'They Don't Behave for Me': 50 classroom behaviour scenarios to support teachers 1398388661, 9781398388666

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Sam Strickland is the author of Education Exposed, Education Exposed 2, and The Behaviour Manual, as well as the organiser of researchED Northampton. A leading voice in the current conversation in education, he has published educational resources and research, regularly delivers courses and keynotes nationally, and has served as a lead facilitator for a variety of NPQs. Sam began his career as a history teacher in Bedfordshire, where he became a head of history and classics. He has subsequently been a lead professional, worked for a SCITT consortium, been an assistant head teacher with responsibility for the sixth form (and led a post 16 consortium arrangement), a vice principal, the safeguarding lead for an entire trust, and an associate principal. Sam is now the principal of a large all-through school and has helped to guide its results from the bottom 20% nationally to the top 20% at GCSE level, and into the top 5% for A Levels.

THEY

DON’T BEHAVE

50 CLASSROOM BEHAVIOUR SCENARIOS TO SUPPORT SECONDARY PHASE TEACHERS

FOR ME

SAM STRICKLAND

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First published 2023 by John Catt Educational Ltd, 15 Riduna Park, Station Road, Melton, Woodbridge IP12 1QT Tel: +44 (0) 1394 389850 Fax: +44 (0) 1394 386893 Email: [email protected] Website: www.johncatt.com © 2023 Sam Strickland No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the contributors and are not necessarily those of the publishers or the editors. We cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. ISBN: 978 1 398388 66 6 Set and designed by John Catt Educational Limited

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‘What we do now echoes in eternity.’ Gladiator (2000)

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REVIEWS Sam Strickland is the authentic voice of the classroom and the school. Every teacher and leader needs practical advice, not theory or good intentions. Every page here rings with that, and truth. Tom Bennett, founder of researchED, behaviour advisor to the Department for Education, and author of Running the Room: The Leader’s Guide to Behaviour They Don’t Behave For Me is a masterclass in how to develop a coherent and considered approach to all aspects of behaviour in secondary. Each scenario, and its associated suggested strategies, is brought to life by Sam’s decades of experience in teaching and leading. His deep, expert knowledge gently guides the reader through how to deal with everything from low level disruption to the most serious situations that can and do present themselves in school. Knowing what to do and how to respond when students ‘don’t behave for me’ can be challenging; Sam’s latest book provides expert advice and guidance, all underpinned by his current leadership and teaching practice. This is beyond just the theoretical; this is a mentor, a coach, and a grandmaster by your side as you read. Concise and considered, precise and informed, incisive and empowering, They Don’t Behave For Me is a must-read for trainees, teachers, leaders, mentors, ECTs, and behaviour leads across the secondary phase. Emma Turner FCCT, MAT deputy director of education and author

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Goodness, we’ve all been there: the serious and not so serious infringements in behaviour. There’s something very powerful about seeing these set out in a beautifully tight structure with wise guidance on possible responses. An incredibly practical and reassuring guide, really helpful for everyone in education. Mary Myatt, writer and speaker, Myatt & Co If you want a book about behaviour management, chunked up in very readable style, this is worth more than a glance. The chapter titles mean what they say, from Smile for the Paparazzi and Solo Duty to Lunchtime Detentions are Great and The Car Park Ambush. The author knows schools, knows teachers, and knows young people. The Strickland Checklist of Rs which concludes the book is as good a resume of managing challenging situations in schools as any I have come across. Tremendous! The writer makes his moments real, and then makes them matter. Roy Blatchford CBE, author of The A–Z of Great Classrooms “What should I do when …?” It is a question that I hear all the time from teachers at every stage of their careers. Inevitably, it is concluded with the intricacies of how to manage a particular behavioural issue in the classroom. Herein lies the reason why Sam Strickland’s superb new book is vital for teachers at all stages of their careers to read. Nothing is left to chance here: in his clear, humane, and principled manner, Sam expertly walks teachers through how to respond to every behaviour situation you can imagine in the heat of the moment, and then what next steps should be taken. There should be a copy of this book in every school in the country – learning for young people, and the experience of being a teacher, would be markedly improved if that was the case. Jamie Thom, teacher and author of Slow Teaching and Talking to Teenagers I love Sam Strickland’s no-nonsense approach to behaviour. If you are new to our beautiful and often challenging profession this offers practical support and if you are a seasoned leader, there are strategic nuggets. A must read! Sonia Thompson, headteacher, St. Matthew's C.E. Primary Research and Support School, Birmingham

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CONTENTS Introduction.....................................................................................................11 1. The Wrong Writing Implements...............................................................17 2. The Wrong Trousers....................................................................................21 3. The Truant Caller........................................................................................23 4. Smile for the Paparazzi...............................................................................27 5. It’s Only ‘Low-Level Disruption’!...............................................................31 6. Training Others...........................................................................................35 7. Solo Duty......................................................................................................39 8. The Dog Ate My Homework......................................................................43 9. Running Out of Time.................................................................................47 10. Knowing Me, Knowing You.....................................................................51 11. We Need Some Rules Around Here........................................................53 12. Off with a Bang..........................................................................................57 13. A Lack of Strategy.....................................................................................61 14. The PE Conundrum..................................................................................65 15. Confusing Shades of Grey........................................................................69 16. Confusing Feedback.................................................................................73 17. The Weird Slip (Time to Reboot)............................................................77

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18. Positivity is all You Need..........................................................................81 19. Language is Key.........................................................................................85 20. Standards are Slipping..............................................................................89 21. A Huge Cry for Help.................................................................................93 22. It’s Just a Little Chat...................................................................................97 23. Your First Examination Class............................................................... 101 24. They are Sixth Formers, it’s Fine!......................................................... 105 25. The in-Class Explosion.......................................................................... 109 26. Being a Tutor........................................................................................... 113 27. The Nomad.............................................................................................. 117 28. Bullying.................................................................................................... 121 29. A Disclosure............................................................................................ 125 30. It’s Beyond the School’s Threshold ...................................................... 129 31. Online...................................................................................................... 131 32. The Repeat Offender.............................................................................. 133 33. Lunchtime Detentions are Great.......................................................... 137 34. Silly Noises ............................................................................................. 139 35. A Lack of Confidence............................................................................ 141 36. Sliding Scales........................................................................................... 143 37. Time to De-escalate............................................................................... 147 38. A Difference of Opinion........................................................................ 151 39. External Criticism.................................................................................. 155 40. The Car Park Ambush........................................................................... 159 41. You Talk Too Much................................................................................ 163 42. SEND....................................................................................................... 165 43. The Difficult Parent................................................................................ 169

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44. The Teaching Assistant.......................................................................... 171 45. A Lack of Character............................................................................... 173 46. Friday Period Five.................................................................................. 177 47. The First Aid Incident............................................................................ 181 48. Calling Out and Not Listening............................................................. 183 49. Outright Rude in Your Lesson.............................................................. 187 50. Reading as a Class.................................................................................. 189 Concluding Thoughts.................................................................................. 191

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INTRODUCTION ‘99.9% of people need not apply.’ This tag line from a memorable and hard-hitting recruitment campaign for The Royal Marine Commandos was supposed to emphasise that they only wanted to attract the best of the best. However, it backfired. People took them at their word, and it discouraged many suitable recruits. The brief for the follow up campaign (‘Are you man enough?’) sought to undo the fall in recruitment numbers and remove the negative messaging. It compared Royal Marine training to extreme sports and emphasised that it supports candidates with the right mindset if they are up for the challenge. I grew up on military bases and went to an RAF School. Military life is part of my DNA, and as a history teacher some of my favourite topics are warfare and the Cold War. My childhood had a real influence and impact on how I see the world, how I view behavioural management, and how I lead a school. Too often it feels like 99.9% of candidates considering a career in teaching won’t apply. It is often seen as a hard job, that demands long and unsociable hours, with relatively low pay as its reward. Endless accountability, poor leadership, toxic work cultures, unsustainable workload, and a poor media perception of teachers can also force people out of the profession or prevent them from pursuing an interest in it in the first place. However, one particularly frequently cited cause of poor morale is student behaviour. It is all too easy to see the negative behaviour of a small minority of pupils outside the gates at the end of the school day or listen to the war stories of old hands within the profession 11

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THEY DON'T BEHAVE FOR ME

and think: ‘I’ll pass on that for a game of soldiers.’ This is a shame. There must be many people who could be sensational teachers but simply don’t apply. Behaviour issues should not be a barrier to entering and remaining in this profession. Negative behaviour can be like kryptonite to an unprepared teacher: causing a long-term erosion of wellbeing, morale, and motivation. Paradoxically though, well-behaved students (or well managed behaviour) can also serve as a catalyst that allows a teacher to thrive, succeed, and be highly effective. I have been privileged to have worked in an array of different settings throughout my career. I started out as a trainee history teacher at the University of Cambridge and then went on to work as an NQT (newly qualified teacher) in an Upper School. During what would now be my ECT (early career teacher) second year I taught 8 different subjects, most of them to the old A2 standard. If ever there was a way of testing the mettle of an inexperienced teacher, then this was it. I distinctly remember being ‘gifted’ the most challenging of the GCSE classes in the whole school as an NQT (see scenario 23). The logic was that if they didn’t succeed in their exams then it didn’t really matter, and if they did, well, then it was a bonus. I worked my way up to lead on classics, to serve as a head of history, and be a lead practitioner for teaching and learning and assessment for learning. What these formative years of my career taught me was the necessity of good behaviour management. This is a skill – a form of ring craft – that ultimately takes time to develop, harness, and refine. I was later able to put the grounding that I had gained in my first five years in the profession to good effect in teaching and training history teachers as a SCITT (school centred initial teacher training) subject lead. The senior leadership aspect of my career has been – and remains – fruitful and rewarding for me. I served as an assistant head and director of sixth form in an All-girl's School, which gave me a very different take on education and teaching … and life, actually. It was an incredible experience and one I will never forget! I then progressed to become a vice principal in an outstanding Flagship School within a trust, where I was in charge of student care, pastoral care, PSHE (personal social health and economic), 12

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Introduction

and safeguarding. This was in a school where there was no heads of year or heads of house and the system was predominantly based on restorative approaches with no real sanctions. Within this particular trust, I worked within a Free School and I also served as an associate principal. At the time of writing this book I am the principal of a large All-through School that has been on a transformational journey – and now have the pleasure and privilege of supporting schools nationally as part of the Behaviour Hub programme. So, why have I written this book? Truthfully, because I would love to travel back in time (perhaps in a DeLorean) and hand this book to my 22-yearold self. As a trainee, the extent of my ‘behaviour training’ was two thirtyminute workshops on essential topics such as utilising the range of my voice, presenting myself with my palms facing down, and raising my eyebrows. It might sound like I am being flippant, but I am absolutely serious. All too often behaviour management is left to chance. It is left for teachers to figure out through a process of trial and error. At the worst we are told that behaviour is ‘all about relationships’, and if we only learnt to build relationships with the children then all would be fine. This bland statement is as useful as telling a 13-year-old ‘you just need to behave.’ What does that mean? What does it look like? What are the practical actions and steps you need to take lesson-by-lesson and term-by-term for it to happen? As a bright eyed and bushy tailed NQT I was naïve and hopeful (that hope has not gone) but I was also professionally immature. This book has been written to support teachers through some of the key situations that they may face as they progress through their career. I have written it as a scenario guide. Each chapter represents an episode that at some stage in my career I have had to deal with, resolve, seek support with, or offer advice on. I have faced every one of these scenarios at some stage of my career and the chances are you may well have to confront them too. I have depersonalised each story for sensitivity and GDPR purposes. Each chapter follows the same three-part structure: an outline of the issue, a what to do now, and follow-up next steps.

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What

Now

Next

Over the years I have delivered on multiple incarnations on the NPQs (national professional qualifications), countless workshops, talks, and keynotes, and offered personalised and bespoke support to schools. Across these domains the issues I’ve seen surrounding behavioural management are broadly similar. I have frequently encountered a lack of training, poor leadership, complex or cumbersome systems, pupils who won’t follow instructions, a lack of consistency, and good teachers citing a lack of support. In many schools, and among many teachers, there is a sense of ‘what do I do next?’ At its worst extreme this is an SOS cry for help. This book seeks to serve as a support guide – potentially it may also serve as a bit of therapy for me – but it is primarily intended to give you practical tips, advice, guidance, and food for thought. Time is a finite resource in the teaching game, and so this book is not verbose or abstract. It is straight to the point and offers clear, tangible, and practical advice regarding situations and scenarios that we all face. I wish I could give this book to the 22-year-old me. He could have used it! Looking back with hindsight – while I desperately loved my first school – behaviour management and the associated training was scant at best. Behaviour is potentially a major improvement driver in schools. We can’t afford to leave it to chance. In the post pandemic world teaching has become an even tougher gig. Behaviour issues have crept into many schools (some call this ‘behavioural drift’). The demands of the job and expectations on the profession have also increased. School accountability and evaluation remains a time consuming, though necessary, commitment. Over recent years safeguarding requirements have evolved substantially. I don’t blame the children that we serve for this increase in pressure on teachers. What we are witnessing is a reflection of the environment and the times.

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Introduction

Both schools and the teaching profession are facing a lot of uncertainty. There are those who say that remote lessons are the future. There are those that say schooling is all about relationships (and yes, they are important, but they do not just magically happen). There are even those who will claim that the end of education as we know it is inevitable. But like Maverick in Top Gun Maverick (2022) my view is ‘maybe so … but not today.’ We might not be able to predict the future (or travel to the past), but we can face the challenges in front of us today. Our actions as a teacher have the potential to positively impact on the lives of many hundreds or even thousands of children. It is why Sir John Jones calls teaching ‘the magic weaving business’.1 I like to see teachers as ‘Children’s Champions’. We have a profound and long-lasting impact on our students, which is virtually impossible to measure. Don’t let behaviour issues get in the way otherwise we will all wish we hadn’t applied.

1

Jones, J. (2009) The Magic Weaving Business. Waterford (IR): Leannta Publishing. 15

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1. THE WRONG WRITING IMPLEMENTS What You have explained to a class that you want them to draw and label a copy of a diagram of the Water Cycle over a double page spread in their geography exercise books. The students have been told to do this in pencil. You sit down at the front to tend to some emails on your laptop while the class works on this task. The class have been given 15 minutes to complete this activity. After 10 minutes you look up at the class, who are studiously completing the task but you notice that several pupils are writing in pen. This is not what you wanted but the class are two thirds of the way into the activity in terms of time.

NOW This is a situation that can often present itself in a lesson. While this is not a behavioural issue per se a number of the pupils have not listened to your instructions. You have a couple of options:

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• Gather an accurate picture by circulating the room to ascertain how many pupils are writing in pen. • Ignore this situation and make no reference to it until you come to mark the pupils’ books. • Stop the lesson there and then and reprimand the class. It is, however, worth considering if your original instructions were explicit, clear, and understood? Did you check for understanding and quiz the pupils to ensure that they knew what was expected of them? Should you have monitored their progress on the task at hand rather than checking your emails? • Insist that everyone starts again. However, this could be seen as penalising those pupils completing the task in pencil, as per the original set of instructions.

NEXT There is a danger that if you are heavy handed in dealing with this situation, then you could unwittingly undermine yourself. I would personally allow the class to finish the task and complete their Water Cycle. However, at the end of the 15 minutes I would address with the class that the task has not been completed in the manner required, namely in pencil. I would then explain to the class why they need to complete tasks of this nature in pencil. The explanation of the ‘why’ here is the key to the pupils understanding what you want them to do. I would then tell the class to leave a blank double page in their books and in the next lesson run a retrieval-based starter activity where the class redraws the Water Cycle, or perhaps simply labels a blank diagram. At the start of the next lesson, I would frame the starter activity, emphasise the need for it to be completed in pencil, and I would check for understanding by asking the pupils to repeat back to me what has been asked of them. Depending on your school’s view on equipping pupils I might even have a pencil laid out at every pupil’s desk or space so there are no excuses or issues in using the right writing implement. Then as 18

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1. The Wrong Writing Implements

the class engage with the activity, I would physically circulate the room to ensure that they are on task and completing the activity in the manner required.

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2. THE WRONG TROUSERS What It is the first day of the new academic year. A new Year 7 pupil comes into school in the incorrect uniform, wearing trainers and a pair of black jeans. The pupil makes it all the way to your tutor base unchallenged by any other member of staff. Tutor time is the first activity of the day. It is part of your role as a tutor to check uniforms and enforce the school’s policy on this front. Pupils should come to school wearing trousers and a pair of plain black shoes. Prior to the new Year 7 cohort joining the school all prospective parents were briefed about the school’s rules, expectations, and policies during an open evening event in May. They have subsequently been written to in June. You have also personally presented both a live, in person, talk to parents during a series of taster days in July and sent home a pre-recorded video outlining your expectations as the tutor, which also detailed your and the school’s uniform expectations.

NOW This situation has the potential to be tricky, especially if the parents have previous form for being unsupportive when their child was at primary 21

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school. It would be worthwhile consulting the head of year, a pastoral leader, or a senior leader who has responsibility for behaviour to see if there is any information about these parents from the primary school where their child was previously taught. Ultimately, there is a need to both deal with and challenge this issue head on, and as a tutor you should adhere to the school’s policy and protocols on uniform and issue any sanction as necessary. You should take the time to explain to the pupil why their attire is not appropriate and how you cannot allow them to wear what they want while trying to maintain standards and expectations with the other pupils within the tutor group.

NEXT It is important to email the parents of this child that same day about the uniform infringement and to remind them of the school’s policy. It is key that you do this swiftly, so that the pupil does not speak to their parents before you do and provide them with an alternative version of events. At the end of the school day, I would seek to make the time to call home to discuss the issue. In the first instance it is important to listen to the parents, allowing them to speak and air their views. In equal measure you do have to uphold the school’s uniform policy and avoid undermining the school. If the parents tell you that there are legitimate financial barriers, then I would make a note of these and refer them to a senior or pastoral leader. It may be that the school can offer support and assistance on this front.

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3. THE TRUANT CALLER What You have sent a Year 9 pupil out of your class for being poorly behaved. Knowing that they will be isolated for the day the pupil decides to abscond. They go straight to the nearest toilets, lock themselves in a cubicle, and call their father on their mobile phone. The school’s policy on mobiles is explicitly clear: pupils are not allowed to use them in school. The pupil tells their father that they are being isolated for no reason and that they have done nothing wrong. The father believes their child and immediately calls the school. The parent demands to talk to you immediately as the class teacher. This situation has the potential to escalate into a confrontation as this parent can be both challenging and volatile. The school’s reception team have emailed to notify you that you need to ring the father ASAP. Their email contains little information as to what the parent would like to discuss or why but stipulates that the father expects a call back within the hour.

