Addressing the wicked problem of behaviour in schools

ABSTRACT

Behaviour management is an influential educational cliché in Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and US. In practice, efforts to control student conduct in schools frequently utilise a manage-and-discipline model: a misinformed but deeply rooted set of interconnected notions about how to ensure an orderly and productive classroom. Students with disabilities affecting their behavioural development or who have mental health (MH) difficulties frequently face disadvantage, suspension or exclusion as a result of the application of this model in practice. Accommodating the behavioural needs of this population and at the same time, enabling their inclusion therefore represents a significant wicked problem for education in Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and US. Evidence-based initiatives designed to address this dilemma in the US since the late 1990s, using PBS (Positive Behaviour Support) and also SWPBS (School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support), are outlined but the conclusion is reached that these efforts do not appear to have been successful. Recommendations are made for progress in tackling this wicked problem and include: wholehearted rejection of the manage-and-discipline model by practitioners; targeted support for teachers experiencing (or at risk of experiencing) occupational burnout; and the introduction of tangible educational policy incentives intended to encourage schools to include students who might otherwise face suspension or exclusion on behavioural grounds. Finally, this article advocates radical change in attitudes by teachers towards student conduct in schools and argues that educational practice should align with insights about human behaviour arising from research in developmental psychology.

KEYWORDS:

• Behaviour Mental Health Exclusion
• SWPBS
• PBS

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

David Armstrong is currently Lecturer in Teacher Education (Special Education) at Flinders University, South Australia. From 2008 to 2011 he was a senior lecturer for the MA in Education (SEND & Inclusion) at Edge Hill University, UK. From 1996 to 2008 he worked in the UK as a specialist teacher with a range of children and young people with disabilities and barriers to learning, including the homeless, excluded children and adults with learning disabilities.

He is author of a range of publications including: Armstrong D., Elliot J., Hallett F. and Hallett G. (2016). Understanding Child and Adolescent Behaviour in the Classroom. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press; and Armstrong, D. and Squires, G. (2014). Key Perspectives on Dyslexia: An Essential text for Educators. Abingdon: Routledge and Dave is an active graduate member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a detailed assessor for the Australian Research Council (ARC).