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(Thread) I read a lot of opinions about student behaviour on Twitter so here’s my take on it. Yes, for some young people, poor behaviour is an active choice but for many it is also a consequence of their experiences outside school...
there are a lot of young people who have trauma that impacts on their behaviour and many who have chaotic lives outside school. It is therefore the job of school to provide consistency. At the heart of this is the building of positive relationships..
Between staff and students. This is not about accepting poor behaviour but about understanding where the behaviour comes from, challenging it and re setting a student’s expectations about what is acceptable. At the same time, support needs to be given about the root cause.
Young people recognise when they are being invested in and respond accordingly. Going that extra mile can mean an enormous amount in difficult circumstances. The other thing to be conscious of is ensuring that we, the educators, do not exacerbate the problem.
We must ensure that our policies, procedures and strategies are trauma informed as well as having high expectations. We must be the grown ups because that is what we literally are ! When I was first an acting Head back in 2003, I shouted at a student in a hall full of his peers..
.. when it could have been better handled outside of that public setting and he reacted badly. I learnt from that and ensured that, ever since, I deal with behaviour on an individual basis more calmly and quietly. Calmly and quietly does not mean low expectations.
But to have high expectations of student behaviour, we must also ensure our own is meeting those same high expectations.
