behaviour Strategies
HELP FILE
Naming Students in Teacher Behaviour Support Teams
(See our
"5-Step" Programme which incorporates these
teams)
Naming is Blaming
Once a student is named in the
group setting of a behaviour support team, or indeed in any setting, including
the classroom, it instantly moves the focus from the
behaviour to the student him or her self. This dilutes and even removes the need
for the teacher to manage the behaviour rather than the student. It can be a
constant temptation to revert to habitual ways of managing behaviour which is
precisely what the support team process is aimed at preventing – and also carrying
forward the workshops’ skills.
When it is understood and fully
grasped that focusing on the behaviour alone is the key to the whole
process, the support team process will steam ahead.
Students really love a teacher
who can do this because the student learns that their person and their dignity
is protected and they feel safe, they settle fast and they become much more
productive. In short, students learn quickly that it is their behaviour and not
their person which is the focus of the teacher’s attention, and it is this
realization that triggers trust and respect for the teacher.
The aim of the behaviour
support team process is:
1.
To focus on empowering and supporting
teachers in their management of behaviour – not on students’ issues – that is
pastoral care or the province of psychologists.
Behaviour may not necessarily involve a
student or students, it may be managing another adult – parent or colleague.
Not using names (or identifying the person
in some other way!), enables people to bring up even very sensitive and worrying
problem behaviours and obtain support and new ideas ..
·
Without responses being coloured by
name or title. Remember, no name = no blame.
·
Allow people to put a real problem on
the table.
This enables teachers to be supported and
given coping skills without feeling vulnerable - feeling judged, inadequate
etc.- these can be unconsciously conveyed through simple body language, facial
expression and gesture.
The whole group relaxes into a safe
environment and people become more open. (This sense of trust in the group is an
interesting corollary to the whole process. It is teachers using the same skills
in the group that they use in the classroom)
2.
In having to describe a behaviour to
bring clarity to both the action and reactions and..
·
People’s responses to a
situation/issue are not clouded by personalities.
3.
To train teachers to focus on the
behaviour – not the person. “I cannot change who I am only what I say or do”.
Focusing on the person for misbehaviour
(reaction) generally results in that person..
·
Taking it ‘personally’ and being
defensive.
·
Feeling disempowered, resulting in
further acting out behaviours – e.g. denying, blaming others etc., because they
are not enabled to respond appropriately – they are prevented from having the
opportunity to themselves, ‘put it right’.
4.
To encourage teachers to think
creatively about managing student behaviour without being caught up with ‘who
did it.’ This is a sideshow and prevents the behaviour from being the focus for
management.
·
A teacher’s response to a ‘name’ can
bring up personal experiences and emotional responses that can unconsciously
cloud the issue and influence a teacher’s thinking and response and focus on
what they did and how they felt instead of management options – skills,
strategies, techniques etc.
These are not discussions about students
(that is the role of pastoral care) they aim to...
-
Empower and skill teachers in their management
of behaviour
-
Build empathy between and support for
colleagues
-
Encourage creative thinking as all ideas
are accepted, no matter what others think – for the ultimate management
decision lies with the presenting teacher.
-
For students to realise that it is what
they say and do that needs changing. This enables them to change their words
and actions … not become defensive because they cannot change who they are –
only what they do and say
-
Enable teachers to manage behaviour in all
circumstances and be able to build a wide ranging personal suite of skills
and strategies for any occasion and any confrontation or behaviour.
Jenny Mackay
