Delivering Effective Behaviour Support in Schools

A Practical Guide

Giles Barrow

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136631122
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book is intended to help schools become increasingly inclusive. The advice and guidance is aimed at managers and practitioners providing behavior support, either through an LEA service, by outreach work from specialist centers or via on-site provision. You will find advice on developing effective support; planning, monitoring and evaluating support; working in partnership with colleagues in schools and other services; identifying resources to maximize behavior support interventions; and providing support staff with proven techniques for improving service delivery.

There are lots of practical resources for implementing suggested strategies, examples of proformas and spreadsheet formats and other useful planning materials relating to behavior support.

Managers of behavior support services should find this book particularly helpful, as will those staff providing behavior support from PRUs (Pupil Referral Units), on-site units and special schools. There will also be aspects of the book that will appeal to mentors and staff with pastoral responsibilities in mainstream schools.

Effective behaviour support

This section describes a model for establishing an effective behaviour support service. The model presented is based on systems theory and an explanation of the key principles of the approach are covered before a detailed account of how these can influence the shape of behaviour support work. The section includes case study material to illustrate the process of turning theory into practice and draws on the experience of services around the country that use a systems approach to service delivery. This approach is explained later but essentially results in prioritising intervention at whole-school and professional development as opposed to a major emphasis on addressing difficulties with individual pupils.

In addition to theoretical and operational aspects of support, the section also considers the links between behaviour support and the school improvement agenda. Finally this section also provides some resource material and ideas for professional development for behaviour support teams.

Introducing systems theory

Let me begin by presenting my understanding of systems theory and what it means for behaviour support. For many years the principles of systems theory have guided significant developments in non-educational fields, most notably family therapy. The theory and its early application emerged during the late 1960s and was based on the work of Bertalanffy (Bertalanffy 1968). The development of systems theory in the field of education has perhaps been most associated with the work of Alex Molnar and Barbara Lindquist (Molnar and Lindquist 1989). Their work was drawn from experience in the United States that focused on changing problem behaviour in schools and which the authors named the ecosystemic perspective. For the purposes of my work it has been this material that has proven to be the most influential in my thinking about developing behaviour support.

The underlying principle of ecosystemic theory is straightforward enough; problem behaviour ‘is part of, not separate from the social setting within which it occurs’ (Molnar and Lindquist 1989). A critical emphasis is that problem behaviour has two elements: the behaviour itself and the range of perceptions about the behaviour. For instance, quiet talking in class is a behaviour that is not a problem in many classes. However, if a teacher hasdemanded silence, then pupils’ quiet talking will be perceived as problem behaviour. Ecosystemic practitioners are as curious about perceptions as they are about actual behaviour.

Ecosystemics offers very rich territory for the behaviour support specialist, not least because of its distinctive characteristics:

• It focuses directly on change in the problem situation rather than on the diagnosis of the problem individuals.
• It does not require elaborate or exhaustive plans either to replace or to supplement current practice. The ideas can be readily and comfortably employed by educators who have different styles and work in a variety of settings.
• It enables educators to start small with manageable aspects of problems.
• It encourages divergent explanations for problem behaviour.
• It encourages light-heartedness and open-mindedness in the face of chronic problems.
• It is designed to build on strengths, not to overcome deficits.
• The ideas can be mastered without any specialised background knowledge. (Molnar and Lindquist 1989)

I find these features both refreshing but also reflect an optimism about the capacity for change and growth, both of which are arguably sound values on which to build behaviour support. From an ecosystemic perspective the school provides a significant system within a series of other systems which can include families and peer groups, other services and schools. When we consider behaviour there is a range of different levels at which behaviour happens:

• behaviour between children;
• behaviour between children and families;
• behaviour between children and teachers;
• behaviour between teachers and teachers;
• behaviour between teachers and non-teachers;
• behaviour between staff and schools;
• behaviour between schools and services;
• behaviour between services and local authorities, etc., etc.

