Flipping the Narrative on ‘Behaviour Management’

by Manjit Shellis, Snr. Education Advisor

Encouraging and facilitating personal development and fostering character strengths in students is key to establishing positive behaviour and creating a harmonious, inclusive and safe school environment, with enhanced student and staff wellbeing as a result.

Behaviour, Wellbeing and Engagement

Does fear and intimidation truly work in controlling behaviour in young people? Thankfully, today, the importance of fostering a positive and inclusive atmosphere that promotes students’ wellbeing and engagement is readily recognised and respected by educators and researchers alike, which suggests that this outdated sentiment is waning. Advice from the Department of Education confirms this saying “Creating a culture with high expectations of behaviour will benefit both teachers and pupils”.

An important key shift in managing behaviour has been towards a more proactive and preventative approach. Instead of just reacting to misbehaviour, good teachers establish age-appropriate classroom routines, clear expectations and norms from the outset:

• Rules are based on core rights and responsibilities and the right to a safe school environment.
• The right to be treated fairly and respectfully.
• And the right to learn without undue distraction or disruption.

Creating this culture involves building strong relationships and fostering a sense of community among students. When students feel a sense of belonging and feel that they have personal strengths that are valued by others, and they understand the expectations people have of them, they are more likely to show positive behaviour. Easier said than done, and not something that is a ‘one-off’, but rather, something that is woven into every classroom interaction, every single day of every term.

Now, what if we flip this approach, traditionally perceived as a distraction from teaching history or geography or whichever subject, but instead adopt a fresh perspective and appreciate that personal development (aka character education) is integral to the teaching of every subject. So that, in effect, personal development is nurtured through the lens of each and every subject by each and every teacher. Now that is truly flipping the narrative!

From ‘Managing Behaviour’ to ‘Personal Development’

When we flip the narrative from ‘managing behaviour’ to ‘personal development’, we shift how we respond to students’ behaviour or misbehaviour. We change the focus from ‘control’ to ‘influence’ and from ‘punishment’ to ‘learning and growth’. Reframing language around behaviour into positives helps teachers more effectively support pupils compassionately and empathically and encourages pupils’ sense of positive self-esteem.

If we learn to focus on what is right rather than what is wrong, we can create environments where all students – even those with troubling circumstances – can thrive, and in which everyone can bring their talents to bear and positively contribute to their classroom. This paves the way for students to play a more ‘engaged’ role in their own development.

Let’s face it – as human beings, none of us want to feel that we are being told what to do or think or that we have little stake in what is happening to us. Teenagers feel this even more intensely, which is often evident in the pushback against authority, resulting in what we call ‘challenging behaviour’.

Students Lead their Behaviour Strategies

At Amazing People Schools, we believe that students are capable of being the ‘leaders’ of their own behaviour. As such, they can learn to understand their actions and the impact they have on others. They can build strategies for dealing with the emotional undercurrents of behaviour and understand that making mistakes and getting it wrong are valuable opportunities for new learning and, ultimately, building better resilience.

Discipline is not about punishment. It is about guiding young people towards more appropriate ways to behave. For teenagers, discipline is about agreeing on and setting appropriate boundaries that reflect the school’s behaviour policy. Making sure that every student follows the agreed rules, no matter what problems they have, is really important for an inclusive learning environment.

It is important that the teacher communicates with all pupils about following the agreed rules. Even if a pupil is having a hard time, the teacher needs to make sure they know what is expected of them. This creates an understanding and an environment where everyone in class can learn together positively, moving away from ‘challenging behaviour’ to more ‘responsible behaviour’. All students should be held accountable for their actions and their impact on others. In essence, it is about nurturing good character in every student.

Students as ‘Leaders of their own Learning’

Teaching students how to take charge of their behaviour, both cognitively and emotionally, helps them to become a more consciously aware learner who exhibits more ‘responsible behaviour’ and, over time, becomes increasingly ‘behaviour smart’. This is important for all students and even more so for those at-risk students who have traumatic circumstances, have been diagnosed with behaviour disorders, have related emotional issues, or are neurodiverse. 

By bringing students’ attention to how they can take charge of themselves and their future, they can recognise their strengths and the choices they have available to them and how they can use all of this to achieve the more hopeful future that they desire.

Taking a strengths-based approach to behaviour specifically and learning more widely allows teachers to take a ‘half-full’ rather than ‘half-empty’ approach to the personal development of pupils.

