Building a Positive Behaviour Classroom

Approaches to Behaviour

There is no one universal single approach or guidebook as to how we should manage behaviour. Instead, we draw on a range of approaches to build positive behaviour classrooms. To develop your own approach to managing behaviour it is important you understand the theories and rationale behind them. Presented here are some of the key theorists that have influenced approaches to managing student behaviour.

John Dewey (1916): believed that classroom

management should be guided by democratic

practices with consequences and offered the theory

of experience through social learning. Dewey

believed that children were capable of learning,

behaving cooperatively, sharing with others and

caring for one another with the teacher as a

facilitator. He believed that instructional

management included a natural approach involving

direction and guidance and that behaviour

management included the sequential behaviour

development of students. Many teachers practice

this technique today as a central component of

classroom management

Frederick Jones’s Behaviour Management Ideas

Jones believes the two major types of misbehaviour are

talking out of turn and general off task behaviour.

He believes that teachers can change their classroom

environment and teaching methodologies to counteract

student misbehaviour. Key aspects of his approach include:

Having a positive attitude to teaching and students

Designing teaching and behaviour management

strategies that are easy to implement.

Implementing genuine incentive systems

Using effective body language

Strategies that are efficient in producing results

The key principals underpinning Jones’s ideas are that

teachers need to:

avoid acting on adrenalin driven impulses

not rely on being loving and patient alone

realise that upset, impulsive behaviour is weakness

calm, well thought out actions are strength

Albert Bandura (1997): developed

the Social Learning theory based on

the theory of personality. He posits

that people learn from one another,

via observation, imitation, and

modelling. His theory has often been

called a bridge between behaviourist

and cognitive learning theories

because it encompasses attention,

memory, and motivation. He defined

self-efficacy as the "beliefs in one's

capability to organize and execute the

courses of action required to manage

prospective situations". Self-efficacy

is a central component in managing

classrooms today.

William Glasser (1997): His

Reality and Choice theories state

that students need to have an

awareness of their responsibility

and to make their own decisions

about their learning and behaviour

in the classroom, students must

have a choice and that if they help

choose their curriculum and

decide on the rules in the

classroom, they will then have

ownership of their learning, have

pride in their participation, will

have higher self-esteem and will

exhibit greater levels of self-

confidence and higher levels of

cognition. This approach to

classroom management creates a

safe space to learn, as mainly it is

their space.

Edward Ford (1994): Responsible

Thinking Process (RTP) if properly

used, is designed to teach educators

how to teach students to develop a

sense of responsibility for their own

lives and to respect the lives of

everyone around them. This unique

classroom discipline process is both

non-manipulative and non-punitive. It

creates mutual respect by teaching

students how to think through what they

are doing in relation to the rules of

wherever they are. This gives students

personal accountability for their actions.

The key component of this classroom

discipline process is its focus on how

students can achieve their goals without

getting in the way of others who are

trying to do the same thing. In short, it

teaches students how to respect others.

Jean Piaget

(1983): Constructivist

Learning Theory

surrounds the cognitive

development of children.

Piaget believed children

undergo stages of

cognitive development

that allows them to grow

and develop as

individuals.

Lee and Marlene Canter (1976): theory on Assertive Discipline states that rules and behaviour expectations must be clearly stated and enforced. Teachers are never to threaten students, but to promise fair consequences for improper behaviour. For this model to work, the teacher must use a firm voice and constant eye contact. This model places responsibility for bad student behaviour on the teacher.

Gordon Thomas (1974): Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET). What makes the difference between teaching that works and teaching that fails? The factor that contributes the most is the quality of the teacher-student relationship. It’s more important than what the teacher is teaching or who the teacher is trying to teach. T.E.T., offers teachers the essential communication and conflict resolution skills they need to have high quality relationships with their students so there will be less conflict and more teaching-learning time. This model has worked for hundreds of thousands of teachers around the world..

Jacob Kounins (1970): determined that

the mastery of classroom management

must include the ability to teach to the

learning style of the group instead of the

individual, and organizing of lessons and

teaching methods. The goal of

classroom management is to create an

environment which not only stimulates

student learning but also motivates

students to learn. Kounin’s approach is

in line with both Glasser and Kohn as he

also posits that the keys to successful

classroom management is in preventing

management problems from occurring in

the first place by putting into place good

organization and planning.

Applied Behaviour Analysis

A common approach for students with

Autism, ABA sees Behaviour being

determined by the reaction it receives.

Therefore if a teacher wants to increase

the occurrence of behaviour then they

have to reinforce it with a positive

reaction. Alternatively, if a teacher

wants to decrease its occurrence then

they follow it with a negative

consequence.

Antecedents (the environment) can

make the likeliness of a behaviour to

occur decrease or increase.

Reinforcers and punishments vary in

how they interrupt the teaching

process and restrict the students.

The disciplinary role of the teacher is to

encourage the occurrence of desirable

student behaviour through well thought out

and structured responses to both positive

and negative behaviours.

Rudolf Dreikurs (1972): believed that discipline is based on mutual respect, which motivates students to behave constructively because of their high sense of social interest and that all humans have a primary need to belong and feel part of a group and that all students desire to feel they have value and to feel they can contribute to the classroom. He called this need to belong the genuine goal of human social behaviour. Dreikurs believed that when students are not able to gain their genuine goal of belonging they turn to a series of mistaken goals. Mistaken goals are defined as attention, power, revenge and inadequacy. This is when students misbehave.

Alfie Kohn (1957): says, grades and praise, kills intrinsic motivation and the desire to learn, and this concept is, of course, in opposition to what teachers have always been taught. The punishment/praise grade system explains why the system has failed so many students as the competition norms of most classrooms indicates that for every winner/top of the class, there will be thirty-nine losers dealing with the inherent self-esteem issues surrounding their constant failure. He states that rewards destroy a student’s inherent motivation and reduces their natural interest in a subject. Helping students tap into and develop their inner authentic selves where they think, feel and care on a deeper level is the teacher’s primary responsibility; arousing students’ interests in learning is another. Thinking deeply and critically should be the first goal of education; the second goal is the desire for more education and a lifelong affair with learning.

B F Skinner (1954): relied on the assumption that the

best way to modify behaviour was to modify the

environment. He was a proponent for many instructional

strategies that modern day "progressive” educational

reformers advocate for: scaffold instruction, small units,

repetition and review of instructions, and immediate

feedback. Skinner did not approve of the use of

punishments in school, or as a behavioural modification

technique in general. He posits that punishments were

ineffective and he advocated for the frequent use of

reinforcement (i.e. rewards) to modify and influence

student behaviour.