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NOW This is sadly not an unusual scenario. The pupil has pre-empted the school contacting their home and gotten in there early to give a different version of events to their father to try and avoid having to serve time in isolation. As the teacher you are in a tricky position as you are likely to be either still currently teaching the lesson that this pupil has been sent out of or a subsequent class. It is unlikely that you will be free to deal with this situation properly. Consequently, you should contact either a pastoral leader or ask for a member of the SLT (senior leadership team) to pick this up. The following should then take place: • The pupil needs to be located. At this point in time staff do not know where the pupil is, and this represents a safeguarding risk. • Once found the pupil should be taken to an office and placed under the watchful eye of another member of staff. • A statement needs to be gathered from you as the initial class teacher, detailing why this pupil was sent out of the lesson. • The pupil then needs to be spoken to. There needs to be a discussion around why they were sent out of the lesson, why they truanted, and why they used their phone to call their father. At each juncture the staff member dealing with this needs to be clear that the pupil’s actions were not appropriate. • The staff member should be clear with the pupil that they have truanted and broken multiple school rules. • The staff member should be clear on the consequences that this will carry. • The staff member should get the pupil to write a statement.

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3. The Truant Caller

NEXT There are a number of follow-up actions that need to be considered and actioned with this scenario: • The member of staff dealing with the situation should call the father back on behalf of the school, but only once they have gathered all of the relevant information that they need. • When calling the parent, the staff member should let them speak first and allow them to get their concerns off their chest. This shows empathy and importantly helps to mitigate against being sucked into an argument. Then the staff member should calmly explain that they have investigated the matter and read the teacher and pupil statements to the father. In most cases this will quash the argument presented by the parent. • Moving forwards, you should consider how long you send pupils out of class for, and also, if specific pupils are a flight risk or have form for truanting. Sometimes you are better placed keeping a pupil in your classroom and then alerting pastoral or senior staff for support (assuming there is such a system in place in your school). • The reception team may also need some front of house training regarding how to field calls of this nature, how to take detailed messages, who to forward them to, and ultimately how to serve as a better firewall for the school.

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4. SMILE FOR THE PAPARAZZI What It is the start of the new academic year at a school where you are a head of year. A Year 10 pupil comes to school in incorrect attire, wearing a hoody and a pair of Nike Air Force One trainers (which are plain black but with a Nike logo). The pupil is instantly isolated, the parents are notified but are highly unsupportive. They phone the school demanding to speak to the head of year (i.e. you) immediately, and threaten to go to Ofsted and the local press. They are highly unimpressed by what they describe as an inflexible and unforgiving member of staff who has placed their son in isolation. Before the parent’s message can be relayed, the local press send the school office an email asking to speak to the head of year or, at the very least, requesting a statement about the isolation before 4pm that same day.

NOW This is a hugely stressful situation that needs to be responded to and dealt with that same day. It is important that as a member of staff you do not take situations like this personally and keep matters in perspective. It is one pupil and one parent, not all pupils and all parents. 27

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Irrespective of how challenging and difficult the conversation will be, you should call the parents back to clarify the school’s policy and position with them. Equally, it is important to listen to the parents and establish why the child is not in the right attire. It is also key to be empathetic, supportive, and offer solutions. It may be that the school can offer to provide a uniform of sorts or grant access to a hardship fund if the family is facing financial barriers. However, it is important that you do not lower your expectations or compromise the school’s policy and position on this matter. While it may seem compassionate to bend the rules for one pupil or family you also need to keep in mind that if you do so for one pupil then you are setting a precedent that could very easily become unsustainable and hugely undermining. Should the parent, during your call, remain unhappy and unimpressed, then share the school’s complaints policy with them.

NEXT You should also speak with the head teacher regarding the communication from the press. Given that the press have contacted the school it is really for the head teacher to decide who should respond and how, or indeed if there should be a response at all. The head can, and there is absolutely nothing wrong in doing this, refuse to comment. If a response is submitted to the press then it is advisable to keep the school’s statement factual and pithy, and, if possible, offer a running order of when and how the school has communicated its uniform expectations to parents. At no point should an opinion or personal comment about the pupil or family be aired. A suitable response might be: It is regrettable that a family has taken umbrage with the explicitly clear uniform policy that we have at Hogwarts Academy. Our approach is underpinned by a long-standing policy that has not changed in over five years. Parents and pupils were reminded via an 28

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4. Smile for the Paparazzi

array of communication channels of the uniform policy in May, June, and July in anticipation of the new academic year commencing. We take our standards and expectations extremely seriously at Hogwarts and take huge pride in the appearance and decorum of our pupils.

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5. IT’S ONLY ‘LOW-LEVEL DISRUPTION’! What You are an ECT in your second year and are struggling a bit with a class. There is a lot of white noise, with a number of pupils disrupting the lessons. You seek support from your head of department, who brushes off the issue as nothing more than ‘low-level disruption’. The head of department dismisses your concerns, saying that ‘this happens to us all’, that you ‘need to learn to get on with it’ and should simply hone your classroom ring craft to tackle it head on. The school’s view is that ECTs, like all other staff, should deal with this situation themselves and carry their own tab. The view from above is that this matter falls under teacher standards and all staff, irrespective of their level of experience or expertise, need to develop their own toolkit of classroom management strategies, otherwise this is likely to become a capability issue. There is a view that you may need to be placed on a support plan if the matter persists.

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NOW Low-level disruption can be a real thorn in any teacher’s side and is often tricky to resolve and hard to eradicate. It is important to reflect carefully on the class culture that has evolved, and how you want the social norms in your lessons to be defined and lived. Tackling this issue requires just as much attention, thought, and planning as the academic curriculum. It is important that you take the time to read back over the school behaviour policy and assess if you are using it effectively and consistently with this challenging class. In equal measure, you should carefully consider your own expectations, class routines, and norms. It is important to question just how clear, explicit, consistently applied and understood these are. You should not condone any poor behaviour or rudeness and apply the school protocols consistently, making it very clear to the pupils what is and what is not permissible.

NEXT It is important to take some time to gather as much localised intelligence as possible on the pupils within this class. Are there additional needs, safeguarding concerns, or wider factors at play that could be causing this poor behaviour? This is not to excuse the behaviour, but understanding these contexts will help to inform your approach. Are there key strategies that have been identified by the SENDCo (special educational needs coordinator), pastoral teams, or senior behaviour leads to deal with specific pupils that you have not been employing? My own approach would be to ‘reset’ the class culture in terms of your own and the pupil’s expectations. Have the class line up outside your classroom

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5. It’s Only ‘Low-Level Disruption’!

at the start of your next lesson and invite them into your room one at a time. Clearly tell the pupils where they are going to sit and have name plaques on their desks so there is no room for error or manipulation. Once the class are in the room and sat in silence – which you must insist on – then have a clear, open, and honest dialogue with the class about their conduct. Take the time to articulate why it is not acceptable to behave as they have done, what your expectations are, and what the consequences will be in future. Should any pupil interrupt you while you are recalibrating your expectations then do not condone this and send the pupil out. This is an important watershed moment that will pave the way for all of your future lessons with this class. If you get this wrong, then you will find it even more difficult to bring the class back round to how you want them to conduct themselves. The next step will then be to ensure that you clearly and consistently follow through on the expectations you have set. It may be worthwhile observing other colleagues and how they deal with and teach this particular class. A note of caution here though: you should not try to directly emulate other members of staff. Always be yourself. However, observing your peers can provide you with some invaluable food for thought, suggesting ideas and strategies that you can then make work within your own overall approach.

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6. TRAINING OTHERS What You are in charge of pastoral and student care. The head has been to see you, saying that they are not happy with the standards of behaviour across the school. They have told you that you will be delivering next Thursday’s twilight training session on behaviour. The head is clear that they are delegating responsibility to you and will provide next to no input on this training session. They assert that this is your responsibility as the SLT lead and it is your job to galvanise the staffing body. The reality is that the school has no real strategy in place. Staff are desperate for a change and since the start of the new academic year student behaviour has become even more challenging. Staff surveys show that both morale and wellbeing have dramatically declined.

NOW Essentially, you have one working week – irrespective of your normal core duties and teaching commitments – to plan this training session. Further, you need it to have some form of impact, even if that is purely that staff feel listened to and come out of the training a little more energised. 35

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In the build-up to delivering the training it would be worthwhile reviewing the existing school approach and policy. What does it actually say? What should pupils and staff actually be doing? It could serve as a series of reminders or help you to create a checklist for staff to consider. Make time to meet with members of staff and ask them to feedback to you what they perceive the issues to be and, ideally, to propose solutions to these problems. This could help you to hone the focus of the training session. Your CPD (continuing professional development) session for staff needs to acknowledge the issues being faced at present – as this shows you are in tune with what is happening on the ground – and offer staff practical strategies and approaches that they can easily adopt.

NEXT During your training session it may be worthwhile asking the staffing body to conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, detailing where the school is, what its strengths are and the areas for improvement. This can easily be done in a short window of time and will provide you with a lot of intelligence. It also makes sure that you have heard everyone’s view and opinion. Both gathering information and bringing staff onboard will help you with future actions to positively change the school’s culture. Following on from the training it would be worthwhile establishing a working party, comprised of volunteer staff, who are invested in helping to support you in driving the school’s culture forwards. This is a challenge that is bigger than just one person or one training session. To address the standards of behaviour across the whole school you really need to have a clear and explicitly defined approach and set of expectations, underpinned by clear rules. These need to be communicated and explained to all stakeholders. It is critical that when you explain this approach you detail the ‘why’: outlining the moral framework and rationale will hopefully win over hearts and minds by appealing to the inner moral purpose of your colleagues. 36

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The school needs to take a long-term approach to improving behaviour. The school’s policy and the information you have gathered on what is currently happening on the ground should be used as the basis of further and regularly scheduled training sessions for staff. You do not want your training to be seen as one-off twilight session or silver bullet that is never subsequently built upon.

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7. SOLO DUTY What As part of your teaching role you undertake two duties a week. At the start of the academic year you were allocated a duty spot at the back of the school, which is in theory quiet and remote. Within the last week, however, more and more pupils have been gravitating to this area of the school and you perform this duty on your own. You become concerned that – given the area’s remote nature – alerting other staff would be challenging if there was an issue. The school does not provide staff with walkie talkies or a device to contact reception for support. Sure enough, one break time a large number of pupils congregate in this area and a fight breaks out between two Year 10 pupils. The other pupils form a large circle, cheering on the fight, and videoing it on their phones. It is part of your professional duty to intervene, stop this fight, and prevent any serious injury to either pupil.

NOW This is an awful situation to find yourself in and one that can leave you feeling both vulnerable and worried for your own safety. However, this is not a situation you that can absolve yourself of and ignore. You must 39

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intervene but also need to weigh up the risk that you are going to get hurt – particularly if you have a vulnerability or are pregnant – which may influence how involved you should become. I would personally take the following steps: • In the first instance instruct two pupils not involved in the fight to go to main reception and call for support from additional members of staff and the SLT. • Then address the fight swiftly before it gets out of hand. • Raise your voice clearly and loudly to disperse the group of pupils watching this situation. If you have a whistle, blow it. • As you approach the fight itself, assertively and loudly say ‘Stop!’ You may have to say this several times. Please note that this may not work. You will then need to make a judgement call whether you try to physically separate the two pupils and prevent further violence. Be very mindful that you could be hit in the process. You may also decide that you are going to try to restrain a pupil (the aggressor if there is a clear one) – but only do this if you have had training and are equipped to safely restrain the pupil. • Your main hope is that your force of personality and presence will cause this situation to de-escalate and buy you enough time for other members of staff to arrive and support you.

NEXT Once the fight and this immediate crisis has come to an end the following should happen: • Both of the pupils involved need to be checked over for any sign of an injury and first aid may need to be administered, especially if there is a head injury. • There needs to be an investigation conducted to ascertain who was at fault and why the fight began.

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• Multiple witness statements will need to be gathered, including statements from the two pupils directly involved in the fight. Ideally, pastoral or senior staff should conduct this investigation. • Any pupil seen with a mobile phone filming this fight needs to be spoken to and made to delete all evidence of the fight. Equally, if a pupil has uploaded this fight to social media, then any post needs to be immediately deleted and taken down from the internet. • Any relevant sanctions for the pupils involved will then need to be issued, pending the school policy. Following on from this incident it is important that you raise with senior leadership that more staff are required to supervise this part of the school, or, at the very least, that another member of staff should be on duty nearby. If you ever find yourself in a position like this, it is best to pre-emptively raise this issue before there is a serious incident. The school should audit its overall approach to duties, issuing all staff in areas of the school like this with a whistle and, ideally, some way of communicating with main reception, for example a radio or walkie talkie, and to alert other staff should support ever be needed.

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8. THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK What Two weeks ago, you set one of your classes a homework task, which is due in today. Nine pupils out of twenty seven have not completed it. Seven of these nine pupils have no real reason or excuse, whereas the other two have been absent from school with the flu for the last two weeks. A third of your class have failed to complete the set homework and you are feeling both heavily compromised and undermined as a result. It feels very much as though some of the class do not value homework, which is hugely frustrating.

NOW This is a time to be calm and rational rather than immediately and emotively lash out. It can be very hard to stomach when pupils, especially several of them, do not complete a homework task. My approach would be to either finish the lesson a minute earlier than normal and dismiss the rest of the class or ask the nine pupils in question to remain behind at the end of the lesson. It is important in a situation like this that you check your class register carefully and look at the absence records of the pupils. 43

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The two pupils who have been off with the flu have a legitimate reason for not completing the homework set: they were not present when you set it. I would ask these two pupils to come outside at the end of the lesson and speak to them about the homework. You need to be understanding and empathetic as to why they have not completed it. Given their absence this is not their fault. Depending on how key the homework task is to the overall learning of the class you may either need to tell the pupils to ignore the homework task fully or to set them a new, realistic, deadline for them to complete it. Equally, they will also need to catch-up on the work that they have missed over the last two weeks for your classes. However, it is important that you are sensible here and you need to be supportive as your class or subject will be one of nine or ten subject areas that they have missed, and they may well already be under considerable pressure to catch-up. The seven pupils who have no reason for avoiding the homework task that was set have no excuse. You need to follow the department, faculty, or school policy regarding the non-completion of homework and issue a relevant consequence. You also need to follow-through and ensure that the pupils ultimately complete the homework that was set. If you allow them to avoid this then you are sending all the wrong signals to them about the relevancy of the homework that was originally set.

NEXT Following a situation like this it is hard not to take it personally or to become disheartened. It is worthwhile considering the following: • Reflect on the homework that you set. What is it that you are setting? Is it achievable? Is it relevant? • Are you asking pupils to do something that is unrealistic? Are you asking the class to create something that ultimately requires parental input? For example, to build a castle, to create an iMovie, or something else that may be unachievable.

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• It would be worth considering piecing together a clear schedule for any given half term, detailing the homework tasks that you expect to see completed and the deadlines for them. This is assuming that the school does not have a prescriptive homework approach. • It is always worthwhile sending out – unless there is a school-wide approach – a communication to parents or whoever is at home that details the homework tasks you have set. This keeps families in the loop and will help galvanise their support if a pupil has not completed their homework. • Have you put the homework onto a key platform, such as Teams? • Try to ensure that homework tasks are not presenting new material and that they are consolidating the learning that has already taken place in class. • Think about how easy homework is for you to mark. Your workload is key, so be mindful of how much marking you are generating for yourself. • Carefully consider the length of time that it will take to complete your homework. Keep in mind that it will be one of many set across the subjects pupils are taking – 30-40 minutes is sufficient.

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9. RUNNING OUT OF TIME What Your lessons are continuously running up to the bell, with pupils writing until the last few seconds of every lesson. Every lesson always seems to end in a rush. There is no way for you to check for understanding, to tidy the room up, for resources to be put away neatly, and for the pupils to pack up their belongings in an orderly fashion. As a result, your pupils leave your classroom flustered, as a rabble, and almost chaotically. This disarray spills into the corridors as pupils disperse from your lessons and other members of staff are beginning to complain about the perceived lack of structure, control, and order that you have in your classroom, which is counter to the school’s culture.

NOW The first key to resolving this problem is to reflect on the planning, delivery, and execution of your lessons. It is important that you carefully consider how much you are trying to pack into your lessons, the length of time you afford to lesson activities, and why you are doing what you are doing. You need to take the time to assess how much knowledge you 47

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are trying to present in your lessons. Remember, while content is king, knowledge is only powerful if pupils actually learn it. GCSE and A Level specifications are jam packed and require you to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short period of time. However, at the end of the day, time is finite in schools, and you can only do so much in a lesson. As a general rule of thumb hinge your lessons around 3-5 pieces of clear knowledge that you want the class to not just know but have learnt and remembered by the end of your lesson. You should then carefully consider how you build your lesson around these key points, marshalling the interplay of your input, pupil based activities, knowledge recall, time to check for understanding, and the distribution and collecting in of resources. Sometimes less is more.

NEXT As with any situation where you are seeking to change your approach it may be worthwhile speaking to colleagues for ideas as to how they end their lessons and dismiss their classes, or even observing their teaching for examples of good (and bad) practice. While you should never seek to be a carbon copy of your peers this information gathering approach can help to add more strings to your bow. Carefully consider how the last five or so minutes of your lesson operates and craft a routine for your lesson ending: • Ensure that the final task in your lesson ends with five minutes of your lesson left to go. • Instruct the pupils to close their exercise and textbooks – or whatever resources have been used –and either pile them up neatly within their grouped tables or at the end of their rows. • Have class monitors who are entrusted to distribute and collect resources. • Instruct the class to put all of their belongings into their bags. • Invite the class to then stand up. 48

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• Patrol the room with a bin, asking for litter to be picked up and survey the pupils to ensure that their uniform is being worn appropriately. • As you patrol the room engage the class in a question-and-answer session to check for their understanding. If there are key facts that you want the pupils to retain from that lesson, then you may want them to chant them chorally. For example, you may want the class to walk away from the lesson knowing the formula for photosynthesis. Asking the entire class to repeat it out loud is a time efficient way of getting everyone to speak. • You may then want to consider releasing the class in an orderly manner either one row, column, group, pod etc. at a time so the whole class are not being released into the corridors at once. It is important to note that building a lesson exit routine and honing it with a group may well take you time, lots of rehearsing, and trial and error.

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10. KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU What You have spent the first two weeks of the academic year welcoming all of your new classes and are now several lessons into the curriculum for each of the respective year groups that you teach. However, you are struggling to get to know all of the pupils and personalities that you teach. A specific issue for you is remembering names. You are mindful that this is starting to cause you difficulty in lessons, especially when you are trying to manage pupil behaviour.

NOW This is an issue that you need to address relatively swiftly. Not knowing pupil names can serve to undermine you when you are trying to address behaviour. Equally, if you do not know the names of your pupils, then they can use this as an excuse to effectively ignore you. It would be worthwhile issuing every pupil you teach with a white sticker (assuming you have access to this). Invite the pupils to write their name on the sticker and wear it somewhere obvious and prominent, ideally on their chest. 51

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Another starting point is to ask every pupil to tell you their name and a fascinating fact about themselves. Make notes and use these as a reference point to try, as best you can, to memorise their names. At every opportunity use each pupil’s name when asking a question. For example, ‘David, can you tell me the meaning of …?’ The more you practice saying the pupils’ names the more likely you are to remember them.

