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Abstract
Research has shown that teacher consultation groups increase teachers’ behaviour management skills through discussion and collaborative problem-solving. Unlike the United Kingdom, at the time of this research consultation groups were not widely used in Irish schools. This research introduced Farouk’s process consultation approach in three Irish mainstream primary schools and evaluated the consultation groups over one academic year. The schools were selected based on their level of referrals to the educational psychologist (EP) for pupils presenting with behavioural difficulties. The study utilised a mixed methods design comprising mainly qualitative and some quantitative analysis. The data were obtained from participant and researcher reflections, interviews and questionnaires. Thematic analysis was used to derive themes from the data. The results suggest that the groups provided the teachers with an organised time for discussion, information-sharing and learning, which enhanced their behaviour management skills through the sharing of strategies and their implementation through teamwork. However, due to the poor return of teacher questionnaires it is not possible to derive any definite conclusions.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the teachers and schools who took part in this research and gave so generously of their time to participate in the consultation groups. This article is based upon the first author’s doctoral research completed as part of University College London’s CPD Doctorate in Educational Psychology, and was supervised by the second author. The authors also wish to acknowledge the contribution of Dr Sean Cameron who supervised this research over the course of four years up until his retirement from University College London in 2012.