Teaching Standard 7: “Manage behaviour effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment”

The standard

have clear rules and routines for behaviour in classrooms, and take responsibility for promoting good and courteous behaviour both in classrooms and around the school, in accordance with the school’s behaviour policy
have high expectations of behaviour, and establish a framework for discipline with a range of strategies, using praise, sanctions and rewards consistently and fairly
manage classes effectively, using approaches which are appropriate to pupils’ needs in order to involve and motivate them
maintain good relationships with pupils, exercise appropriate authority, and act decisively when necessary.

Learn that…

Establishing and reinforcing routines, including through positive reinforcement, can help create an effective learning environment.
A predictable and secure environment benefits all pupils, including younger pupils, but is particularly valuable for pupils with special educational needs.
The ability to self-regulate one’s emotions affects pupils’ ability to learn, success in school and future lives.
Teachers can influence pupils’ resilience and beliefs about their ability to succeed, by ensuring all pupils have the opportunity to experience meaningful success.
Building effective relationships is easier when pupils believe that their feelings will be considered and understood.
Pupils are motivated by intrinsic factors (related to their identity and values) and extrinsic factors (related to reward).
Pupils’ investment in learning is also driven by their prior experiences and perceptions of success and failure.
Teaching and modelling a range of social and emotional skills (e.g. how to recognise and understand feelings, manage emotions, and sustain positive relationships) can support pupils’ social and emotional development.
Teaching typically expected behaviours will reduce the need to manage misbehaviour.
Pupils who need a tailored approach to support their behaviour do not necessarily have SEND and pupils with SEND will not necessarily need additional support with their behaviour.
A key influence on a pupil’s behaviour in school is being the victim of bullying.

Learn how to…

Develop a positive, predictable and safe environment for pupils, by:

Establishing a supportive and inclusive environment with a predictable system of reward and sanction in the classroom.
Working alongside colleagues as part of a wider system of behaviour management (e.g. recognising responsibilities and understanding the right to assistance and training from senior colleagues particularly where pupils exhibit unacceptable behaviours).
Giving manageable, specific and sequential instructions.
Checking pupils’ understanding of instructions before a task begins.
Using consistent language and non-verbal signals for common classroom directions.
Using early and least-intrusive interventions as an initial response to low level disruption.
Responding quickly to any behaviour or bullying that threatens physical or emotional safety.

Establish effective routines and expectations, by:

Creating and explicitly teaching routines in line with the school ethos that maximise time for learning (e.g. setting and reinforcing expectations about key transition points).
Practising school and classroom routines at the beginning of the school year.
Reinforcing established school and classroom routines (e.g. by articulating the link between time on task and success).
Working with the SENCO, other SEND specialists or expert colleagues if a pupil needs more intensive support with their behaviour to understand how the approach may need to be adapted to their individual needs.

Build trusting relationships, by:

Liaising with parents, carers and colleagues to better understand pupils’ individual circumstances and how they can be supported to meet high academic and behavioural expectations.
Consistently applying the school’s behaviour policy, including where individual pupils have an agreed tailored approach.

Motivate pupils, by:

Supporting pupils to master challenging content, which builds towards long-term goals.
Providing opportunities for pupils to articulate their long-term goals and helping them to see how these are related to their success in school.
Helping pupils to journey from needing extrinsic motivation to being motivated to work intrinsically.

Develop pupils’ self regulation by:

Helping pupils to think through scenarios before they occur and using cues to help them recall agreed upon behaviours.
Providing new opportunities to exercise self-regulation and for the youngest pupils to practice impulse control.

The text above is taken from the Teachers’ Standards and the ITTECF Combined Framework. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0 and v3.0.