Teaching in a classroom is hard work. A myth I have learned to tackle in my time as a leader is the belief that teaching becomes easy over time. While experience is helpful, teaching is seldom easy.
Kennedy (2016) reminds us that teaching is, among other things, a cultural activity. Researchers have spent thousands of hours observing teaching practice and have formed competing ideas of different and sometimes contradictory philosophies about classroom practice.
Kennedy writes: “Just as a child might form the naïve conception that the sun circles around the earth, she/he might form the conception that teaching practice comes naturally, or is effortless, because teachers always appear to know what to do.”
Behaviour management is a complex part of our teaching practice. But the development of character and addressing poor behaviour is arguably the most important aspect of our work in the classroom. It is important that we get it right.
There is plenty of evidence to support the argument that perpetuating an unjust system of social exclusion and control are likely to have a negative impact on students’ psychological wellbeing and sense of belonging (Baker & Simpson, 2020 – Steve Baker talks behaviour on this episode of the SecEd Podcast, by the way – Falk et al, 2014; Sealy et al, 2023).
Myth: If they would just behave, then I’d be able to teach them
This is a myth that I have often encountered. It does not help to see our role in the classroom as teachers of only knowledge.
Teaching “behaviour” and “character” is as vital as teaching curriculum. Every difficult and complex character in a classroom is a learning opportunity when negative behaviour presents.
Lickona (2018), writing in the context of parenting, argues the need for adults to create a culture around young people that is built on kindness. He argues that in recent years societies have seen increasing examples of political toxicity and a culture of entitlement. But Lickona writes: “We are most fully human when we are kind, it’s the heart of good character.”
I recall one occasion when a student had become particularly aggressive with me following some turbulence in his personal life. Harry was complex. I remember having to de-escalate the situation quite quickly and other colleagues being concerned about what he would do.
I sat with him as he went through a thesaurus-sized account of every negative term he could conjure up for me. I recall thinking his English teacher would have been impressed with his use of adjectives. I kept saying: “I’m sorry you feel that way about me Harry.”
Once Harry had calmed down, he told me: “When you kept saying sorry like that it made me mad at first, but then I couldn’t understand why you weren’t just shouting in my face. That’s what people usually do until I smack them in the face.”
I am not proposing that we support students shouting abuse at adults in our schools. I am stating the need for us to be human beings and adopting approaches to working with complex characters that foster kindness, support, and respect.
Remember, if children behaved well all the time, we probably wouldn’t need schools.
Questions to consider
- To what extent do you see your role as teaching both character and curriculum?
- How does your response to negative behaviour demonstrate to students an alternative to confrontation, aggression, or conflict?
Myth: You’re not here to be liked, you’re here to teach
One of my biggest issues with this statement is that I can still remember the teachers I didn’t like at school. They didn’t help my character develop or cultivate a culture that enabled me to succeed.
Schools are where many young people form their first relationships outside of family. Effective and supportive relationships in school influence students both academically and psychologically.
Research shows us that effective teacher-student relationships can enhance students’ sense of self-worth, belonging, social development as well as their academic achievements (Cemalcilar, 2010; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Osterman, 2000).
As teachers, our sense of self should not be defined by how much our students like us. However, we should be conducting ourselves in classrooms in a way that facilitates growth and respect.
Questions to consider
- What are the values that you want to instil in your students?
- To what extent does your behaviour and attitude echo and reinforce these values?
- How does your classroom conduct support and champion the values of your school?
Myth: Don’t smile until Christmas
Darker days, a lack of vitamin D, post-holiday blues – the autumn term is perhaps the most miserable. The myth that any form of positivity or friendliness should be shelved until spring continues to plague some staffrooms.
Colleagues who espouse this approach are usually well meaning. If we set off with clear and high expectations, then it is easier to transition to a warmer mode of teaching once students understand our expectations.
However, I have observed teachers misapply this rule. This can end up creating conflict and cultivating a miserable learning environment for both students and the teacher.
Titova and Sheldon (2021) show that a pursuit of happiness for others can bring about positivity and wellbeing for ourselves. In five different studies, researchers found that trying to make someone else happy leads to greater subjective wellbeing than trying to make oneself happy.
Researchers concluded that the results support the fact that humans have a basic psychological need for “relatedness” and connectedness to others.
I often recommend The Art of Being Brilliant (Cope & Whittaker, 2012) to new teachers. In the book, the authors examine a wide range of research-informed strategies to support individuals being more deliberate about positivity in their relationships and through their work.
