Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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PARTICIPATION & CONSULTATION:
A WHOLE SCHOOL STAGED APPROACH TO BEHAVIOUR

Jacqui Ward,
Educational Psychologist
East Ayrshire Psychological Services
Woodstock Centre, Woodstock Street, Kilmarnock, Scotland KA1 2BE
jacqui.ward@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Liz Harvey,
Headteacher
Newmilns Primary School,
Gilfoot, Newmilns, East Ayrshire, Scotland KA16 9LP
liz.Harvey@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Rationale:

Behaviour management has been a concern for schools since the beginning of formal education (Evans et al, 2003).   However with new legislation and educational policies such as Better Behaviour, Better Learning (Scottish Executive, 2001) advocating the importance of having effective systems in place, this has become a priority for many local authorities.   In the present study, the school wished to implement a whole-school staged approach to behaviour. Through joint working with the school and Psychological Services an intervention package was implemented.   This included:

• Involving staff, pupils and parents throughout the project
• Developing whole-school systems that would support staged approaches to behaviour management within the classroom
• Devising staged systems that would support pupils and staff within the playground environment.

Results:

The whole school staged approach to behaviour implemented within this school addressed the needs identified by the original needs analysis:   by providing clear guidelines for staff regarding behaviour management systems this in turn provided consistency across the school for pupils, staff and parents alike.

Primers for change including climate of school, involvement, voluntary nature of involvement, methods of involvement and having a shared goal are all important to any change.   However our results also found that the school culture has an overarching influence on the short-term effect of any change.   The key points that arose from this study were:

• Staff need to be involved in any change process from the onset
• Change needs to be viewed long-term
• Primers for change can help ease this transition period.

This project has been now been running for approximately 2 1/2 years with the first year involving the needs analysis and consultation stages.   This was followed by a pilot phase implementing the systems devised through consultation with all stakeholders.   The project is now at the stage of implementing amendments developed after the project’s first annual review.

INTRODUCTION

Behaviour management has been a concern for schools since the beginning of formal education (Evans et al, 2003).   However with new legislation and educational policies such as Better Behaviour, Better Learning (Scottish Executive, 2001) advocating the importance of having effective systems in place, this has become a priority for many local authorities.   In the present project, the school wished to implement a whole-school staged approach to behaviour.   However due to the different ideas between staff and management regarding ways forward, this was proving to be difficult.   Through working with an Educational Psychologist, this school implemented an intervention package involving staff, pupils and parents to try and ease the transition for all its stakeholders.

Through a consultation process with staff, parents and pupils, the project’s stakeholders devised a whole school staged intervention approach promoting positive behaviour as well as guidelines for managing more challenging behaviour.   This consultation process is detailed in the needs analysis section of this paper.

Other factors that had to be considered in the planning of this project were the social, economic and geographical variables that can have an impact on stakeholders.   This is a rural primary school with a pupil population of 224.   Although not the most socially and economically disadvantaged area of the local authority, the school has pockets of deprivation illustrated by the deprivation indices:   31% of the school population receive a free school meal and 41% received a footwear and clothing grant (SEEMISVision, 2004).   This will impact on customer needs and requirements in so much as poor socio-economic circumstances (Ruxton, 1996) and limited parenting skills (Smith, 1996) can be a factor in some children’s complex behaviour difficulties.   Therefore any preventative initiative, like this one, needs to encompass both home and school (Lupton & Sheppard, 2000).   Also the rural location of the school’s catchment area means that there are limited opportunities for learning within their own community.   However involving parents in school initiatives can act as a springboard for many to take the step towards developing their own learning skills with a view to future jobs (Munro, 1999).

OBJECTIVES

The project encompasses several national, local authority and school priorities including:

NEEDS ANALYSIS:

CONSULTING STAKEHOLDERS

The project’s needs were identified through consulting all stakeholders:   school

management team, school staff, pupils and parents:

• Management consultation

Through evaluation of existing practice, school management identified their overarching objectives and need for the project.  However it was agreed that in order for this project to be successful, all stakeholders needed to be consulted and work alongside management to identify the way forward.   This consultation would be carried out through an independent service i.e. Psychological Services to allow stakeholders to be open and honest about their perceptions of existing practice.   The parent and pupil focus groups, as well as the school staff interviews allowed the needs of all parties to be addressed.

