Complex and sophisticated skills
This section of the site tries to ‘unpack’ some of the skills which effective teachers develop in order to get a calm, orderly and cooperative working atmosphere in their classrooms, drawing on the testimony of experienced teachers. Of course, school systems and parental support are important factors in optimising classroom climate, but Professor Julian Elliott (2009) makes the point that the teacher’s skills of interaction with pupils, and their skills in managing the lesson, are also an important influence on the working atmosphere in the classroom, and that these skills take some time to hone and develop to ‘expert’ levels. One of the most frequently mentioned pieces of advice from NQTs was for student teachers to realise that with many classes, it takes time to get a class to behave exactly as you want and not to ‘get too down’ when it doesn’t happen straightaway.
‘Complex and sophisticated skills…’
So what are these complex and sophisticated skills, and which are the skills that have a most direct bearing on pupil behaviour and classroom climate?
Elliott (2007, 2009) mentions composure, ‘withitness’, skill in handling ‘overlapping’ (lots of things happening at once), positioning, eye contact, body language, communication, pace, as just some examples of the skills involved, and to these could be added skills in handling starts, transitions and endings of lessons, skills of judgement in deciding when to move from warnings to sanctions, or to send pupils out of the room, skills in using colleagues and school systems, skills in task design and choice of resources. This list is not a comprehensive one but it gives an indication of the complexity of factors which influence classroom climate and pupil behaviour, and demonstrates that there are lots of things to work on in order to become really accomplished at managing pupil behaviour. Moreover, there are some ‘variables’ which might more accurately be described as ‘dispositions’ rather than skills. Many of the expert practitioners who were interviewed were keen to stress that a lot of it was about application and effort, being really determined to become good at ‘this stuff’, and persevering in the face of difficulties, not giving up.
A second round of interviews was conducted with teachers who had been identified by either head teachers or colleagues as being particularly effective in managing pupil behaviour, to see if their ‘tacit’ knowledge could be unpicked to provide insights into improving classroom climate. Their contributions are complemented by the views of some of the people who write books and deliver courses for teachers in the field of behaviour management. A high proportion of their comments could be classified into the areas of teacher talk/interaction with pupils, skills of judgement, and overall resourcefulness, sometimes articulated in terms of will and determination or perseverance.
Teacher interaction with pupils
Teacher talk – in a range of forms was regarded as a particularly important facet of ‘high-order’ teaching skills, in part because it was thought to influence just about every lesson that a teacher taught. Many of the comments echoed the research reported by Gladwell (2006), which suggested that pupils were often able to predict how competent teachers were by watching a surprisingly short video extract of their teaching.
Such is the importance of skilful teacher talk (and non-verbal communication) that nearly all books on managing pupil behaviour contain sections on how to develop skills of interaction with pupils and the ‘micro-skills’ involved in teacher-talk. Rogers, for example devotes two pages to the use of ‘the pause’ (Rogers, 2000: 107-8), Young gives three pages to non-verbal interactions (Young, 2007: 15-17), Robertson devotes several pages to a discussion of ‘democratic’ versus ‘autocratic’ vocabulary (Robertson, 2002: 20-24), Cowley gives two pages to voice control (Cowley, 2010, 34-5). Barrow et al., 2001) devote a whole book to developing an understanding of transactional analysis with a view to improving pupil behaviour and self-esteem. Recent research also points to the importance of tone and manner in talking to pupils, as the following testimony from Gorard and Huat See’s research demonstrates: ‘One young lady… and apparently from all accounts, she was a bit of a horror, you know, and she’s absolutely perfect…. She behaves herself. She does as she’s asked. And when you ask her why, she says it’s the way she is spoken to.’ (Quoted in Gorard and Huat See, 2011: 680).
How effectively do you use the pause? ‘Once you have pens down and everybody looking at you, wait… then stretch the pause slightly… wait a little… then (long pause)… speak. In doing this, you’ve assured that the attention is entirely on you, and that you haven’t rushed it, losing the attention that was so hard won… If you blast in, at a million miles an hour, you’ll transmit nervousness or agitation’ (Beadle, 2010: 24).
Of course, it is not just about skill in using pauses; there are a number of strands to use of voice and quality of oral ‘delivery’ to pupils. It should be an interesting part of the teacher’s work honing and refining these skills, and taking pleasure at getting better at them, and noting the improved response of pupils:
The expert teacher understands that their voice is a tool that can be employed to help emphasise their authority; for the less skilled practitioner, it can be a means to betray their anxieties, emotions and uncertainties. Shouting, vocal hesitations and stammers, monotone delivery and rising pitch, particularly when there are signs of challenge, are all aspects that may serve to increase the likelihood of student disengagement and confrontation. What some fail to grasp is that, in challenging situations, a softer tone, albeit signalling a strength of intent and purpose, often carries greater authority than a raised voice (Elliott, 2009: 202).