They write about the 90:10 principle. The principle dictates that 10% of life is made up of what happens to you and 90% of life is decided by how you react to that 10%.
It is an important message. At some point in our classrooms and in life, we will face bad situations and negativity. What matters is how we respond to the situation.
Students will be demanding and difficult at times. To an extent, we cannot control this. We can control how we respond to this behaviour and in doing so likely shape how children respond to similar situations in the future.
Questions to consider
- To what extent do you create and foster positivity in my classroom every day?
- How often do you notice and acknowledge the positive behaviour in your classroom?
- To what extent do you contribute to students’ feeling of wellbeing, fulfilment, and achievement?
Myth: Lesson-planning is more important than behaviour management
Planning for learning is essential. While learning can be impromptu, effective learning takes place when teachers create the conditions for learning.
Lesson-planning must take into account the needs of individual students and plan for effective behaviour management. Sometimes I have observed teachers who have planned forensically different aspects of learning activities, only to witness the activities land badly because the needs or behaviours of groups of students were not accounted for.
It is in planning routines and habits into our lesson-planning that we are more likely to see these habits embedded. Beyond initial planning, I encourage teachers to rehearse and practise these routines.
It might seem odd scripting and rehearsing what you will say when there are no students in the room, but I have found that this can help teachers to be mindful of multiple factors, such as body language, their positioning in the room, and the clarity with which instructions are given in a lesson.
Sherrington and Caviglioli (2020) write: “Routines are bedrock of a positive behaviour management system … the key is to establish them and rehearse them so that they are known, understood and enacted consistently.”
Questions to consider
- What are the limiting or frustrating behaviours that you need to prepare for?
- Which students are likely to be a source of frustration and will need to be managed at key points in the lesson? How will you do this?
- Which routines or habits in the lesson/curriculum are you wanting to embed? How can these be planned for?
Myth: I’m just one teacher, I can’t make a difference
This is a myth. Teachers remain one of the biggest levers for change in the lives of children and young people across the globe.
The lives of the most disadvantaged of children and young people will be complex and will need more than simply placing a quality teacher in front of them. However, research and common sense show us that teachers make a difference not only to what students learn through the curriculum, but also what students learn about behaviour and character (Hanushek, 2011; Hattie 2003; Harris & Sass, 2007).
You can make a significant impact in the classroom. To think or assume otherwise is a myth.
Sean Harris is a doctoral researcher with Teesside University investigating the ways in which teachers and leaders can help to address educational inequality in schools. He is a trust improvement leader at Tees Valley Education, an all-through multi-academy trust serving communities in the North East of England. You can follow him on X (Twitter) @SeanHarris_NE. Find his previous articles for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/sean-harris
Further information & resources
- Baker & Simpson: A School Without Sanctions: A new approach to behaviour management, Bloomsbury, 2020.
- Cemalcilar: Schools as socialisation contexts: Understanding the impact of school climate factors on students’ sense of school belonging, Applied Psychology (59,2), 2010.
- Cope & Whittaker: The Art of Being Brilliant, Capstone, 2012.
- Falk et al: Neural responses to exclusion predict susceptibility to social influence, Journal of Adolescent Health (54,5), 2014.
- Furrer & Skinner: Sense of relatedness as a factor in children's academic engagement and performance, Journal of Educational Psychology (95), 2003.
- Harris & Sass: Teacher training: Teacher quality and student achievement, Calder Center Working Paper 3, 2007.
- Hattie: Teachers make a difference: What is the research evidence? Paper presented at the Australian Council for Educational Research Annual Conference on Building Teacher Quality, Melbourne, 2003.
- Hanushek: The economic value of higher teacher quality; Economics of Education Review, 2011.
- Kennedy: How we learn about teacher learning, Review of Research in Education (43,1), 2019.
- Lickona: How to Raise Kind Kids and Get Respect, Gratitude and a Happier Family in the Bargain, Penguin, 2018.
- Osterman: Students’ need for belonging in the school community, Review of Educational Research (70), 2000.
- Sealy, Abrams & Cockburn: Students’ experience of isolation room punishment in UK mainstream education: ‘I can’t put into words what you felt like, almost a dog in a cage’, International Journal of Inclusive Education (27,12), 202
- Sherrington & Caviglioli. Teaching Walkthrus: Five step guides to instructional coaching, John Catt Educational, 2020.
- Titova & Sheldon: Happiness comes from trying to make others feel good, rather than oneself, Journal of Positive Psychology (1-15), 2021.