NEXT For each of your classes – and I appreciate that this can take time – it may be worthwhile creating name plates out of card for the pupils that you teach and then placing these in front of them during lessons. This will allow you to swiftly identify pupils at a glance and also helps you associate their names and faces. As mentioned, it is important that you refer to the pupils by their name, or even use their surname, which can be a powerful classroom management strategy in its own right. Of equal importance is the use of seating plans. By formulating and creating seating plans – especially using the profile pictures of pupils – you can begin to associate pupils with their names. This can help to speed up memorisation of the names of the pupils that you teach. I would also recommend having your seating plan open and on your workstation or desk as a reference point during lessons. If you are still struggling, then every now and then you may ask your pupils to all, in turn, say their name and something about themselves. Again, the association of a pertinent fact can be a good way of remembering names. You could also, though not every lesson, say to the class that you want them to test you to see if you know all of their names. This presents an opportunity for you to go around the room and say the pupils’ names out loud.

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11. WE NEED SOME RULES AROUND HERE What You work in a school where behaviour is seen as the individual teacher’s responsibility, and it is up to class teachers to take control of this issue for themselves. The school has a set of guiding principles but no real set of clearly defined class rules, sanctions, or rewards. Some of the stronger departments in the school have created their own subject community approach but you work in a department where you are ultimately left to your own devices. You find it both challenging and difficult to instil your expectations in your pupils and need a solution so that you can teach effectively and the pupils know where they stand.

NOW This is both a tricky and difficult situation to find yourself in. There is a real danger that both pupils and parents will challenge and question behavioural decisions that you make if they are not grounded in a clear set of well communicated rules for your classes. 53

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It can be seductive to co-create your class rules with the pupils that you teach, and I appreciate why, especially in this situation, some colleagues would elect to do so. However, this can convey the wrong messages to your pupils. You need to remember that ultimately you are the teacher, and the pupils will be looking to you for certainty regarding what is and is not permissible in your lessons. There is a real danger that if these expectations are not clear then you could come across as not really knowing what you want or generate a perception that you are not in control. It is important to reflect clearly on what you want for your classes. What do you believe is important? What behaviours do you want to encourage, and which will you not condone? How will you reward positive behaviour and how does this link to the school’s guiding principles and values? Above all, how do you want your classroom to operate? How you define these issues is critical to your success as a teacher.

NEXT The American educator Robert J. Marzano talks about successful schools and classrooms being underpinned by four clear rules: 1. 2. 3. 4.

We are quiet when the teacher is talking. We follow directions right away. We let others get on with their work. We respect each other.

There is nothing particularly contentious or controversial here. I have three rules that underpin my own classroom behaviour approach, which I link directly to the school’s values. • Respect the teacher and your peers, and follow all instructions without question. • Complete all of the work set to the best of your ability, giving 100% effort, and without distracting others. 54

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• Arrive at lessons ready to learn (on time, fully equipped, and appropriately dressed). I avoid grey words such as quiet. Ultimately the word quiet is meaningless. Either you want pupils to be in silence or to talk to their peers. As the teacher you should decide on which of these states you want at a given time. By the same token you can link any rewards that you employ to the rules that you have in place. Whichever rules you use, it is important to have them displayed in your classroom – for example, on a large noticeboard – so pupils know precisely what you want. This display serves as a constant reminder and a prompt to help you make expectations clear to pupils. You need to take the time to narrate these rules and the consequences that they carry to the pupils. I would also explain and visually display the system of rewards that you have created to the pupils. It is helpful to create a script for yourself to rehearse the wording of your rules and rewards. Consistent dialogue – whether you are issuing praise or a reprimand – both helps students to know where they stand and reduces your own personal cognitive load. In short, let your systems do the heavy lifting for you.

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12. OFF WITH A BANG What You have been reflecting on your lessons and come to the conclusion that they never feel as fully orderly or structured as they could. Pupils come into your classroom in a chaotic and disorderly manner and there are – in truth – no real systems or routines in place. The first ten to fifteen minutes of any given lesson is lost in settling the class down, taking the register, and asking the pupils to copy down the date, lesson title, and the learning objectives. Next to no learning is really taking place.

NOW Allowing pupils to enter your classroom in any way they wish sends out the wrong messages. It instantly conveys that you are not truly in charge of the classroom and have not given this important part of your lesson any real thought. In the here and now the important thing is to take control of the situation. Stop your lesson and then instruct the class to leave the room and stand outside with their belongings, and line-up in total silence. As the teacher this is a moment where being brave and making a difficult decision is 57

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absolutely necessary. It will feel like you are losing invaluable lesson time but in reality the accumulation of time you will lose through not addressing this situation will be far greater. As the class are sent outside swiftly put a question on the board for the pupils to answer. This question needs to be grounded in something you have already taught them. If this is your first lesson with the class you may want to put an image or a problem. Then go outside the room and address the class. This is a make-or-break moment, not just for the rest of this lesson, but how future lessons will commence. Clearly, calmly, and audibly narrate to the class your expectations: how you want them to enter the classroom, why you have sent them outside, why the manner they have entered the room is not acceptable, and the impact that this has on both lesson time and learning. Be explicitly clear with the class what you expect them to do as they enter the room. Then position yourself by the doorway, with one foot in and one foot out of your classroom and invite one pupil at a time to sit down. Direct where you want them to sit for this lesson and as each pupil enters the room reiterate the task on the board that they now need to complete. Once the last pupil has sat down, take the register, and then remind the class of the task on the board and how long they have left to complete it. This task should be completed in absolute silence.

NEXT Following this lesson, I would encourage you to adopt a similar approach for any remaining lessons that you have that day and indeed to do the same for the rest of the one- or two-week timetable that you deliver on. This will serve as a recalibration of expectations across all of your classes and demonstrate to the pupils that you are now dictating how your lessons commence and why. If you introduce and frame your lessons correctly this will save you a lot of time, energy, and worry and allow you to infuse your lessons with pace and rigour. Adopting this approach for the first cycle of the timetable also gives you time to develop the entry routine 58

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that you want to have in place for your lessons. I would encourage you to consider the following: • The classroom threshold – think carefully about where you stand at the beginning of your lesson and how you welcome your pupils. I personally stand at the doorway of the classroom so that I can easily survey the room and the corridor. This allows me to both welcome the pupils to my classroom and keep a watchful eye on them as they enter. • Welcome the class – give some time and thought to how you speak to pupils as they enter your classroom. My advice would be to keep this warm, welcoming, and positive. However, you should also address any issues with, for example, uniform. I use phrases such as: ‘Good morning, Mr Strickland, it is lovely to see you today. There is a starter activity on the board for you to engage with as soon as you sit down.’; ‘Good morning, Miss Smith, you produced some brilliant work last lesson.’; ‘Good afternoon, Miss Smith, I have set some challenging work for today’s lesson but I know you are going to really thrive off it.’ • Ensure that your classroom is laid out and ready for the pupils, so you can seamlessly transition into the work that you have set for them. This will avoid dead time, where pupils can become idle and misbehave. • As pupils enter the classroom and sit down have a starter activity on display for them to engage with. This could be a retrieval quiz, a task, analysis of a picture, a problem, etc. All lessons start somewhere. • Consider whether you need learning objectives or not. It may be that this is determined by the school or subject’s holistic teaching and learning approach. If you have to have learning objectives, then I would carefully consider the worth of having pupils copying them out. To my mind, this is a waste of finite lesson time. • Once the last pupil has entered the room and the class are engaged with your starter activity take the register. This should always be completed in the first ten minutes of a lesson as it presents a safeguarding concern if it is not.

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• Always take the time to go over the starter activity, check for understanding, and correct any misconceptions. This provides pupils with clear feedback. • Frame the lesson. Share with the pupils how it fits into the broader framework of lessons that you are delivering, so the pupils understand the importance of what they are going to be learning about today.

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13. A LACK OF STRATEGY What You have just started in a senior leadership position in a new school and have been placed in charge of behaviour. You have swiftly realised that there is no coherent approach or strategy for this integral part of the school and departments all have their own localised approaches to behaviour. This has resulted in a huge range of practices and ultimately inconsistencies across the school, which means that the pupils and parents do not know where they stand or what is either permissible or prohibited. Worse still, many teachers are relying on the force of their personality to win children over. Consequently, not all teachers are able to control their classes. Overall, morale is low, workload is a significant issue, middle leaders are unhappy, parents complain about regular inconsistencies in approaches, and pupils say that they are confused by the overall lack of rules and consequences.

NOW Every school needs a clear behaviour policy in place. While the governing body sets the general principles that inform this policy, it is the head 61

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teacher’s role to develop its specifics, including the culture of the school, the expected behaviours of its pupils, the rules, and the associated consequences if they are broken. It is generally unwise for the head to devolve this key task to other senior staff, because it needs to be led from the top. In this scenario the responsibility for behaviour has been passed on to you. This is a tricky situation and as a newly appointed senior leader you will have to walk a careful line. First and foremost, you need to understand where the head teacher stands on this matter, both professionally and ideologically. You should ensure that the approach you are going to take is not counter the ethos and culture that the head wants for their school. In the first instance, it would be worthwhile canvassing staff for their views on the school. A swift way of orchestrating this would be to take five minutes of a staff briefing and ask colleagues to write down on two separate post-it notes a strength of the school’s behavioural approach and an area for development. This allows everyone to have a voice and for you to quickly pull together common themes. It would then be sensible to share this intelligence with the head and the senior leadership team. I would then go a step further and meet with groups of staff, dividing them into areas of responsibility, and with groups of pupils from all year groups across the school. You could very swiftly – in one or two school days – have engaged a large number of people in powerful face-to-face dialogue. I would also recommend walking the school site multiple times at varying points in the day to get a feel of: • • • • • • • • •

How pupils come to school. The time pupils arrive at school – are they punctual? How the school day commences. How pupils enter assembly. How pupils enter classrooms. Corridor behaviour. Hotspots. The culture at break and lunch. How pupils interact with their peers.

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• • • • • •

The interactions between staff and pupils. How do pupil interactions with their peers and staff compare? How pupils depart from school. How rewards work. Are sanctions consistently issued, effective, and respected? If pupils are attending detentions and what is expected of them in detention. • The climate and culture of the removal/isolation room (assuming there is one). I would also canvass parents for their views, as they are important stakeholders. All of this information will allow you – in a relatively short window of time – to pull together a clear and forensic review of the school’s current culture. This will then inform your subsequent strategy and approach.

NEXT It is really important that the behavioural approach that you create speaks to your school’s mission statement and values. This helps to provide the ‘why’ justification for all of your key approaches. Moving forwards, I would argue that it is crucial to ensure that the following is in place: • You should have a clear, concise, and easily understood school-wide behaviour policy. This is vital to the school’s culture. Encapsulated within this ought to be a clear set of expectations. • All key stakeholders need to know and understand your behavioural approach. • Time must be taken to ensure – both by explanation and training – that staff, pupils, and parents understand what the expectations and rules are, as well as the consequences and rewards they carry. You should convey this in language that every single person will be able to understand and remember. 63

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• Roleplay and train both staff and pupils in the behaviours that you want so that they are clearly and explicitly modelled. Build time into the schedule for everyone to practice and rehearse these routines. • Ensure that your expectations are displayed prominently across the school, in every room. This serves as a constant reminder for pupils and supports staff by providing language and micro-scripts that they can use and draw upon when speaking to pupils. • Carefully consider how the curriculum can support the delivery, teaching, and training of behaviour, but also how behaviour can be seen as central to the curriculum. For example, how can character traits (or ‘virtues’) be integrated into curriculum topics and become part of the day-to-day norm in your school. • Regularly review the effectiveness of your behavioural approach. This can be done by walking the school, talking to pupils and staff, and canvassing parents. • Regularly review the impact that your approach has on workload, wellbeing, culture, climate, and ethos and – bluntly – check with the teachers that implement it. Teachers are operating daily within the conditions and climate of your school and the impact of your approach upon them should be key to appraising its effectiveness and any adjustments that need to be made.

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14. THE PE CONUNDRUM What It is early into the new academic year and as a PE teacher you are facing two key issues with your lessons. Firstly, pupils are taking ages to get changed. In any given lesson it takes the last pupil fifteen minutes to leave the changing room and go outside. This is seriously slowing down your lessons and impacting on what you can deliver. Secondly, there is a notable trend of pupils refusing to participate. Some pupils claim to have forgotten their kit; others arrive with a ‘please may my child be excused’ style note. This is hugely challenging.

NOW I taught PE for more than five years in the early phase of my career and can safely say that these two situations are like kryptonite to any PE teacher and their ability to deliver the curriculum. I would wholeheartedly recommend the following actions: • You need to get into the changing rooms and usher the pupils out of this facility quickly and swiftly. Tell them that they have 10 minutes to get changed and keep giving time scale reminders so 65

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that they are out of the changing rooms swiftly. Should any pupil drag their heels and refuse to change quickly then you need to address this matter swiftly and use the school’s sanction system. • Address the lack of PE kit head on. Record the names of any pupils who do not have their kit. Remind them clearly what the uniform expectations are and that this is not acceptable. Follow up by contacting their home and address this matter with parents. Should any given parent cite financial hardship as a barrier listen and make a note. This information needs to be relayed to pastoral and senior staff to address. If, however, the parent cannot offer a genuine reason then you need to remind them of the school's expectations, seek their support and be clear of the consequences for their child if they forget their kit moving forwards. Ultimately, PE is a compulsory part of the curriculum. It is not optional.

NEXT Moving forwards there are a number of key actions that I would recommend: • I have seen PE departments where children have to be changed within five minutes. With a clear routine for this in place and staff present in the changing rooms at the start of every lesson it is more than possible to inject a real sense of urgency and pace into your lessons so that a fifteen-minute amble does not become the established norm. You also need to have some clearly defined and well-communicated consequences for pupils who fail to adhere to this. Achieving a five-minute turn around is challenging but possible! • You should ensure that as a department your expectations, values, uniform requirements, and the sports being delivered are well communicated to all stakeholders. • It is also wise to have a stash of spare kit to hand to issue to pupils without a kit, or alternative activities in place, such as officiating, 66

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for those pupils who are unwell, not equipped or essentially refusing to participate. You may need to consult with other members of the department, the head of PE, and ultimately the students and parents regarding this uniform issue. There are really two separate issues here: the kit itself and pupils’ reasons for not wishing to participate. The uniform issue is in one sense simpler. What is the kit? Will pupils actually want to wear it? Is it flattering given the array of body types and physiques that you have to teach? Is it practical? Is it comfortable? Have pupils and parents been canvassed for their views to ensure the kit is something that will be respected, affordable, and something that the pupils are buying into? While we want to maintain being in charge we also need to consult and ensure that what we are offering both in terms of the sports we are presenting and the kit being worn engage, enthuse, and inspire the pupils. There are, however, also wider issues around student participation (and resistance to it). There are philosophical or values-based question to address as a department. What do you stand for? Do you subscribe to a sport for all approach, where participation is key? Do you cherish traditional sports? Are you prone to an elitist bias, favouring the very best sports people? What are the implications of that for the other pupils? Is your approach a hybrid of all of these? Are you catering to the needs of the pupils that you serve? What are those needs? There is a debate to be had here – and arguably there is also a need to canvass the pupils for their views – although any accommodations you make will need to adhere to the demands of the National Curriculum.

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15. CONFUSING SHADES OF GREY What You are teaching a lesson and issue a series of instructions to your class. However, upon receiving your directions the class appears to be confused. A few pupils use this as an opportunity to swiftly stray off task, while the rest of the class respond in a myriad of ways, none of which are quite what you instructed. You allow the lesson to continue but the situation does not improve. There is a real danger that you could lose the class due to the confusion in the room.

NOW The first step is that you must internally and mentally accept that this lesson is going horribly wrong. This can happen! In this situation it is best to first pause momentarily and gather your thoughts. Secondly, bring the activity you were hoping for the class to do a stop. Ask the class to fall silent. Then, thirdly, undertake a directed task that you can control from

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the front, and bring the class and the lesson back into line. This kind of intervention does, of course, take courage as it can feel like you have failed as a teacher.

NEXT It is critically important that you reflect on this lesson and why it did not go to plan. You need to be honest with yourself that the pupils did not understand your instructions and look for ways to make them clearer in the future. In this situation it can help to carefully plan the instructions that you issue to your pupils. Focus on giving short, controlled, and easily understandable commands that are simple to follow. Try to avoid ambiguity, or directions that can be interpreted in a number of ways. Avoid rambling. Take care that specific task instructions are clearly separate from any longer introduction or talking around the topic. One way to achieve brevity and clarity is to write scripts as part of your planning. Consider using fewer words. Focus on what you want the students to do. Be deliberate with your body language. Then read your instructions out loud to a colleague, friend, or family member as part of rehearsing your lesson script. Do they understand what is being asked straight away? Compare these two instructions: There should be no talking and everyone should be in silence in 3 … 2 … 1. All eyes on me. Okay folks … I would like you all to quieten down now please, let’s have a bit of quiet. Come on now … everyone quieten down. Shhhh. Shhhh. Shhhhhh. Which is clearer? The first one, right? ‘Quieten down’ is a much ‘greyer’, more ambiguous, instruction. Pupils do not really know what the word ‘quiet’ means. 70

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When you issue an instruction to the class, you should always check for understanding. Ask a pupil to repeat what was asked, then another pupil, then the front row, middle row, back row, then all of the pupils. While this may feel quite artificial at first you have drawn out a verbal response from every single pupil. This signals that they have listened and understood. In theory at least, this should mitigate against some confusion – and is more effective than one-word checks such as ‘ok?’ or ‘do you understand?’ (to simply reply ‘yes’ does not require understanding). With any key task that you set, follow the rule of three. Verbally explain what you want; display it visually (e.g. on the board); and make sure it is in front of the pupils. Think to yourself:

Verbal

Visual

In Front

An approach like this helps to again mitigate against pupils not knowing what you want them to do. However, I do recognise that this can be quite labour intensive, so consider how you can manage the workload without it becoming overwhelming for you.

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16. CONFUSING FEEDBACK What You have spent almost five hours marking a homework task that you had previously set your class. You have provided pupils with highly detailed feedback and a personalised reflection task to undertake at the start of their next lesson. As the class enter the room you invite the pupils to sit down, read your commentary, and complete the personalised reflection task that you have set for them within the next 15 minutes. Sadly, however, the majority of the pupils do not know what is expected of them because they did not understand the homework task that was originally set. There are thirty different variations of feedback and thirty different personalised tasks that are in circulation within the room. Many of the pupils start to call out that they are confused, others that they are not sure what they are supposed to do, and some become notably disengaged. In short, the lesson is descending into chaos … even though you have spent multiple hours marking the homework task that the pupils have produced.

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NOW It would be easy to become frustrated and demoralised after you have worked hard and spent a lot of time marking and providing highly personalised and bespoke feedback for the pupils. It would also be very easy to blame the pupils for not understanding what is expected of them and to issue consequences to them for not behaving. However, in this particular situation, you could easily harm your relationship with your class by going in too hard and being seen by some pupils as irrational and inconsiderate. This is a key moment, so pause and reflect on why the pupils are confused. The first key challenge is to bring the situation to a swift stop before behaviour deteriorates further. Tell the class to put their pens down and insist on silence and for all eyes to fall on you. Acknowledge to the pupils that something has not worked. Be clear that it is no one’s fault but that you will reflect on the feedback and follow-up tasks issued in the pupils’ books. This is a brave manoeuvre, but it shows the pupils you are reflective and that you are not simply going to shoot from the hip and start sanctioning them. You then have two choices as to how your lesson proceeds: you can either pick out one common misconception from the homework or reflection task and address this as a class; or you can draw a firm line in the sand by moving on to something new. Either approach demonstrates to the class that you are in control of the lesson and have the professional agility to change tack when things are not going well. At every step of this lesson recalibration, you need to be clear on what you expect, and why and how things are now going to proceed.

