TeacherTalk:A Behaviour Curriculum -Part 2 - Systems, Teaching and Tracking

Part 2 - Systems, Teaching and Tracking

Welcome to our educational blog. Here we explore all things pertinent to education, discuss current topics and provide tips, from research and educational experts, to aid practice.

 

Introduction

Welcome back to our second edition of #TeacherTalk on Behaviour in schools. Last time, we explored a Behaviour Curriculum, questioning: if it is a definable construct? Can it be taught, led and effectively driven? What does a good behaviour curriculum look like? And how can you ensure your school has an effective behaviour strategy and system in place? If you haven’t read that edition, you can catch up here: TeacherTalk: A Behaviour Curriculum - Myth or Reality?

This blog will explore: Building systems leading to explicitly Teaching Behaviours before the final step; Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing your behaviour curriculum. 

This research has come from Tom Bellwood's work over the past two years in almost a hundred schools, in partnership with the Department for Education and CLT. 

Let’s continue and look at-

Core Principle 3: Creating Systems 

Habits account for 40% of our behaviours in any and every day (Duke University). So for behaviour systems to work and be effective in schools you need to understand 1: What the current habits are and 2. How to build new habits. You then need effective systems and routines to drive the behavioural habits, allowing them to flourish. 

So what do you need to do to install behavioural habits, routines and systems into your school? 

3.1 Make it OBVIOUS

• Embed new routines into the day to day 
• Have the system ingrained into the fabric of a wider process. 
• Narrate the process just as much as the behaviour. Ensure you discuss the systems to keep them a high priority routine.

3.2 Make it easy

• Don’t try and change too much at once - Pick one area and work on that until it is embedded. Then move to another.
• Start small then develop. If you want to improve lates, start with a realistic target and then increase it, once systems have been embedded. 
• Train, train and train. Ensure absolute clarity with staff and students. Give staff enough time to ask questions and practice.

3.3 Make it enjoyable

If we enjoy doing something and can see a benefit to it, it’s much more likely to be a success. 

• Add rewards to the system - praise and acknowledge those doing it well (publicly and privately) 
• Place it on the agenda, discuss and get regular feedback. 
• Narrate and discuss the impact as it evolves, with all stakeholders

What about leadership?

Like all systems and procedures, for them to be effective they have to be:

• Lead from the front, show and model the new system in action.
• Given enough time to succeed - training, clarity and implementation.
• Hold staff accountable, both hard and soft accountability; providing feedback and clarity, where needed. 

What are the pitfalls?

For new systems to be effective, ensure you track and measure the impact. Never underestimate how much you need to repeat the system - over communication is the key to success. Finally, new systems take time so don’t give up if the data is not initially positive.

Core Principle 4: Explicitly teaching behaviour 

So you’ve created the new systems or principle that you wish to instil amongst your staff and students - What do you need to do now?

-Staff and students need time to learn, practise and know them so that there is no confusion when it comes to implementation.

4.1 Frontloading Training

Ensure all staff know about the system in a dedicated time and space.  

• Use INSET days or large staff meetings •  •  •  Give time for questions and to address any misconceptions.
• Practise the new system before they use it with students. 
• When practising, use leaders to give support to ensure consistency in application. 

4.2 Ongoing training 

Once you’ve done your initial training session it's crucial to allocate time to revisit, monitor and evaluate feedback regarding the new system. With students, ensure they have time to also discuss the new system, for example in form time after the assembly where it was launched. Then continue to clarify and relearn the expectations until it is embedded for all staff and students through using a common language, key words and visual cues.

4.3 Nudges to modify behaviour 

It will be necessary to give time to ‘nudge’, staff and students to reinforce and embed the strategy, ensuring consistency in implementation. Strategies to do this are: 

• Positive framing and highlighting students and staff following a routine 
• Using videos or models to re-establish and revisit understanding regularly

What about leadership?

Think about the ownership of the new strategy - who will deliver it and conduct the training? Can they overcome challenges from staff and students? How will you share the information? How will this cascade from leadership to staff to students? Do all leaders demonstrate the systems with confidence for consistency?

What are the pitfalls?

• Clarity - a lack of clarity on the new system via leadership which feeds into staff and students causing mutations. 

2. Placing procedures in place to allow the success of the system e.g. If you want staff on duty, ensure their duty position is close to their room. 
3. A lack of tracking to check the effectiveness of the implementation stage.

Core Principle 5: Monitor, evaluate and review  

Tracking the processes and systems is almost as crucial as defining and implementing them in the first place. 

5.1 Smart Targets 

1. Specific- be crystal clear on what you are improving

2. Measurable - Track the progress via data 

3. Achievable - Set smaller, achievable goals initially then go larger. 

4. Relevant - is your target fit for the purpose of what you are trying to achieve?

5. Time Bound - What's the ‘end date’ you are working towards?

5.2. Tracking at all levels 

Data must be gathered and shared with leaders at all levels of responsibility to track the effectiveness of the new system. Think carefully about what Senior Leaders need, compared to Middle Leaders and Class Teachers. Then evaluate and discuss the impact of the data to ensure it remains , referring back to your SMART Targets. Consider both the quantitative and qualitative data and the impact of this, taking time to gather feedback from all stakeholders. 

5.3 Systemise Data Production and Evaluation

Like the routines when implementing a system, routines when analysing the data is vital for ensuring it is valid and reliable. Ensure all data is user friendly, using tables and graphs to make it easily digestible  Once you’ve reviewed your data over a period of time, evaluate and rewrite your next targets using your final data collection, moving the school forward. 

What about leadership? 

• Ensure someone is responsible for data collection/evaluation
• All staff need the relevant data to keep momentum
• Use both qualitative and quantitative feedback to truly understand the impact and wider picture. Data might look worse initially but this could be because it's now valid and accurate compared to before - don’t be put off by this. Look for improvements going forward. 

What are the pitfalls?

1. Ensure there aren’t too many data systems or too much data causing confusion. 

2. Focus on what is being shared, the attitudes and do ‘temperature checks’ in line with what the figures say.

3. Make sure you have a target or goal so that you can measure the impact and progress - not setting one, isn’t helpful! 

To conclude

As Tom’s research has shown, a Behaviour Curriculum is a definable construct that can be implemented effectively within any school setting as long as it’s carefully planned, articulated, shared, reviewed, evaluated and re-developed in light of feedback and data. Whilst sounding complex, the 5 core principles shared are crucial to a staged, successful approach. The benefits of talking to other schools, colleagues and visiting those, is also highly beneficial, when understanding a behaviour curriculum - but make sure that you establish your school’s core values to ensure that what you implement is successful from the outset.