, 1992

18. Continuous Professional Development However noble, sophisticated or enlightened proposals for change and improvement might be, they come to nothing if teachers don’t accept them in their own classrooms and if they don’t translate them into effective classroom practise. Fullan M, Hargreaves A. (1982)

19. Level 1 – Whole School Support • Establish a Whole School Positive Behaviour Leadership Team or School Strategy Team (b) Gather data to:- • Determine what staff perceive is working well, needs attention and is not in place to promote and support positive behaviour in the school. • Determine problem areas/behaviours in the school

20. General Data Rules for Objective Decision Making Example If more that 40% of students receive one or more behaviour referrals – Whole School System If more than 50% of referrals come from 10% of classes – Classroom System If more than 35% of referrals come from non-classroom settings – Non Classroom System If more than 10 students in a class receive more that 5 referrals – Targeted Group Intervention If less than 10 students receive more than 10 referrals and do not respond to Targeted Group Intervention – Intensive Individual Intervention

21. Based on data prioritise the top two/three areas for support Decide on actions to address the prioritised areas. Decide on a timeline and who is responsible for completing the actions Decide how to evaluate progress Incorporate the areas for actions into your school improvement/development plan Review on a regular basis – Is there a decrease in problem behaviour?

22. Whole School Positive Behaviour Leadership Team B I Plan Common Purpose Whole School Community Whole School Positive Behaviour Leadership Team Evidence Based School Specific Professional Development Data Collection InclusivityLinked to school vision Collaboration Participation

23. Level 2: Targeted Intervention Skills for Success Taught to Class Group

24. School A: Reading Ages (68 1st Yrs) Community School

25. Level 2:Targeted Intervention for Behaviour, Literacy and Learning Class A: 40.9% (compared to 18% pre-intervention), of the students were reading at or above their chronological age. Class B: 47.1% (compared to 17% pre-intervention), of the students were reading at or above their chronological age. Class C: 50.0% (compared to 14% pre-intervention), of the students were reading at or above their chronological age.

26. Behaviour Support Classrooms • An intensive, short-term, individualised school based intervention for students who consistently do not respond to alternative interventions and supports provided in the school. • Provides an academic, social and emotional, behavioural curriculum for students whose behaviour significantly interferes with teaching and learning in the majority of their subject classes. • The fundamental aim of a BSC is reintegration

27. Behaviour Support Classroom Research 2008-2009 Student Profile – 648 students 96.9% Junior Cycle 40.2% 2nd Years Most Frequent Educational Patterns • Poor literacy and numeracy • Difficult home circumstances • Poor attendance • Special education needs 5.2% reading at or above their chronological age 76% reading three or more years below their chronological age Henefer, 2010

28. Reason for the Development of a Whole School Behavioural Curriculum To proactively address skill deficits To teach skills in context To facilitate a positive and unified classroom culture To teach core classroom procedures and routines

29. What is Behaviour? • Behaviour is anything a person does which can be observed • Behaviour has to be learned so is taught • Everyone can learn new behaviour • Behaviour which has been rewarded is more likely to be repeated • Behaviour is influenced by what happens before it and what happens after it. Source: South Eastern Education Library Board 2006

30. Current NBSS Interventions(additional to Level 1,2,3 support) Academic Literacy, Learning & Study Skills Peer Mentoring Students with Multiple and Complex Needs (Sept. ’10) Positive Behaviour Liaison Teacher (11 hours) Solution Oriented Schools (SOS) Behaviour for Learning Programme Teacher (Sept. ‘10) Transition and Transfer Occupational Therapy Social and Emotional Literacy

31. Effective Solution Oriented Systems Work on, not in a system • Visual - What will it look like? • Emotional - What will it feel like? • Functional - What will it act like?