Every student has valuable personal resources that they can draw on at school, especially when problems arise. However, so often, many students don’t recognise their own capabilities. We are more likely to get students to take ownership of their behaviour when they feel validated, seen and heard.

Valuing Difference and Individuality

Focusing on what each pupil can do, their strengths, achievements and successes, is essential in preventing pupils from getting into a negative spiral. Instead, we should support them to build their self-esteem and thereby change the way adults view and respond to them. When we encourage pupils to share, develop and build on their strengths and passions, and when we offer roles and responsibilities around these, it helps students to find purpose, building both self-confidence and resilience as well as self-esteem. Every student should feel that they are valued and included and that they bring something special to the table.

Teachers as Leaders of Behaviour

According to behaviour consultant, university lecturer and author Bill Rogers, making sure that teachers call every student to account, regardless of the issues those individuals might be facing, is the cornerstone of good behaviour. Rogers advises teachers to communicate with students about their behaviour and to hold them accountable for their actions, but always with a view to repair, rebuild and make reparations. Rogers warns against teachers falling into the trap of appeasing students, making excuses for poor behaviour in an attempt to be liked by the students, or in the name of building good relationships.

Like Rogers, we feel that a teacher’s role is to hold students to account for their behaviour and to champion for more responsible behaviour. It is a widely held view that good relationships with students emerge from honest and supportive actions anyway, so there is little to lose and so much to gain.

As the adult in the room who is responsible for the learning opportunities of our students, teachers can be the mirror, reflecting back to students the impact of both positive and negative behaviours. This raises students’ behaviour awareness generally and then cues them to take responsibility for their own actions. A consistent, regular and meaningful approach to peeling back the layers of behaviour with students, in a safe way, allows for learning and growth rather than victimisation and punishment.

Taking Action with Guided Reflection

Looking into a mirror gives us instant feedback. If we don’t like what we see, we may do something about it! Such reflection can be a prompt for change. Reflection is not a new idea, and practising reflection is very important.

The purpose of reflection is to gain a deeper understanding of oneself and one’s circumstances; to know yourself better by examining what you have done, why you chose that particular course of action, how it could be improved if it was repeated and, above all, what it means. Reflection is a means of working on or thinking about what is already known as a way of generating a new understanding. Guided reflection is such a powerful tool for learning and self-improvement and yet little space is created for it in many schools.

There are times when we all struggle to make good choices, and our behaviour may not be the best it can be. Nurturing and fostering positive behaviour is not just for those students who are ‘in trouble’, but something that all students need in order to take charge and become leaders of their own behaviour as well as becoming leaders of their learning.

Imagine if…

Imagine if, in your school, students were saying:

• I aspire to improve my behaviour so that I can fulfil my potential as a learner.
• I am motivated to focus on using strategies that will help me to be a better learner by improving my learning behaviour.
• I will persevere (keep going) even when it gets tough. I know that positive change does not happen overnight; that I might make mistakes and that it may be a struggle for me at times.
• My resilience will help me to bounce back when I experience setbacks and struggles. I believe that I can be better, so I will keep trying to improve my behaviour by reflecting on my progress.
• I will use my courage to take a risk to try new ways of doing things. I know I might feel uncomfortable at times, but I also know that my teachers and other students will support me.
• I will strive to be respectful to myself, to other students, to my teachers and to my wider community inside and outside the school.
• I will take full responsibility for my actions and the impact I have on those around me.
• I will do the right thing, even if no one is watching me.
• I want to improve things for myself, for others and for my community.

Leading My Behaviour Statement

The Amazing People Schools approach emphasises building positive, empathetic relationships, setting clear expectations, and using proactive strengths-based strategies using the inspiring stories of historical and contemporary role models. This ultimately means recognising individual differences, fostering open communication, and promoting self-discipline as key components of managing behaviour, using a strengths-focused, character-building approach. It is about equipping all students with the language, skills and mindset to take charge of themselves.

We prefer to call this personal development rather than managing behaviour. Life tends to throw curve balls more often than not, and we must prepare our children and young people to manage through even the most difficult situations with integrity, courage and acceptance. We know that challenges will come in many forms throughout life, and if we build resilience from the time they are at school, students will become strong, independent and successful adults who lead their own behaviour.

Want to find out more about the Amazing People Schools approach to managing behaviour? Then check out the Improving Behaviour resources on the secondary school site. Free trial access available here.