Date
23 March 2024

Actively manage classroom behaviours

Suggestion for implementing the strategy ‘Collaboratively develop a safe and caring culture and climate’

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Respect the student

Respect the student

Practical actions to demonstrate respect and preserve a student’s dignity.
  • Demonstrate a supportive approach: “I’m here to help.”
  • Be flexible in your responses: adapt what you’re doing to the demands of the situation.
  • Be reasonable: a reasonable action, request or expectation deserves a reasonable response.
  • Promote and accept compromise or negotiated solutions, while maintaining your authority.
  • Take the student seriously and address issues quickly.
  • Address private or sensitive issues in private.
  • Avoid the use of inappropriate humour such as sarcasm or mocking.

Check-in, check-out approach

Check-in, check-out approach

Sometimes students will need a little extra support to boost self-esteem and self reflection.

Maintain a learning focussed climate

Maintain a learning focussed climate

Actively support students to manage their behaviour for learning.

Use your up-to-date knowledge of students’ wellbeing to give context to your observations.

  • Prompt expected behaviours and then acknowledge students.
  • Recognise, remove, or minimise things that can cause distress.
  • Give reminders about self-management strategies, such as taking a break.
  • Reduce identified behaviours by distracting the student or re-engaging them in another activity.
  • Provide a choice of activity and allow take-up time.
  • Learn to recognise signs that a student’s behaviour is escalating and use verbal messages/cues and alternative calming activities to help calm them.
  • Ignore minor examples of poor behaviour, especially if the student is following instructions.
  • Stand in close proximity to the student as a way of moderating off-task activities.
  • In the playground, wear a lanyard with “restorative chat” prompts and questions outlined, the aim being to reflect, repair, and reconnect (ERO, 2016).

Self-assessment

Self-assessment

Are these strategies emerging, partly in place, or established in your practice?

Illustrate your response with examples from your own teaching.

  • Students receive positive attention that shows that they are noticed and valued.
  • Students are reminded about expected behaviours.
  • The instructional pace is appropriate for the needs of all my students.
  • I check frequently for understanding.
  • Students know how to seek help.
  • I use a variety of response strategies for minor problem behaviour (for example, prompting, redirecting, reteaching, conversing with students, and providing choice).
  • I know and use our school’s agreed responses if behaviour escalates.

Source: Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga (opens in a new tab/window)

Next steps

More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Collaboratively develop a safe and caring culture and climate”:

Return to the guide “Behaviour and learning”

Guide to Index of the guide: Behaviour and learning

Strategies for action:

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