In spite of the perhaps obvious fact that being good at talking to pupils is an important part of becoming good at managing their behaviour, many mentors felt that many student teachers don’t make a conscious and systematic approach to developing their skills of interaction with pupils. Every time there is an interaction between the teacher and a pupil or pupils, it can be done well or done badly. Cowley (2010) points out that the first encounters with classes, and the first few minutes of lessons are particularly important, and yet not all teachers focus consistently and urgently on the impact and quality of the introduction to the lesson which might persuade biddable pupils to ‘give the lesson a chance’. The following comments, from teachers who were acknowledged to be particularly accomplished at managing pupil behaviour give some indication of the range of skills to be developed in the field of teacher-talk and interaction with pupils.
‘I have learned that it is important to keep my composure, however pressured the situation is. I might be really worried and uncertain inside, but I make a real effort to appear calm. They must not feel that I am losing it. If you stay calm, at least you are not making things even worse, you are not winding them up. If you start blustering and shouting, it just eggs some of them on.’
‘All my colleagues who are very strong in terms of “discipline” are good at developing good relationships with the pupils in their classes… this is a medium or even long term agenda, not a one lesson thing… over time, just skilfully judged comments and asides, gradually creating the idea in pupils’ minds the feeling that the teacher does care about them and wants the best for them… it’s bit like horse-whisperer skills.’
‘Obviously, some colleagues are more accomplished than others at dealing with difficult pupils. Some are incredibly resourceful and talented at getting round pupils who are abrasive and volatile… at establishing some sort of working and personal relationship with them. Some just don’t know how to talk to them… their tone and manner is all wrong. They seem to be permanently stuck in “telling off” mode.’
‘You can learn to appear relaxed and confident and looking forward to the lesson even if you aren’t really feeling like that inside… some people look as if they don’t want to be in there… some even look a bit frightened or even petrified. The Bill Rogers idea of the “as if” voice… as if it hasn’t entered your head that they might not comply with an instruction.’
‘If you’ve got to the stage where you can talk quietly to a class, you’ve got it cracked. Talking in a loud “teacher voice” is a sure sign that you are not completely relaxed. Get them absolutely quiet first, all facing the front, looking at you, pens down, brief pause which really shows that you are in complete control… which they like… and then talk really calmly and quietly.’
‘She was very softly spoken, never raised her voice, incredibly calm and composed. Very straight laced even and very patient. The assistant head said “This girl is just incredible”… but linked to very good planning and being very good at going round helping pupils with their work in a very natural way.’
‘There is a real skill to giving instructions… don’t make assumptions…. Explain it three times but each time very calmly and clearly, not as if you are getting exasperated that everyone didn’t get it first time.’
‘Greet them at the door, welcome them into the room, remember to say pleases and thankyous… they respond better to teachers who are pleasant, calm and polite. Thank them at the end of the lesson in a low-key understated way and perhaps drop a word to a few of them as they leave the class… but not too much, it must be low key… they don’t like teachers who are “trying too hard”… a bit like “How are you enjoying your meal?” done in a phony and over effusive way.’
‘Classes do enjoy having discussions and debates where they can contribute… where they are actively involved and a lot of them are contributing, but it takes a lot of skill – and a lot of confidence – to orchestrate that sort of lesson. It’s much harder to do than simple question and response lessons but it’s worth learning how to do it… there’s a big pay off when you can do it with most of your teaching groups. It’s not about you being good at talking, it’s about you being good at getting them to talk, to contribute.
‘One thing that helps enormously is just to talk naturally to them… in a normal tone and manner, as if you were just talking to an ordinary grown up person. Some students – and teachers – have a sort of artificial “teacher voice” which marks them out as not being not completely at ease or relaxed with the kids.’
‘Whenever you get them quiet so that you can talk to them to explain something for a few minutes, you’ve got to think about the quality of your script, is any bit of it interesting, are you delivering it well, is it pitched at the right level, are you scanning the class and making good eye contact with them? And do you sense when to stop, when they have turned off and are starting to drift.. when you’ve got to move on to a different bit of the lesson.’
‘You need to vary your tone and pitch but in other ways you need to be consistent and predictable, not volatile and switching from being friendly to being narky and carping and getting exasperated, moaning at them for not being good. This sometimes requires a great deal of patience plus you need to sort it out, not just moan at them.’
‘You must not give any indication that you like some kids more than others. Even if a kid is an absolute nightmare, you criticise the behaviour, not the pupil, in personal terms. They are very quick to sense if you have your favourites, or if you dislike them. You’ve got to be really careful to treat them with the same respect and consideration even if inside, you loathe some kids.’
‘AFL (Assessment for Learning) has been great for our kids. It sends the message that they can all get better if they try… even if they think they are crap at maths, you can remind them that they are getting better than they were before, they are achieving things that are worthwhile… or being good in other way.’
‘Most people . . . understand it [education] as being made to go to a place called school, and there being made to learn something that they don’t much want to learn, under the threat that bad things will be done to them if they don’t. Needless to say, most people don’t much like this game and stop playing as soon as they can.’
John Holt (1984) How children learn, London, Penguin: 34).
