Where does bad behaviour lead in schools today?
I think we can all agree that corporal punishment deserves to stay well and truly housed in the history books when it comes to a consequence dished out by schools.
However, behaviour plans and creating air tight policies is something I am seeing more and more schools dedicating their time to as negative behaviour and entitlement amongst their student body has increased, especially since extended lockdown learning.
As an educator of over fifteen years, I am confident in saying that the students we taught post covid are not the students we now have sitting at the desks in our rooms. Now I can’t blame everything on the pandemic. In fact, there is data to demonstrate that this societal shift has been coming for quite some time. The like button, implemented by Meta’s Facebook and Instagram in early the 2010s, has been blamed by psychologists for the spike in mental health disorders. The ability for comparison to be made so quickly, with the quantitative data of the ‘likes’ coupled with the fact that the content ‘liked’ is often not real but merely a manufactured version of what is deemed ‘likeable’ as society moves through its fickle favouritism, plays a pivotal role.
Yes, yes, I am digressing – but I am trying to highlight how society as a whole has changed and, through the pandemic during which being online was, for some, their sole social experience, we accelerated an already shifting society quicker than ever.
The opportunity for individuals to platform themselves, their opinions and their rights online so visually is part of the reason our young people feel emblazoned to stand up for themselves - to buck up against authority and to critically consider their place in this world. Fantastic, for the most part! However, most schools have survived on authority, conformity and obedience for many years. This has been the behaviour strategy. A few threats, a couple of detentions, maybe a suspension and students stay in line.
Well, this is no longer the case, hence the writing and re writing of behaviour plans to include new behaviours now being experienced or to tighten up any opportunity for student exploitation.
With poor behaviour, there is often a lack of respect for school rules. Even less respect for the teacher or administrator who is trying to enforce it. Therefore, punitive measures like detentions or suspensions act merely as a band aid rather than getting to the root cause of the behaviour itself. The movement toward restorative practices is implemented by most schools, however this is done with only some success. The reason being twofold.
Students can see this as an opportunity to exploit the practice. Have a chat with no investment or consequence or with no willingness to make any change for the better.
Teachers can feel as though the conversation rests solely on the student version of events leaving them feeling unsupported.
Student agency is another one of those buzz words moving through education at the moment. An idea that is excellent in theory, however, is not always implemented in an authentic manner. It also doesn’t equate to what a student says results in the entire truth.
Many schools are in a battle between the old and the new. There are the teachers who have spent their careers reliant on punitive measures to gain obedience and respect and then the newer generation who believe restorative practices are far superior in generating positive outcomes, steering away from stricter punishments.
Sure, punitive measures have worked in obtaining submission in classrooms. However, it has never been a fix for the reason a student is acting out. Restorative conversations are excellent in understanding student motivations and reestablishing expectations. However, if a student is not invested in the process it can feel like a ‘tick the box’ exercise. I have even seen students use this process as a way to gain power over the educator who has reported the poor behaviour in the first place. In fact, this exact scenario has been cited by many educators considering and actually leaving the profession.
The other factor to consider too is that the department has made it very difficult for some of the more punitive measures to be put into place by schools. So much administration must be done in order to enforce some of the harsher punishments that overworked educators literally don’t have time. Students can sense this and when they know a threat isn’t followed through, the boundary to push up against gets that little bit weaker.
So, what do we do?
I think there are two things to consider. Firstly, we want to ensure that we equip our students with the skills, including resilience, to handle what they are likely to experience in life outside of school. This involves consequences for disrespectful behaviour as well as poor commitment to work standards. All employers have expectations of their employees and if we molly coddle our students to the point that they feel entitled to behave however they want to, without upholding basic societal standards, then we have failed. On the other hand, the people we have transitioning into tertiary studies and/or the workforce are unlikely to be children battling with underdeveloped frontal lobes, raging hormone or little emotional intelligence (although this still may be the case). Therefore, we need to meet our students where they are developmentally.
I believe restorative practices and punitive measures both have a place in education. Relying solely on strict punishments is a step backwards and will no longer have the impact it once did. In fact, we are likely to have a revolt from our young people as they don’t view authority with the blind respect and potential fear the generations before them once did. They see their educators as guides, role models and supporters instead of the all knowing dictators that hold all the power. Sure, it was easier to control students when we could keep up this façade, but it is unrealistic and not something to work toward attaining.
We need to lean into the role that our students have awarded us: guides, role models, supporters. This is where restorative practices play such an important role. Genuinely listening to our students, understanding their ‘why’ (don’t roll your eyes, I know how that sounds). Acting in a way that creates connection and support and releases the ‘us and them’ mentality. We are all on the same team. However, this does not mean that there are no consequences. The school policy still must include strict consequences if the behaviour requires it and this needs to be reinforced as part of a supportive conversation. It could look something like this:
Identifying the behaviour from the perspective of BOTH student and teacher.
Creating a supportive environment so the student feels safe to share the reason behind their poor behaviour choice.
Offering support, if necessary, for the student or creating an action plan to ensure the student feels they have more control/awareness of this behaviour.
Discussing the impact of this behaviour on the wider setting eg: classroom/peers/educators etc. The teacher involved should be heard during this process.
Reestablishing school expectations and policies, based on that there may be a further punitive measure eg: time out, detention, suspension, parent meeting etc. There may even be an opportunity for the student to identify their own consequence if appropriate.
It is imperative that time is dedicated to these conversations and that there is genuine ‘buy in’ from all involved. Perhaps one day a conversation is all that will be needed to ensure expectations are met, but we aren’t there yet. And despite the ‘effectiveness’ of harsh punishments previously, they don’t really serve our children and, many may argue, never truly did. Therefore, these methods must work hand in hand to ensure we raise young people who feel they have a true sense of agency as well as an understanding that consequences are the reality for poor behaviour.