Management of Behaviour in Secondary School - Essay Example

Behaviour Management in Secondary Schools Part A: Summary of key professional literature-documents Part A: As part of the review of three research or professional documents let us first review the document regarding the anti social behaviour in secondary schools. The review comprises of guidance and regulations regarding the anti social behaviour in secondary schools. It is everybody’s duty to welcome the government’s initiative to address the problem regarding anti social behaviour in schools. The Government’s initiative has come at the right time. The pupils’ indiscipline was seriously on rise in secondary schools. This is a necessity in the present society of rising indiscipline. Another fact is that the pupil indiscipline will result in citizen indiscipline in future. The aspirations of the government regarding educational excellence also will be effected negatively and it increases the problems of social exclusion of poor and down trodden that are unable to compete economically. NASUWT has been raising concerns about behaviour management in secondary schools very frequently. The association has some reservations about the provisions of anti social behaviour bill, which is now an act. The reservations are regarding the application of parenting contracts, orders and penalty notices. The behaviour management which involves penalty and parenting orders can be doubted. There are less instances that the anti social behaviour controlled by penalty measures.1 Actually when the penalty was introduced, the anti social behaviour in the pupils may increase. The pupils who can pay the penalty may find this clause as a route of payment for their anti social behaviour attitudes. It is important to notice that NASUWT has reminded that the schools, which have identified other strategies to contain anti social behaviour need not required to use the provisions in the Anti social behaviour act 2003. The schools which have alternative measure s to contain anti social behaviour and attendance problems must be exempted from the purview of the act. Part B: The methods adopted by the schools should be thoroughly examined by the education department and their effectiveness must be estimated properly. If the strategies being implemented by the schools are effective and are proved scientifically by different studies, then the education or human resource agencies can exempt that school from the purview of the act. The implementation agencies must be careful while estimating the effectiveness of the strategies of various schools. In this regard also NASUWT has argued strongly. It felt that it would be reasonable if the head teachers and senior teachers in schools assumed responsibility for the administration of the arrangements regarding the control of anti social behaviour. There is another argument that this makes teachers vulnerable to legal challenges thus affecting them negatively in their profession. Summary 2 Part A: As second summary regarding the management of behaviour in secondary schools, the guidance and regulations regarding behaviour and discipline in secondary schools is taken in consideration. This is according to Part1 of chapter 7 of the education and Inspections act 2006. This can be termed as a set of draft guidance on school behaviour policies. The duties of schools in establishing, communicating and reviewing the school behaviour policy including pupils were incorporated in the regulations. According to these regulations the power to discipline will be given. According to this the schools have a power to detain the pupil and thus make him loyal to school regarding discipline. Though the pupil is showing sufficient performance regarding the studies, the violation of discipline may give him a fail grade. This compels a pupil to obey the teacher regarding the behaviour. In the absence of the power of discipline, the teacher role can be restricted to supplier of information. In the presence of new act, the teacher has an upper hand regarding the discipline matters. When the freedom of the pupil exceeds it turns to indiscipline. If indiscipline when comes into contact with rude personalities it results into anti social behaviour thus affecting the school atmosphere and educational activities. The provision for punishment when there is violation and reward when there is a good behaviour enables teacher to monitor the student’s behaviour correctly according to the need. When the good behaviour rewarded the pupil who faced penalty tries to get that reward. It is human and at time childish to compete for the reward. This gives extra control for the teacher regarding student’s behaviour. The use of reasonable force is also contemplated but has not yet replaced DfES circular 10/98. This use of reasonable force should be specially used for the students who do not care for penalty or compete for reward. These pupils can be termed as the individuals who are responsible for antisocial behaviour at any place. For this purpose use of reasonable force under circumstances permits the teacher to proceed legally against the pupils and parents who do not comply with the rules and disciplinary actions. Part B At the same time there is a chance of misusing the power of discipline. The occurrences of misuse of power of discipline may be in few cases, but those few cases cannot be ignored. Even one violation causes a disastrous effect on the behaviour of the pupil and even that must be controlled. As this deals with the student’s behaviour the violation or misuse of the power will affect them mentally. So this needs a monitoring committee regarding the actions taken by the teachers by using power of discipline. All the three measures; penalty, reward and use of force actions of a teacher and the school must be monitored by the department of education. Summary 3 Part A In the above two summaries controlling the negative behaviours are considered. In the third summary inculcating