Accomplished teachers are aware that for some pupils, school is not ‘a bowl of cherries’, and that they must try to ensure that there is ‘something in the lesson’ for all pupils, whether they are good at the subject or not.
Skills of judgement
Student teachers are often urged to be consistent in their dealings with pupils but often it is difficult to be completely consistent given that the context of pupil lapses and transgressions can be so different, and what works for one pupil may not be the best way forward for another, there are occasions when pupils’ ‘histories’ and background have to be taken into account. Cowley (2010) also argued that teachers need to be flexible in their approach given the complexity of classrooms as an ecosystem. Although it can seem quite attractive to the novice teacher to have a set ‘tariff’ of sanctions for particular offences, most experienced teachers seemed to feel that a comprehensive all-purpose framework of automatic, non-negotiable sanctions is difficult to apply to the thousands of classroom situations which can arise. Even in terms of whether sanctions can be conditional, in that they can be withdrawn or not imposed if pupils ‘repent’, it was felt to depend on which pupils one was dealing with. Rogers (2011) sees the intelligent deployment of ‘consequences’ which may be either ‘negotiable or non-negotiable as an important part of a teacher’s repertoire. Steer (2008) makes the point that if schools are to function well, ‘consequences’ for some transgressions need to be non-negotiable. The strategy of ‘tactical ignoring’ (Rogers, 2011) can be particularly difficult in terms of good judgement. Teachers who pick up every smallest infraction may slow the pace of learning: ‘If you respond to everything that happens, you risk losing momentum on the class’ (Watkins, 1993: 11). However, as Elliott (2009: 201) argues sometimes tactical ignoring can be done for the wrong reasons:
Where teachers are concerned about their capacity to manage the class, they may be tempted to avoid scrutinising the classroom and instead, focus upon interacting with a small number of students at a time, particularly those who tend to be relatively compliant and responsive. Such behaviour may serve to reduce teacher anxiety in the short term, yet will almost certainly lead to greater difficulty over time.
‘Tactical ignoring’ is not, therefore, in itself a tenable strategy for running a classroom; there are important judgement calls to be made about what can be ignored, and what must be dealt with.
A good example of the complexity and the judgement calls involved in getting classes under relaxed and assured control is the issue of establishing ‘ground rules’ for classroom behaviour. Student teachers are often advised to make these ‘rules of engagement’ clear from the start, but they are also often advised to get going with student learning as quickly as possible, to ‘get into the lesson’ straightaway, so that pupils are so involved with the learning that the thought of misbehaving does not occur. There is no definitive ‘right or wrong’ approach here; but there is advice about some of the judgement calls involved; for instance not having so many ground rules that it takes an age to explain them all (see teacher testimony below) so the first part of the lesson is taken up by administrative and bureaucratic matters. The same tensions apply in relation to explaining the learning objectives for the lesson to the pupils at the start of the lesson. This can take quite a chunk of the time available for learning, plus should one always start off the lesson in exactly the same way? (Of course, if it is school policy that this should be done, you must fit in with the school policy.
The interviews with teachers viewed as being ‘expert’ in managing pupil behaviour indicated that ‘good judgement’ and sound decision making was an important part of this, and that skills of judgement were one of the important variables between teachers who tended to have good working relations with their classes, and ones where this was not the case. As the first quote indicates, ‘good judgement’ was seen as deriving at least as much from quickness to learn as from length of service.
‘Some students seem to learn from their experience even before we have talked things through, they’ve immediately realised that they got something wrong, that they misjudged a situation, that they need to rethink their approach or ask for advice. Others learn more slowly, and only after quite clear and firm guidance, some just carry on doing the wrong things, ploughing on, not even seeming to realise the extent to which things are not going well.’
‘Most days you will have several quite difficult decisions to make about exactly how to respond to some problem of pupil behaviour. Hopefully, your sureness of touch improves with experience, you learn to give yourself a bit of thinking time in order to make the best decision, you are less impulsive, you say things like “See you at the end of the lesson…” or ‘We’ll sort it out later.’
‘You learn to gradually go through the levels, from a warning glance, to a friendly word, to a firm warning with a precise indication of what you will do if they don’t stop, and then, if they don’t stop, do it… and move on with the lesson, get back to the class as a whole as promptly and nonchalantly as possible.’
‘If you give them a clear warning that you will keep them through break or whatever if they don’t stop doing something, a lot of pupils will stop doing it… they don’t want to lose their break. Don’t just punish them out of the blue…. Give them a clear yellow caution card first, give them a chance to stop. If lots of kids don’t stop messing around, it means that you’ve got a problem – they don’t think you are going to go through with it.’
‘Experienced teachers usually nip things in the bud… they pick up on things quite quickly before it spreads or things get more out of control. A common mistake that student teachers make is that they leave it too late… by the time they eventually get round to sending someone out, poor behaviour has spread and the lesson has degenerated into a bit of a shambles.’