• Parent focus groups

6 parents were involved in an evening focus group sessions.   All had different experiences of the school and its current behaviour management systems.    Therefore the selection of parents invited to the focus group was not random.

• Pupil focus groups

We held 5 focus groups involving 39 children from primaries 1-7.   Again all had differing experiences of the school and its current behaviour management systems.   Therefore the selection of pupils invited to the focus groups was not random.

• School staff interviews

8 members of the teaching staff and 6 ancillary staff were interviewed on an individual basis to try to avoid a groupthink situation and allow all staff members to put their views across confidentially.   Structured interviews were used, as they can be effective in teasing out unwritten rules of institutions and have the ability to gather detailed information (Galvin et al, 1999).   This was developed through modifying the Systems-Wide Evaluation Tool:   School Wide (Sugai, 2001).

• Staff reviewed their own practice through a Practice Grid

Following individual interviews, 5 teaching staff indicated an interest in reviewing their own practice regarding how they managed behaviour (challenging and positive) within their classroom.   They completed 2 grids over the same 2-week period.   The first week they noted their ‘Strategies for Challenging Behaviours’ and the second week, they recorded their activities to encourage positive behaviours.

Through the above consultation two strands emerged that all participants felt should be improved.   These were:

• To improve the consistency of approaches to behaviour throughout the school both in class and at play.
• To provide staff, pupils and parents with an explicit Behaviour Policy that all could relate to.

USE OF OBJECTIVE DATA TO UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT SERVICE PROVIDED FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF STAKEHOLDERS:

• Complaints from supervisory/ ancillary staff regarding pupils’ low level disruptive behaviour within the classroom and playground highlighted a need for a more staged model of intervention within the school.
• Staff were also using staff meetings and informal chats with management staff to advise that they required more guidance in effectively managing challenging behaviour and identifying supports for the more extreme end of challenging behaviour.
• Management identified the need for a clear, coherent behaviour management policy that gave parents and staff a route for support and guidance when difficulties occurred.   They also needed an evidence-based trail of supports developed and tried for pupils presenting challenging behaviour.
• Across the school, staff, pupil and parents were informally advising school management that the ethos of the school was being damaged and eroded through inconsistencies of practice.   Therefore steps were needed to improve this situation.

RESULTING SMART TARGETS

Newmilns Primary School’s Establishment Plan 2003-4 clearly identified the SMART targets that resulted from the initial consultation with parents, staff and pupils:

• To consistently recognise types of behaviour within the classroom and playground settings that were regarded as positive as well as challenging.
• To respond to behaviours in a staged manner following a set of procedures
• To effectively record both positive and challenging behaviours and following a set procedures
• To provide, clear guidance to pupils and reward good behaviours positively.
• To provide training to all necessary stakeholders (pupils and staff) to follow and be involved in the staged behaviour system.
• To provide an identified area that is able to evolve to meet the needs of parents, staff and pupils for positive learning purposes.

The success criterion was the development of a clearly defined system that had to be followed by all stakeholders.   This would be monitored termly and reviewed annually by Senior Management and Psychological Services with next steps identified accordingly.

METHODS USED TO DEVELOP A WHOLE SCHOOL
STAGED APPROACH TO BEHAVIOUR

TO ENCOURAGE OWNERSHIP OF THE APPROACHES

Consultation groups were utilised to ensure all stakeholder’s views were considered and give them ownership of the behaviour approach that would later be used.   The Educational Psychologist’s role was that of a facilitator to support the groups, to have an overall picture of the process and ensure the groups did not become talking shops with no outcomes (Clarke & Murray, 1996).  

