Did the behaviour stop? What did the learner learn from the way we stopped it?
Updated: Oct 12
Around one in four young people in the DfE study met the criteria used to estimate a probable mental health disorder. Behaviour systems need to work today, while we stay alert to the experiences children are rehearsing over years. |
By Friday, we've reminded the same child six times to stop calling out. Each time, they've stopped. On Monday, we'll probably need to remind them again.
The learner may know the expectation perfectly well. They might even be able to explain why calling out is disruptive. But can they hold on to a thought while someone else is speaking? Manage the frustration of waiting? Recognise when it's appropriate to contribute? I wonder how much time we spend correcting behaviour without really understanding what children need to learn to meet our expectations.
The immediate intervention may have been entirely appropriate. Other children need to learn, adults need to maintain boundaries and sometimes behaviour needs to stop quickly. But repeated correction should also prompt us to examine what is preventing a learner from managing the situation more successfully. This is increasingly important when we consider the changing experiences and developmental needs of children.
In Growing Up in the 2020s, around one in four Year 8 pupils met the screening threshold used to estimate a probable mental health disorder, with higher figures among learners receiving SEN provision and those eligible for free school meals. These are screening estimates, and children's mental health is influenced by many factors beyond education. They do, however, contribute to a picture of the pressures and inequalities young people are experiencing.
The Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition's inquiry into behaviour and mental health also raised concerns about punitive approaches, particularly when the needs contributing to behaviour remain unaddressed.
Children spend thousands of hours in school learning about relationships, expectations, mistakes and consequences. A child repeatedly corrected publicly may become anxious about getting things wrong. Another may learn that leaving a classroom provides relief from work they cannot access. Over time, these experiences can influence how learners see themselves, what they expect from adults and how willing they are to attempt something difficult.
We have enormous opportunities to influence that development through the way we teach, maintain boundaries and respond when things go wrong.
Making expectations accessible
At Navigate, we encourage schools to understand what is driving behaviour, consider the conditions surrounding it and teach the skills learners need to meet expectations.
Sometimes a skill hasn't developed. Sometimes the learner has the skill but struggles to access it when overwhelmed, frustrated or anxious. Sometimes the environment, demand or adult response makes success unnecessarily difficult.
A child who repeatedly leaves lessons when work becomes challenging might need more accessible teaching, an agreed way to ask for help and opportunities to practise using it. If asking for help doesn't result in support they can access, leaving may continue to feel like the more effective option.
A learner who becomes confrontational when corrected might need help recognising their emotional response, managing disagreement or asking for a moment before continuing. They'll also need adults who can correct them without humiliation, allow time to process and help them return to learning.
For the child who keeps calling out, we might practise holding a thought, using a visual prompt or contributing through structured opportunities for discussion. We may also need to examine how much listening, waiting and processing we're expecting from them during a lesson.
These are replacement skills, and they require deliberate teaching. We model, scaffold, rehearse and provide feedback, gradually reducing support as children become more independent.
Understanding the biology of behaviour matters here too. Stress can affect attention, working memory, language processing and access to previously learned skills. What a child manages comfortably when calm may be considerably harder when they're overwhelmed.
This is why the structure of adult interactions deserves so much attention. Tone, timing, proximity, processing time and the opportunity for a dignified return can all influence whether a learner is able to respond. Shared scripts can support consistency, but adults need the knowledge and judgement to understand what each learner can access in that moment.
Strong boundaries require us to be equally thoughtful about how we help children reach them.
What happens after the behaviour stops?
Once the immediate difficulty has passed, we have an opportunity to understand what happened, repair where necessary and prepare for the next time.
Our Returning to the Agreement approach helps keep correction anchored to shared expectations. Safe Conversations create opportunities to understand impact, practise accountability and repair relationships. Some learners will need individualised Trauma Processing support to understand established behaviour patterns, although teaching replacement skills should be part of everyday classroom practice.
If we're still addressing the same behaviour weeks or months later, we need to examine what we've taught, how much opportunity the learner has had to practise and whether the conditions around them are helping.
There is accountability for adults here too. Repeating an expectation doesn't necessarily make it more accessible. We need to consider whether our teaching, adjustments and responses are increasing the learner's capacity to succeed.
And that should influence how we measure impact.
Alongside incidents, removals and suspensions, we should be looking at whether learners are recovering more quickly, asking for help earlier, remaining in lessons and managing situations that previously led to escalation. Are they beginning to use replacement skills independently? Can they return to learning with less adult support? Are we seeing changes in what they're able to access?
These are meaningful indicators of progress, particularly for children whose established patterns of behaviour may take considerable time to change.
We know that childhood experiences shape developing expectations, relationships and skills. The thousands of interactions children have with adults in school give us repeated opportunities to influence that development.
Perhaps we need to become as systematic about teaching and practising the behaviour we want to see as we have become about recording the behaviour we're trying to change.
Did the behaviour stop? What did the learner learn from the way we stopped it? And what have we taught or made accessible that will help them meet the expectation next time?
Pass it on: Explore our free Returning to the Agreement and Safe Conversations resources on We Navigate Together. Navigate Education's Trauma Processing work also explores understanding established behaviour patterns, developing replacement skills and making positive change accessible.
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