‘A key part of your decision making is quickly deciding whether it is just a bit of silliness, a kid being thoughtlessly daft or forgetting for a moment… or whether they are actually testing out your authority, trying it on, seeing whether you are really in charge of the class or whether they can get away with stuff because you are not up to it or a bit weak, a bit unsure of yourself. If it is the latter, you have to sort it out, you can’t let it go. Alongside that is the judgement call of whether what the pupil is doing is spoiling the learning of others or it is just their own learning which is at stake… if it is the first of these, that makes it more urgent and important to deal with.’
Another key part of decision making is the stage at which you go from telling off or warning kids, to actually doing something about it. What you mustn’t do is go on and on telling a kid off, nagging and moaning ineffectually and creating a ghastly negative climate but not actually taking any action, not doing anything about it… sending messages to the whole class that you are useless.’
‘When kids are messing about, you get better at steering them towards compliance… giving them a choice and putting the decision in their hands… “Do you want to get into quite a lot of trouble or inconvenience or shall we get out of this?” Give them a way out, let them save face… frame it so that the rest of the kids will think they are really stupid if they don’t take the intelligent way out… and that they realise this as well… they will feel a bit foolish if they don’t take the sensible option.’
‘If your authority over a class is limited, it can often help to use privacy… get the pupil on their own away from their friends and with other adults about. It changes the balance of power and often they can back down more easily and say they are sorry if it is not in front of their mates. It sometimes surprises me that even quite experienced teachers don’t do this. It’s not cheating, it’s just using your intelligence.’
‘It’s OK to ignore swearing if it is quite possible that the pupils think that you haven’t heard it, but if everyone knows that you have, you are in a difficult position when the next kid swears loudly. It’s often a judgement call, and you just hope that your percentages get better with experience.’
‘Judgement’ is not an inert or genetically fixed attribute. It can be developed and improved by being reflective, open minded, prepared to experiment and being able to learn from experience, observation and advice.
Many teachers have to make difficult decisions every day in terms of trying to do the best for all the pupils in their care, trying to include all pupils in learning (and keep them in the classroom), and yet also trying to ensure that pupils who do not want to learn are not allowed to spoil the lesson for those pupils who are keen to learn. The ‘rights’ of pupils with problems do not supersede the rights of other pupils. Dealing with difficult pupils adroitly, trying to engage them in learning, and making sound judgement calls about protecting pupils’ ‘right to learn’ are complex skills that usually take some time to hone and refine.
Resourcefulness
Returning to Klemp’s idea (1977) of professional competence deriving in part from ‘situational understanding’ and ‘achievement motivation’ (wanting to do the job really well), experienced teachers often felt that they had become good at managing pupil behaviour because they had worked really hard at it over a sustained period, and that they had become more knowledgeable and effective in using all the people and resources at their disposal. This included a willingness to take moderate risks in some situations to achieve something new, to try things out and evaluate how well things worked, to network with others and mobilise support from work-group coalitions in order to achieve their aims, and to proactively explore all resources which might be of assistance (Elliott, 1991: 128-30). At a prosaic level, this might be no more than using the advantages to be gained from learning pupils’ names (Young, 2007), or it might be the much more complex and time consuming agenda of exploring how the use of new technology might make lessons more interesting and engaging for pupils. There is evidence that some teachers and some departments have been able to transform pupil attitudes to learning by the imaginative use of new technology (Harris and Haydn, 2009). Another ‘variable’ in teacher expertise which experienced teachers believed had a bearing on their ability to manage pupil behaviour was the extent to which and the skill with which teachers were able to draw on the support of colleagues, senior managers and school systems. Bill Rogers’ books on managing pupil behaviour were frequently mentioned by student teachers as a resource which had helped them to improve (see Chapter 4), but Rogers has also written extensively about whole school and inter-colleague approaches to improving classroom climate (see, for example, Rogers, 2002), and many students seem to be less familiar with this strand of his work.
The following extracts from the testimony of teachers who were regarded as being accomplished at managing pupil behaviour focuses on aspects of resourcefulness, or in some cases, what might be termed, will, determination and perseverance. In the first extract, an assistant head talks of the tendency of some student teachers to underestimate the importance of simply being well organised and efficient:
‘One of the ways in which our pupils judge teachers is whether they are well organised and have got their act together. Has a decent lesson been prepared or are they obviously winging it… are they constantly having to go out of the room because they have forgotten stuff? Is the technology often not working because they haven’t checked it out before the start of the lesson? Is the DVD never quite tagged to the right place? I make lists, I have a plan B, I always make sure I’ve got all the equipment needed for a lesson. It sounds boring and trivial but it makes a difference in how they respond to you. I know that when they start, student teachers think that a lot of it is about presence and charisma, but after a while, the bright ones realise that their response to you is largely conditioned by your standards of professionalism, are you ‘a proper teacher’, or one of the muppets?’
‘We have a very tightly knit department and departmental detentions but it isn’t like that across the school. I don’t just use the department, I use all the friends and colleagues I work with, we help each other. Some students tap into that, others are a bit more detached or isolated, they see it as a sign of weakness to ask us for help. They shouldn’t. Our kids very quickly pick up whether a student is prepared to make intelligent use of colleagues and the school system.’
