- Swap the adults for children and you have what classroom teachers do every day.
- Student behaviour and engagement in class are some of the biggest problems worrying Australian teachers and education experts.
- Following an interim report in December 2023, the final report was released on Wednesday evening.
What is in the report?
- The report notes the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results.
- Along with the academic component, a PISA questionnaire asked students how often disruptions happened in maths lessons.
- This included asking whether students do not listen to what the teacher says and whether there is noise and disorder in the classroom.
What could help?
The report also noted the Australian Education Research Organisation’s recent work on behaviour, backed by federal government funding. In December 2023 the organisation released a paper looking at the evidence on what works to manage classrooms. Last month it also released a guide for teachers based on this research. Below are four key messages from this work.
1. Set expectations, routines and rules
- So classroom rules and routines need to be explicitly taught and regularly revised to help students understand and demonstrate them automatically.
- Some expectations should be shared with families, such as arrival routines or expectations about homework.
2. Prepare the classroom environment
- The way a classroom is set up plays an important role in creating welcoming, calm and functional learning environments.
- This includes reminders for where students will put their bags, displaying timetables and routines so students know where they need to be and what they need to do.
3. Build student-teacher relationships
- If students have a positive connection with their teacher, they are more likely to have a positive attitude towards school.
- Some ways teachers can establish a strong relationship include greeting students individually at the classroom door every day and interacting with students outside the classroom.
- This involves reminding students of the expectations, identifying what they were doing and what they need to do instead and why.
4. Respond to behaviour
- Teachers should be familiar with a combination of non-verbal and verbal “corrections” and escalate responses as needs be.
- This includes talking to a student privately one-on-one, at a time that does not interrupt the flow of the lesson.
- Acknowledging and praising students who are meeting behaviour expectations is also as important as addressing disruption.
A complex issue
Student behaviour is a complex issue and is by no means solely an issue for teachers to fix. As the Senate inquiry heard, behaviour can be influenced by socioeconomic factors, bullying, family trauma and disability. But there are practical things teachers and schools can do to help students engage in their lessons and keep classrooms calm and focused.
Zid Niel Mancenido is Senior Manager, Research and Evaluation for the Australian Research Education Organisation. The project mentioned in this article is funded by the federal Department of Education, through the Engaged Classrooms Through Effective Classroom Management Program.
