Description of the Challenge
I have witnessed cases where teachers face significant challenges in managing the behavior of primary school children. Teaching a large class of pupils with different abilities can cause a lot of irritation to teachers. I have seen the behavior of some kids disrupting the normal operations of classrooms or the entire school. Thus, a child may exhibit behavior that may make it difficult for the teachers to provide education for that particular pupil or their peers. Teachers are experiencing even greater behavioral issues that are associated with children with disability and those who have different social norms from that of the teacher (Docking & MacGrath, 2013). Even though there is an agreement in education circles that teachers should deal with challenging behavior by promoting positive behavior, the technique may not work in some cases as I have seen some children who behave in a way that is not expected for their age and level of development. Thus, it is important for teachers to prepare for these variations in children’s behavior that may negatively affect their ability to benefit from education (Reid & Morgan, 2012). The teachers need to be able to respond to negative behavior in a way that will instill more acceptable conduct in the children as this will even improve their academic performance.
Identification of the Challenge
Every school has its set of behaviors that it expects the students to demonstrate while within the compound, and as such, there are no common actions that can be regarded as challenging in universality. Hence, it is difficult to come up with a precise definition of a challenging set of behaviors as it depends on the behavioral expectations of individual schools (Dix, 2010). It should be noted that the government’s grounds for suspension and expulsion cannot be used to define the set of challenging behaviors as they only cover serious misconduct from students. However, it would be reasonable to describe a difficult behavior as any conduct by the student that interferes with safety and learning of that particular student or their peers, or the safety of school staff (Docking & MacGrath, 2013). Some examples of challenging behaviors in primary schools may include withdrawal tendencies like shyness, anxiety, staring, school phobia, social isolation truancy, hand flapping, or rocking. Others include disruptive, violent and unsafe, and inappropriate social behaviors. Disruptive behaviors incorporate being out of the seat, tantrums, calling out in class, swearing, refusing to follow instructions, and screaming (Reid & Morgan, 2012). Violent and unsafe behaviors include kicking, head banging, punching, running away, biting, fighting, and smashing items. Inappropriate social conducts include abusive conversations, being over-affectionate, stealing, and inappropriate touching (Victoria State Government, 2014). It is important for schools and teachers to evaluate the reasons for children to behave in a certain way as several factors influence the behavior of a child.
Children’s behavior is affected by so many factors and at times it can result in behavior that is challenging to teachers and schools. Some of these factors include biophysical and psychological factors like medical conditions, disabilities, emotional trauma, and lack of social skills (Docking & MacGrath, 2013). Behavioral and social factors include where the student learns the negative behavior through consequences, reinforcement, and adaptation to social practices that they are exposed to in the community where they live. For instance, a child with learning difficulty may behave improperly so that they are removed from class and avoid their learning problems being exposed (Reid & Morgan, 2012). Other factors that contribute to children showing challenging behaviors include historical community factors, cultural factors, student group dynamics, classroom organization issues, environmental factors, and teacher behavior (Victoria State Government, 2014). There is no single cause of challenging behavior among primary school children because in most cases; it is a combination of several factors.
Literature Review
Sellgren (2013) reported that the cases of disruptive classroom behavior were becoming worse in the UK. A survey of 844 teachers indicated that 53 percent of them believed that the problem of behavior management in primary schools in the United Kingdom was deteriorating. One of the causes of the worsening of the issue is the lack of proper training for teachers and support staff to deal with the difficult children. Sellgren (2013) says that there are students in primary schools that are too disruptive to learn in regular classroom and teachers should be able to identify them so that they can be referred to appropriate institutions where they can get help and support. The survey showed that 62 percent of the 844 respondents believed that the number of children with emotional, psychological and mental health problems, this was an increase from 56 percent five years before the study. The results showed that the challenging behavior among the pupils was targeting other students at 72 percent, teaching staff at 46 percent, and support staff at 43 percent (Sellgren, 2013). Verbal aggression was the most prevalent challenging behavior among the pupils in primary schools, followed by physical assault, then bullying in person, and breaking and ruining other pupils’ belongings. The study established that 35 percent of participants did not get any training in dealing with challenging, violent or disruptive students.
Sherrington (2013) says that the greatest challenge that he has ever faced as a teacher is behavior management is a primary school. Immediately after graduating from Sixth Form, Sherrington thought that he was a pretty good teacher only to receive a massive shock after discovering that he was a novice in the new context. He says that it was a struggle to make the class listen as well as suffering constant humiliation from a certain Year 9 class. The author says that in the first three years of his teaching career, he went through a terrible phase to the extent of becoming an appalling speaker, losing temper, and committing atrocities like throwing students’ books down the stairwell and chasing some students away from the classroom. Sherrington (2013) asserts that the challenge of behavior management in primary schools can be frustrating for new teachers especially if they are not equipped with appropriate skills to respond to different types of behavior that children may exhibit in the classroom. The author says that he overcame the challenge when he learned to manage his emotions and always being the adult in the classroom. He advises teachers in primary schools to apply positive correction which is based on a non-confrontational approach to discipline, positive teacher-student relationship, and respect to rights and dignity of children, and choices of the outcomes of behavior as well as encouragement for self-discipline among students.