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NEXT When you mark pupil work it is important to carefully consider why you are marking it and what you want the impact of that marking to be. It is all too easy to spend hours marking a set of books but still have a minimal overall impact on your students. My own view – especially with routine class work – is to consider giving whole-class feedback to your pupils. You could issue your pupils with a generic overview sheet to stick in their books, such as this one:

Class Set: Unit of Work: Date: Positives:

Misconceptions (common errors):

Next steps:

The most important element of the whole-class approach is the time you take in a lesson to deliver clear, relevant, and detailed feedback to the class from the front of the room. Break feedback down into three clear elements: what students did well; any key issues or common misconceptions (e.g. misspelling key vocabulary or factual errors); and next steps to improve the work. Then clearly model these next steps from the front and ask the class to undertake a follow-up task that you have prepared.

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This should save you time in terms of marking and allow follow-up lessons, where you want pupils to further their learning by reviewing their work, to flow far more effectively. So, think to yourself:

POSITIVES

MISCONCEPTIONS

Next STEPS

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17. THE WEIRD SLIP (TIME TO REBOOT) What You have been teaching a Year 9 class for six weeks and up until this point you have felt like they are on board with your expectations. However, straight from the off today your lesson is not going to plan. The number of pupils who are either distracted, off-task, or misbehaving grows steadily and by the halfway point you are almost in a situation where you feel you cannot carry on as planned.

NOW In moments like this, when the initial honeymoon period with a class has come to an end, it is all too easy to blame yourself, to lose your professional ‘cool’ and take it out on the pupils. Worse still, it is all too easy to simply blame the class for not adhering to the standards you have set. In this situation it is important to cap the lesson. Rip up what you had planned and bring the lesson to a close. Then reassert the standards you 77

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have set and make it clear, calmly and professionally, that you are not happy with the situation in your room. It is best to insist that the class work in silence, either copying out a key piece of text or working on a textbook based activity. Before you set the class working on this new task, you need to be clear what your expectations are for the remainder of the lesson, and what the consequences will be if pupils do not adhere to these. It is critical that you then consistently uphold the standards you have set, or your lesson will swiftly slip again.

NEXT It is worth talking to colleagues to see if they have had similar issues with this class. It even may be that there is a theme or growing trend across the school. If this is the case, then it would be sensible and pro-active to talk to pastoral or senior staff about this particular group, and for the school to intervene swiftly before this becomes a wider issue. If, however, this is a one-off, then you have two key considerations to ponder. Firstly, how will you approach the next lesson you have with the class. Secondly, how will you work with this group in the long term. At the start of your next lesson with this class line the pupils up outside the room in single file. Then, addressing them clearly, instruct them to enter in total silence and dictate to them where they are going to sit for that lesson (this could become a new longer-term seating plan). You then need to talk to them about the previous lesson, state that their behaviour was not acceptable, and remind them of, narrate, and model your expectations. I would also get the class to practice (through roleplay) some key classroom routines before pressing ahead with the academic subject-based learning. You have now laid a solid foundation for your longer-term approach with this group. Going forward I would consider building a series of behavioural reboots into your class schedule. These would be directed by you and serve as key reminders of what you expect and why. Crunch points often occur before or after holidays. In many schools November, late January, and 78

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17. The Weird Slip (Time to Reboot)

June can be testing times. Being on the front foot – regularly reinforcing expectations rather than responding reactively to poor behaviour – can make a real difference to the ebb and flow of your lessons. Your reboot schedule might look like this: Start of the year frontload

2 wEeks before half term - rebOot

post half term - rebOot

tail end of November rebOot

late january - rebOot

Mid June rebOot

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18. POSITIVITY IS ALL YOU NEED What Your ECT mentor has recently spoken to you about some worrying feedback that they have received from both pupils and parents. Both sets of stakeholders have said that you are draconian in your approach and negative in how you frame instructions, expectations, and your lessons in general. Some parents have commented that they feel you are instilling a culture of compliance but not a love of learning.

NOW It can be really hard not to take criticism of your teaching personally. There is a huge personal and emotional investment that goes into our planning and teaching. The challenge is to decouple the concerns raised from our self – as a person – and instead to consider them as a professional. In the first place it is important to listen to both the concerns raised and your mentor, and importantly, to ask them for advice and guidance in 81

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addressing this matter. One strategy is to film a lesson and then sit down with your mentor and deconstruct it. Look at how you conduct yourself, your demeanour, your approach, and how you frame your language.

NEXT When you receive a concern or criticism of this nature there are two key factors to reflect on and consider. Firstly, how you interact with your pupils, and secondly, the messaging being conveyed to parents. It is important to take the time to consider how to positively frame your lessons. This means being explicitly positive about the lesson and, critically, what the pupils can achieve. You are narrating to the students your belief in their potential to not just meet but exceed your expectations. Using positive reinforcement to encourage constructive behaviour is a powerful tool for fostering a better climate in your lessons: • Introduce your lesson positively to the class. For example, you might say something along the lines of ‘yesterday we had a brilliant lesson and today I know you are going to give me 100%. I know you can really blow me away with the work you are going to produce today.’ • Your own frame of mind should ideally be positive. If you are inwardly positive, then you will outwardly convey this to the class. • Narrate the positives to your class. Even if you receive responses to questions that are incorrect or pupils are not fully engaged. Switch your language from ‘will you just behave and do as you are told’ to ‘I have been so impressed by the majority of you so far but I am expecting all of you to give 100%.’ • Constantly praise the behaviours that you want. For example, you could say ‘Sam, that is a superb paragraph that you have written. You wrote your answer in full sentences and built in three key examples, precisely as I explained and exactly how I wanted. Well done!’ 82

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• Bracket the behaviour. For example, if you have four pupils working together but only three are engaged with the work. You should then praise, by name, the pupils who are on task and say nothing about the pupil who is not working. • Employing rewards, be they verbal or tangible, can also have a real impact on the positive feel within lessons. Ensure that the rewards you issue are meaningful, proportionate, and not cheaply given out, otherwise they will become meaningless. • Keep calm and collected when a pupil does not behave. • Never hold grudges, irrespective of how badly or poorly behaved a pupil or a class may previously have been. It is important that you wipe the slate clean when you next see that class. It is also important that you take control of the messaging being conveyed to parents. There is no easy way of getting around this. It will take you time and it will mean having to work hard to engage with parents. To my mind, communication is key here. However, try and avoid solely contacting home when a pupil does something wrong. Flip the narrative on its head and contact parents when their child does something right. You could, for example, send a praise postcard home, send a personalised email to parents, or consider making three positive calls home a week. The hard yards you put in to build up a rapport with parents will serve you well if you ever need to make contact with them about a negative situation. You are more likely to have them on your side as a result.

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19. LANGUAGE IS KEY What It is a Friday period five and you have a notoriously difficult class that require you to keep on top of them constantly. They are not impossible to teach but they are a testing mix of pupils – and one in particular has previous form for causing you hassle and misbehaving. During this particular lesson this specific pupil is engaging in an array of behaviours that are counter your class rules. They are misbehaving purposefully to disrupt the lesson. You ask the pupil to go outside. The pupil immediately says to you ‘What have I done? Why have I been sent out? You are always picking on me!’ In the heat of the moment you let your professional guard down and tell the pupil that they are ‘behaving like a complete idiot’ and that they are ‘the class clown.’ This gets an immediate negative response from the pupil, who swears directly at you, says that they hate you, do not respect you, and could not give two hoots.

NOW This is a tricky situation as – irrespective of how the pupil has behaved – you have lowered the bar of your own professional conduct. You have 85

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reduced your interaction with them to a level that is not in line with your own normal professional standards, and this is not in line with the teacher standards. That said, it is hard not to take a situation like this personally, especially when a pupil is argumentative with you. It is important to note that everyone makes a mistake at some point in their career. It would be sensible to try and de-escalate this situation. I would apologise to the pupil for being personal about their behaviour, but then also swiftly address that their behaviour as a whole is not appropriate or in keeping with the expectations that are in place. You need to make the pupil aware that you have to report their swearing at you and that this could result in a sanction (pending your school’s policy). The key point here is that you are trying to demonstrate to the pupil that you acknowledge that you have made a mistake while, equally, reasserting yourself professionally with them, and narrating clearly what is and is not allowed and why. It would then be sensible to speak to a more senior member of staff, be it a pastoral or senior leader, and be upfront and honest about the entire situation and how the class are behaving. While the pastoral/senior leader is likely to hold the line over the fact the pupil has sworn at you (and indeed should) it is fair to say that your interaction with the pupil could be seen as a trigger for the pupil’s response to you. In short, you have engaged with the pupil in a very personalised manner, referring specifically to them as opposed to depersonalising their behaviour. You need to be very careful and mindful of this. This is something to reflect on for the future (see below). However, by being upfront with the senior member of staff you are giving them the full context around why you were sworn at, and you are also demonstrating that you have reflected upon how you have interacted with the pupil. This arms that member of staff with all the information that they need to make an informed decision regarding any potential sanction and, importantly, how to handle this situation with the parents.

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NEXT Keeping your professional decorum can be challenging at times. It is all too easy to allow how you engage with pupils to slip, especially when you are frustrated. However, if you lower your professional standards you can leave yourself exposed to parental criticism, complaints, and at its worst, disciplinary action against you. In a situation like the one described you are unlikely to win a pupil back round if you become personal about them. It is important to remember that you are the adult and the behaviours that you demonstrate are part of role modelling mature conduct. Moving forwards, you need to carefully consider how you address pupils in situations like this one. Focus on the behaviour and not the individual. Keep the language that you use, your tone, manner, and body language professional and in your mind visualise that you are addressing a colleague. My own strategy is to refer to the behaviour exhibited in the third person. For example, you could use phrases such as: • Was that behaviour appropriate? • Explain when you were asked to call out during the lesson, Sam. • Explain how the behaviour you just exhibited is in line with the school’s expectations. • What was appropriate about the behaviour you demonstrated in the lesson today? Be clear with pupils that the behaviour they have employed is not in line with the school’s expectations. I would also take the time to script and rehearse some key sentences that you will employ. These then become habitual. This allows you to engage in a professional and detached manner with pupils when they have not behaved appropriately and ensures that you do not become personal. I would also actively try to hone the skill of keeping calm, collected, and assertive in situations like this. Shouting will not resolve the matter at hand.

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20. STANDARDS ARE SLIPPING What You are the behavioural lead for your school and multiple members of staff have been to see you in recent weeks to say that standards are slipping, consistency is becoming a real issue, and that staff are not rowing in the same direction. There is a feeling amongst the middle leaders that the school could be entering a watershed moment soon if something is not done. Staff are looking to you to take the lead and assume control of the situation.

NOW Behaviour in schools can ebb and flow. There are key points in the academic year where standards and expectations can slip. This normally coincides with periods where pupils and staff are either exceptionally tired or when complacency can creep in. At times of high staffing absence rates pastoral and senior leaders can become less of a presence as they end up covering for absent teachers. As a leader these low ebbs can be disheartening and can knock you off centre. You need to be mindful that these institutional dips do happen at times, and it is not possible for a school to be in cruise control, problem free, all year long. 89

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In the here and now it is important to gather as much feedback about conditions in the school as possible. Canvass parents, pupils, and staff to ensure that the views shared with you are not just dominated by a vocal minority. Galvanise the rest of the senior team to be an active presence, walking the school site daily to monitor standards and expectations, but also to share with you where there are issues and what they are. Take the time to examine the behavioural data you gather about the school. Carefully consider what it is telling you. What are the trends? The themes? Where are the issues and what are they? Are there particular classes, teachers, and times of the day or week where behaviour seems to dip? Use all of this intelligence to come at the issues that were originally raised from an informed standpoint.

NEXT It takes a brave and bold leader to admit that there is an issue in their school, but if this is the case then you need to call it out and make staff aware that you know things are not how they should be. Personally, I would take the following actions: • Lead a staff meeting/training session. Clearly identify with the staff what the issues are, what the school’s expectations are, and remind staff of the systems that are in place. Take the time to narrate to the staff both how behaviour should be dealt with according to the school’s policy and the rationale behind it. During this session I would also invite staff to volunteer to be part of a steering group to discuss how the school can move forwards. This is not a sign of weakness. It shows your staff that you are prepared to consult them and to listen. • Create a rota that ensures senior and pastoral leaders are highly visible every lesson and that the entire team adheres to this approach. Positive visibility will help to generate a feeling amongst staff that they are supported and that leaders in the school are bothered and care. 90

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• Devise a clear briefing schedule for staff which focuses on one key priority per session. This way you can really go over these core priorities in depth. • Hold a series of recalibration assemblies with the pupils to reiterate and remind them of the school’s expectations. Ensure that these expectations become part of the daily and weekly messaging that the school engages its pupils with. Have a weekly focus for the school but repeat these themes regularly. For example, in week 1 you might focus on punctuality, in week 2 uniform, in week 3 electronic devices, in week 4 manners. However, then you would repeat this cycle over and over and over. In essence you are sweating the small stuff but making it a big deal. This can then influence the messaging in staff briefings, assemblies, tutor times, etc.

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21. A HUGE CRY FOR HELP What You are a head of faculty and a member of your team has emailed requesting to see you as a matter of urgency. In their email they say that they cannot cope with the behaviour of some of their classes anymore, and one class in particular is causing them huge difficulty. They feel that they are at their wits end and this email is essentially a massive cry for help.

NOW You need to reply swiftly to this member of staff and agree to meet with them at either the end of that same school day or the following. They need to see that you are taking both this matter and them seriously. When you meet with the member of staff you need to listen to what they have to say about their concerns and the issues that they are facing. In the first instance you should purely listen and avoid going into advisory mode and recommending that they do this, that, or other. Once you have heard the staff member’s summary of their concerns and made a record of them, then ask them what support or help they would welcome. They may already have a clear idea of what they want or need – e.g. they may 93

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need to be coached or mentored – or they may have very little clue at all and need you to steer the situation. Every member of staff is different. I would then outline what support you will offer, what this will look like, and agree on an action plan for moving forwards together with the staff member.

NEXT There are a number of follow on steps that I would recommend to support this staff member: • Take the time to review the school behaviour policy with them. The aim is not to challenge them or make them feel awkward but to go through the policy with them to ascertain if their application of it is causing them an issue or if there are loopholes within the policy that pupils are exploiting. This can even sometimes help you to identify gaps in your policy! • It is worthwhile looking at the seating plan for the problem class and recalibrate the approach here. Take the time to go over the key personalities in the class, how they mix with one another, where they are sat, and how the room is laid out. This may need a fundamental rethink. • Coach the member of staff to carefully consider the next lesson that they have with the class. Give them the confidence to deliver a lesson where the pupils work in total silence. This will help the member of staff to re-establish the norm of silent work and working hard. • Spend some time crafting a set of positively scripted lines that they can use with their pupils. The teacher should ideally be in a position where they can confidently deliver these positive messages to the class during their next lesson, while the class are working in silence. Develop lines that praise the pupils for putting in a lot of effort, for working silently, for doing the right things and emphasise that working hard matters. Equally, you need to reassure 94

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21. A Huge Cry for Help

the member of staff that you will be nearby to support them should the pupils not respond to working in silence. • Subsequently, it would be worth observing (for short periods of time) future lessons and focusing solely on the teacher’s behaviour management. This may help to identify areas of development or issues in their lessons. It may also pay to film a few lessons and to go over these with the teacher. • Thereafter you may want to consider establishing a regular meeting to coach, mentor, and support the staff member (the frequency of these should be mutually agreed). You can utilise the observations and filmed lessons to inform a programme of targeted support that you will engage the staff member with to build up their toolkit and confidence for managing behaviour. The aim is to build the staff member’s confidence in their own ability to be in control their classes and to empower them with the professional classroom management tools that allow them to do so.

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22. IT’S JUST A LITTLE CHAT What As head of Year 11 you have recently introduced restorative conversations with pupils as a means of coaxing the year group along until their exams. Your aim is to try and maintain relationships between staff and pupils. As part of launching this strategy to your colleagues you delivered a thirtyminute tutor training session on restorative practices. The expectation is that staff will speak to Year 11 pupils who have not behaved appropriately during lunchtime or the end of the school day detentions. You believe that this will help to support the culture you wish to see develop amongst the year group. However, several members of staff have been to see you and raised concerns. They feel ill equipped to adequately execute these restorative conversations with pupils, and furthermore, are worried that the process is having little positive impact while undermining them and leaving pupils feeling that they have the upper hand. In short, standards are slipping.

NOW Introducing restorative approaches can seem a seductively simple solution to resolving the issues that you may be facing with a cohort of pupils. 97

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However, if employed incorrectly restorative approaches can fall flat on their face and actually be quite counter-productive. It is important to listen to the staff who have been to see you, to hear them out and to professionally question them about the issues that they are facing with this approach and why it is not working. Given this situation it would be sensible to canvass as many staff as possible and to discuss with other heads of year the approaches that they utilise to galvanise a positive culture within their year group. It would also be worthwhile discussing the situation with your SLT line manager and to discuss a tangible solution for moving forwards.

NEXT In this situation I would reconsider the approach that has been employed. Restorative approaches should be used with caution. They should be used intelligently for key scenarios but not as a mainstay of your behavioural approach. It is important to reflect on the following when considering how to move forwards: Why are you adopting this approach? Will it work? Do staff believe in it, and will they support it? What culture do you want? What does this look like, in tangible terms? • What is it that you are actually asking the staff to do, in a practical sense? • Is this approach time efficient? Do staff – who are teaching five back-to-back lessons a day and who are invariably on breaktime duty – have the time and capacity to engage in a restorative conversation? • Is whichever approach you decide upon moving forwards sustainable? • • • •

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• Does the approach you adopt leave staff feeling supported or undermined? Why? What are the results or consequences of that approach? • What training or capacity does the approach require from staff? Is a 30-minute training session enough (in this case, realistically, no). I am not trying to lambast restorative approaches. They have a place. They are a tool that you can use, but they are not the only tool. Furthermore, they are a complex tool that requires training, experience, and building capacity among your staff. If you are going to employ restorative approaches, then I recommend that as year head you ensure that you personally have been both thoroughly trained in these strategies and are adept in using them. It would then be sensible to selectively adopt their use for more serious behavioural matters and introduce them slowly into other areas. Ideally, at first you would be the one using restorative approaches, and would role model to other staff how and when to successfully deploy this technique.

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23. YOUR FIRST EXAMINATION CLASS What As a first year ECT you have been given a Year 10 GCSE class. All of the pupils have very low attaining academic profiles and are not expected to achieve high outcomes. You quickly realise that the head of department has deliberately grouped these pupils together. On the one hand, no other teacher within the department wants to teach them. On the other, they are seen as low stakes in terms of accountability and outcomes for the faculty – if you get the teaching and delivery of the GCSE course wrong then it essentially doesn’t matter, but the head believes the experience will still help to develop you as a teacher. You have taught the class twice and they have been challenging so far. The school has no real centralised behavioural approach and leaves individual staff to deal with this as best as they can.

