When it comes to classroom behaviour, individual teacher skill matters. Some teachers are naturally better at managing classrooms than others. But there is a problem which lies in this approach. It’s simply not a sustainable model for excellence in behaviour across an entire school. Classroom behaviour is one of the most important aspects of school organisation. I once heard a colleague say “learning is attention”. If we take this to be true, when students aren’t paying attention to the teacher or their task, they aren’t learning.

Far too often, failures in classroom behaviour are attributed to individual teachers. Leaders might say “teacher x has poor classroom control”. But I think we’re looking at the issue incorrectly. The health of student behaviour shouldn’t be attributed at the individual level. Whilst individual teachers can certainly refine their practice, the responsibility should never boil down to individuals needing to ‘fix’ the issue. Many factors lie outside individual teacher control: experience levels, student motivation, personal circumstances.

What if the root lay in the very systems and culture of the school itself? After all, successful performance should never rely on stars. There are only so many Messis or LeBrons one team can have. As an experienced teacher entering my second decade, it may surprise you that I sometimes struggle with pupil behaviour. One day a class can be great; the next I’m drawing upon all my resources and school systems to maintain calm. As a school leader, I think about behaviour struggles at a systems level rather than as individual teacher deficits.

Don’t get me wrong—poor behaviour can sometimes be attributed to teacher performance: poor planning, lack of care, or poor cultural fit. These problems should be dealt with accordingly. But what if teacher x does have the requisite tools and still struggles? Like a mechanic inspecting a car, we need to lift the bonnet and examine what parts of the machine aren’t working properly. Here are four systems and cultural levers which each school should utilise.

Cultural Levers

It starts at the top of the organisation
Many schools rely on the behaviour guy to storm in and sort the naughty kids out. Whilst there might be a place for this, if the Headteacher isn’t presenting the same message, one person’s efforts will never create a strong culture.

Clearly articulated culture, rules and expectations

Behaviour and culture need to be articulated, practiced and reinforced by all members of the senior leadership team. Tom Bennett, behaviour expert for the DfE, has written about this in detail. This is where culture becomes embedded rather than guesswork. It needs to be part of a school’s CPD programme, giving staff opportunities to discuss the vision for behaviour, rehearse techniques and share daily challenges. The aim should be to close gaps between the experience students get from one teacher to the next. It’s not sufficient that students rely on going to Mr So-and-so’s class where behaviour is good, whilst chaos reigns down the corridor. Students need consistent quality.

Rules and expectations must be reinforced during assemblies, as these are easily forgotten in school life’s busyness. Leaders need to use every opportunity to reinforce and correct behaviour—from entering assembly halls to walking through corridors to coming in for lunch. These checks and balances create culture.

Expectations should be displayed around the building. The simpler the better—no one wants to remember ten different things whilst managing complex classrooms.

System Levers

Clear routines

Culture doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it must be supported by clear systems. I’ve written about the importance of routines before and you can read it here. Routines set expectations for conduct in and around classrooms.

Exit procedures

There’s nothing worse than having a disruptive student whose behaviour will just not improve. Schools need a mechanism for removing students from class when their behaviour is severely detrimental to others’ learning. Context is key—this will be more necessary in some schools than others. But colleagues need to know they can call on support if required, even if it’s another teacher down the hallway. Feeling alone and isolated with badly behaved students erodes teacher wellbeing rapidly.

Whilst Drucker may have famously said “culture eats strategy for breakfast”, the two are symbiotic. We need to imagine them as two levers of equal importance, and as we pull one, we should consciously think about how we’re operating the other.

If you’d like to discuss how you can improve whole school behaviour, feel free to get in touch with me by responding to this email.

Further reading – Tom Bennett – Creating a Culture – how leaders can optimise behaviour