According to Dix (2010), behavior management is one of greatest challenges that teachers in primary schools encounter in their careers and having the right skills to manage the class effectively is a fundamental need. Dix (2010) indicates that misbehaving students can spoil even the most meticulously planned lessons. He holds that newly-qualified teachers are the most affected by this challenge, and they should acquire classroom management techniques before they can attend to their first lesson. He recommends for teachers to establish clear rules and routine for the students as well as providing explicit choices about their behavior. Moreover, he warns teachers and schools from giving ultimatums for students to have behaved in a certain manner or ignoring disruptive learners.
TES Global Ltd states that teachers and schools make several behavior management mistakes that lead to instructors fleeing the workforce. Effective learning cannot take place in a poorly managed classroom where students are misbehaving. TES Global Ltd reports that a study conducted by DfES in 2003 showed that about a quarter of all resigning teachers in primary schools mentioned the challenging behavior of pupils as the main reason for leaving. The author cites six mistakes teachers make that contribute to the poor behavior of children in the classroom. The mistakes are attempting to control the class, taking the negative behavior personally, criticizing the student instead of behavior, failure to give children a second chance, making threats, and inconsistent approach to dealing with the pupils. If the teachers could avoid these mistakes in the classroom, they can manage behavior in a more efficient way. Primary school teachers should avoid managing their classroom based on their beliefs and attitudes as children pick on what their teachers are doing (TES Global Ltd). If the teacher is doing the thing right, the children are likely to replicate the same as they believe that in the authenticity of their instructor, and a feeling of trust and rapport develops.
The challenge of behavior management in primary schools links with Item 7 of Part1 of Teachers Standards that requires teachers to manage behavior effectively so that they can promote healthy and safe learning environment. Under this standard, the teachers should establish clear rules and practice in classrooms, and be in charge of promoting courteous and proper conduct. The educators and schools should set high expectations of behavior and have disciplinary structures that utilize a wide range of strategies including praises, sanctions, and rewards in consistent and fair manner. The teachers should use approaches that will meet the pupil’s needs while managing the classes so that they can motivate and engage them (Department of Education, 2011). Finally, the standard requires teachers to maintain sound relationships with students, apply right authority and make firm decisions when necessary.
Recommended Actions to Deal with the Challenge
Schools have a primary role to ensure than they prevent behavioral difficulties among their pupils by establishing school-wide classroom rules and procedures. All the staff should agree to the provisions and explain to the children by discussing, role playing and displaying them (Special Education Support Service). Students should understand the sanctions associated with any of the rules so that they can know what kind of disciplinary action to expect for breaking a particular school regulation. When the teachers are correcting the pupils, they should let them know the rule by repeating the reason for it and the associated sanction. It is necessary to know the pupils well by having a conversation with them, discussing them with parents, observing them, and seeking the reasons behind their behavior. Schools should teach about social behavior as some children may not know the way to conduct themselves and others do not understand the impact of their behavior on others. Finally, schools and teachers should try to modify behavior by observing the affected students.
Reference List
Dix, P., 2010. How to manage behaviour in the classroom. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2010/feb/09/pupil-behaviour-management-tips [Accessed 26 June 2016].
Docking, J. & MacGrath, M., 2013. Managing Behaviour in the Primary School. Abingdon: Routledge.
Irish National Teachers Association, 2004. Managing Challenging Behaviour: Guidelines for Teachers. Dublin.
Reid, K. & Morgan, N., 2012. Tackling Behaviour in Your Primary School: A Practical Handbook for Teachers. Abingdon: Routledge.
Sellgren, K., 2013. Disruptive behaviour rising, teachers say. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/education-21895705 [Accessed 26 June 2016].
Sherrington, T., 2013. Behaviour Management Strategies from Bill Rogers. [online] Available at: https://headguruteacher.com/2013/01/06/behaviour-management-a-bill-rogers-top-10/ [Accessed 26 June 2016].
Special Education Support Service. Dyslexia and Challenging Behaviour. [online] Available at: http://www.sess.ie/dyslexia-section/dyslexia-and-challenging-behaviour [Accessed 26 June 2016].
TES Global Ltd, Six behaviour management mistakes. [online] Available at: https://www.tes.com/articles/six-behaviour-management-mistakes [Accessed 26 June 2016].
Victoria State Government, 2014. Student Behaviour. [online] Available at: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/participation/Pages/studentbehaviour.aspx [Accessed 26 June 2016].