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NOW This is a really challenging situation for any teacher, especially an ECT. It would pay you to speak with your ECT mentor to seek their support and guidance, and one would hope that this would be forthcoming. In reality, however, you are probably going to have to find a way through this year and manage the pupils, your own inevitable emotions and worries about teaching this class, and the delivery of the curriculum, as well as trying to support the students to achieve their GCSE outcomes. Clearly the aspirations and behaviour of the pupils is going to be a key barrier to learning, but another big issue will be igniting the fire in the pupils’ bellies, especially if you have limited school systems to draw on.

NEXT It is important that you carefully consider the routines and systems that underpin your lessons. This is something I have referred to in some of the other scenarios that I have presented in this book. However, given the lack of school systems and the low aspirations of the pupils you are going to need to lay your own foundation of behavioural and academic expectations. Pupils like this will have bad lessons, they will arrive to your lessons unwilling and unlikely to learn, and due to their low aspirations, they are going to be hard to spark into life. You are going to have to build from the ground up. Despite the issues, your outlook with this class needs to be positive and you need to demonstrate and continually narrate to them your belief in them, your high expectations, and your passion for them to succeed. While you should avoid false praise you are going to have to employ the use of positive feedback and reinforcement with these pupils more than you might another class. You need to consider the rewards that you will

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issue. Be realistic about the level of attainment pupils are starting from and celebrate even small improvements and achievements. You may want to do something simple, such as a ‘star of the lesson’ for the pupil who works the hardest or impresses you the most in your lessons. While you must have a baseline of expectations, otherwise your lessons could easily descend into chaos, you must also look to generate a positive culture with the class. You also need to get to know the personalities in your class quickly and I would recommend developing lines of communication with their homes as swiftly as possible. The more positive communication and praise you can give to whoever is at home the better as then they are more likely to support you when there are issues. The relationships with families will be just as key as those with the pupils. In an ideal universe, and if you have the time, take frequent little moments to sit with each pupil and talk about them, their learning, and your joint expectations. That way you can generate sensible and achievable targets for each pupil to work towards with their learning, for example, how to write a structured paragraph, to learn x amount of material, etc. You should also speak to pastoral staff about any key individuals in your class to further your understanding of them as there may well be safeguarding, SEND (special educational needs), or other issues, that you need to be aware of. In short, this class will require a lot of determination, drive, consistency, and hard work.

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24. THEY ARE SIXTH FORMERS, IT’S FINE! What You have recently taken over in a new school as director of the Sixth Form. The Sixth Form, in the main, functions well and the pupils achieve good outcomes but there are no real systems or structures in place to hold the pupils to account. The philosophy of a number of staff is that these pupils are Sixth Formers and therefore adults. These staff feel that post 16 pupils need to be treated as autonomous self-directed learners, and that putting structures in place will inhibit their development or prevent them taking personal responsibility for their learning. Some staff even say that the pupils do not need rules, and simply need to be told to leave the school if they do not want to learn, as being in the Sixth Form is a choice.

NOW It is important that you carefully consider what you want the Sixth Form to look like. What structures and rules do you want in place? How do you

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want the Sixth Form arena to work in practice? I would then meet with the head to talk about what you want and expect to see versus what is in place and where the philosophical and ideological views of some staff seem to sit. When you present this to the head you should talk about how you want to transition slowly and incrementally to a new approach but that you also recognise that you may need to compromise on some elements.

NEXT To bring about any change in a school the head has to say yes. Without this green light you can forget changing anything, it simply will not happen. However, let us suppose that the head has told you to investigate the matter and devise a proposal to staff about how to move the Sixth Form on. I would consider the following: • • • •

Monitor punctuality to school and lessons (across a half term). Monitor the completion of homework (across a half term). Monitor the use of independent study time (across a half term). Look at the approach to uniform and how closely this matches the school’s policies. • Track behaviour across the Sixth Form for half a term. • Canvass the pupils, parents, and staff to ascertain what they perceive to be issues around the Sixth Form. You need to engage with this range of tracking mechanisms. These will allow you to identify if there is a real issue and gather hard evidence to justify changing the school’s direction and approach. This will help you to formulate the all-important ‘why’. Otherwise, you are in danger of being seen by colleagues as acting in an ideological manner. However, there are some key considerations that are important to ponder and present to staff, namely: • Brand new Year 12 students are simply Year 11 pupils with a slightly longer holiday and a different uniform. They are not magically, as

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• • •

•

a collective cohort, autonomous self-directed learners. If anything, their needs will be similar to a brand-new cohort of Year 7 pupils entering your school. Sixth Form pupils are, socially, going through a hugely challenging phase in their lives as they transition from being teenagers to adults. Attendance, punctuality, and the completion of homework are often cited as key issues in post 16 arenas. If you are operating in a school setting, then you need to consider that the Sixth Form are role models for the rest of the school. Therefore, how they behave has a huge knock-on effect on the school community. Why should the overall rules be any different? However, within the scope of those rules, what privileges will you give the Sixth Form to make them distinctive? Legally you cannot – contrary to the view held by some – simply invite a Sixth Former to leave your provision. This is tantamount to an illegal exclusion. You need to have evidence to prove why you are permanently excluding a student. Do your systems allow for this?

Running a Sixth Form can be hugely complex and challenging. As a director of a Sixth Form, you are essentially running a school within a school. That said, in my own experience, this is also one of the most rewarding roles anyone can perform.

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25. THE IN-CLASS EXPLOSION What You are in the middle of teaching a Year 8 class. The lesson has felt uncharacteristically tense, as if under a dark cloud. One pupil has appeared to be highly agitated throughout the lesson so far. You have spoken to them a few times to check if they are okay, want to talk, or need some help. You momentarily turn your back to write some instructions on the board … and the pupil in question flips, starts shouting, and throws a chair across the room. They then overturn a table and begin to threaten other class members.

NOW This is a situation we all hope we never have to face. You need to remain calm and collected, even if you are panicking and scared on the inside. The immediate concern is the safety of both the class and the pupil in question. It is worth trying to de-escalate by calming the pupil in question and inviting them to go outside so you can speak with them. This may work, but given the situation there is a strong possibility that it will not. The next consideration is to get your class out of the room swiftly, securely, and safely and take them to another classroom. 109

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The quandary here is that you also need to ensure that the pupil who has exploded is safe, is not going to harm themselves or anyone else, and is not going to follow you or the class. This is tricky. The best solution is to ask a pupil at the front of the class to seek assistance from any member of staff that is nearby, even if they are teaching. Prioritise removing your class from the room and swiftly and safely. Once you have dispatched the pupil who is going to seek help you then need to subtly and calmly dismiss (in essence evacuate) the pupils at speed. Simultaneously, you need to keep a check on the pupil who has erupted. Throughout this process you need to ensure that you adopt a calm but purposeful tone to your voice. Invite the pupil to sit down on a chair and give them the time and space that they need to calm down. All the while you need to reassure them that you are there to support them.

NEXT Ultimately this situation represents a major safeguarding issue for you, the class, and the pupil in question. You need to consider the safety of the class, which should be your first and immediate priority. Then you need to consider your own safety, and then that of the key pupil. This pupil is most likely to have flipped for a reason and that needs to be explored by pastoral or safeguarding trained staff. Once your class has been removed from the situation, and ideally housed in another classroom, a member of staff needs to be assigned to oversee them and check they are okay. If possible, they should carry on with some form of learning. The parents of these children need to be notified that there has been an incident and that all of the children are safe. This should ideally be communicated by pastoral staff to parents. Someone should speak to you and check if you are okay. You are unlikely to be in a fit state to bounce straight back into teaching the lesson but everyone is different in terms of how they respond internally to situations like these. Ideally, given the volatility of the pupil in question, two members of staff need to support them. In the longer term the key issue for pastoral or safeguarding 110

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staff will be identifying what has led to this outburst and addressing the underlying causes – and it is worth liaising with these staff so that you are aware what issues this student is facing.

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26. BEING A TUTOR What You are a recently appointed first year ECT. You have been told by your school to serve as a fulltime tutor to a Year 8 tutor group, who you will meet once a day every day. The school has not provided you with any tutor time resources or activities. You have been told that you can decide what you wish to cover and to do this however you like. The only school-based routine is a weekly Year 8 assembly, which is taken by the head of year. This situation has swiftly become a point of stress for you.

NOW In the first instance I would recommend talking to your ECT mentor for advice. They may be able to support you or provide you with ideas, resources, and activities that you can access. I would also recommend talking to the head of year and other members of staff who have served as tutors – or even been a Year 8 tutor – before. You may quite swiftly be able to pull together a bank of materials that you can draw upon.

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NEXT It is important that you give your role as a tutor careful thought and consideration. In teaching you invariably have to a perform dual function: serving as both an academic or subject teacher, and in a more pastoral role as a tutor. You do not want tutor time to become a part of the school day that you resent or find daunting simply because you have not given it enough preparation. Tutor time could take up fifteen to twenty minutes a day and some schools operate with more extended periods. The pupils in your tutor group will see you as a primary point of contact to talk to, as will their families. Therefore, building these relationships is important. Consider the following: • Make an active point of contacting home for every member of your tutor group to introduce yourself. This could be a simple email to say hello. • I would actively contact two to three families a week to give some form of positive feedback about their child. This will help you to build positive relationships with the families, who are in turn more likely to be supportive if or when you have to report issues. Treat your tutor time as a mini lesson. Plan the structure, order, and routines that underpin your tutor times. • I would have a clear weekly schedule that you adhere to (see below).

Monday Class Reading

Tuesday Reading for Pleasure

Wednesday Assembly

Thursday News Update

Friday Academic Quiz

In more detail, taking each of these days in turn: • Monday: go over a short article or piece of literature with the class (e.g. a famous speech). Every pupil will be given a copy of this article and you will read it out loud together. After reading it you will discuss key vocabulary, the context of the article, and generate 114

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•

• • •

a discussion around this reading stimulus. Tuesday: your tutees bring a book to read in silence. You can then circulate the room and check planners, speak to pupils as required, and undertake some of the more pastorally orientated duties that are expected of you. Wednesday: your tutor group have a year group assembly. Thursday: play your tutees a news video clip, talk together about its significance, and generate a discussion. Friday: an academic quiz where you ask the class twenty key questions based on the curriculum and then you go over the answers.

These ideas are only suggestions. The key point is that you have given tutor time some thought and consideration. In a school where tutor time is not going to be planned for you, then you need to take control and create a weekly schedule that you stick to and becomes a routine for your class. I would have this schedule on display, so pupils know what to expect each day, and explicitly train your tutees in the routines that you want. I would also give real consideration as to how taking the register, checking pupil uniforms, and speaking to pupils about attendance and behaviour issues, fits into your routine, as well as how and when to celebrate success.

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27. THE NOMAD What Over the last few academic years your lessons have been conducted from the same classroom. However, it is a new year and suddenly you find yourself having to move classroom frequently. With your increasing experience it is felt that you will be able to adapt to moving from one room to the next, from one lesson to the next. The logic is to allow less experienced staff the opportunity to have a fixed classroom, as you have previously benefitted from. You are now two weeks into the new academic year, and it is fair to say that you have found this change difficult … particularly when managing your more challenging classes.

NOW Moving from room-to-room presents a challenge to even the most experienced members of staff. The pupils you are set to teach are likely to either arrive before you, or just as you get to the room, and this can lead to you feeling disorganised and flustered at the start of every lesson. At its absolute worst this can put you the backfoot when managing classes where behaviour is more challenging. 117

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It is worth discussing your rooming arrangement with your head of subject or faculty and whoever does the timetable for the school. There may be some scope to minimise or reduce the amount you have to move, so that your lessons are grouped into specific areas of the school, or to look and see where double periods can be built in (although these can present issues in their own right). It is also worth talking to other members of staff who have to move around the school to see how they manage.

NEXT The long and the short of this situation is that you need to get to know your classes, and you have to be extra organised. In terms of organisation, I would consider the following: • Purchase a toolbox style box to carry key lesson resources. For example, board pens, board rubbers, biros, pencils, highlighters, etc. You cannot assume as you move across the school that every room will be furnished with this equipment. • Use a ring binder with a punched pocket for each lesson of the day that you teach. Place worksheets and resources (depending on your school’s approach) into this binder so that you can carry it with you readily and easily from one room to the next. • How you finish your lessons is key. Carefully consider how you dismiss your class so that you have 1-2 minutes spare at the end of every lesson to get to your next class on time. • Never allow your classes to over-run. This will not only put you behind schedule but also affect any staff member who is timetabled to use the room after you. • If you arrive before the pupils do, then do not let them into the room until you are ready. • Starter activities need to buy you time to assert yourself over the class and the lesson, but also be relevant. This will require careful planning.

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• Put the ground rules that you demand on prominent display in your classroom. You may want to have these laminated so that you can carry them with you to the various classrooms you are using. This is especially relevant in schools where this is left to individual teachers. • A bigger challenge is how you transport exercise and textbooks. You need to speak to senior staff about having a lockable cupboard for key resources to be housed in the room, as carrying these items across the school is not practical. • If you are likely to be late for a lesson is there a reliable set of pupils you can call upon to hand out resources, exercise books, etc. Are you able to set the starter activity at the end of the previous lesson (of course this requires pupils remembering what was set)? This is where you need to get to know your classes well. The reality of nomadic teaching is that it can be challenging, and it requires a lot of extra consideration and planning to do well. Should you find that it is becoming too much – or that it is causing behavioural, or safeguarding, issues, with classes left unattended for lengthy periods of time – then you must raise this with leadership.

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28. BULLYING What You are an established tutor within your school and have a Year 9 tutor group. You know the pupils in this group really well: you have tutored them since they were in Year 7 and have a great relationship with them. One pupil, who is normally bubbly and very well behaved has become more withdrawn recently. At times this particular pupil can be quite challenging, and their behaviour seems both out of character and obtuse. You have a gut feeling that something is wrong.

NOW The first port of call is to speak with the pupil. It is best to ask them to stay behind after the tutor group have been dismissed, or to ask to see them at break or lunch if your tutor time session backs into a lesson you are teaching. In this particular instance, when you ask the pupil what is wrong, they break down, saying that a number of the class have been calling them names over the last few weeks, and that three pupils in particular have been consistently horrible to them. In short, your once bubbly and studious tutee is being bullied, and you have taken the right action to speak to them. 121

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NEXT Bullying can have a profound impact on how a pupil behaves. It causes huge stress, can affect their personal behaviour, negatively impact on their attainment, and have a real impact on their mental health. In this case you need to take a statement from the pupil being bullied and I would – irrespective of your own expertise and experience – liaise with a pastoral or senior leader. This could easily present itself as a safeguarding issue. Ultimately, this matter needs investigating and addressing. Each member of the tutor group will need to be spoken to and they will need to give a statement. The three key pupils who have been identified as the main culprits need to be isolated while this investigation is taking place. They need to be spoken to both at the start and at the end of the investigation – once all of the other pupils have been spoken to. I would also take a statement at the start and end of this process from the three key pupils to see if there is a change in their version of events. Parents will need to be notified; both those of the pupil who is the victim coupled with phone calls to the families of the main culprits. An email message should also go out to the parents of the other pupils in the tutor group to make them aware that there is an issue of bullying in the tutor group, the signs to look out for as a parent, and a reassurance that it is being responded to and dealt with by the school. The school’s pastoral or senior leader then needs to determine what relevant sanction or sanctions should be applied to the culprits, and thereafter what education these pupils may require about bullying so that they don’t repeat this behaviour moving forwards. Thereafter, there may be a need to re-evaluate or remind the school community of your anti-bullying approach/policy, and to go back over class and school rules to mitigate against further bullying incidents. A more proactive strategy would be a programme of education for all pupils

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regarding bullying, and training for staff so they are confident in both recognising and dealing with incidents of bullying. It is important to remember that bullying can be physical, verbal, psychological, discriminatory, and conducted online or in-person. It can be both covert and overt in nature. If bullying involves racial, ethnic, gender, or homophobic discrimination it is defined as a hate crime, which then needs to be reported on a hate log and must be reported to the police. Sometimes bullying can take the form of peer-on-peer abuse, which is an outright safeguarding issue. It is also important to keep in mind that pupils who are the victim of bullying could have very low self-esteem, and may need counselling and additional support, or can present other safeguarding issues, such as easily falling foul of grooming to seek a sense of importance. Given that tutors are the first port of call as support for pupils, they should also monitor attendance to see if there are any key patterns emerging, which can be a sign of bullying (i.e. victims of bullying will often avoid school). Bullying is a vast area in behaviour management which we have only really touched on here.

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29. A DISCLOSURE What You are teaching your Year 10 GCSE class. You have a good and positive rapport with the pupils in this group, and they feel that you are someone that they can trust and who always takes them and their issues seriously. Towards the end of the lesson a pupil puts their hand up and asks if they can speak to you after class has been dismissed – you agree to this. After the lesson the pupil in question stays behind to talk. They disclose that their father has been beating them with a belt. They roll up their shirt to show you their arm, which is black and blue with bruising, and they ask you for help.

NOW Safeguarding issues can be highly emotive – it is all too easy to either become too involved (out of a desire to support your pupil), or to clam up and internally panic. When presented with a situation like this it is important to stay calm and collected and listen. Allow the pupil to speak freely, but also tell them from the outset that you cannot promise to keep what they tell you to 125

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yourself. Unless you happen to be the school’s safeguarding lead, you will have to refer any serious safeguarding issue to someone else more senior. If you can, swiftly grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down what the pupil discloses to you. If you are not in the position to do this, then you must record what they have to say as quickly as possible following the disclosure. When you write down the disclosure you must write down precisely what the pupil has said; try not to add your own thoughts or put your own spin on it. As far as possible, you should use the exact language and terminology that the pupil has used. Do not write down what you think should happen as a consequence or outcome. If you can, add the pupils name, year group, tutor group, and ideally date of birth. Put your own name and position at the bottom, as you are the member of staff that has taken the disclosure. Then you need to sign the document and add the date. While listening to the pupil you can ask them questions to clarify details if you are hazy or uncertain about what they have said or their meaning. For example, ‘you said this happened at 1am and then at 5am, can I check what time it happened?’ You must not ask leading questions. For example, ‘Who did this? Was it your father?’

NEXT All schools should have an electronic safeguarding platform and inevitably you will have to add the disclosure you have taken to this. I would also take these follow up actions: • Thank the pupil for sharing the disclosure with you, and for having the confidence and faith to confide in you. Emphasise that they have been very brave in making this disclosure. Reiterate that you will have to refer this on to a more senior member of staff. • Place the pupil with another member of staff so you know they are safe and unlikely to run away. 126

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• Find the school’s safeguarding lead or team and refer the disclosure to them. • Tell the safeguarding lead where the pupil is. • Do not take it upon yourself to become involved, to call parents or to investigate the matter. This is not your job. The safeguarding lead should then take the matter on. They should also check that you are okay and assess whether you need to speak to someone yourself as you may be upset and distressed by this situation. The school may want to consider issuing refresher safeguarding training and support for staff in light of this disclosure, especially if physical abuse becomes a growing trend across the school.

