Tackling behaviour and attendance issues in schools in Wales: implications for training and professional development

Abstract

In 2009, the Welsh Assembly Government published its Report on the review of behaviour and attendance in schools in Wales. The National Behaviour and Attendance Review (NBAR) in Wales was chaired by the author of this paper. Both the Review and the Welsh Assembly Government’s response contained recommendations related to the training and professional development needs of staff in schools and local authorities (LAs). A paper on the professional development needs of staff on behaviour and attendance based on the NBAR recommendations is published in the same edition of this journal. This follow‐up paper focuses upon the Welsh Assembly Government’s response to these recommendations and its implementation plan on which the author acted as the professional adviser. The Welsh Assembly Government accepted with cross‐party support that the training and professional development needs of teachers and LA staff in behavioural management and school attendance had been neglected over many years. For the first time, coordinated new training and continuing professional development programmes on behavioural management and school attendance will be introduced in Wales soon. The next stage will be to evaluate the effectiveness of these programmes.

Keywords:

• behaviour
• attendance
• school behaviour
• school attendance
• initial teacher training
• in‐service training
• professional development
• teachers’ professional development needs
• education in Wales

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank and acknowledge the role played by all the members of the Steering Group leading up to the completion of the NBAR Report. In particular, he would like to thank Mark Provis, director of education for Torfaen, for all his help and support with the drafts and final Report. The author would also like to thank Jo Richards and Graham Davies of DCELLS for all their help and support in producing the action plan response to the Document and to the other members of the Implementation Group for their contributions and suggestions in preparation for meeting the recommendations of the NBAR Report.