While these levels are presented as a list, the reality of our experience is that there is an interrelatedness between these levels. So, from an ecosystemic perspective, the behaviour of a child in the classroom is best understood in the context of the child's perceptions about the class — his or her peers, teachers, school — and the perceptions of the child by parents, teachers and peers. This intricate web of relationships is the ecosystem in which behaviour takes place and is the arena through which behaviour takes its meaning.

What has fascinated me most about applying this theory is in looking at the organisational behaviour of support services and most significantly behaviour support services. Whether we are aware of it or not, our support service behaves, and this is determined in part by our perceptions about our world and the perceptions about us of others. This principle applies whether we areworking from a pupil referral unit, special school, LEA team or in-school centre. How we decide to operate gives out messages to others about our beliefs and values.

What I have most valued about applying systems theory to behaviour work is that it has provided opportunities to systematically support the development of genuine, sustainable change in problem behaviour. It is an approach that preserves the dignity of children and adults and encourages growth and understanding. Once again, these are arguably sound values on which to establish a behaviour support service.

Three in one: introducing a three-dimensional approach to behaviour support

Understanding problem behaviour will not be found by focusing on the child, nor by focusing on the school, but the study and analysis of the interactions between them.

(Faupel 1990)

This is a great line; it defines precisely the prime territory for effective behaviour support: ‘the interactions’ between school, teacher, class/group and individual pupil. Note the subtle use of language — Faupel is clear in deterring specialists from falling into an either/or trap; either it is the child's fault or the teacher's. Many staff working in specialist support services are well aware of the limitations of child-deficit approaches in which intervention is focused on ‘healing’ inherent deficiencies. Unfortunately a consequence can be that teachers and schools are cited as the cause of difficulty. This is an equally limited view and simply involves managing a different sphere of dysfunction. Working effectively in behaviour support is about heading out into an alternative direction which seeks to unblock limitations of systems, perceptions and intentions.

The three dimensions of effective behaviour support

If behaviour support is to reflect the principles of systems theory then a careful balance must be struck in how support is generated, targeted and delivered. The tendency has been for support services to orientate their work predominantly on children. This is understandable for at least two reasons.

• First, there is a longstanding tradition in UK education for schools to identify pupils with needs as a means of securing additional support. Special educational needs (SEN) and pastoral support protocols both nationally and at regional level promote the child-deficit mindset that is so entrenched in the British system.
• Second, school-focused intervention has tended to be the territory of subject advisors and inspectorate teams. Invariably these teams have provided a subsidiary role in relation to behaviour support on the premise that behaviour has actually meant pupil behaviour, which has been tucked into SEN or pupil welfare services, not school improvement divisions.

The upshot of this history is that behaviour support generally has been triggered through the identification of disruptive children and resulted in pupil-centred intervention. The challenge for the systems theorist is to crack the convention and develop a radical alternative brand of support.

In taking on this challenge the effective behaviour support service might start with the aim to maximise schools’ capacity to promote and respond to behaviour. The objectives of effective behaviour support might be best defined as follows (in order of priority):

1. To support the development of whole-school policy and approach.
2. To provide professional development for adults working within the school.
3. To offer holistic intervention in relation to individual pupils.

Several behaviour support services already have similar objectives which are explicitly shared by members of the support team and/or schools. Effective behaviour support means delivering intervention in a way that directly reflects the intended aims of the service. In other words, the support service presents its work as primarily concerned with understanding and responding to Faupel's arena of ‘interaction’. The delicate balance involved in establishing effective behaviour support cannot be underestimated. On the one hand there is the tendency for the behaviour support teacher to shy away from addressing school-related issues, leaving the professional development dimension of the service as a wishful afterthought, work that would be worth doing but that is too sensitive to pursue. On the other hand, there is the danger of shifting so much into developmental work that teachers feel their concerns about behaviour are discounted and that there is an over-reliance on the infallibility of the school effectiveness model. This is a possibility recognised by Watkins and Wagner who cite the work of Gottfredsons:

Research implies that misbehaviour in schools has determinants at three levels:

(a) some individuals are more likely than others to misbehave

(b) some teachers are more likely than others to produce higher levels of misconduct in their classroom by their management and organisational practices

(c) some schools more often than others fail to control student behaviour.