positive behaviour and making school atmosphere lively for the pupils who feel afraid or boring about school were considered. In a seminar attended by Mike Baker on secondary education chaired by Tony Blair, a number of views regarding the pupil’s absence and reluctance in school have come to fore. Number of adults responded that they left the school in their childhood because the school did not engage them. This experience of the teachers in their childhood must make them engage the pupils in the class. Particularly if the pupil is absent minded and not active, the non engagement may drive him to be absent from the school. Some other adult’s experience regarding their experiences in the school is that the child who is responsible for the spoiling of the class should be driven out of the school. According to their opinion, driving out of the problem child will save the whole class and the school. This is due to the observed fact that the children who are lagging back in behaviour and studies will be effected by problem children. According a participant named Carl Thompson the needs of many should outweigh the needs of few. The reasons for his view are that he is in the many. What are the views of the persons that are few in number? Generally the activities of the few pupils cause the behavioural disorders in the school. The administration cannot support the view that every child who is problematic must be driven out from the school. In this context of driving out the problem children here is a danger that the schools remain as the centres of information dissemination. The children who are brought up in good atmosphere only can withstand in the school without being driven out. Part B With this view of driving out of the children who are problematic cannot make the schools as the places of moulding the character. The pupils who are good in behaviour can be admitted and can be given training. Then the role of the schools in making the school atmosphere positive will disappear. The duty of making the children responsible will remain with parents only. It is clear that all the parents are not capable to fulfil that responsibility. The main cause for the absence of positive atmosphere in the schools is the decreasing attempts in the curriculum to mould the child’s character. Without addressing that and by not giving enough room for the activities of character moulding the problem of absence of positive atmosphere in the school cannot be addressed. Part B The chosen policy of the school is creating positive atmosphere for the pupils. To create a positive atmosphere the bullying of the pupils or the teachers should be avoided and must be removed. The actions that make students obedient or teachers responsible must not be based on bullying. For this the following topics must be considered. The schools concern about bullying. Establishing anti bullying policy in four stages Concern about bullying outside the school premises. According to the above mentioned policy and regarding the bullying of pupils the head teachers must have policy to prevent all forms of bullying between the pupils. This policy of the head teachers must be included in the instruction given in the policy of the school. They must assert that the bullying of one another is unacceptable and that policy will be strictly implemented. These bullying avoiding policies should not violate human rights act 1998 and the race relations amendment act 200. This compels to include avoiding of racial discrimination in the policy of avoiding the bullying. So, when a school’s policy tries to avoid bullying, it must avoid racial discrimination also. The school policy needs awareness and consultation among the staff and students for its effective implementation. For this purpose the school should set out strategies that are backed by systems to ensure effective implementation, monitoring and review. This must be discussed and made understood by all the staff and the students. The practices adopted for the implementation must be good. The avoidance of bad practices for good targets also must be followed. If there is a chance for each person recalling the experiences of bullying publicly it may help in effective implementation. For this purpose consultation regarding the policy implementation must be done with all the staff and the students. The consultation will establish a definition for the policy adopted. There may be prior definition for the policy but the consultations within the school will enable emergence of a definition that is understood by both staff and the students of the school. The discussion of the policy by the students with their parents must be made compulsory. This makes every one to understand about the compulsion of avoiding bullying to create a positive atmosphere. B To create a positive atmosphere the school management must give clear instructions to staff in implementation of the policy. They can promote the policy principles during assemblies and in the contexts of collective worship. They can conduct tutorials regarding the implementation of the policy. The literature regarding the school’s policy can be printed in the school magazine and can be publicised. This will reinforce the determination for implementing the policy. The action taken should be direct on the pupils and teachers who resort to bullying. The different contexts that are considered as bullying must be explained to teachers and pupils. The contexts of bullying will be different for teachers and pupils. The direct action recommended will decrease the bullying nature from the side of teachers and effective implementation of the policy from the side of the staff will control anti social behaviour in the students. The control of anti social behaviour is capable of paving the way for creation of positive atmosphere. Maintaining the accurate records regarding the implementation and actions taken will give ideas for further modifications of the strategies. The results obtained also must be