‘The kids used to crucify X when he started. But he used to just spend dinnertime in his class which meant they could stay in the class over lunch. He would just eat his sandwiches and read his newspaper. He didn’t go out of his way to talk to them or engage them but gradually they got talking to him and eventually, they left him alone. Our kids appreciate teachers who give them time. Other teachers do it through taking teams or going on trips. We have a maths teacher who gives up some of her lunchtimes to help pupils with their maths. Of course it is a sacrifice but it’s worth it when in the end, it wins them over and you start having calm and peaceful lessons… the job becomes a pleasure.’
‘A lot of NQTs underestimate the importance of reputation. When I came here, I tried really hard to make my first few lessons really interesting and enjoyable and also tried to be quite strict on classroom behaviour and following things up with any pupils who were testing me out. If you work really hard in your first term, the rest of the year gets easier. Word gets round the school that you are not someone to mess with. Often our PGCE students do their first visits in October, when I have done a lot of the sorting out and establishing a few basic ground rules. You can’t have lots of rules, just one or two key ones. Not talking while I am talking is probably the most important so I work really hard on that one. They don’t see a lot of the time and effort that has gone into training the class. Sometimes they underestimate how important this establishment work is.’
‘Some of my colleagues who have very calm classes go to incredible lengths to get hold of good resources for lessons. They scour the internet, they buy stuff, they get little but interesting token prizes. Some of them set up blogs and wikis so you get the pupils doing a lot of learning outside the lessons. They are expert in terms of thinking quite hard about what would engage pupils or make at least a bit of the lesson interesting or fun, and then they follow it up very diligently. It’s not a quick way but in the longer term, the pupils do respond better to teachers who obviously try really hard to make the lessons interesting.’
‘With X, it is mainly that he makes it really clear that he will do whatever it takes to get pupils to behave in his lessons. He follows things up and pursues kids remorselessly. He doesn’t rant and rave, he is quiet, calm, polite and firm but he’s very adept at getting across to kids that they are not going to win… he is not going to give up if they try to get out of consequences. They know that it will go to the powers that be, that their parents will be contacted. In the end they pick on someone who can’t be bothered.’
The lessons to be learned from the testimony of ‘expert’ teachers are that the skills involved are very disparate, and that it is not a question of whether you follow ‘Theory A’ (say, for example, ‘Don’t smile before Christmas’, or ‘Theory B’ (Cultivate warm and friendly caring relationships with pupils from day 1); but how skilfully and assiduously you put into practice whichever theory you are trying out.
Skills applied in particular contexts
This last section picks out two aspects of teacher practice and attempts to contextualise some of the thinking which the ‘complex and sophisticated skills’ of expert practitioners brings to bear on these aspects of teaching.
The use of praise, rewards and sanctions
Over the past decade schools have generally become more alert to the importance of responding to positive as well as negative aspects of pupils’ behaviour. Rogers’ (1990), Cowley (2001) and others argue the importance of ‘catching them being good’ and praising them for it. McNamara (1999) makes the point that some teachers and some schools are more alert than others to the possibilities of noting and responding positively to good behaviour by pupils. Some year heads commented on the reluctance of some trainees and NQTs to use praise and reward systems, whether in the form of merit marks, commendations, letters to parents or more tangible rewards such as cinema/football tickets, MacDonald’s vouchers and trips outside the classroom:
‘Of course merit marks don’t work for all our kids, but they do for some of them. Although it doesn’t take a moment to award a merit mark or whatever, some teachers just don’t find the time to get round to it. And yet often it can oil the wheels of getting kids to enthusiastically do something, settle quickly or whatever. It’s as if they can’t quite be bothered or don’t think about it. It’s just one of the things that can help a bit in terms of your overall relations with your teaching group.’
‘Sometimes just a word of praise… a casual comment… nothing big deal, just to show that you have noticed that they have made an effort, even if it’s just a quick word as you u are returning their exercise books, it doesn’t even have to be a reward or recorded.’
But several teachers argued that it was not a matter of the ‘volume’ of praise or rewards which was dished out, but the discernment and skill which was used in praising and rewarding pupils. Some felt that trainees sometimes used praise in a way which rendered it almost meaningless to pupils:
‘There is a tendency to overuse words like ‘brilliant’ and ‘fantastic’; some kids are told they are brilliant just because they have managed to sit down in their seat successfully. The pupils are not daft, they know when they are being patronised, they know when praise is sincere.’
‘I sometimes see that students write a positive comment and grade on the sheet which pupils on report have to get filled in at the end of every lesson when the pupil has behaved quite or even very badly. The pupil now knows that the student is scared to say anything bad about them and will not tell anyone else about their poor behaviour. It is construed by the pupil as weakness.’
