"5-Step"©

A Whole School Student Engagement and Behaviour Management Programme

Incorporating the "Interactive Management Process©",

(Jenny Mackay, “Coat of Many Pockets”, ACER press, 2006)

Now in 35 Victorian Schools

 (Click here for the printable PDF Version)

 

Introduction

5-Step is a self-sustaining cost effective whole school student engagement and behaviour management programme. It develops a team approach to behaviour management in which the teaching staff as a whole is committed to engaging students and managing their behaviour positively and proactively. This alters the school culture to one that can confidently engage and motivate students while containing their behaviour.

The 5 steps are:

1.    Observation, analysis, assessment and planning.

2.    Acquiring new behaviour management skills.

3.    Ongoing assessment, analysis and support.

4.    Follow up seminar workshops and establishing the school's behaviour support team.

5.    Handing over to the behaviour support team.

Additional optional elements:

a)       Individual teacher classroom support and mentoring.

b)    Middle management behaviour management leadership training.

c)    Parent evening workshops in child behaviour management.

d)    Reviewing and planning of whole school behaviour management policy.

 

Programme Overview

The practical skills and control strategies needed to manage any challenging student-teacher or student-student interactions are the basis of the initial training.  The skills and strategies are learned, practised, easily internalized and then integrated into a proactive student management process.

The teacher behaviour support team is then created to sustain, reinforce and perpetuate the programme while providing a safe collegial environment which enhances the behaviour management skills as well as professional practice in general.

There is no right or wrong way to manage behaviour, but some ways are more effective than others.  The essence of the skills taught is that they enable teachers to have firm control of their classrooms while enabling their students a maximum amount of autonomy within clearly delineated boundaries.  This creates a controlled learning environment in which both teacher and student have safety in the knowledge that their roles and expectations are mutually understood, and that this reflects the whole school’s values.

The interactive interpersonal skills learned by teachers are a synthesis of the most useful and practical cognitive techniques from all prominent seminal thinkers and researchers in the field of student behaviour management.  These include Haim Ginott, Rudolf Dreikurs, William Glasser, Sternberg & Salovey and others.

The 5-step programme empowers teachers to be better managers of behaviour, to develop a cohesive approach to school wide behaviour management, and to build long lasting positive changes to student teacher relationships.  The principles of prevention and positive action underlie this process.

To achieve the programme’s goals, teachers are guided to constantly use and practice the new skills they learn.  This facilitates the internalisation of the values inherent in the programme.  The methodology is designed to provide teachers with both practice and support.  The support ensures that teachers commit themselves to being actively involved in the creation and management of their own and the school’s new behaviour management approach.

The programme provides teachers with consultant support both personally in the classroom and electronically by email thereafter, - enhancing successful implementation and achievement of required outcomes.   By the time the consultant has completed the 5 steps the team is thereafter able to provide the support role and guide the programme themselves.

It is recommended that the 5 steps be spread over a year but this can be adapted to needs.

 

Programme Outcomes

Using the Interactive Management Process© teachers develop a commitment to use the skills in their everyday activities and to continuously manage and plan for behaviour.  This produces teachers skilled in managing all classroom interactions and results in substantial change in student behaviour and attitude to learning.

In addition, the programme greatly improves student wellbeing and student–teacher relationships.

Teachers become aware of the impact their responses have on student behaviour.  They realize and act on the knowledge that to manage students effectively, they must manage themselves first and by understanding student needs and motivations, are then able to manage student behaviour skillfully and efficiently.

Teachers Learn the 5 core elements of the Interactive Management Process© (IMP):

1.     Prevention:  How to prevent behaviour problems starting or recurring and how   to limit those in progress.

2.     Correction: How to actively manage behaviour using assertive correction.

3.     Support: How to supportively enable students to manage their own behaviour.

4.     Follow-through: How to manage the whole situation and all its elements when the student has already transgressed, has gone too far and is in now in serious trouble (managing student, class, school and parents.)

5.     Affirmation: How to build a sense of self-worth out of small successes to improve motivation, cooperation and engagement.

Programme Delivery

Because the whole programme is self sustaining, further behaviour management costs are avoided.  All workshop content is first discussed with the school’s management team and any specific focus or needs are incorporated into the programme.

The initial training should be spread over 3 or 4 consecutive terms (semesters), but is adaptable to the school’s timetable and available training hours including weekends.

Training usually occurs as 12 to 15 workshops hours, depending on numbers, taken after school, as half days, or as whole days.  For schools outside Australia, the workshops should be planned to occur over 2 weeks.

There are 2 - 3 days of classroom observation and mentoring, plus 3 two hour sessions with the behaviour support team – once a term, starting in the second term (semester), plus an option of a parent evening workshop.  

There is close liaison for ongoing planning and assessment between the BME consultant and the school’s management team or representative.

In addition schools can elect to have the following components:

a)     Individual teacher classroom support and mentoring

b)     Middle management behaviour management leadership training

c)     Parent evening workshops in child behaviour management

d)     Reviewing and planning of whole school discipline policy and student welfare

 

 

The 5 Steps

Step 1

Observation, Analysis, Assessment and Planning

The school's needs are first discussed with senior management.  Then the BME consultant works alongside individual teachers in their classroom in a non threatening process observing student behaviour, becoming familiar with problems, issues, classroom processes and the students themselves.  This is followed by individual discussions with teachers who will then work together to plan practical management strategies to incorporate into their overall management plan to implement over the coming term.

This can take anything from 2 or 3 days to a week, depending on the number of teachers involved e.g. whole school or year level groups.

The facilitator monitors the process and liaises with the principal or appropriate staff member with regard to individual teacher needs for behaviour and classroom planning and support.

Teachers then work with these guidelines, calling upon support by email when needed.

Step 2

Acquiring new Behaviour Management Skills (and upgrading current ones)

Seminar workshop series with whole staff or a section of the school involved in the programme e.g. middle years, junior primary/pre-school, years 2-5 years 7-10 or whole school.

Teachers are first introduced to a process of student behaviour management which focuses them on working proactively and positively. They are then taught the comprehensive interpersonal skills and strategies needed to manage any challenging behaviour.  In addition, teachers are given planning guidelines and assisted to begin practicing and building their repertoire of skills in their own classrooms. 

All that teachers have acquired in the workshop series is taken into the classroom and school, practiced and then reported on during the ensuing classroom visits and teacher discussions.  These are then reviewed in the follow up seminar workshop.

The behaviour support team is established from amongst the participants on a voluntary basis and its objectives are discussed and finalized.

Step 3

Ongoing Assessment, Analysis and Support

Return visit – in consultation with school management, the consultant works alongside teachers in the classroom; to support, guide and assist in their management and assessment of behaviour and to guide the building of the their interactive skills base and facilitate their behaviour plan for the coming term.

Step 4

Follow up Seminar Workshops and Establishing the School's Behaviour Support Team

Teachers reflect on achievements, deal with ongoing challenges, build on previous work done and develop further skills and strategies in response to specific issues.

The workshop focus is on following up and managing those more difficult behaviours and supporting teachers in their particular areas of need.

Step 5

Handing Over to the Behaviour Support Team

The consultant meets with the behaviour support team for their first meeting to establishing the team process which will take over teacher behaviour management support throughout the school and perpetuate the interpersonal skills, techniques and strategies that have been learned.  Group dynamics are discussed as well as the team's responsibilities, limitations and objectives. This leaves the team enabled and empowered as members of a recognized organizational component confident in their student and classroom behaviour management abilities.

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(VIT Professional development activity hours:  30 - 39)


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Coat of Many Pockets: Managing Classroom Interactions by Jenny Mackay ACER Press
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