Behaviour change programmes that reduce risk for misbehaviour at all three of these levels are most likely to be effective.

(Watkins and Wagner 2000)

Really successful behaviour support is based on the premise that a rich mix of factors make for problem situations and subsequent solutions. Consequently, it should be anticipated that intervention operates at different levels, and often at the same time! By delivering interventions that are isolated from other points of engagement, behaviour support teams can inadvertently sustain patterns of problem behaviour.

Case study: From theory to operation

This extended description is a composite from across services currently using the three-tiered model. These services are based in inner city, suburban and county LEAs or, to a modified degree, in schools through on-site provision. The service has a clear aim to increase the inclusive capacity of schools. Its three objectives reflect the three tiers of intervention:

• To provide advice, understanding and support in developing whole-school responses to and the promotion of behaviour.
• To provide support to individuals or groups of professionals to increase their confidence and competence in dealing with problem behaviour.
• To provide a holistic approach to meeting the needs of individuals and groups of pupils.

While the objectives are linked to specific types of interventions the service works on the assumption that there is an inter-linking across the three key aspects: whole-school-adult-child dynamic. Any change in one of the areas will have an impact on the others.

Reflecting collaborative practice in service delivery

Not surprisingly the service is multidisciplinary both in terms of its professional composition but also in how it integrates with other local services and statutory agencies. The service regards itself as a catalyst for multi-agency intervention, either delivering it directly through the team or brokering partnership with other agencies. The services include youth workers, play workers, teacher assistants, social workers, educational psychologists and education welfare officers in addition to teachers. The role of each professional is carefully drafted to ensure compatibility with other team members while also reflecting the distinctive contribution that each discipline brings to behaviour support.

Due to the multi-professional nature of the team, where the service works across local schools (as opposed to being based in a single school), the team does not operate on a patch system. There are a total of 12 full-time members of staff in addition to sessional input from specialist teams, for example educational psychologists.

There is no predetermined allocation of hours per school or attached support worker for a given school. In one suburban LEA the multidisciplinary team had extensive links to other agencies, some with specific contracts involving sessional input to the service, for example the youth offender team, local education business partnership, traveller service and mental health voluntary service. Given an underlying belief that problem behaviour can be shifted through multi-professional intervention it follows that no one team member will have a monopoly on solutions. Consequently, allocation of work to projects and individual cases falls to the team member most appropriately skilled to deliver an efficient and effective way forward.

In operational terms this creates a managerial headache — the neatness of the allocated patch system whereby individual team members self-manage casework from a group of schools does not exist in these services. Instead the approach is to best meet the demands of the clients, be they pupils, teachers or whole schools. This in turn raises the issue of team supervision, an area of peripatetic practice that has long demanded review. The implication of shifting away from an allocated, patch system is that far greater levels of casework monitoring and staff support are necessary. The benefits in these services are:

• There is greater potential for projects to be linked to other activities being delivered via the support service in the same school and thereby maximising resourcing. For example in one school there were three interventions being run at the same time:
  – group work with Year 9 pupils focusing on developing social skills as a result of increasing concerns from tutors;
  – providing fortnightly problem-solving sessions for staff using the collaborative approach developed by Gerda Hanko (see Hanko 1999);
  – casework for four pupils for whom group work was not appropriate and who were all at risk of permanent exclusion.
• Projects can be allocated to the workers with the most appropriate skills. For example, a teacher might lead group work but a youth worker provides additional input. Equally other agency in...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Effective behaviour support
• 2 Getting started
• 3 Delivering effective behaviour support
• 4 Monitoring and evaluation
• 5 Behaviour support: possibilities
• References
• Index