There was also a view that student teachers were sometimes prone to give ‘group praise’ fairly indiscriminately, in a way that reduced its effectiveness:
‘Often at the end of the lesson, they will tell the whole group that they have been terrific and thank them for working so well. This would be OK if this was actually the case, but when it is patently not so, the few kids who have just got on with it and been OK are not thrilled to bits to have been accorded this ‘batch’ accolade.’
‘Some of them use praise like chucking manure on a field.’
This strikes a chord with several other studies on the use of praise and rewards. Parsons (quoted in Dickson, 1993: 135) makes the point that criticism that is constructive and conveyed sincerely can be more effective in motivating children to learn than ‘throwaway’ and vacuous use of praise:
A well-chosen criticism can convey as much positive information as praise; abundant or indiscriminate praise can be meaningless; insincere praise which does not convey the teacher’s expectations for the student can have detrimental effects on many students.
One mentor gave an example of this in recounting an incident where a pupil responded to a floridly excessive assessment of his written work by pencilling ‘Piss off Sir’ after the tribute to his work.
Persaud (2004) also mentions the potentially toxic effects of praise ‘overdose’:
“Praise, like penicillin, must not be administered haphazardly. There are rules and cautions that govern the handling of potent medicines – rules about timing and dosage, cautions about possible allergic reactions. There are similar regulations about the administration of emotional medicine.” So wrote a psychologist giving advice to parents in the 1960s.
For starters, there is clear evidence that excessive praise for tasks the child sees as easy is demotivating; he or she infers that the adult has a low opinion of his or her ability. There is also evidence that children may devote less time to pursuing tasks if praise is withdrawn. They are driven to perform to obtain praise rather than for the intrinsic joy of the task itself.
Elkins (2001) found that experienced teachers were often able to motivate students and manage their behaviour without the use of a formal system of rewards and penalties. Signals, both positive and negative, were often little more than nods of approbation, or questioning glances. He also noted that ‘very little praise was directed to the class as a whole: praise was used with discrimination and was directed towards individuals’ (Elkins, 2001: 5.7).
Shreeve and Boddington (2002) found that consistency of approach, with all members of staff using the same ‘currency’ with rewards and sanctions was a factor in pupils regarding school systems as ‘fair and purposeful’, and that systems which concentrated on positive reinforcement, ‘a high level of use by teachers of rewards and praise and a low level use of penalties’ were thought to be most effective by pupils. In schools in the sample where the system was used inconsistently by teachers, pupils saw it as unfair and ineffective and teachers ceased to value it as well.
What mentors wanted more than anything of student teachers was that they should remember the ‘positive’ side of the equation in their relations with pupils – the potential of praise, discerningly applied. Also, that they should be consistent in their application of sanctions, carry out threats after a clear warning, and work within the parameters of school and departmental systems and the custom and practice of what most teachers tended to do.
One head teacher made the point that it was helpful if there were ways and means of reducing or putting aside sanctions which had accumulated. Suggestions included remission for aspects of positive behaviour, or a specified time without further transgressions..
‘If at all possible, there must be a way back for the pupil… a way of getting back on track, back to rewards and things being positive. If there isn’t any possibility of some constructive way forward, some of our kids will just say F. off then, I can’t be bothered to try to behave.’
One other point emerged about the use of sanctions, which related to trainees and NQTs developing an intelligent understanding of the extent of their power in particular situations; grasping when they were in a strong position, and when this was not the case, and adjusting their responses accordingly. In particular, this related to the use of privacy; that in some situations, it was better to sort the issue out later, rather than in front of the whole class, when pupils might be reluctant to lose face. This ties in with Rogers’ idea (1997), that consequences can be deferred: what matters is the certainty of consequences, not just their immediacy. Also, the fact that the teachers’ position vis à vis pupils is usually strengthened after the bell goes when there is a chance to detail pupils and have them discussing matters ‘in their time’, rather than during the lesson. Thus, it is easier to sort things out at the end of a lesson immediately preceding break or dinner time, rather than one where pupils have to move straight on to someone else’s lesson. It is also generally easier to get pupils quiet and attentive if, after the bell has gone, it is made clear that they can go as soon as they have listened quietly to whatever it is the teacher has to say. In the extract below, a teacher educator recalls ‘getting it wrong’ in his decision making:
‘You’ve got to weigh up how much power you’ve got in any particular situation. I remember once going past a group of kids messing about outside the gym… the teacher hadn’t turned up and they were just messing about. I brusquely told them to line up in twos and be quiet. Within two seconds they had worked out that I was from the lower school and didn’t know any of them from Adam… no names, not even what form they were. So they didn’t fall into line… they perhaps understandably… given the sort of kids they were… took advantage of their temporary position of superior power and gave me a hard time. I had to walk on without having got them to behave as I wanted. If I had been “lighter touch”- said something like, “ Can you do me a favour…. Sorry you’re left hanging about…. I’ve got to get to a class but I’ ll call into the office and get someone to come down… can you just chat to each other until someone comes down…. Thanks”, and moved swiftly on, I would have got a much better result.’
Five other factors emerged as being considered important in using sanctions intelligently:
- ‘Calibration’ – using the measures available in proportion to the offence and in the right order.