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30. IT’S BEYOND THE SCHOOL’S THRESHOLD ... What The school where you are head of year has just received news that there is a fight taking place on a field about half a mile away. Multiple members of the public have called in to say that there is a big circle of children watching and recording the fight and they are all wearing your school’s uniform.

NOW In a situation like this you must not go and deal with it on your own. This would represent a major safeguarding risk to yourself. However, as a school you cannot wash your hands of this matter simply because the school day has ended. You ultimately have the power to sanction pupils for their actions outside the school grounds and day, especially if they are in uniform and easily identifiable. As a head of year, you will swiftly need to speak to the senior team. Ideally senior leaders will support you in this situation and go to the incident with 129

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you. It is also advisable to contact the police. If you are going to the scene of the fight (with supporting staff) then you should take a whistle with you to use in dispersing the crowds of pupils and go in a high visibility jacket. This is a challenging scenario and will inevitably require intervention, de-escalation, and potentially the involvement of staff with training in physical restraint.

NEXT The incident itself will require a full investigation, with eyewitness statements taken, including from the pupils directly involved in the fight. Parents will need to be notified. A message also needs to go out to pupils that if they have recorded this incident, they need to delete any footage and not post it on social media. As a school you then need to carefully consider your response to the fight and the sanctions that you will put in place for the pupils involved. You should then follow these specific sanctions up with a series of rolling assemblies that address behaviour and conduct outside the confines of the school grounds, emphasising to all pupils that they are ambassadors for the school when they are in the school’s uniform. I would also invite the police in to speak to pupils about how they behave outside school and the legal consequences of fighting. Lastly, the school should reflect on its own response. Was the school able to respond quickly? Do staff have the relevant training to handle these situations (e.g. in de-escalation or even physical restraint)? It would also be sensible for the head, or the behaviour lead, to double check that the school’s policy on behavioural issues outside the premises is clear and sufficient.

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31. ONLINE What A pupil comes to see you at the end of your lesson and confides that they are being bullied online by other members of the school community. The pupil shows you multiple Tik Tok videos mocking them and endless barbs on social media platforms. Some of these posts are aimed directly at them and some are subtle taunts that are made more indirectly. This is tantamount to online bullying and there are four key perpetrators. The pupil breaks down on you and pleads for help.

NOW This is fundamentally a safeguarding issue. Without wishing to simply repeat the advice given above in scenario 29 (‘A Disclosure’), you need to ensure that you follow the safeguarding protocols and procedures that your school has in place. From the outset make it clear to the pupil that you cannot promise confidentiality and that you will have to refer anything said to a more senior member of staff. Make a record of the disclosure and instantly seek out your school’s safeguarding lead. In this instance I would take the pupil with me to the safeguarding lead as the student is 131

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extremely upset and needs support, and the lead will need access to their mobile phone to view their social media account and ask for screenshots as evidence.

NEXT The safeguarding lead needs to fully investigate this matter and notify the parents of the pupil who has made the disclosure. They then also need to deal with the other key pupils in question and potentially draw upon other pastoral and senior staff for support in dealing with this matter. The families of the other pupils will need to be notified and they will need to sanctioned in accordance with the school’s behaviour policy. Whenever a situation like this arises it is good practice to reflect and consider when pupils were last spoken to about online safety and how to deal with and respond to bullying incidents like this. If the overall school approach pays little attention to online bullying, then this is something that needs addressing. Online bullying can have a real impact on a school’s culture and how pupils interact with each other in the building. It is important to be clear with your pupils that their online behaviour should meet the same standards as their offline, in-school, behaviour. The school rules that apply inside the school building also apply to any online activity that pupils engage in. Your school behaviour policy needs to reflect this. Staff should be trained in how to deal with and respond to online incidents. This is just as key and crucial as any other form of behaviour training that they receive. Not only are online issues behavioural matters but they are also invariably safeguarding matters too and all staff need to be familiar with and understand section one of the Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance.2 2

Department of Education, Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory guidance for schools and colleges. Part I: Information for all school and college staff. Available at: https:// assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/1101457/KCSIE_2022_Part_One.pdf.

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32. THE REPEAT OFFENDER What You have a pupil in your year group who constantly gets into trouble and is regularly in detention with you at lunchtime and after school. Recently this pupil was suspended for swearing at a member of staff. This was seen as a real watershed moment in their behaviour where lower tariff sanctions were felt to have been exhausted and unlikely to have any further impact. Sadly, following the reintegration meeting with the pupil – where you discussed the situation that led to their swearing at a member of staff – they have then proceeded to do the same thing again within 48 hours of being back in school. The pupil has once again been issued with a suspension and as the head of year you are now expected to deal with this situation.

NOW In the subsequent reintegration meeting it is important to discuss with the pupil and their family why they have once again sworn at a member of staff – even though this was discussed in the last reintegration meeting. There needs to be a clear discussion that focuses on explaining to the 133

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pupil not only that what they did was wrong, but why, as well as clarifying the school’s expectations, policy, and what the future response to poor behaviour such as this will be. It would be a worthwhile use of time to discuss with the pupil how to manage their behaviour in situations where they could end up swearing at someone. Ultimately, they will also need to apologise to the member of staff. This reintegration meeting must be documented, and you must offer support to the pupil to avoid them making similar mistakes again moving forwards (as well as possible).

NEXT Clearly this is a pupil who needs targeted support, otherwise they could find themselves serving a longer suspension, or worse still, a permanent exclusion. While some pupils will respond well to additional support, other pupils will throw it back at you. Yet other pupils, will initially be resistant but after a second significant mistake such as this will then do all they can to positively turn their behaviour around. Moving forwards, it is important that staff are aware of any plans and support that you have put in place regarding this pupil. I would recommend having a roundtable meeting with all of the relevant teachers to discuss how to address this pupil’s needs and respond to this student in key situations. It would be worth considering offering the pupil a programme of mentoring or coaching to provide them with regular targeted support, so they can discuss any issues that they are facing and ultimately to build a toolkit to deal with and respond to situations that they find stressful. There may be a member of staff in the school that can offer this, or you might employ an external service – although I appreciate that this is an extra cost. Another tool that you could implement is a behaviour card or report. This can help track the pupil’s immediate response to the reintegration discussion but do be aware that report cards are a short-term measure 134

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and often only have a short-term impact. You may also want to consider close, regular, and consistent communication with home to keep them up-to-speed with their child’s progress, for example on a fortnightly basis, though you will have to manage this in terms of your own workload. Depending on the level of intervention needed and the pupil’s willingness to engage you may even refer them to an external counsellor (unless you have one in-house) for a short period of time to support them in improving their anger management and dealing with negative reactive emotions. You may also want to consider whether this pupil has a SEND and consider an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan). In more extreme situations – as per the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance – you may need to consider a multi-agency assessment.3 With different pupils this scenario may either resolve itself quickly, or relatively quickly, with a little care and input from you, or alternatively need a lot of input, care, and time. The key point is that this situation has the potential to become complicated and protracted, and so remain patient, reiterate the school’s standards and expectations, and make sure that the pupil has access to any support they may need.

3

Department of Education, Working Together to Safeguard Children: Statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Available at: https:// www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2. 135

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33. LUNCHTIME DETENTIONS ARE GREAT What It transpires that the same six pupils are constantly getting into trouble and end up in your departmental lunchtime detentions. The fact is that these pupils have very little to do during lunch. The lunch break (which is an hour long) is seen as too long and boring by most pupils. The school café is not fit for purpose but there is really nowhere else for the pupils to go. When you take the time to look into this situation and speak to the pupils about why they keep misbehaving they tell you that it is ultimately because lunchtime detention is somewhere warm and safe where they can get on with their homework. Other teachers have described similar issues. Further, the school’s approach to detentions is to leave teachers to run them at lunch because of a fear of parental backlash against after school detentions.

NOW First and foremost, you need to take the time to talk to the pupils who are repeatedly in detention and ascertain the full reasons why they are 137

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getting into trouble. Ask fellow teachers to do the same with the pupils serving their detentions. It would be worth talking to these pupils about what they would like to see at lunchtime instead, especially if the lunch break is perceived to be too long, boring, and with nothing to do. In this particular situation you could talk to your department about running a dual approach of lunchtime detentions and lunchtime clubs. You may find that the pupils welcome a lunchtime homework club and improve their behaviour.

NEXT If the situation is really to change for the better – and other staff agree with your view or are having similar experiences – then there needs to be an institutional discussion about how to move forwards. Topics might include the length of lunch, the space available to eat in, and the types or number of lunchtime clubs that are offered by the school. Equally, are lunchtime detentions a sensible strategy? Shifting detentions to after school may serve as a better deterrent to stop pupils misbehaving. Irrespective of parental views, a school is allowed to hold detentions outside school hours. However, while after school detentions are lawful, they need to be clearly communicated by the head to parents as part of the school’s behavioural approach and policy. Ultimately, in this scenario the best you can do is refer the issue to your senior leader line manager and offer suggestions to resolve the matter.

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34. SILLY NOISES What You are in the middle of explaining a difficult concept to a class when a pupil begins to make silly animal style noises. It is being done discretely, and so it is tricky for you to know precisely which pupil is responsible, as you are at the front of the class, teaching from the board. However, you do have an inkling as to who it could be.

NOW Pupils deliberately making noises in a lesson can be really disruptive. They can easily cause the class to stray off task, or, at the very worst, cause a lesson to fall apart entirely. In the immediate moment you should remain composed and curb your inner impulse to erupt at this situation. It is all too easy to let your emotions take over you and turn this into an even bigger deal than it already is. You could calmly state to the class that you are aware someone is making a silly noise and if it persists the whole class will be kept back at break or lunch. Of course, the issue with this approach is that you then have to follow through with this sanction and you must ensure that all of the pupils 139

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attend. You also run the risk of a parent complaining that this is unfair and unjust as their child has done nothing wrong. Calling a classes bluff can work but in equal measure it can easily backfire. You really need to know your class well and judge whether this strategy will have an impact. Personally, I would continue to teach the lesson and carry on with your explanation. That way you are not giving the situation oxygen.

NEXT I would set the class off on a task and then walk around the room and hover in and around the area where you think the noises have been coming from. At this stage you have a number of options: • You could remain in this part of the room and keep a watchful eye on the pupils. • You could confront the situation and say to the pupils in this part of the room ‘look, the noises were very amusing, and I know they came from this part of the class, but save them for breaktime, not in my lesson.’ • If you are certain as to which pupil has done it you could speak to them directly, and I would suggest doing this outside. Alternatively, you could ask the pupils sat nearby to come outside and ask them to confirm who is making the noises. • Another option is to say to the class ‘my my, someone cannot control themselves’ and if you know in your own mind who it is you could follow up with ‘Sam, is there something you would like to share? Perhaps it is time to knuckle down and get on with the task I have set in silence.’ Whatever you elect to do, you must remain calm and professional. Do not lose control by wearing your heart on your sleeve. Your priorities should be to keep the class on task and prevent the disruption from escalating.

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35. A LACK OF CONFIDENCE What Over the last few lessons, you have noticed that one particular pupil is never fully on task. Their completion of work is poor and their engagement with lessons has declined. As a result, they have been misbehaving and have accrued a number of sanctions. This escalates suddenly and the pupil kicks off at you, claiming that your lessons are boring, and saying that you are a rubbish teacher and that they hate your subject.

NOW In the first instance it is important that you address the poor behaviour. You should never condone or allow rudeness. If you do, the other pupils will see that this poor behaviour has not been addressed and it will snowball. You could say to the pupil ‘I have not been rude to you, so you should not be rude to me’, or ‘I have not been disrespectful to you, so do not be disrespectful to me.’ Then follow this up with the appropriate sanction that poor behaviour like this carries, as per your school’s behavioural policy.

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NEXT Once you have addressed the inappropriate behaviour and dealt with it, then speak to the pupil. Tell them that you are concerned about them. You have noticed that their demeanour has changed recently, as has their engagement and behaviour in your lessons, and you think that there is something up. After a little coaxing, the pupil opens up and reveals that their poor behaviour is because they do not understand the work and they apologise to you. While you should hold a consistent line and approach toward the poor behaviour that has been displayed, it is also important that you thank the pupil for their honesty and apology, and help to support them with the work that they are finding challenging. I would offer to meet with the pupil at lunchtime or after school to go over the work that they have not fully grasped. This may resolve future behavioural issues or give the pupil the confidence to speak directly with you in lessons if they are struggling. This approach also allows you to draw a line under the poor behaviour and demonstrates to the pupil that you care.

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36. SLIDING SCALES What You are the head of a school where behaviour has historically been good. As with all schools you have your ups and downs but in the main the culture is strong. However, over the last four weeks staff, middle leaders, and senior leaders have all reported to you that behaviour standards are slipping, and things are beginning to deteriorate. There is a general feeling that if something is not done – and soon – the school will slide into chaos.

NOW As a leader it is all too easy too easy to take comments about your school personally, feel affronted, or respond that staff simply need to do their job. If you feel these emotions then stop, take pause, and think. If staff are telling you there is an issue, then the chances are there may well be an issue. There are crunch points in any given academic year where behaviour can slip in a school: November; the end of January; the build-up to Easter; and deep into the summer term are all often problem points. These are the times when staff and pupils are at their most tired. Ideally, you need to consider these phases of the year and how you pro-actively – as opposed 143

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to reactively – deal with them. That said, in this situation, your first step should be to gather some intelligence and get a realistic picture of what is going on. Consider the following: • Walk your school for several days to see the issues for yourself. • Speak to staff. • Call a staff meeting and conduct an exercise to identify what is good and what could be better about the school. • Be a visible presence in the corridors during lesson changeovers, at break, lunch, and before/after school to observe behaviour. • Speak to pupils. • Look at behaviour data sets and safeguarding logs to see what trends and themes come to light. Once you have confirmed that there is a problem, then investigate forensically what the exact issue is and how to address it before you take action. Otherwise, you are shooting in the dark.

NEXT The head of a school serves as the vanguard for their staffing body. Leaders are integral to and critical in shaping the culture, conditions, and climate within which all other staff perform their respective roles. If you know there is a deterioration in behaviour across your school, then you may want to consider the following: • A communication to parents to remind them of the expectations across the school. • A behavioural reboot. Take each year group into the main hall one at a time to remind them of your expectations. This needs to be conducted swiftly – over the course of half a day – for it to have effect. This will also demonstrate to staff that you are taking action. • Make leaders visible. Flood the corridors going in and out of lessons to support staff. 144

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• Staff meetings and briefings should focus on behaviour and serve as mini training sessions. However, try not to overwhelm staff with hundreds of new ideas. Instead, select a maximum of three things for staff and training to focus on explicitly. • Give time to subject and year teams to discuss behaviour, strategies, and key players within year groups. • Meet with pastoral leaders to discuss the key players in each year group and offer support. • Provide staff who may be struggling with behaviour issues targeted coaching and mentoring to help develop their toolkit. • Use every public opportunity where you meet with the pupils to model the behaviour you want and train the pupils in it (the same is true for staff). • Look at your behavioural system and assess carefully if there are loopholes or weaknesses that pupils are exposing to undermine the culture of the school. Or alternatively, if it is too complex or contains too many layers, resulting in staff either giving up with it or failing to uphold it consistently. These are just a selection of ideas that you can draw from. The important thing is that you remain calm and collected. You need to identify the core issues and draw back to basics. Keep whatever approach you take moving forwards consistent with your school’s values and approaches unless they themselves are fundamentally flawed. In that case, you may need to completely rethink every aspect of your approach to behaviour as a school, which is a bigger challenge.

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37. TIME TO DE-ESCALATE What As you are walking along the school corridors – moving from one lesson to the next – you ask a pupil to pick up a piece of litter and put it in the bin. The pupil refuses, says nothing and ignores you. You politely ask the pupil again, repeating the same instruction. The pupil then becomes confrontational, telling you in no uncertain terms precisely where to go and quickly becomes heightened in their overall state and demeanour toward you. The situation is escalating, and they are both angry and becoming aggressive in their interaction with you.

NOW The key thing in a sudden and spiralling situation such as this is to remain calm, rational, and seek to de-escalate it. There are a variety of approaches that you could take when dealing with this pupil. Firstly, you can attempt to assert your position over the pupil by reiterating that you have politely asked them to pick up a piece of litter and place it in the bin. Make it clear that their rudeness is inappropriate and that they are behaving in a manner that is not in keeping with the school’s expectations. The benefit of 147

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this approach is that you are keeping your narrative clear and consistent. However, this direct and simple approach may cause the pupil to flare up even more. Secondly, you could try to adopt a reasoned approach with the pupil where you question their behaviour rather than focussing on the litter and their obedience. For example, ‘I have simply asked you to pick up a piece of litter which would be asked of any pupil in this school. I have not asked for you to be rude to me. I have not been rude to you.’ For some pupils this may be enough for reason and common sense to kick in, but it could also cause the pupil to become further antagonised. Thirdly, you could adopt more of a personalised and conciliatory appeal to the pupil, such as ‘why are you behaving in this manner? Am I going to have to report this to your parents? What will they say about how you are behaving?’ Again, for some pupils this will calm the matter down and they will see reason. However, for some pupils this may not work. Fourthly, you could take a last chance style approach. For example, ‘Sam, I am going to ask you again, politely, to pick up the piece of litter and then apologise for how you have behaved. I am going to give you 30 seconds to consider your behaviour and I am giving you a chance to correct this.’

NEXT It is important to remember that some children carry a lot of personal baggage with them. They may suffer from trauma, have serious safeguarding issues in their background, or have social, emotional, and mental health needs. While we should maintain a culture of high expectations there are times where reasonable adjustments are necessary (and in some cases legally must be actioned). De-escalation is a key tool to have in our behavioural armoury and is not a sign of weakness. We need to carefully consider and recognise when a pupil could become aggressive or lose control. I would recommend asking for training if you have not 148

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received any that focuses on what to look out for and how to de-escalate situations like this. Classic tell-tale signs that a pupil has become agitated include fidgeting, shaking, clenching their jaw and fists, becoming red faced, their voice becoming higher pitched, invading your personal space, and becoming almost irrational in their approach, language, and demeanour. Remember that when you are dealing with a situation like the one in this scenario you need to maintain a calm and rational voice. Never tell the pupil to calm down, as this will have the opposite effect. Try to keep a measured tone and ensure what you are asking the pupil to do is clear, rational, calm, and politely and respectfully delivered. Maintain a physical distance from the pupil. When interacting with the pupil try to distract their attention from the issue at hand by asking them questions about their day, their favourite film, hobbies they may have etc. This is all part of trying to diffuse the situation and calming them down. It is important that you do not get sucked into an argument with the pupil or become combative with them as this will only serve to escalate the issue further. Keep in mind that reprimanding or sanctioning the pupil can always be done retrospectively if you choose to go down this route. In the immediate moment it is better to de-escalate and prevent the situation from spinning out of control and becoming more serious.