32. Some Solution Oriented School Principles • If it works, do more of it; if it does not work, do something different • A small change in any aspect of a problem can initiate a solution • A focus on possibilities and solutions enhances change • No sign up – no change • Co-operation enhances change

33. Solution Focused Meetings • FFocus Focus on what you want to be different • O Outcomes Describe the desired outcomes in detail • R Realised Describe results already realized • W When When did similar successes already happen • A Action One small step forward • R Results Monitor for achievements of new results • D Desire Make desire for further change explicit

34. Behaviour for Learning Programme Teacher Has responsibility for a ‘Behaviour for Learning Programme’ targeted at students in need of intensive individualised intervention (Level 3) Works with indentified students individually and in small groups on programmes designed to meet the social, emotional, behavioural, academic needs of students Programme avoids a ‘wait to fail’ intervention model

35. Transition and Transfer Belonging Plus Initiative

36. Occupational Therapy • OT focuses on enabling people to engage in meaningful everyday activities. It uses purposeful activity as the therapeutic medium. • Based on Sensory Processing Theory • Relevant for students who have difficulty :- • Achieving academically • Staying seated, sitting still, listening • Writing and copying from the board • Paying attention • Behaving appropriately • Managing materials • Understanding spatial concepts • Relevant for students who seem overly sensitive to sounds, textures, heights, odours, light etc. within the school setting and have activity levels unusually high or low

37. Sensory Integration Takes place from infancy to childhood (matures 8-10 years). Continues throughout life. Occurs at an unconscious level. Forms the foundation for our well being.

38. The Alert Programme “How Does your Engine Run” • Designed to:- • Increase awareness of self-regulation • Increase the number of strategies for students based on how they feel in school • Assists students to understand when their ‘engine’ is running high, low, just right

40. Mapping of Acting Out Behaviour

41. Escalation and Cognition Emotional arousal Decreased reasoning skills

42. Teaching Social Skills • Social skills should be taught by the same procedures and principles used to teach academic skills. • There is a direct, positive relationship between the amount and quality (integrity) of social skills training and change in social behaviour. • Social skills training should be supplemented by behavioural rehearsal opportunities, performance feedback, and contingency systems in naturalistic settings to promote their occurrence, fluency, and mastery. Walker, Ramsey, & Gresham, 2004

43. Social SkillsExamples • Following Instructions • Accepting Teaching • Disagreeing Appropriately • Accepting “No” for an Answer • Getting the Teacher’s Attention (or Asking Permission) • Making a Request • Resisting Peer Pressure • Accepting a Compliment

44. Encouraging Positive Behaviour • Structure • Predictability • Consistency of approach • Firm but fair management RULES and ROUTINES

45. Communication During Times Of Crisis FACIAL + TONE OF + WORDS EXPRESSION VOICE 55% 38% 7%

46. Sanctions as an Intervention • Punishment alone will not lead to a durable change in behaviour. (Braaten, 1994) • Reactive strategies that rely primarily on punishment assume that individuals know what is expected, how to do it, and are properly motivated. Unfortunately it fails to teach the expected behaviour (Horner & Sugai 1999) • Some forms of punishment may actually be rewarding and maintaining problem behaviours. (Gresham, 1991; March & Horner, 2002)

47. Rewards “ Where good behaviour is reinforced and acknowledged, it is more likely that it will become internalised. Public acknowledgement of positive student behaviour also helps to promote a sense of community within a school.” School Matters. The report of the Task Force on Student Behaviour in Second Level Schools (2006) p. 75

48. Teaching Class Rules • Clearly written • Few in number • Essential • Enforceable • Enforced • Visible • Positively Phrased • Teachable

49. Using Consequences • Make it clear that you are against the behaviour not the person. • Avoid early escalation to severe sanctions, reserving them for the most serious misbehaviour. • Avoid whole group sanctions that punish the innocent as well as the guilty. • Take account of individual circumstances. • Encourage students to reflect on the effects of misbehaviour.

50. Consequences • Logical – appropriate to the behaviour • Directed at the behaviour • Predictable • Fair • Consistent • Immediate