- Giving a clear warning before imposing sanctions.
- Being consistent in approach.
- Following things up.
- Don’t give whole class or ‘blanket’ punishments
‘This is so obviously unfair. Unless it is about retrieving something that has been stolen, it is hard to defend. Pick on the ones who have done something wrong. Differentiation applies to sanctions as well as planning. It is not that difficult to grade your sanctions according to how badly pupils have behaved. For instance, you can detain some pupils for longer than others.’
‘This writing on the board, “Three minutes”… for everyone in the class, whether they were talking or not. It’s the same principle as the Nazis used during the French Resistance.’
‘You’ve got to be very careful not to stereotype by gender. One of our biggest problems at the moment isn’t boys but really hard girls, working in gangs. But you should never generalise by gender. It’s very rarely all the boys or all the girls, so you shouldn’t say, “Right all the boys stay behind” and yet I’ve seen it happen, and some really well behaved quiet pupils get treated as if they are miscreants.’
All this is to make the perhaps obvious point that it’s not how much praise you give that makes a difference, it’s how adeptly you give praise. It’s not how often you punish pupils and how severe you are with sanctions, it’s how intelligently you deploy them
‘Withitness’
This is the idea that teachers need to have a finely honed and wide ranging sense of awareness about what is going on in the classroom. A term originally used by Kounin (1970) and popularised as a concept by the late Professor Ted Wragg, it is sometimes, perhaps unhelpfully explained in terms of teachers needing to have eyes in the back of their head.
It is not just a matter of scanning and monitoring the class, and ‘never turning your back on them’, it is as much about anticipation and drawing on your prior knowledge and understanding of the class, and what sort of things happen in classrooms generally. Positioning and movement within the class are part of it, as is the ability to handle lots of things going on at the same time, sometimes termed ‘overlapping’ or ‘traffic-lighting’ – perceptive and well-judged prioritising of what issues or pupils need to be dealt with first, and quickly signalling this to pupils. It can also involve the adroit use of non verbal gestures and signs or glances, to signify awareness of what is going on, even if no immediate action is forthcoming. Aural antennae or awareness are also part of withitness; discreetly listening in to pupil conversations which may be seditious, sensing when the noise levels are rising and pupils are going ‘off-task’. A particularly difficult judgement call is the tension between helping small groups of pupils or individuals, and maintaining surveillance of the class as a whole. It is not just a matter of acquiring and deploying all these subtle classroom skills, it is also the skill with which you get across to pupils that you have a shrewd and accurate understanding of everything that is going on in the classroom. As Elliott (2009: 201) notes, ‘Management of complex situations with minimal difficulty not only helps the current lesson to progress more smoothly, it also conveys subtle and transcendental messages about the teacher’s professional expertise’ – it contributes to the degree of authority which the teacher has over the class.
Just to make it even more difficult in terms of comprehensive and perfectly executed ‘withitness’, all these skills must be deployed very discreetly, without the pupils realising that you are drawing on previous knowledge and awareness. Rogers warns of the danger of what he has termed ‘manic vigilance’ where the teacher’s obvious attempts to keep an eye on what is going on betray an attitude of nervousness and anxiety, as if the teacher is expecting pupils to commit atrocities if he or she is not looking directly and menacingly at them.
The following extracts attempt to provide insight into the views of experienced teachers about aspects of ‘withitness’.
‘It’s not just about keeping an eye out about what goes on in the room, it’s about using your prior knowledge of the class – you know from experience that there will be quite a lot of kids who will just get on with their work, but a few who will mess about given the chance, so you just keep them in mind… look out for them a bit more. You don’t divide your attention equally.’
‘Some of it is just positioning… standing where they can all see you and you can see all of them if you are speaking to the class as a whole, and standing still, making sure they are all looking at you… moving to the back of the class when you’ve just set a task, so that you can see them and they can’t see you, so you can quickly pick off the pupils who haven’t settled to the task, standing or crouching where you are facing the rest of the class if you are giving individual help…. But it’s also partly about demeanour… sauntering round the class as if you are enjoying it… looking relaxed and interested in proceedings.’
‘It’s harder than you would think to register when the kids have stopped listening and you need to stop talking and get on to a more active bit of the lesson, especially if you are a student teacher and you are thinking about your script and whether you’re explaining it OK, whether you’ve forgotten part of it. Even just scanning the class is harder than you would think. It takes ages before you do all these things automatically, without thinking.’
‘At the same time as you are going round the class helping kids with their work, keeping an eye on how far through the task they are, you are listening out for when the noise levels go up… which means that some pupils have finished and are starting to chat or mess about… especially if it is getting to near the end of the lesson.’
‘When lots of pupils want your immediate attention, either give them a quick order in which you will see them or tell them “Not now… give me 5 minutes”, or some other holding message. Apologise to them if you are slow getting round to them, as long as they can see that you are doing your best.’
