Written by Tom Martell, Director of Strategy and Operations
The school improvement team started this year by focusing on three common priorities across our schools: positive behaviour, reading and activating hard thinking. Behaviour was a particular focus during the autumn term, to create a disruption-free learning environment, so here we share some reflections on this work.
Starting with a highlight, according to teachers’ responses to survey items from the National Behaviour Survey, poor behaviour in lessons is much less common in CET schools than shown in a typical school nationally. However, there is still more room for improvement. Every pupil deserves disruption-free learning and our staff also deserve to work without misbehaviour getting in the way.
Digging into the detail, it is interesting to see the kinds of behaviours that disrupt learning. At primary level, talking and shouting out occur far less frequently than the national figures suggest, but there is still more progress to be made. We are somewhat optimistic that these figures may improve naturally over the year, as we surveyed staff in the autumn term where routines are still embedding, while the national surveys were completed in the summer term. We will find out for sure when we next repeat the surveys.
At the secondary level, the priorities remain similar, with the added challenge of students arriving late to lessons. Unsurprisingly, this issue is far more prevalent among secondary students than those in primary school. Again, our schools perform favourably over national figures, but there is still work to be done.
Of course, the results are just an average and we must always be cautious when interpreting such data, as individual experiences can vary widely. For instance, we know from national research that early career teachers are much more likely to be affected by disruptive behaviour than their more experienced colleagues.
Addressing Behaviour Positively
In practical terms, a very promising way of reducing pupils shouting out in lessons is to front-load the way in which students are to participate, whereby you first tell pupils how you want them to respond and then you ask the class the question.
Here are some examples of the means of participation, as provided by Adam Boxer:
- Cold Call – ‘Without calling out or putting up your hands, all of you think about this question… What is the first step in solving this equation?’ Then name a pupil to answer
- Mini-whiteboards – ‘I want you all to answer this next question on your mini-whiteboards, with no talking… What is the formula to work out the area of a triangle?’
- Voting systems – ‘I am going to show you a multiple-choice question. I don’t want anyone shouting out. I just want you to get your choice of ABCD card ready…’
- Turn and Talk – ‘I am going to ask you a question that I want you to think hard about and then – only when I tell you – discuss with your partner’
- Self-assessment – ‘I am going to put the answers on the board in a moment. Without speaking or turning to your partner, mark your work’.
For more insights into this, you can read about how you can front-load the means of participation here. This article is really helpful for teachers to clarify behavioural expectations for pupils and reduce calling out in lessons.
By continuing to refine our behaviour strategies and embedding clear expectations, we can ensure that all students benefit from an environment that supports their learning and growth.