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38. A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION What You have recently taken over a large department comprised of fifteen members of staff. Right from the off, your new team have collectively told you that they felt unsupported by their previous leader and that there was no support for them in dealing with behaviour issues. The school has no real overall system in place, and the departmental approach has also been to leave teachers to fend for themselves and run their own detentions. You have responded swiftly to this issue and introduced a set of behavioural guidelines for the team to work to and instil in the pupils. You have also brought in a centralised detention system within the faculty, with each member of the team placed on a detention duty rota. Under the new system each teacher now only needs to undertake detention duty once every three weeks as opposed to every single day. This is a huge workload and time saver. However, one member of the team fundamentally disagrees with the approach that is being taken. They argue that this centralised approach will lead to staff passing the buck, and that it undermines the professionalism of the teachers within the department.

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NOW This is a matter that needs to be dealt with carefully and tactfully. But it does need to be dealt with. If you allow this situation to go unchecked – and this member of staff ’s concerns are not addressed – then they will most likely become even more disgruntled and disaffected. This could result in them being seriously off-side with you and your leadership and they could try to block or oppose actions that you subsequently take. Worse still, this member of staff could become a toxic and dissenting influence on other members of staff and encourage them to join in opposing you. My own approach would be to would meet with the staff member and hear them out. If you are aware of their precise concerns, then I would email the staff member something like the following: Dear Sam, I am aware that you are not entirely sold on the idea of a centralised departmental approach to behaviour. Since joining the team I have canvassed the views of the department to ascertain what needed to be done to move things on. Overwhelmingly behaviour and the lack of a departmental approach or system came out as the number one issue. I have sought to rectify this matter with a clear departmental subject based detention system, underpinned by a set of behavioural expectations that, as a team, we expect to see pupils engage in when they are taught by us. I had hoped that this would bring about increased consistency and reduce workload for the team. I am mindful that in running your own detentions you were all giving up your lunchtimes on a daily basis. Each member of the team now only needs to run one lunchtime detention every three weeks. I would welcome a constructive conversation with you about this. I am really keen to hear what you see the issues as, what proposals or

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alternatives you can bring to the table, and what solutions you have considered. Kind regards, Jill By sending an email like this you are setting the following expectations for your meeting: • You have shown that you want to listen and talk. • You are demonstrating that you have already sought people’s views before making any changes. • You are showing that you have brought in an approach to reduce workload as well as improve behaviour. • You are putting the onus on the critical member of staff to come to you with constructive alternatives and solutions. You are not inviting this member of staff to simply dismantle what you have done and have a whinge. • By taking a constructive approach you have invited them to do the same.

NEXT You must then meet with the member of staff and hear them out. It is really important that you follow through on making the time to meet with and listen to the member of your team. It is possible that they could come to you and apologise, saying that they struggle with change. In this case, you have potentially resolved the matter. Equally, the member of staff could come to you and be very challenging and critical. In this situation, be calm, patient, and listen but then make it clear why you have taken the approach that you have implemented. In the face of severe criticism put the onus back onto the challenging member of staff. Invite them to go away and research effective alternative approaches. Give them a timeframe to do this and offer a follow-up meeting where 153

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they can present this to you and – if you agree with what is brought to the table – empower them to share it with the team. Equally, the member of staff could come to you with considered and reasoned ideas. In this situation you must control your own ego and avoid being defensive. Keep an open mind, let them share their thoughts with you, listen and then make a decision. By taking on their input you may even be able to improve the department’s systems and implementation.

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39. EXTERNAL CRITICISM What You have recently taken over a new school in challenging circumstances. Behaviour is a big issue in this school, with staff complaining that lessons are unteachable. There is a core of pupils who seek to challenge everything and anything and engage in behaviours that represent fundamental safeguarding risks. As part of your approach, you have established a clear set of behavioural red lines over which you will suspend. So far this has calmed the school down, with staff, pupils, and parents positively commenting on the change in the school’s environment and atmosphere. You feel you have made some progress. However, you have come to work early this morning to find three separate letters on your desk. The first letter is from the Local Authority, citing your alarmingly high suspension rate and demanding a meeting with you. The second letter is from the Virtual School, stating that they are concerned by the ever-growing number of suspensions that Children in Looked After Care seem to be receiving in your school. The third letter is from your local MP, who wants to raise your awareness that a small group of local parents do not agree with how the school is being run and there is a perception growing that you are overly and unnecessarily strict.

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NOW When you receive multiple letters like this it can feel like nothing short of a coordinated campaign to influence or force you to alter the way in which you run your school. Invariably it is not. However, facing off multiple challenging concerns like this can feel like you have been boxed into a corner. In the here and now it is important to remember that this is not a personal assault or a dismantling of you and how you run the school. Each of these separate stakeholders are raising valid concerns and, ultimately, doing their job. For now, keep a cool and calm head and carefully assess why you have taken the approaches that you have taken.

NEXT When faced with challenges, such as those described above, it is important to think carefully and strategically. Consider doing the following: • Download an electronic copy of your behaviour and suspension/ exclusion policy and double check what the policy says and how it is worded. • Double check the minutes of the trust board meeting where the behaviour policy was agreed and ratified. Having been through this process means that your policy is legally binding. • Consult with pastoral and senior leaders to review the recent suspensions that have occurred and the reasoning as to why. Are there common threads and themes or patterns? • In cases where you have suspended pupils, detail the follow-on steps you have taken as a school to subsequently support these pupils. How have you helped them improve their behaviour and avoid making the same mistake again? Were these steps successful? 156

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Carefully consider and detail the overall impact of the sanction you have applied. • Gather details of whether your suspended pupils have then gone on to reoffend, and if so, how many. • If you have any legal concerns then get expert advice from your legal team on your policies and actions, and how to respond to each of the stakeholders that have written to you. • Always speak with your chair of governors, or, if you are in a MultiAcademy Trust setting, the executive head or equivalent. In short, you need to get your ducks in a row so that you can reply to these challenging letters from a fully informed standpoint. I would then invite each stakeholder body into the school to meet with you – I appreciate this can be time consuming – so that you can go over your approach, the ‘why’, the impact, and your follow-up work. This then puts the ball back in their court. In the meeting, I would also ask them directly how they can support the school and what solutions they can offer. Be open to their suggestions, but also remember these people are not in charge of the school, you are.

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40. THE CAR PARK AMBUSH What You have elected to work late to clear a backlog of marking and planning that has been building up and stay at the school until 6pm. The only other member of staff left in the building is the site agent. Everyone else has gone home. You pack up to go home and walk out the building, saying good night to the site agent. As you leave you notice that your car is not alone in the car park – although the other teachers have long since left – and a parent who has been waiting for you gets out and approaches. They demand to speak to you there and then, but you have to go home to meet another commitment by 7pm. The parent, whose child is in your tutor group, wants to raise a concern about the behaviour of the children in their child’s maths class.

NOW This is a worrying situation. You are on your own, outside the school, and beyond the regular channels of communication with parents. It is important that you remain in a well-lit part of the car park, ideally under CCTV, and remain at a physical distance from the parent. While all 159

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this may sound alarmist or negative you must first safeguard yourself – bluntly, I would stay close to my own car as you just never know how an unpredictable situation can escalate. It is important to be clear with the parent – though politely – that you need to go as you have a pressing evening engagement, and the school is now locked up for the evening. That said, I would also try to avoid being dismissive of the parent and their concern, as this will only serve to antagonise them further and make them feel as though you do not care. Be clear that you can speak for two minutes, but then you really do have to go home. Ask them to summarise the key concerns and issues that they have and then simply listen. Make little to no comment and absolutely no promises that you will sort or resolve this matter. Then ask the parent to put the concern or complaint that they have raised in an email to you and tell them that you will then come back to them as swiftly as possible.

NEXT You should keep the interaction with the parent short, and professional, and be clear that you really do have to go. Parents should not really do this. However, I fully appreciate that they sometimes do, and I have had this exact scenario happen to me on a number of occasions. In asking the parent to email you are putting the ball back into the parent’s court and reasserting the proper channels. If the issue is indeed important or serious then they will follow-up on this matter with something in writing. Once you are home you should email the head about this interaction in the car park. There is a safeguarding issue here. Parents should not be able to enter the school car park and accost you as they wish. While in this specific incident the parent in question was measured and understanding not all parents are. The head should write to parents to remind them that they cannot simply come to the school demanding meetings with no notice. There needs to be a clear protocol in place 160

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for parents to book in meetings with staff. There should also be regular reminders to parents of what the correct channels for liaising with the school are. When you receive the parental email take the time to read it over carefully. Thank the parent for sending the email, but also politely remind them (or make them aware) that in future this is the appropriate way to request a formal meeting in business hours with you. Reassure the parent that their concern will be dealt with – that you will take the matter up with the head of maths (as it concerns a member of their team), who will look into it further – and you will get back to them in due course.

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41. YOU TALK TOO MUCH What You have recently been observed teaching several classes. Following this, your head of department asks to see you and raises a concern about the level of pupil engagement in your classes. Their feeling is that you talk too much – and this is leading to the pupils appearing bored and complacent in your lessons. You are told that you need to add more variety to your lessons, with the pupils doing more and leading on the lesson activities.

NOW It is always important to consider your teaching strategies and lesson approach, but you also need to be very wary of false proxies for learning. Just because a lesson may appear to be active does not necessarily mean that the pupils have learnt something. It is always worth viewing the categories of passivity and activity through a critical lens. When you are weighing up how to approach your lessons you should also always consider the workload versus impact balance. Teacher-led activities and lessons often require less intense planning, and behaviour management tends to be tighter as you are directing students more 163

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explicitly, although they do mean that you will work very hard within the lesson itself. By comparison, a student lead or activity driven approach often requires a lot more planning and has greater scope to go wrong in terms of behaviour as students have greater freedom and the teacher is dividing their attention. Within the lesson the teacher tends to be more passive and more of a passenger. Each approach can have advantages and disadvantages. During a teacherled lesson you can direct what the pupils are doing from the front and there is far less scope for the pupils to learn misconceptions. This can ultimately lead to a greater efficiency of time, learning, and ‘bang for your buck’ so to speak. Alternately, a pupil orientated approach can lead to greater collaboration, and deeper learning. However, pupils can also easily drift and so there is a real need for pupils to come at this sort of lesson with a lot of prior knowledge if it is to be a successful use of time.

NEXT It is really important to consider the demographic of your class and what prior knowledge they have of the subject before picking what approach you will take. A class that is full of higher prior attaining pupils (notably a top set), is more likely to fly with a student-led lesson approach, whereas a lower prior attaining class is more likely to need the teacher to directly lead the lesson. It is absolutely worth considering the variety of the diet of activities and lessons that you offer your pupils and, at times, mixing up the approach is no bad thing. However, when you are considering – or are pushed to consider – a more balanced approach to lessons, think carefully about what that balance actually is, why it is appropriate, and what impact it could have on learning and behaviour.

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42. SEND What You teach a class that is predominantly made up of pupils with SEND. The behavioural needs of the class are challenging. Many other members of staff offer views and perspectives on this class to try and be supportive. The school’s SENDCo, however, has an unrealistic view of the group. They assert that every pupil should have their own individualised lesson approach that is differentiated to their bespoke needs and that you should adapt the school’s expectations to the pupils. You have tried to respond to the SENDCO’s advice/demands but the reality is that this approach is falling flat on its face. You are essentially left trying to plan twenty different lessons for each session with this class, and this is neither sustainable nor effective.

NOW The school’s systems, culture, and approaches should promote high standards of behaviour and support that allow all pupils – including SEND pupils – to succeed. It would, however, be professionally and morally wrong to deny that some pupils have learning difficulties 165

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associated with their Special Educational Needs and as a teacher you need to make reasonable adjustments to support these children. This does not mean that you should lower your expectations of what these children can achieve and are capable of. Nor does it mean that every misbehaviour is a manifestation of their Special Educational Need. It is worth considering carefully what the specific needs within this particular class are and if there is a commonality amongst the pupils. Teaching a class like this one comes down to finding a balance between the needs of the pupils and what you can deliver effectively and sustainably. You need to ensure that your classroom is calm, orderly, structured, safe, and purposeful. This level of certainty is what the majority of pupils with SEND will not just crave but require in order to make progress with their learning. They often cannot cope with uncertainty and continual change. Therefore, the more the teacher leads the lesson the better.

NEXT A class of this nature demands a deep knowledge of the curriculum and your subject matter. It also calls for strong classroom management and being well rehearsed. Lessons with a pupil profile of this nature need a teacher-led approach: the teacher presents some key factual knowledge in short bursts, models explicitly an activity or task, and then allows the pupils to engage with it. Then the teacher pulls the pupils back and repeats this process. The best way to consider this is a drill and release style approach, where the teacher holds the ball and then gently passes it to the class, then holds the ball and releases it again. You should not ask a class like this to go off and answer 30 questions unaided or write an essay without clear teacher input. When teaching a class like this you also need to consider where you will build in short breaks, as well as where you will allow the pupils to move, as some pupils may have difficulties with sitting and listening for extended periods of time. You also need to carefully consider where and how the 166

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pupils are sat: for example, children with visual or hearing impairments need to sit near the front of the class. A class like this is a huge professional challenge but also a really rewarding one.

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43. THE DIFFICULT PARENT What A pupil in your Year 9 history class is often off-task, looks continually disinterested, and does all that they can to avoid completing any of the work that is set. You decide that enough is enough and you phone the parents to see if you can gain their support. However, when you call the parents the father’s response is not what you expected. The father says that he is not surprised that his son is not interested in history as the subject is boring, rubbish, all in the past, and a total waste of time. Why should their son have to do any of the work set? The father is clear that their son will not be taking history as a GCSE (though all pupils have to choose between this subject and geography). They tell you that you need to manage the behaviour of their son and do your job and then hang up.

NOW It can feel really disempowering when a parent takes a highly unsupportive stance like this. Do not let the parental response phase you. This behaviour is wrong on the part of the parent and needs to be challenged. Equally, the pupil cannot simply be allowed to get away with behaving as they wish in 169

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your lessons and any poor behaviours that they display need to be dealt with and responded to appropriately. The first step is to address the lack of work directly with the pupil. This needs a combination of following the school’s behaviour policies but also taking the time to talk to the pupil to ascertain why they are not engaging. It is important that you speak with your head of department and the head of year about this situation. An off-side parent can have a really negative and toxic impact, especially if their child then subsequently believes that they have licence to misbehave as their parent will bail them out and defend them. This situation needs to be addressed head on.

NEXT Invite the parent into the school for a meeting with the head of department and the head of year present. While you may have to wave a white flag over convincing the parent of the merits of history as a subject – although that this is not to say that you should concede that the subject is irrelevant – you do need to hold firm on the school’s expectations. The parent needs to know that their child will be reprimanded according to the school’s policies and approach and deciding that they are not going to complete any class work is not an option. Be clear that this goes against the school’s rules and that their behaviour is also having a negative impact on the rest of the class. There are ultimately two options here. The first is to try and win the hearts and minds of both the parent and the pupil regarding the relevancy of your subject and how fascinating it can be. The other pathway is to dig your heels in and go down a very clear behavioural route. Judging which pathway to tread and how the parent will subsequently respond is the challenge here. You may well need senior leader support moving forwards. A tricky scenario.

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44. THE TEACHING ASSISTANT What In your Year 8 class there are two pupils with EHCPs. As part of their support, they have a teaching assistant attached to them. However, things are not working smoothly. The teaching assistant has a habit of talking to the pupils when you are addressing the class. They often contradict instructions that you give during your lessons and when you ask for silence the teaching assistant tells these two pupils not to worry, and that it is okay for them to talk to her. You often catch the teaching assistant doing the work for the pupils and as a result they are able to take a backseat in your lessons. The pupils do very little work and often these two pupils will distract other children from learning and engaging with the tasks you set. You are beginning to feel that you would be better off without the teaching assistant in the room and that they are undermining your authority.

NOW It is important that you do not address this matter with the teaching assistant during the lesson. This has the scope to go badly wrong and could lead – at worst – to a situation where the two of you end up in a 171

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heated exchange in front of the class. You do not want this. It is best to wait until the lesson ends and ask the teaching assistant to meet you after school to discuss the class, its behaviour, and its work ethic.

NEXT When you meet with the teaching assistant try and be diplomatic. Ask them what they think the climate for learning is like in the class, how much work they think the pupils are completing, what the behaviour is like within the class. Ask them what the work rate of the two children with EHCPs is like and how well the teaching assistant thinks they are behaving. The hope here is that this member of staff will also perceive that there is a problem and offer you observations that are accurate and reflective. Ideally you will then be able to establish a joint approach to the issues in the class. Of course, if they are not able to reflect on how they are (or in this case are not) supporting you then you have no choice but to tell them. Whenever there is another adult in the room you should both be aligned with one another and singing off the same page. It is important that as a duo you recognise what the issues are and, importantly, that you establish a joint set of values and expectations for the lessons where you work together. You need to agree on a common language, how you will jointly deal with issues as they arise in the classroom, and how you can pro-actively pre-empt issues. It is important that you both are accountable for the behaviour in the room but as the teacher you are ultimately in charge. What you are trying to achieve is a balance between the two of you and a clear understanding on both sides of how each of you operate. The teaching assistant is not your enemy and may well simply not know how you want to operate and run your lessons. You need to bring them on board with you. You also need to agree to meet frequently to talk about the group and about the curriculum. This way the teaching assistant will know what is coming up next and how to support you and the pupils. Ideally you want to forge a positive working relationship. 172

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45. A LACK OF CHARACTER What The head has requested to see you. She wants to change your leadership remit from teaching and learning to taking a lead on adopting a character development approach across the school. Although the school has good behaviour standards, she still feels they could be even better, and wants you to lift the school’s culture to the next level.

NOW Organisational culture and character development are big areas for any school – though arguably they should be a wholistic part of how any effective school operates rather than a short term ‘bolt on’ initiative. Before making any changes, it is important that you carefully consider the school's current approaches, behaviour and rewards policy, mission statement, values, and ethos. It is critical that you take the time to really delve into how far these varying elements are fully lived and breathed by all stakeholders within the school and to identify where there are gaps. In the first instance it pays to spend a good deal of time walking the school; to see what is going on, but from a different perspective than that 173

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of a teacher. It would also be worthwhile talking to staff and pupils to see if they know the school’s values, mission statement, and rules. I would also ask both staff and pupils why they think those different elements are in place and what purpose they serve.

NEXT If you are really going to drive culture change and character development across your school, then you need to consider the following factors: • What are the school’s key values? Are they well defined and understood by all? Are these clearly displayed across the school? Are they part of the day-to-day dialogue that underpins how everyone speaks? • Is the school’s behaviour policy informed by the school’s values? Do pupils and staff understand that there is a set of reasons and virtues that underpin how you want pupils to behave, and critically, why those behaviours are valued? • You need to positively reinforce the behaviours and character traits you want pupils to display. This can be supported by a weekly character focus or theme; regular assemblies themed around specific virtues; a clear tutor time programme that educates the pupils about the school’s virtues; messaging when doing line-ups; and a shared and consistent common language in school messaging more generally. • Another area that can help to support the development of character is the creation of a house system. If you do not have one in place, then this is worth considering. • Parents should also be communicated with on a regular basis regarding your character approach and how they can help to support this at home. • It is also worth considering carefully how you narrate the importance of manners and how you train your pupils to display these important traits. 174

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An important element of character education is positive reinforcement. You should constantly narrate to the pupils which positive qualities you want to see in them; as opposed to dwelling on negative qualities that you want to avoid. It is also key to platform, praise, and celebrate where your pupils are doing well. This helps to perpetuate a positive climate. The more time you take to model, train, and repeat the behaviour you want to encourage and celebrate where it has been achieved the better. Ultimately, you are trying to create a culture where the pupils embrace good behaviour because it is the right thing to do, rather than because they are fearful of being reprimanded and sanctioned.

