SEPT-DEC 2023 ISSUE - Flipbook - Page 37
Improving the school/home
partnership
Findings from the National Behaviour
Survey, reveal that only 52% of
teachers surveyed felt ‘fairly confident’
communicating with parents about
their child's behaviour and 12% of
teachers were not confident.
Whilst on the other side of the coin,
52% of parents reported that the
school only communicated with them
about their child’s behaviour when
there was an issue, with 80% reporting
they don’t hear from the school about
the topic at all.
And although most of the teachers and
school leaders felt that parents were
largely supportive of school behaviour
rules, 35% of teachers did not agree.
How then can schools engage with
parents more effectively? Is it time to
move away from only contacting
parents when there is a behaviour
issue?
Receiving a timely text message from
school to let a parent know their child
has just received a kind pupil award
or scored full marks in a maths test
instead, gives them the opportunity
to congratulate and reward the pupil
when they get home.
It can help set and reinforce
expectations about expected
behaviour at school and strengthen
the links between home and school.
This can make it easier for the teacher
to have a more difficult conversation
with parents about their child’s
behaviour should the need arise.
Personal communication can have
much greater impact than a generic
email sent home as a reminder of the
school’s behaviour policy. Research
shows that parents are more likely to
read a short text message rather than
an email or a letter that can get easily
get mislaid or overlooked.
Spot the changes in pupil
behaviour early
New research by the University of
Cambridge has found, “school leaders
in England feel compelled to continue
using a system of escalating punitive
measures to manage student
behaviour, even though they
recognise it
fails some pupils.” Whilst ‘restorative
practices’ such as ‘constructive
conversations’ over traditional
punishments like detentions have been
recently blamed for undermining
teacher authority in Scottish schools.
Both approaches are at the sharper end
of the behaviour management process,
a stage that schools want to avoid if
possible. What if there is a better way
to help teachers spot signs in a pupil’s
behaviour at an earlier stage so they
can act and prevent things before they
escalate?
Reinforcing what good
behaviour looks like
How we behave can sometimes simply
come down to how others see us. If
pupils only receive attention when
their behaviour in school is negative it
can leave them feeling disengaged and
on a roundabout of poor behaviour.
Imagine their delight instead if their
headteacher sees them around school
and makes the effort to congratulate
them for getting their homework in on
time or praise them for their
participation in class.
Small tells in a pupil’s behaviour, such
as a child shouting out in class, using a
mobile in lessons, or regular absence
on certain days can give teachers an
early indication that something might
not be right with the pupil. They might
be having an issue with peer pressure
or problems at home.
There is often great emphasis placed
on recording details of the negative
behaviour that goes on in school to
help flag where investment is needed
to prevent it. This approach has its
place, but it is just as important to
capture details of positive pupil
conduct.
Or a lack of engagement in lessons
could indicate an undetected
special need, or due to the cost-ofliving crisis, the pupil doesn’t have the
right equipment to participate fully in
the activities being set and acts out.
Technology can help by enabling
teachers to record all behavioural
incidences centrally within the school’s
management information system.
Automatic alerts can then be set up so
that notifications arrive directly to staff
members’ mobile device when certain
criteria are reached.
If teachers can spot changes in pupil
behaviour early, then schools can
uncover the reasons behind it and
take appropriate action to nip things
in the bud. In a recent controlled trial
involving over 9,000 students across 22
schools in the UK, which was conducted as part of a broader study on
absenteeism, the trial found that simple text messages letting parents know
how many days of school their child
had missed, delivered at the right time,
boosted the proportion of students
maintaining good attendance (95%+)
by 4 percentage points.
And greater insight into why
behavioural incidents happen across
the whole school can help schools
target budgets and resources more
effectively, or positively divert pupils to
reduce the problem.
For example, if you know scuffles
between pupils tend to break out
between certain year groups during
Friday afternoon, then maybe
reviewing the timetable or allocated
classrooms could eliminate the issue
altogether.
This also supports reward schemes,
such as pupil medals or class-based i
nitiatives where positive conduct
points can be swapped for sports
equipment or extra time in the playground with friends. The gamification
of positive behaviour helps to motivate
children and makes it more fun.
In the recently published National
Behaviour Survey, both primary and
secondary teachers reported that on
average, over six minutes out of every
30-minute lesson are lost because of
misbehaviour. Whilst dealing with
misbehaviour is cited as negatively
affecting “the wellbeing of teachers,
and, for some, it is the reason why they
leave the profession.”
Taking a more holistic approach to
behaviour management based on
pupil insight will support teachers to
better engage with parents and pupils
and encourage a more collaborative
approach to creating a calm and
positive learning environment for
everyone.