In this essay, I will critically contrast and compare main approaches to behaviour management and their examples of implementation within schools and youth centres. I will discuss how effective teaching and effective management of behaviour go hand in hand within the classroom environment.
Behaviour management is described as the tension between student ‘freedom’ and classroom ‘discipline’ (Palmer 2007). It is a teacher’s role to implement strategies in place to provide a learning environment which is safe and disciplined to ensure effective learning for all students. There are various theories in regards to effective ways in which a teacher can promote good behaviour as well as diminishing negative behaviour within the classroom. Classroom management includes teaching of rules, behaviours and expectations as well as cognitive development of students and provisions in place for SEN students who may be in particularly disruptive such as ADHD or Autism children. However, it must be addressed that not all challenging or withdrawn behaviours imply that a child has a Special Education Need. There may be other factors that need to be assessed for poor behaviour from a child, these include whether there are underlying factors as such learning difficulties such as dyslexia, a child may find it hard to concentrate and as a result become disruptive as they cannot adhere to receiving knowledge the same as their peers. Additionally, communication difficulties or mental health issues or even bullying may cause behavioural issues for a child within the classroom environment. On the other hand, external factors such as housing or family circumstances may play as a factor or even child abuse therefore the child finds it easier to express emotion in the classroom rather than at home.
Ultimately, it is crucial for teachers to have an early intervention when these behaviours are expressed to prevent the problem escalating further and if this persists, it is the schools responsibility to consider whether SEN is possible for the child, this way behaviour can be managed via planning and reviews. Planning is a crucial part in a SEN child’s development especially for behavioural management. Slavin (2006) suggests that the plan assesses individual needs and what actions need to be put in place to achieve outcomes. This should be reviewed at least yearly to ensure coherent management for development for SEN children; it should include development goals and targets.
Biological theories suggest why a child may be disruptive or behave a certain way. According to Wilmhurst (2017) abnormal behaviour can be viewed through a medicalised perspective and understood as a mental illness and that the problem could be located in chemical or anatomical dysfunctions of the brain or genetics. There is emphasis on symptoms and diagnosis and biological, physiological and genetic factors that impact upon human behaviour. Abnormalities in brain development and neurochemistry could be a biological factor of behaviour, it is possible that the future research may explain a good deal more on human behaviour biological or hereditary basis. Currently, however, only a small part of the vast quantity of human behaviour can be explained in this way (Alberto and Troutman 2013).
Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Oppositional Defiance disorder, Impulse control disorder, Internet gaming disorder, all are undiagnosed or diagnosed conditions that may cause challenging behaviour. However, it must be diagnosed through medicalised perspectives, Pathology which refers to an abnormal situation that needs to be cured, Syndrome which refers to different kinds of pathology consisting of a number of symptoms and Diagnosis which are syndromes that are diagnostic categories usually linked to psychological dysfunctions. There are provisions in place to help SEN students manage behaviour by managing their school environment. It is solely a teacher’s role as they must monitor SEN’s thinking about new concept and be aware if any resistance of positive behaviour. The teacher should provide a form of assessment to the SEN to reveal progress and cognitive development, additionally introducing a variety of forms of practical education to enable focus of the SEN student.
The new SEND code of practice focuses on the individual as well as enabling parents, children and young people to express their views and wishes to be involved in decisions, it is also easy for them to understand and highlight their strengths and capabilities, it additionally allows them to communicate their achievements and desired outcomes. Additionally, helping to bring together relevant professionals to deliver an outcomes-focused and coordinated plan (Norwich and Eaton 2015). However, Armstrong et al (2010) suggests that Special Education has been used to filter out certain children as a safety net for managing and containing potentially troubled and troublesome group of students. Cooper (2008) argues that those who illustrate ADHD as a social construct to describe disruptive and a range if interventions to control it deny its biological foundations and doing so fail to understand it as the ‘product of a complex interaction between the biological and social-environmental’ factors. As challenging or withdrawn behaviour does not necessarily imply an SEN.
