Great behaviour is the best foundation for great learning. Ask the naughtiest student you know whether they agree, and they’ll nod wisely and say whatever the teenagers’ 2022 equivalent of ‘Absolutely!’ is. If you ask a follow-on question, they may also say their own behaviour is actually pretty good, thank you, and it’s mostly ‘some other kids’ who behave badly; lack of self-knowledge can be a big obstacle to improving behaviour in schools.
All schools have improvement plans, but many of them don’t appear to include a priority to improve the students’ behaviour. Although it’s possible that behaviour is simply exemplary in those schools, in my experience there’s always room for improvement, and achieving it can pay dividends for students’ learning.
Improving behaviour involves doing two things: first, getting the basics right, and second, getting ‘behaviour for learning’ right. Getting the basics right isn’t always easy in extraordinarily busy State schools where, for example, new staff and new students may arrive very regularly; but getting behaviour for learning right is the greater challenge.
Managing behaviour is the job of all teachers and other staff with student-facing roles, but school leaders have a particular responsibility for setting the standards, establishing the policies and routines, and supporting their colleagues in implementing them. Simplicity and clarity are key to success, as is leaders’ support for staff – a good rule of thumb is that the newest/least experienced/weakest teacher in the school should still have the opportunity to teach well because the school has got the basics right.
Getting behaviour for learning right involves going far beyond the basics, because compliance is no guarantee of great learning. Having all of the ingredients for making a great cake is no guarantee of ending up with a great cake, alas – I say this with the zeal and the mixed experience of a keen hobby-baker (one small gift to me from the pandemic)!
Great behaviour for learning includes basics such as good punctuality and attendance, following the rules, not distracting others, following instructions first time, and so on – but then, having an ethos where students typically choose to:
Work hard in every lesson. Even in subjects they are less keen on, the students don’t waste learning time.
Look for feedback on their work, and take it on board, so they can improve it – for example, if they score 31 out of 40 on a test, they want to know where they ‘lost’ those 9 marks. It matters.
Work hard on homework because they know it helps their learning; they aren’t doing it just because they have to.
Go over key learning regularly to make it stick, by self-quizzing and taking tests and filling in the gaps in learning that those activities uncover.
Do everything as well as they can, always trying to improve on their previous best. And aiming high.
Which begs the big question, of course, of how we develop that ethos, to ensure our students’ behaviour for learning is great – that’s at least a whole other blog.
Great behaviour for learning really matters because it’s the key to great learning; and great learning is what we all want.
