Pupils

like boundaries

In my experience, pupils actually like boundaries. Children and young people are programmed to test limits and when they find clear boundaries, particularly in the classroom, they actually feel relieved and safe. When you talk to pupils about the characteristics of a good teacher, usually they say variations of something like this: someone who is firm but fair, with a sense of humour and who makes lessons interesting and fun. Not a bad list, is it? Interestingly enough, the word firm or strict usually comes first in the list. I think this means that pupils are actually looking for a teacher who establishes, and enforces, classroom rules and routines and defines clear boundaries in terms of which behaviours are acceptable and which are not. If this is indeed the case, the next question is how does any teacher establish, apply and maintain these boundaries and ensure that pupils know them, own them and put them into practice? 1. Rights I think the starting point of any systematic approach to establishing boundaries of acceptable behaviour in any classroom is to look at the rights of every individual in that class. It is really important at this juncture to involve the class in a discussion on what these rights might be. In my experience, any class, with a little bit of teacher direction, will come up with the following four (maybe not in these exact words but the meaning will be the same): ! In our class, we all have the right to learn ! In our class, our teacher has a right to teach ! In our class, we all have a right to feel safe from verbal or physical harm ! In our class, we all have a right to dignity and respect Most teachers I have trained like the phrase, In our class, we.. as it is the language of inclusion in that it is simple to understand, epitomises fairness and involves everyone (including all adults) in the classroom. 2. Responsibilities After agreeing the rights of every individual in the classroom, the next logical step is to focus on everyones responsibilities as the two are inseparable: one leads on from the other. Again, it is important to involve the class in any discussion of the responsibilities they have with respect to ensuring everyones rights are protected. With effective leadership from the teacher, most discussions will result in something like the following: ! In our class, we all have a responsibility to let our teacher teach

! In our class, we all have a responsibility to listen and learn, and allow others to do the same ! In our class, we all have a responsibility to be helpful to others ! In our class, we all have a responsibility to be kind to others ! In our class, we all have a responsibility to look after our classroom ! In our class, we all have a responsibility to solve problems in a sensible and safe way (adapted from Leaman, 2006, p.65) 3. Rules So.having established agreement about right and responsibilities, we now need classroom rules to help us put this theory into practice. Bill Rogers (1995) has listed a few handy hints about developing rules: ! First, clarify with your pupils the purpose for the rules. They need to understand that rules are there to ensure everyones basic rights are protected and to enable effective learning to take place. ! Make sure that your classroom rules are consistent with school-wide rules. If theyre not, chaos will ensue. For example, if theres a whole-school rule about eating in class then all staff have to enforce it whether they like it or not. Pupils are very good at playing one member of staff off against another with comments like Youre tight, sir. Mr Craig lets us! ! Clarify and enforce the rules rigorously in the establishment phase. This is usually in September but not always. When a teacher takes over a new class, Rogers feels that pupils tend to be psychologically and developmentally ready to hear their teachers speak about rules. Once established, pupils need to be reminded of them on a regular basis. In other words, rules need to be living entities. ! Make the rules few in number. Hook and Vass (2000) recommend no more than three rules for Key Stage 1 and then add one more rule for each additional key stage up to a maximum of six rules in Key stage 4) ! Use positive language. One of my favourite sayings when I deliver training on positive behaviour management is, dont say dont. If you tell a pupil what not to do, youre not actually telling them what, in fact, you need them to do. For example, Dont shout out the answer, Lee becomes Lee..weve all got a rule about putting up our hand without calling out. ! Some rules have to be situation and place specific. In subjects such as art, PE, science or even on such things as

educational visits, there need to be context-specific rules in place. ! Rules overlap routines. Routines such as the way pupils enter and exit the classroom and the use of equipment can, in fact, reinforce rules related to social and personal rights. ! Rules are best expressed simply and clearly. For example, how many misdemeanors does, In our class, we always keep hands, feet and objects to ourselves cover? When Kyle prods Scott with a ruler (and he will do!) and then asks what hes done wrong, its much more effective to be able to point to the 3 or 4 rules prominently displayed on the classroom wall and tell him hes broken classroom rule number one, thats what hes done! ! Rules must be enforceable. Ill talk about sanctions later but at this juncture its important to recognise that rules are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. The end is that rules provide a framework within which to develop acceptable forms of behaviour which protect rights and enable effective learning to take place. As Rogers says, At the very least, rules give a yardstick within which the right can be explained and enforced, but the responsibility will always need to be taught, supported and encouraged. (page 78) 4. Rewards and sanctions Lets make this very clear from the outset: rewards are much more powerful than sanctions. The two (rewards and sanctions) can be linked together under the term consequences: a positive consequence is a reward of some type and a negative consequence is a sanction. In fact, pupils need to be very clear about the answer to the question, What are the consequences of my keeping to the rules or breaking them? When they are clear, they feel psychologically safer about the choices they make with respect to their behaviours. Basically, there are four types of positive consequences: ! Verbal reinforcement / positive body language. Effective teaching is all about building relationships with your pupils. Positive verbal feedback such as, Well done, Sarah. Youve put a lot of effort into that piece of work and it really shows is a simple yet very powerful motivator for most pupils. Even non-verbal cues such as a smile and accompanying thumbs up can be very effective. ! Symbolic reinforcement. This includes things like stars, stickers, stamps and wall charts. Believe it or not, I have had sixteen year old GCSE students almost turning cartwheels to get a smiley face stamp from me on a piece of GCSE coursework: amazing but true! The secret, if there is one, is to not give them away too easily.