Students with learning difficulties are more likely to experience depression, loneliness, anxiety, somatic conditions and low self esteem as well as incidences of victimization and social skills deficits and feelings of frustration and aggressive behaviour which may be experienced in the classroom as they may anticipate failure and not care about education therefore teachers need to implement management of behaviour to help aid these students. Students with learning difficluties have a lower academic self concept than their peers (Bryan et al 2004). Skinner’s Operant Conditioning theory (Skinner 1938) suggests one should observe causes of behaviour and apply either positive reinforcement for example form of praises and rewards that are given to individuals after displaying desirable behaviour or negative reinforcement for example a punishment or telling off after displaying undesired behaviour. Child (1995) supports this, explaining how the system has been used to modify the behaviour of children who are SEN, misbehaving or attention seeking using methods such as modelling, shaping and token economies. SEN children with ADHD who attention seek may put up with mild negative reinforcement as they may like the attention therefore, teachers are to plan appropriate consequences adhering to their individual education plan.
Graham (2006) characterizes the contemporary phenomenon of ADHD as a symptom of pathologies of schooling, whereby schooling is portrayed as a site of disciplinary power via ab-normalisation of child behaviour, teachers use this as an excuse of schooloing failure in the form of sick or somewhat bad therefore punishable child. Diagnostic categories fail to describe serious problems in young children’s lives. The use of classification system may lead to the idea that children with a disability or mental health diagnosis are subject to a very different theory of human development and as a result they need entirely different approaches to education and discipline compared to those without disabilities. Children with autism may find that they have to fight unfair treatment because they are not perceived as normal by their peers. They be bullied through physical violence or verbal abuse as a result act out in the classroom due to frustration. It is important for the teacher to implement an inclusive education environment within the classroom for those with SEN such as Autism to feel ‘normal’ like their peers. It is important to understand the interaction of emotional problems and learning disabilities and the impact of the child’s functioning and academic achievement. It is relatively common for people with a learning disability to develop behaviour that challenges (Pilling et al 2015) therefore reserve drugs as treatment option for severe aggression or self injury and only in combination with behavioural, cognitive behavioural or psychosocial intervent (Pilling et al 2015) it is recommended to question the use of medication after appropriate teaching and classroom management techniques have been used correctly for a reasonable amount of time and proved ineffective (Salend 2008) and the use of effective instruction and behaviour management will allow to establish learning goals and monitor their learning.
There are many implementations that can happen in professional contexts to deal and manage behaviours. Action orientated approaches such as ensuring an inclusive classroom through differentiated instruction and universal design for learning as well as specialist pedagogical approaches and emerging theories and evidence based teaching strategies.
Applied behaviour analysis can be implemented to monitor root causes of bad behaviour through the use of Antecedent – events or interactions that happen before behaviour occurs, Behaviour- behaviour or sequence which has occurred, Consequence – events or interactions which happen after the behaviour. Schools should additionally implement behaviour contracts or rules between the school and student this is important as it is a guideline to develop positive behaviour as well as involving children’s perspectives allowing children to feel valued and safe and more likely to exhibit positive behaviour. Additionally, by manipulating environmental variables perpetuates positive behaviour and eradicates negative behaviour which means changing the environment not the student therefore not individualising the student but rather promoting inclusiveness as well as positive behaviour management.
Managing behaviour should be relevant to specific act of negative behaviour. Roa and Haydon (2011) explain the ‘behaviour specific praise’ or BSP which is a positive reinforcement strategy used by teachers to decrease disruptive behaviours and assist in creative a positive learning environment. This means rather than utilising prevention strategies for behaviour management such as detentions or disciplinary methods; BSP enables teachers to command a more positive student behaviour across the classroom and improve social skills and even teacher-student relationships. Similarly, token economies where we acknowledge children’s behaviours and provide incentives to reinforce positive behaviour.