Behaviour Scenarios

1. Behaviour Scenarios Resources to support Charlie Taylor’s Improving Teacher Training for Behaviour Scenario 10: Giving praise and reward This Scenario has been developed for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) to enable trainees to demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding of behaviour management

2. Introduction Behaviour2Learn has developed 17 Scenarios focusing on the 8 areas highlighted in the Teaching Agency's document Improving teacher training for behaviour. These are: • Personal Style • Self-management • Reflection • School Systems • Relationships • Classroom Management • More Challenging Behaviour • Theoretical Knowledge Improving teacher training for behaviour has been developed by Charlie Taylor, the Government’s expert adviser on behaviour, to complement the new Teachers’ Standards that all teachers have to demonstrate from September 2012.

3. Scenario 10 Giving praise and reward A group of pupils misbehave continually and you want to find a way to motivate and encourage them. How can you praise pupils who rarely shine?

4. Key Learning Outcomes • Appreciation of the power of praise to motivate and engage pupils. • Increased ability to use praise effectively and apply rewards to improve behaviour. • Practice in techniques for use in difficult situations so as to build on positive behaviour and avoid emphasising negative behaviour.

5. What do you do? Consider these responses and choose the best one(s): • Develop a range of non-verbal strategies to signal positive feedback to pupils. Make sure that members of the group are given this positive feedback as soon as they get anything right. • Plan each lesson to find something positive to say to each of these pupils (by name). Keep a record to check you have done this. • Re-organise seating to improve the group dynamics in the classroom. • Differentiate your praise system to support individuals according to their learning behaviour needs. • Give misbehaving pupils a Restorative Sheet asking: “What are you doing? Who is being affected? Are you making the right choice? What are you going to do now?” • Meet the pupils individually or in small groups to find out what motivates them and develop a behaviour contract. The form/class teacher or a senior colleague might be asked to sit in/help. • Contact parents to express your concern and set up a joint system of praise so you can both “catch them being good”.

6. What may be the best choice? The importance of creating a positive classroom climate, where positive learning behaviour can flourish, cannot be over-stated. All seven suggested approaches could be helpful. Start with the first one, it may be enough. Pupils often respond far better to quick, positive signals, such as nods, smiles, thumbs up (and/or established school procedures e.g. cards saying “Good listener” etc. put next to them) than to long-term rewards. You might find the other approaches work well too. It could be useful to work your way through the list. It can also prove very helpful to share the praise with parents of children who rarely shine. Otherwise they may receive only complaints from the school and have no reason to encourage or praise their child at home.

7. How might you prevent a recurrence? • Keep creating situations which allow you to give positive feedback to all children, including individuals in this misbehaving group. • Ensure that your lessons are well planned, interesting and appropriately differentiated. • Devise a range of interventions to give opportunities to motivate individuals in the group. If you do not solve the problems with one method, use another. Be prepared to be flexible and to persevere. • If you decide to hold a meeting with the pupil(s) or parents, it is useful to plan a follow-up date to check progress. Set short-term targets for further improvement and praise success. • Keep other staff and parents informed about good work and behaviour, not just about problems.

8. Underlying Principles • Creating a positive climate in the classroom will help you to achieve productive learning behaviour from all pupils. • Praise motivates. • Most pupils respond well to praise from adults they respect. Respect is generated by building positive relationships for learning. • It is easy to get into a negative spiral and it can be an effort to get out of it – but it is worth the effort. • Some pupils have special social, emotional and behavioural needs which need to be understood when helping them to manage their behaviour.

9. Rights and Responsibilities • All pupils have the right to learn without being disturbed by others. Whilst developing an effective system of praise for a disruptive group, it is important to pay due attention to the needs of the rest of the class. • Creating a positive classroom climate is one of the basic responsibilities of the teacher. • Teachers have the right to support from senior colleagues in maintaining positive learning behaviour in their classes and the responsibility to seek it when necessary. • Parents have the right to be informed about their children’s learning behaviour and the responsibility to work with the school to improve it.

10. Activities to try • Observe colleagues working with groups of pupils whose behaviour is challenging. Note how they find ways of giving positive reinforcement. • Find an opportunity for informal discussion with individual members of the group about the lessons they enjoy most. Why do they like them? How could you ensure that all pupils gain a similar sense of achievement in your lessons? • With a colleague, share reflections on an occasion when you were having difficulties but somebody noticed what you were doing and gave you positive feedback. How did you feel? • Collect ideas for creating opportunities for giving praise to pupils who rarely receive it. Discuss them with a colleague and try them in practice.

11. Conclusions Pupils will learn better if they feel happy and positive in your lessons. They need to have clear boundaries set between acceptable and unacceptable learning behaviour and to be taught how to keep within the boundaries. Although some may not show it readily, all pupils want to succeed and gain approval from teachers they respect and who set the boundaries for them. It is useful to develop a range of strategies for rewarding all pupils by showing this approval. Sincere praise is a powerful motivator. It is important for you to recognise pupils’ positive responses and praise them. You should do this consistently. If you fail to notice some pupils’ efforts they may become discouraged and seek negative ways of gaining your attention. If a group of pupils appear to be demotivated, it is important to restructure the situation, treat them as individuals, understand the reasons for the behaviour and create opportunities for each pupil to achieve and be rewarded. In so doing you are responding to their special needs for additional learning behaviour support.

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