‘I’ve learned to let on to them when I pass them in the corridor… nothing too effusive, just a nod, a smile or a quick word… It sends a signal that you know them, you know who they are.’
‘You learn to weigh up what the mood is like as they come in… if they need settling down, or if they seem droopy and “It is half three yet”… and I might adjust the lesson a bit… throw in a YouTube clip or give them a task straightaway… try a roleplay or game right at the start instead of starting with me talking at them… It’s partly about being responsive.’
‘Some of them don’t really look at the kids they are teaching, or not in a way where they are receiving signals… it’s not just about eye-contact… it’s about having antennae… to notice when they are starting to go off task, or are getting a bit too noisy… or large numbers are not listening to what you are talking about…’
‘Good student teachers are generally alert to what is going on… they might not be able to stop things but at least they see what’s happening, they are not always turning their back on where the trouble is coming from.’
‘Don’t start helping individuals until everyone knows what they are doing.. until they have settled down. Repeat the instructions to the group as a whole until they are all doing the activity, then start moving round the class and interacting with individuals.’
‘Just things like sensing that towards the end of lessons, you sometimes have to step back and keep an eye on them all, and not get too drawn in to working with particular groups or individuals.’
Summary
- It is difficult to get to expert levels of competence in all facets of managing pupil behaviour in a short period of time. It is in some ways like learning the piano, or a foreign language, it takes time to become an expert.
- Nearly all the experienced teachers who gave their thoughts felt that application was one of the key characteristics of teachers who are good at managing pupil behaviour. They are prepared to invest time and energy sorting things out, following things up and exploring a range of different strategies for improving classroom climate.
- It is helpful to read about managing pupil behaviour. Reading is one of the ways that teachers get better at what they do. But you do have to follow up that reading and act on what you have read, in terms of trying out the ideas which have been suggested.
- If you do not already have a reasonable grasp of the ideas underpinning Action Research, it is helpful to acquire some knowledge and understanding of it. It is a particularly practical form of research for those engaging in a complex social activity such as teaching.
- It is particularly important to try to develop your skills of interaction with pupils. There are many different ways in which you talk to pupils and it helps if you become accomplished in all strands of communication with pupils.
- There is no framework of rules and procedures which can replace the need for sound judgement in managing classroom situations. Skills of judgement can be honed and improved by learning from experience, observation of other teachers, and advice from other teachers.
Adapted from Haydn, T. (2012) Managing pupil behaviour, London, Routledge: 161-177.
References
Barrow, G., Bradshaw, E. & Newton, T. (2001) Improving behaviour and raising self-esteem in the classroom, London, David Fulton.
Cowley, S. (2010) Getting the buggers to behave, London, Continuum.
Dickson, D. (1993) The skill of responding positively, London, Routledge.
Elkins, T. (2002) ‘No hiding place’: the characteristics of six good lessons, Norwich, NASC. Online at www.uea.ac.uk/edu/ddncl, ‘Resources on rewards and sanctions’, Section 5.7.
Elliott, J. (1991) Action Research for Educational Change, Buckingham, Open University Press.
Elliott, J. G. (2007b) Ecological perspectives on student behaviour: why teachers in training need to see the bigger picture, in T. Scruggs and M. Mastropieri (Eds.), Advances in learning and behavioural disabilities: Vol. 20, International perspectives, Oxford, Elsevier: 3-30.
Elliott, J. G. (2009) The nature of teacher authority and teacher expertise, Support for Learning, Vol. 24, No. 4: 197-203.
Gorard, S. and Huat See, B. (2011) How can we enhance enjoyment of secondary school? The student view, British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4: 671-90.
Harris, R. and Haydn, T. (2009) Factors influencing pupil take-up of history post Key Stage 3: an exploratory enquiry, Teaching History, No. 134: 27-36.
Haydn, T. (2012) Managing pupil behaviour, London, Routledge.
Klemp, G.O. (1977) Three factors of success in the world of work: implications for curriculum in higher education, Boston, McBer and Co.
Kounin, J. (1970) Discipline and group management in classrooms, New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Persaud, R. (2004) ‘Overdose of praise can be toxic’, Times Educational Supplement, 24 September: 15.
Rogers, B. (1997) Cracking the hard class, London, Scholastic.
Rogers, B. (2002) Promoting positive behaviour – cracking the difficult class, Teacher In Service Training Event, Bromley Education Services, Bromley 11 December.
Rogers, B. (2011) Classroom behaviour,: a practical guide to effective teaching, behaviour management and colleague support, London, Sage.
Shreeve, A. and Boddington, D. (2002) Students’ perceptions of rewards and sanctions, Pedagogy, Culture and Society Vol 10, No. 2: 239-256.
Steer, A. (2005) Address at the Networked Learning Communities National Conference, Birmingham, 23 June.
Watkins, C. (1993) Quoted in ‘What does it take to keep control of a class?’, D. Hinds, Independent, 3 June: 7.
Young, M. (2011) , The return to subjects: a sociological perspective on the UK government’s approach to the 14-19 curriculum, The Curriculum Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2: 265-78.
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