evaluated and the future strategies must be planned. When the results are not encouraging the management must study about the lapses in the implementation strategies and lapses in the understanding of the policy by the students. The relationships between the teachers will also play an important role in the implementation of school policy. When the school’s policy is to create a positive atmosphere by avoiding the anti social behaviour and bullying, the positive relationships between teachers will play an important role. The lack of positive relationship between teachers is capable of posing threats to the implementation. To achieve correct implementation, the management must take steps to maintain positive relationships between teachers. The communication between management and the head teachers, head teachers and teachers must be fair to ensure the right implementation of the policy. The next step in the implementation is the direct action. The direct action will make pupils to think that all forms of bullying are of no use. The management must create an atmosphere that will not tolerate bullying and that must be understood by the pupils. In the extreme cases if the parents are involved in the bullying and the teachers are at risk the help of police may be sought, but that must happen only in extreme condition. A condition can be felt extreme when the management is not in a position to take control over the situation. This happens when the pupil or the parents violate the rules, regulations and instructions of the school regarding the policy implementation. If the violation is public and humiliating to the management and other pupils the help of police may be sought to give importance to the direct action. There must be provision for the legal action and proceedings in case of any parent approach the court regarding the policies of the school. In this context the school must contact a counsel before framing a draft regarding the implementation of the policy. The implementation measures must be in compliance to the laws and acts made and enacted by the government and education department. There are many laws and acts regarding the implementation of school policies regarding anti social behaviour and creating positive atmosphere. When an incident regarding anti social behaviour, disturbing the positive atmosphere or bullying occurs follow up procedures must be stated in the implementation manual that is given to the head teachers and teachers. This action must prevent the happenings of antisocial behaviour, disturbing the positive atmosphere and bullying. C When a school implements a policy regarding anti social behaviour, positive atmosphere and anti bullying, it is natural to face opposition from the parents as they do not want to comply with the rules laid down by the policy. The reason is that the compliance with the policy will make them less accessible the upper hand they had till now by bullying tactics. The bullying tactics must be contained even with the help of the police. The important thing is that the problems faced by the teachers outside the school. The social compulsions and the contacts with the parents will make the teachers vulnerable to the violation of the school policy. To avoid this type of situations the management must lay down strict instructions for the parents at the starting of the year and at the time of admission. The chance of bullying the teachers by the parents must be minimised even outside the school. The strict implementation can bring irritation in the students, who enjoyed unwanted freedom with the help of anti social behaviour and bullying. Though the present condition is pleasant for the majority of the students, the small number of problem children who are responsible for the unpleasant incidents may pose problems with the help of their parents. The complaints of the students regarding the management to their parents may result in parents contacting the management with various reasons. The consultation with the parents and counselling them regarding the policy and its implementation will make the management’s task of implementation easy. The feed back from the teachers, staff, families, parents, pupils and governors will give the required information for updating the policy and the instructions for the implementation. The time limit to achieve the target must be set and management must work in tandem with teachers to achieve that target. If the time limit is too less for example less than one year, the sudden implementation of strict measures may result in school dropouts. So the time period in achieving the targets must be set a minimum of one year. References: The references are given in the following format: Author, year, title, publisher, edition information, type of media, date retrieved, and website address. 1. NASUWT team, 2006, anti social behaviour bill: guidance and regulations, NASUWT, ,electronic, 18-12-06, http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=70326&ParentNodeID=68762 2. DFES team, 2006, Consultation on Guidance and regulations and school discipline and behaviour, DFES, ,electronic, 18-12-06, http://www.behaviour4learning.ac.uk/viewArticle.aspx?contentId=12976 3. Mike Baker, 2005, your views on pupil’s behaviour, BBC News, ,electronic, 18-12-06, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4724495.stm 4. Peter smith, 2002, Bullying: Don’t suffer in silence, Pupils support and access, ,electronic, 18-12-06, http://www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying/pack/02.pdf Book references: The book references given in following format Author, year, title, series title if any, edition, publisher, place if available, page number 1. Herbert Grossman, 2003, Classroom behaviour management for diverse and inclusive schools, Education and teaching, Rowmann and little field, ,page number 213 2. Margaret Macdonald, 1997, education in Scotland: policy from preschool to secondary, eduatin/ teaching, Routledge, UK, Page number 20 Read More