Ripples of hope: learning to support student behaviour from the pedagogical practice of a flexi-school for marginalised youth

ABSTRACT

Student behaviour is a high priority for Pre-Service Teachers and Early Career Teachers. This article shares a view into a journey taken in the step from Pre-Service Teacher to Early Career Teacher. Driven by rising questions that challenged the norm of behaviour management presented through Initial Teacher Education and schools, this teacher looked inside a Flexi-school for marginalised youth to consider how pedagogical approaches are enacted. Existing to support young people who have experienced exclusion from mainstream schools, Flexi-schools provide an environment predicated on doing things differently to support student wellbeing and re-engagement in education. Through an holistic approach to students, this Flexi-school positions student behaviour as a pedagogical consideration, rather than a challenge to be managed. This narrative based case study offers an opportunity to see the ripples of hope created in one Flexi-school epitomising the holistic aims of restorative practices, enabling young people to grow, and this Early Career Teacher to expand her practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Student behaviour
• behaviour management
• Flexi-schools
• marginalised students
• restorative practices
• Early Career Teacher

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The NSW Department of Education (DoE) was previously named the NSW Department of Education and Communities (DEC).

2. Pseudonym.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicole Brunker

Nicole Brunker is a lecturer in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work responsible for convening the foundation units in the Masters of Teaching. Nicole has taught in alternative and mainstream schools, with experience in early childhood, primary and secondary schooling as a teacher and Principal. Her research interests centre around children’s social and emotional wellbeing, Initial Teacher Education pedagogy, alternative schooling and innovative qualitative methodologies. Current research projects include an exploration of children’s experiences when school has not ‘fit’; school-teacher and teacher educator alignment on student-centred practice; and school’s shift away from behaviour management. Nicole is interested in Post-Qualitative and Arts Informed Inquiry approaches to research. Her PhD thesis involved an interpretation of Lawrence Lightfoot’s Portraiture overlaid with patchwork, which won the NSW Institute for Educational Research’s Beth Southwell Award for Outstanding Thesis.

Marissa Lombardo

Marissa Lombardo is an Early Career Teacher working in a large independent school teaching English. Marissa has a strong interest in social justice and finding ways to enable social justice through pedagogy. She graduated from Sydney University with a Bachelor of Education (Secondary: Humanities and Social Sciences)/Bachelor of Arts.