During the first consultation session/ working group, participants discussed their rights and responsibilities within the school and it was felt that these groups should involve staff, parents and pupils as separate groups.   From their responses, school management and Psychological Services devised a contract for all stakeholders regarding their Rights and Responsibilities within Newmilns Primary School.   All within the school would sign this on an annual basis.

As not all members of a school community have the same experience or status (Clarke & Murray, 1996), it was felt that the working groups devising the behaviour systems for the classroom and playground should involve different levels of staff and parents (Galvin et al, 1999).    Therefore each group involved 2 parents, 1 member of senior school management, 1 member of school ancilliary staff, 1 class teacher and the Educational Psychologist.   6 afternoon sessions followed on a weekly basis whereby the participants developed the staged approach to behaviour within the classroom and playground.

A similar process was followed to provide an identified area that was to be used to meet the needs of parents, staff and pupils for positive learning purposes.   This working group involved the school’s Behaviour Co-ordinator, 2 parents and the School’s Pupil Council who consulted the main pupil body – they acted as researchers and gave out questionnaires to pupils from P3 upwards regarding this room/ identified area.

TO FURTHER ENCOURAGE CONSISTENCY & CONSISTENCY OF USE OF APPROACH:

• School handbook

This was formulated to provide school staff with the guidelines that would allow them to consistently recognise types of behaviour within the classroom and playground settings that were regarded as positive as well as challenging.    Furthermore it would also give them the information they required to consistently respond to behaviours in a staged manner by following the clear system described.

• Cascading of information to all stakeholders

To ensure school staff were aware of and understood the staged approach, the working groups gave a presentation to all school staff detailing the model.   Staff were able to ask any questions to clarify any misunderstandings.   Senior management developed a leaflet that was issued to all parents.   They also held assemblies to introduce the systems to pupils.   Class teachers then described and explained them in more detail at a later stage.

Following this, a pilot stage of the project was initiated in August 2003 until June 2004.

TO PROMOTE BEST PRACTICE:

• Presentation to schools within the local authority
• Presentation to Post-graduate teaching students
• Presentation to New Directions in Behaviour Support Conference
• Presentations to Scottish Executive
• Presentation to Annual Conference of Scottish Educational Psychologists.

THE STRATEGIES DEVISED

THE STORY SO FAR

The whole school staged approach for behaviour developed and utilised within Newmilns

Primary School is an ongoing development that has evolved following monitoring and

evaluating of identified needs through the annual review process.

YEAR 1 – PILOT STAGE

• Classroom reward system for behaviour and effort

Points are rewarded on a daily for both behaviour and effort.   This leads to small certificates building a class ‘Wall of Achievement’.   Pupil can then receive a termly reward of a larger certificate that is presented at assemblies and displayed in school corridors.

• Classroom strategies for managing behaviour

There are 3 levels to this approach with each listing behaviours that fall under that particular stage.   Stage 1 details low level disruptions that is handled by class teacher.   Level 2 is handled by class teacher, Depute Head teacher and Behaviour Co-ordinator and Stage 3 (most challenging behaviours) is handled by the Head teacher and parents.

• Playground reward systems for positive play

Through playing positively and behaving well, all pupils are given an extra Friday afternoon playtime of 10 minutes per week.   If they do not achieve this, pupils stay in their classroom and either continue with their work or speak to their class teacher about what they can do to ensure they will get their extra playtime the next week.    A monthly block of good behaviour leads to 10-40 minutes in the Golden Room each month where pupils can choose their own activities.

• Playground Pals training

Pupils were asked to apply for the job of Playground Pal.   20 pupils (from primary 4-7) were then trained in positive play by Community and Leisure Department and in conflict resolution, listening skills and how the systems worked by the Educational Psychologist.

The adult Playground Supervisors were also trained in the above.

• Playground strategies for managing behaviour

Again there are 3 levels to this approach with each listing behaviours that fall under each particular stage.   Level 1 is dealt with by Playground Pals with the support of the adult Playground Supervisors.   Level 2 is dealt with solely by the adult Playground Supervisors and Level 3 by the Senior Management.