! Pupil choice of activities relevant to them. This consequence for positive behaviour of some type will entail the pupil choosing a reward relevant to them. It could be free time to read a magazine or book of their choice or even something as simple as being allowed to be the first one out of class at the end of the lesson! Even in 2006, rewards dont need to be huge to be motivators. ! Systemic delayed gratification. This is where there is a system, over a period of time, whereby individuals or classes can accumulate points or stars which lead to rewards such as golden time on a Friday afternoon or an end-of-term trip to somewhere that the pupils consider to be worth going to. The key here is that the reward must be perceived as worthwhile to the pupils, otherwise it wont work. However, sometimes just getting out of school can be a reward in itself to pupils! In terms of negative consequences, Hook and Vass (op cit) believe that sanctions need to be: ! Things that the pupil would rather avoid happening ! Nothing that violates their best interests by harming them physically or psychologically ! Some form of inconvenience factor such as sitting away from the group, missing a break or delaying the pupil at the end of a lesson ! Structured and progressive (page 36) The most important thing about sanctions is that they need to be certain rather than severe. That is, we must not bluff. If we say a sanction is going to occur, then occur it must. Hence, its worth thinking about what sanctions were going to impose before saying them aloud! I think the key word in the above four points is that of inconvenience: sanctions need to be things that pupils would rather not happen to them. For example, pupils hate missing their break. Their friends are out enjoying some free time and they are in a classroom finishing off a piece of work that they could, and should, have finished during the lesson. Understandably, they are not happy. The key thing here is that they learn from the experience. If this has to happen, during the lesson I will have said something like, Jamie, you need to finish that piece of work by the end of this lesson. Are you on target to do so? Later on, I will have said, Jamie, if youre choosing not to finish that work in lesson time, then youre also choosing to stay in at break and complete it in your own time. Its your choice, Jamie. Ill let you think about it. Inevitably, Jamie does not finish the work and he and I are sitting in the classroom at break (Ill have a cup of coffee in my hand as a kind colleague will have brought one in for me) whilst he finishes the piece of work. This gives me the opportunity to say (in a relaxed tone and body language) that, 4

in the future, I hope he makes the right choice and neither of us ever miss have to miss a break again. Additionally, the fourth point listed above is that sanctions need to be structured and progressive. That is, they need to be organised in the form of a hierarchy. DfES state that the most successful schools in terms of behaviour management are those which have an agreed hierarchy of sanctions laid down in their Behaviour Policy which is known, and effectively implemented, by all members of staff and pupils in the school. So..rights lead on to responsibilities which, in turn, identify the need for rules and consequences. If Im right in my premise that pupils actually like boundaries and want teachers who give them structure by establishing and enforcing rules and routines, then hopefully this article will give you food for thought and possibly a starter for ten.

Phil Craig is an independent educational consultant. Previously, he has been the head teacher of an independent school for pupils experiencing behavioural, social and emotional difficulties, head of a Pupil Referral Unit in a shire county and head of a Behaviour Support Service in a large metropolitan borough. Although he has taught in mainstream, most of his career has been spent working with pupils exhibiting challenging behaviours. Phil enjoys the challenges of delivering training on whole-school behaviour management systems and on strategies to manage difficult behaviour in a way that causes the least stress to both teacher and pupil. He has also trained colleagues in FE Colleges, Universities, Pupil Referral Units and in non-school settings such as scouting organisations. His email address is phil@philcraig.co.uk

Further reading Confident Classroom Leadership by P Hook and A Vass, (2000), London: David Fulton Classroom Confidential by L Leaman, (2006), London: Continuum Behaviour Management: a whole-school approach by B Rogers, (1995), Sydney: Scholastic The New Teachers Survival Guide to Behaviour by S Roffey, (2004), London: Paul Chapman Publishing Controlling Your Class: A Teachers Guide to Managing Classroom Behaviour by B McPhillimy, (1996), Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. Cracking the Hard Class: Strategies for Managing the Harder than Average Class by B Rogers, (1997), Sydney: Scholastic