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 difficulties (MH) 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 toward student conduct in schools and argues that educational practice should align with insights about human behaviour arising from research in developmental psychology.

KEYWORDS:

• PBS
• disability
• mental health
• behaviour management

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Armstrong

David Armstrong is Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Practice in the School of Education at RMIT University, Melbourne. Previous to this he worked at a number of Universities in Australia and in the UK, as a senior researcher. David is also Editor of the Journal of Research in Special and Inclusive Education (JORSEN) and provides advice to Government in Australia on special and inclusive education, including mental health and indigenous students. David worked for 13 years as a specialist teacher with homeless young people, excluding children and students with disabilities.