• The Golden Room

Resources were identified by pupils and parents and purchased.   In the pilot stage, the room has been used for training purposes for all stakeholders and also as a reward for positive play in the playground.

YEAR 2:

• Talk Ticket

This strand of the project was identified through the annual review process.   The school’s Behaviour Co-ordinator (from Local Authority’s Framework for Intervention model) and a Classroom Assistant were both trained by the Educational Psychologist in active listening skills and solution-focussed counselling skills.   The concept being to support pupils who need a listening ear.   (Similar to mentoring).

• Amendments made to the strategies and reward systems used within the pilot stage .  
1. Primary 1 class teacher and pupils adapted the classroom reward system to allow younger children to have a greater understanding of the benefits of behaving positively.
2. Points system was re-developed to ensure that it was a realistic target for all children within the classrooms.
• Liason with other agencies

The project is now linked with the school’s Community Link Worker, Support Assistant and School Nurse as pupil’s needs are more readily highlighted through this staged approach.

• The Golden Room

Further developments have taken place.   Other partners within the local authority are now utilising the facility for training purposes.   The Learning Partnership is building up shared resources accessible to all partners.

EVALUATION & MONITORING

THE ONGOING STORY

Prior to this project being implemented, there was limited documentation recording the

school’s behaviour policies and systems, as they were not utilised as effectively as they could be.

Therefore there was no real baseline to compare results of this current project with.

Nevertheless monitoring and evaluation has been built into the project from its’ initial stages.  

Prior to the pilot stage, a comprehensive needs analysis was completed forming a baseline of

information that could inform objectives and the following stages of development.

Year 1 – Pilot stage

Following Year 1, the Educational Psychologist re-interviewed all staff on an individual

basis.   The following information was ascertained:  

• All staff (the exception of 1) agreed that there was now consistency across the stages with regards to staff approaches to managing behaviour.  
• All staff agreed that other schools would benefit from having such a system with the proviso that they developed their own staged approach to behaviour needs.
• The majority of staff felt that the systems were effective for the vast majority of pupils.
• Staff identified amendments that would be useful.   These included amending the primary 1 reward system, making the reward points more accessible for all pupils and also further action was needed for the most challenging pupils (3-4 pupils within the school population).

The Educational Psychologist also held focus groups with 50 pupils (5-10 pupils per focus group) with the following results:

• There were now a broad range of 6-8 positive behaviours that pupils could list and agree upon.
• They could also list what sanctions and rewards they would receive or not receive if they presented challenging behaviour.
• All wished the points systems to continue as they liked the certificates in the hallways and enjoyed the extra playtime.
• Older pupils involved in the Playground Pals initiative felt part of the school because of this responsibility.

Observations throughout the school have also highlighted the above.

Year 2

Year 2, as described on page 8, highlights the amendments made to the project following

the annual review of the pilot project.   Following this year (by August 2005), staff will

have statistical data to compare Year 1 to the present year.   This will compare exclusion

rates and numbers of pupils that are being recorded receiving positive rewards and also

those accessing the sanctions for challenging behaviour.  

With regards to the SMART targets discussed in the Needs Analysis on page 4, the

Head teacher has reported that all have been met according to her success criteria.

NEXT STEPS

Evaluation:

As already described on page 10, we are hoping to evaluate the impact the project has had on the school with regards to the school’s exclusion rates, numbers of pupils being recorded receiving positive rewards and also those accessing sanctions for challenging behaviour.   It would also be interesting to re-visit the staff’s review of their own practice through the Practice Grid.   However the latter would depend on staff willingness to repeat this exercise.

Involving parents more

Parents were involved directly and intensively in the initial focus groups and the consultation groups devising the strategies to be used by the whole-school staged approach.   However their involvement at present is limited.   The head teacher advises that they are involved mainly when their own children have sanctions applied due to their behaviour.   She has reported that the paperwork devised through this project has given her the opportunity to open a dialogue with many of these parents.   Something that prior to the project was more difficult to begin.  