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46. FRIDAY PERIOD FIVE What On a Friday period five you have a bottom set Year 8 science class. The class have been pooled together because of their behaviour rather than their ability. As a result, you have several challenging pupils in your class set who often bounce off one another. Your lesson is timetabled straight after PE and the pupils regularly arrive ten to fifteen minutes late, and often in a frantic and flustered state. Colleagues suggest that you should teach more active lessons to put the onus on the pupils and that you just need to get through the lesson as swiftly as you can; after all it is a Friday period five!

NOW First and foremost, it is important that you do not compromise your standards and expectations. You need to tackle the pupils who are late to your lessons, and you must maintain an approach that ensures that pupils are learning and making progress. You cannot simply take the view that it is Friday period five; so the expectations that are upheld during the other twenty four periods of the week no longer apply. This sends all the wrong 177

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messages to your pupils. That said, you may want to consider the balance between a teacher and a pupil led approach to the lessons. You may need to go through a process of trial and error to get the balance between these two approaches right with a class like this.

NEXT There are several issues at play here, which need to be addressed and dealt with. Each of these requires you to be brave and confident enough to tackle it. These are: • You need to speak with your head of department about the makeup and composition of your class. Setting can work well as an approach; but you are being undermined as a teacher if your class is put together purely because the pupils will not behave anywhere else. Managing a class like this becomes crowd control, not teaching. • The PE department need to be spoken with about the punctuality of the pupils arriving at your class. Are their lessons running late? Or is it the pupils taking excessively lengthy periods of time to get changed? It may be that PE lessons are finishing on time and pupils are simply dragging their heels in getting to your lesson. You need to be tactful with this conversation and not accusatory. • If the pupils are deliberately arriving late to your lesson, then this needs to be dealt with via the school behaviour/sanction system. You may well need pastoral support to deal with the number of pupils arriving late to your lessons. • There is also an issue regarding the expectations that are held by some of your colleagues. If the general view in the staffroom is that you should not worry or bother about this class because it is scheduled for Friday period five, then there are low expectations in circulation. These can have a very damaging impact on the culture of a department and school. Consider that this one period amounts to thirty nine hours of teaching a year. The bar needs to 178

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be raised but how you set about doing that is up to you. I would start by working on cementing your own expectations with your own class and show your colleagues what is possible on a Friday period five.

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47. THE FIRST AID INCIDENT What You are in the middle of a drama lesson and a pupil jumps in the air. As they land their leg buckles under them, and they then begin to scream. You heard a loud cracking sound as they hit the floor, and you are fearful that the pupil may have broken their leg. The pupil is on the floor in agony, screaming, crying, and shouting for help.

NOW This is an awful situation to find yourself in, especially if you are not first aid trained. You need to act swiftly: • Firstly, tell two pupils to run to reception to say that you have an emergency in your classroom – with a suspected broken leg – and need a first aider immediately. They also need to ask for a cover supervisor or another member of staff to supervise your class, who you are about to move. • Secondly, instruct your class to leave the room and stand in the corridor or to go to an empty room nearby (if there is one).

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• At no point should you move the injured pupil, as this could cause more harm than good. • Do not, under any circumstance, remove any footwear that the pupil may have on, as again this could make matters worse. • Keep speaking to the pupil in a calm and collected tone, asking them questions to distract them from what has happened and the pain that they are in.

NEXT Once the first aider arrives explain to them in a clear, calm, and slow manner what has happened and what you believe the issue to be. Then, let them take control of the situation and follow their lead. Ideally the first aider’s focus should be on the pupil, so if you can assist with calling an ambulance, notifying reception, or calling the parents of the child, then do. This will free the first aider to do their job. First aid emergencies like the one described above are hugely distressing for you, the pupil in question, and the class. Once the first aider takes over and an ambulance arrives you need to check in on your class to ensure that they are okay. You may need to offer support and a listening ear to some of the pupils. There may well be pupils looking to you for assurance. Equally, there may be a need to contact home and it is worthwhile liaising with pastoral staff here. First aid issues are a little like safeguarding: if you are not sufficiently trained to the appropriate level then your role is to recognise the issue and refer it (arguably this is easier with first aid than safeguarding). As much as you may want to get directly involved it is best to leave this to a specially trained member of staff. You should familiarise yourself with your school’s first aid policy and approach.

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48. CALLING OUT AND NOT LISTENING What During your recent lessons with one class, you have noticed two linked issues. When you engage the class in question-and-answer sessions not all of the pupils appear to be listening. You also have pupils simply calling out answers to questions. Your current approach is for pupils to raise their hands and for you to decide who answers. These trends are leading to lessons becoming increasingly dysfunctional.

NOW Both calling out and not listening are harmful to the overall learning environment of your classroom and your ability to teach effectively. You need to get a grip on both issues – and swiftly. Let’s take each one in turn.

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Calling out When you ask the class a question and a pupil calls out an answer you should not accept it. Instead, you should correct the pupil for calling out. For example: Teacher: What was the most important reason why Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933? Pupil (Sam): The Wall Street Crash. Teacher: That is a great response Sam – but in this classroom we don’t call out – even if you have a good response to the question that has been asked. You must put your hand up and wait patiently and politely. Can you please put your hand up and I will come back to you once I have allowed the pupils who have their hands up to answer the question first.

Not listening Not listening can take several guises. It may well be that the pupils are simply not listening when you or other pupils are talking. Essentially, they are not giving their attention to the lesson and whoever is meant to be speaking. This is both rude and undermining. In this situation you want all pupils to sit up right, fold their arms, put their pens on the table and look at the person who is speaking. I call this ‘show me your best.’ You need an approach in your lessons whereby you are creating the conditions that maximise the likelihood of pupils actively paying attention to the person who is speaking in your class. It could be that a pupil has drifted in your lessons. They look like they are listening but in actual fact they are not listening. They have not taken on board what you have said. This issue also needs addressing, but you should not simply give the pupil the answer, for example: Teacher: Class, now I want you to answer questions 1-3 from page 22. You have 15 minutes to do this in silence. Sam, what do you need to do? Sam (looks at you blankly): Sorry, I am not too sure what I need to do, I wasn’t really paying attention.

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Teacher: Can someone please come to Sam’s aid and tell him what we are doing. Sam, I am going to check on you later in the lesson and ask you a question about the next task that we are doing. If you don’t pay attention again you will need to stay behind at break. The aim of this interaction is to put the onus onto the pupil to listen. Do not repeat the instructions for the pupil. If you repeat what you have asked them to do you are undermining both yourself and the notion that the class should be listening to your every word.

NEXT You need to take the time to plan, practice, and rehearse your routines and scripts for ensuring that the pupils that you teach participate in your lessons. If you want your class to retain a key piece of knowledge, then you can use vocal drills. First tell the class what the key point is, then get the class to repeat it out loud multiple times. You should always aim for 100% participation, with every single member of the class speaking out loud. At first this approach may feel alien – for both you and the pupils – but it will become habitual. Once this becomes an established norm you are likely to find that pupils participate more in your lessons and do not drift. Speaking out loud in this manner will also increase pupil confidence and pay dividends with the overall quality of their written work. In the longer run, I would consider moving on from a ‘hands up’ approach within your lessons. Instead, when you engage your pupils in a questionand-answer session tell the class that you will be picking pupils at random to respond. This forces the class to pay attention and participate. If a pupil refuses to, or cannot, give an answer, then go to a pupil who can. However, you should then come back to that original pupil and get them to try to answer the question again once they have listened to the pupils who have spoken and absorbed the information and knowledge that is being discussed. Not knowing may be something you can forgive but it should not be something you ignore.

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Throughout all of your lessons you should always seek total pupil participation. Anything less than this erodes your expectations.

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49. OUTRIGHT RUDE IN YOUR LESSON What You are in the middle of teaching a class and are narrating what you would like the pupils to do next. One pupil is not really paying attention and they do all that they can to disengage from the lesson. You ask the pupil to stop talking and to pay attention. Their response is a curt no. You ask them again to do as you have directed. The pupil again says no. You repeat your instruction a third time. This time they roll their eyes, yawn, and turn their back to you.

NOW The temptation when faced with a situation like this is to bite. For most of us our first instinct here is to snap, to raise our voice, or even shout. We might feel that we must assert – or in this case reassert – our authority over the defiant pupil. We might also fear that it appears to the class that we have been compromised by the pupil, and their behaviour must be addressed, or the other students will think we are weak. 187

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The reality is that you are going to come off worse if you engage further with this pupil in the here and now. If you continue to address the defiant pupil, in an attempt to force them to behave, conform, or to fall back in line, they are very likely to push back. The more oxygen you give this situation the more it will flare up. The best thing you can do – for now – is to tactically ignore the defiant pupil, continue to teach the class and keep them on track, and then consider how you will deal with the disobedience. If you go for the pupil publicly, they are likely to publicly humiliate you.

NEXT When you tactically ignore a pupil’s poor behaviour like this, then it is critically important that you follow-up and address the issue. As said above, in this situation I would continue to teach the class, as long as the pupil in question does not bring the lesson into disrepute. Then as you dismiss the class, invite them to stay behind, and talk to them about their behaviour. There is a possibility that this pupil will either refuse to stay behind or will simply not engage with you. In that case you will have to follow your school’s behaviour policy and refer this upwardly. However, if the pupil does engage with you then you have to clearly address with them how inappropriate their behaviour is and sanction this accordingly, as per your school’s behaviour policy. What I would suggest, though, is that there may well be something else at play here. There could be a safeguarding issue, and I would refer this matter to the designated safeguarding lead just to be on the safe side. Following a conversation with the safeguarding lead it may be worth phoning home to speak to the parents of the pupil to raise your concerns about their behaviour. If their behaviour persists then you will need to invite the parents into the school, with a more senior member of staff present, to address the matter. At all times throughout this process, it is important to maintain your professional decorum with the pupil, no matter how under your skin this situation may get.

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50. READING AS A CLASS What You have given your students an academic article to read collectively as part of a whole-class activity. However, as you get into the activity and begin to question the pupils about the text it becomes clear that many of the pupils have not been actively engaging with the reading and have instead drifted off-task. Most of the reading has been conducted by you and although the pupils have the article in front of them, they are only vacantly looking at the document.

NOW Situations like this are frustrating as reading within the context of a lesson is critically important. You have two options. Firstly, you could elect to bring the task to a halt and transition to something different. This means accepting that this activity has not really worked as effectively as you would have wished. However, you could argue that this is reinforcing a culture of low expectations, and while being agile and adaptive has its place in the classroom, so does ensuring that pupils engage. Your second choice is to start the activity again, insisting that pupils follow the text with a pen and 189

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underline and define key words. You could also randomly ask every pupil to read a line or a sentence, so they all have to pay attention.

NEXT Next time you try to engage your class in an activity like this, you will want to establish a set of parameters to ensure that the task works, and the pupils are engaged. When you issue the pupils with an article it would be worthwhile also giving them a ruler and a highlighter pen. The ruler is important as you want the pupils to lay this underneath the very first sentence and follow (or track) the text as you read over the article. The highlighters are so that you can instruct the class to mark key words in the text, which you can then define together. You can then carefully use questioning to ensure all pupils are engaged with the reading. Ideally, you should place the text under a visualiser (if you have access to one) so that the pupils are in no doubt as to what is being read. Then, when you annotate the text, you can model this for the pupils under the visualiser, which makes it a lot easier for the class to follow. However, when you are explaining a term or phrase, or giving a definition etc., make sure that the pupils put their pens down and are paying attention to you. If you are highlighting and defining a term, then the pupils will focus their attention on writing the information down or taking notes. It is important that before you read further or narrate something else to the class, the pupils have finished annotating or taking notes and are once more giving you their full attention. I would also be wary of always reading the text out loud yourself as the teacher, and instead prompt randomly chosen pupils to read, which will keep students on their toes.

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CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Throughout the course of this book, I have presented you with fifty key scenarios faced by teachers across a range of career levels from class teachers to middle leaders, senior leaders, and even head teachers. They involve issues from uniform infractions and classroom management, to bullying, dealing with parents, SEND, and facing criticism from external stakeholders. Broad as the selection is, these scenarios are by no means an exhaustive list of the situations that you or I may face at some point in our careers. If you have read this book cover to cover, you may be thinking: why has Sam not talked about ABC or covered XYZ? I have elected to talk about episodes that have either happened to me in my own professional life, or that I have had to advise colleagues and peers on. They reflect the daily reality of the job. Teaching is hard work. I hope that my experiences, thoughts, and reflections will provide useful food for thought for other teachers. There may well be scenarios in this book which you have experienced yourself, or others which you hope that you will never encounter. Reading them you may well have thought to yourself, I would have done this to your that Sam. That is absolutely fine, but hopefully my take has given you a different perspective to draw upon. I have deliberately kept the examples short and to the point, with clear practical advice. I hope that this book will serve as a reference point or sounding board for your own practice, as well as providing you with some neat training materials to enhance your own professional development, or 191

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that of your colleagues should you choose to share these scenarios with them. There are various toolkits available as frameworks to approach behaviour issues, be it the Educational Endowment Foundation’s Improving Behaviour in Schools or Charlie Taylor’s Getting the Simple Things Right.4 When I think about behaviour, I take the view that the role of the adults – the staff – is crucial in developing a calm, safe, and purposeful environment for the pupils in a school. The role of the adults is to define, set, and establish clear boundaries and then ensure that these are upheld. Within any given school, the role of the head is to create the behavioural approach, systems, processes, and policies drawing on relevant input from the governors, the Multi-Academy Trust (if applicable), and the senior team. The role of senior and middle leaders is to serve as a vanguard for that culture once the head has defined it. The role of the teaching staff – beyond just teaching the academic curriculum – is to communicate the expectations, routines, values, norms, rules, and culture of the school to the pupils and ensure that this also forms part of the taught curriculum. There are a number of useful questions to consider when thinking about behaviour and behaviour management within your school, as follows: • What are your fundamental values and are they aligned to those of the school? • Who are you? Where did you come from? What was your upbringing? What virtues have been instilled in you? What do you want for the children you serve? • What are your non-negotiables? We all have them. • What are your moral values? • What comes from your heart? • What are your standards? 4 Educational Endowment Foundation (2019), Improving Behaviour in Schools: Six recommendations for improving behaviour in schools, available at: https:// educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/behaviour; Charlie Taylor (2011), Getting the Simple Things Right: Charlie Taylor’s behaviour checklists, available at: https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Docs/PDF/Resident/Education/EducationalSupport/TESS/Charlie-Taylor-checklist.pdf 192

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• How will you help children become independent and capable of standing on their own two feet? • How will you ensure that the children you teach are ready for the real world when they leave secondary school? • What are your views on making allowances for poor behaviour and poor decision making? • At what point do you think children should take personal responsibility for their behaviour? • To what extent do you believe in being empathetic? The exact answers to these questions will vary from one reader to the next and are very personal to us as individuals. We may not unanimously agree on the answers and that is perfectly fine. However, it is important to consider these questions, as they will all have a bearing on how you approach the job of being an educator and hopefully a ‘Children’s Champion.’ Your responses will also shape how you deal with your pupils when they make a mistake, get things wrong, and misbehave. Whatever our views and differences may be, I am sure we can all agree that teaching children and supporting their character development to display good behaviour is hard but ultimately rewarding work. An area that is often forgotten when we think about behaviour is the end product. What are we trying to achieve with our pupils. It is one thing to say: ‘well, they need to obey and follow the rules.’ But why? What do our behavioural approaches actually achieve beyond helping teachers manage their classrooms? Is conformity desirable for its own sake? Do we want children to develop phronesis (practical wisdom), displaying good judgment and excellent character/habits when no one is watching them? In other words, do we want to develop in children a sense that they should behave because it is the right thing to do morally as opposed to merely because they have to? While this book is about behaviour scenarios and not explicitly about character education and the development of character it would be remiss to think that the two are not entwined and directly linked to one another. When I think about what is needed to be a good teacher – to be effective at behaviour management – I think of the following key traits, skills, and strategies. You could call these the Strickland checklist or the 11 Rs: 193

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• Reliable: Are you consistent in your application of the rules – both those of the school and your own classroom – so all pupils know where they stand with you and what you stand for? • Resilient: Teaching is hard work. You have to perform and entertain (though not like a circus clown) in every single lesson. You will take knockbacks and you need to be able to dust yourself off, bounce back, and come back more enthused than before. • Resolute: You have to be able to see things through to their conclusion and mean what you say. This is key to being taken seriously. • Rewards: You have to offer proportionate, direct, and relevant praise. Everyone thrives off being rewarded. Why would children be any different? They need to know that you value their work, ideas, and contributions in your lessons. • Relationships: Relationships are crucial to all that we do in schools. They don’t happen by magic. They take effort and consistency. A foundation of clear systems will give you a fighting chance of building relationships with each of the pupils that you teach. • Routines: Classroom routines are amongst the best tools to establish a clear and certain set of norms in your lessons. These provide pupils with the confidence and security to take academic risks rather than behavioural ones. • Reconnaissance: Are you prepared to take the time to find out more about challenging and troubled pupils? Those who appear to be misbehaving for the fun of it, may actually have deep rooted needs that require your attention, care, and professionalism. • Research: Are you prepared to read up on the topic of behaviour, speak to colleagues, visit other schools (assuming your own school allows for this), and find out as much as you can about this allimportant area of teaching? • Relatable: Can pupils relate to the learning in your lessons. Can you bring it to life with relevant examples that really engage their enthusiasm? • Real: Are you true to yourself and who you are as both a person and a teacher? Your personality plays a key role within teaching 194

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and how you harness it – as well as recognise and develop areas you may struggle with – is key to your success. • Role model: Do you model and embody the behaviours that you want to see in school. Do you adopt a positive frame of mind with your pupils? Once an issue has occurred and you have dealt with it do you then wipe the slate clean with that student and give them a chance to succeed?

reliable role model

resiliant

real

relatable

resolute

EFfective Behaviour Management

rewards

relationships

research

recoNnaiSsance

routines

The Strickland Checklist (or 11 Rs)

There are those out there who think we should excuse poor behaviour, or who see every single behavioural issue as an unmet need, a form of 195

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communication, or a manifestation of something deeper that requires a label. In some cases, this may be true, but in all cases, no – though as I’ve said above troubled pupils with deep needs or issues deserve care and professionalism. We should never condone poor behaviour. The bigger challenge is the need to keep going, to persevere, and find the answers to resolve things when they go wrong. Should we give up? Well, like Maverick, I say ‘not today!’ (Top Gun Maverick, 2022).

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