Managing classroom behaviour

While a classroom of well-behaved children would be ideal, it’s not realistic. Discover five ways to deal with challenging behaviour appropriately

If a pupil is misbehaving in your lesson, whether you're a primary or secondary school teacher,  it could be that they’re:

• bored - they don't find the lesson content stimulating enough
• struggling - they're finding the work difficult and are creating a distraction.

It's important to remember that bad behaviour is very rarely a personal attack on your capabilities. However, how you manage classroom behaviour will determine how you develop as a teacher.

Each teacher, class and individual pupil will have different needs and one technique may not work for everyone, but here are some ideas to get you started.

Establish a set of rules

Putting rules in place creates clear expectations for your pupils and shows them what is expected. Aim to create five rules and get the children involved, as they’re more likely to accept them if they think they’ve made them.

You should use positive language, for example 'I will put my hand up' rather than 'don’t shout out' and avoid making general statements such as ‘be good’. Make sure you explain each rule to the children and ensure that they understand them, while also making it clear what the consequences are for the rules not being followed.

Once you’ve agreed on your rules display them in your classroom where everyone can see them and refer to them regularly. For this to be a successful classroom management technique you need to be consistent in how you enforce the rules and how you react when they are broken.

Be proactive

A proactive teacher has strategies and solutions in place for children who misbehave and is unwavering in implementing them. Reactive teachers, on the other hand, wait for confrontation to arise before working out how they'll deal with it. Being proactive can diffuse a situation seamlessly, being reactive leaves you in a vulnerable position if the situation escalates.

Preventing bad behaviour is often more effective than reacting to it. Proactive classroom management involves creating an environment where pupils are less likely to act out because they are engaged and know the routines.

Organise your classroom to minimise distractions. Arrange your seating plan so that the more disruptive children are closer to you and children that don’t get along are sat separately to mitigate for issues and arguments.

You could also consider assigning responsibility to children who regularly misbehave to make them feel involved, keep them occupied and give them pride in what they’re doing. This could include handing out or collecting worksheets, helping to tidy up after an activity or acting as a stationary monitor.

Ensure that you have clear routines in place and everyone knows what to expect and what to do at each point of the day. Keep lessons engaging and varied to keep your students attention and remove opportunities for them to misbehave.

Use your body language

To avoid disrupting the flow of a lesson you can use non-verbal signals, which allow you to continue without constantly stopping to address behaviours. It’s also less confrontational and may reduce the possibility of a pupil feeling embarrassed and the situation escalating. Non-verbal cues are also inclusive and effective for different learning styles with some students responding better to them.

You could try:

• Eye contact - Looking directly at a pupil shows them that you're aware of their behaviour and expect them to refocus.
• Hand gestures - Raising your hand for silence and fingers on lips for ‘quiet’ are useful techniques.
• Walking around - Standing near to a disruptive pupil or moving around the classroom can often stop misbehaviour simply because the student knows you are close by.

Develop positive relationships

While it's important to be firm in establishing your ground rules, it's equally important to strike the balance between being a good leader and being personable. Building positive relationships with your pupils will ensure they don't feel they're being spoken down to. Mutual respect is vital to a harmonious classroom.

Try showing an interest in their lives and achievements to help gain respect and trust. Something as simple as starting the day by greeting each student by name and asking how they are can make them feel valued and more willing to follow classroom rules.

It can be easy to become annoyed after a lesson with one or two misbehaving pupils and forget that there were 16 others behaving well. The more you divert your attention from negative behaviour and praise or encourage those doing the right thing, the more others follow their example to receive the same attention. Focus on the positives to create a encouraging environment for everyone.

Use praise and rewards

Praise is a great way of highlighting something good that a child has done, while also showing other pupils what is expected. You need to make sure you praise the pupil immediately after the behaviour and also make it clear why you’re praising them. You could also get pupils to praise each other and send home postcards/have phone calls with parents as other methods to give praise.

In addition to verbal praise you could also issue rewards such as stickers, certificates and extra play. Whatever you choose you need to make sure it is immediate, consistent, achievable and fair.

Find out more

• Read all about life as a primary school teacher.
• Discover what it's like to be a secondary school teacher.
• See what's on offer in the teacher training and education sector.