This current limited involvement of parents is due to the large scale of this project and it was felt that trying to introduce too many new initiatives, involving too many people would not be appropriate.   Therefore staff involved in the project are now hoping to involve parents in a more direct manner by offering training in areas of interest.   This will hopefully be investigated during times when most parents attend the school – parents evenings.

Core group of young people presenting challenging behaviour

This project was aimed at the general population of a primary school.   It was hoped that it would give structure to staff, pupils and parent and therefore effectively manage low-level disruption.   The current results from school staff indicate that the project has positively influenced this.   Nevertheless there continues to exist within the school, a core group of young people (3-4 pupils) not responding to the staged approach.   Staff are currently utilising a Behaviour Teacher to work on a one-to-one basis with some of these pupils.   However it is hoped that a next step could be to look at a programme involving parents and pupils that could support these pupils even more effectively.

CONCLUSION

As Garnett (1996) stated “Meaningful INSET effects positive change in knowledge (which is easy), skills (which is harder) and attitudes (the hardest of all) (p120).   This assertion could be applied to meaningful change overall – this research illustrates that knowledge is relatively easy to increase whereas positive attitude change needs intense effort and can be fragile according to the environment that the participants are working within.

In spite of this, each school’s context is like a spiders web – with each web and school community being unique in size, setting and configuration.   Because the school is a central social agency, it is in a unique position to create a partnership web (Stoll & Fink, 1996, p134) and it is important that they do this.   All stakeholders need to be genuinely involved in the decision-making processes otherwise they can become isolated and as Stoll and Fink (ibid) believed, this can build unnecessary barriers and contribute to inconsistencies in pupils’ lives.  

If partnership involves a transformation for the school, the primers of readiness for change (including climate of school, involvement, voluntary nature of involvement, methods of involvement and having a shared goal) are useful to consider.   However context must also be taken into account, as must the fact that any change takes time to be accepted and effective.   It is easy to become discouraged when progress in improving issues appears to be slow or minimal.   Consistent good practice takes determination and patience (Roffey & O’Reirdan, op.cit).

REFERENCES

Clarke, D. & Murray, A.   (1996).   Developing and Implementing a Whole-School Behaviour Policy:   A Practical Approach.   London:   David Fulton Publishers.

Evans, J., Harden, A., Thomas, J. & Benefield, P.   (2003).   National Interventions for Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Primary Schools Foundation for Educational Research, www.nfer.ac.uk/htmldocs/html/Outcome_COC.html

Galvin, P., Miller, A. & Nash, J.   (1999).   Behaviour & Discipline in Schools, Devising and Revising a Whole-School Policy.   London:   David Fulton Publishers.

Garnett, V.   (1996).   Changing Classroom Practice.   In P. Mittler & V. Sinason (eds) Changing Policy and Practice for People with Learning Disabilities.   London:   Cassell.

Lupton, C. & Sheppard, C.   (2000).   A contradiction in terms?   An evaluation of a single agency home-school support project.   British Journal of Special Education, 27, 4, 186-190.

Munro, C.   (1999).   The parental dimension in Scottish education.   In T.G.K. Bryce & W.M. Humes (eds) Scottish Education.   Edinburgh:   Edinburgh University Press.

Roffey, S. & O’Reirdan, T.   (2003).   Plans for Better Behaviour in the Primary School.   London:   David Fulton Publishers Ltd.

Ruxton, S.   (1996).   Children in Europe.   London:   NCH Action for Children.

Scottish Executive.   (2001).   Better Behaviour, Better Learning.   Report of the Discipline Task Force.   Edinburgh:   Scottish Executive Education Department.

Smith, C.   (1996).   Developing Parenting Programmes.   London:   National Children’s Bureau/ Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Stoll, L. & Fink, D.   (1996).   Changing Our School.   Open University Press.

Sugai, Lewis-Palmer, Todd & Horner.   (2001).   Systems-wide Evaluation Tool version 2.0.   University of Oregon:   Educational and Community Supports.  

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