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How far does the learning culture in your classroom influence pupils' behaviour? |
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Research taster
Many school behaviour policies contain a series of graded responses for teachers to adopt in relation to unacceptable pupil behaviour.  However, establishing a classroom culture in which your expectations for learning and behaviour are explicit for pupils can take time.
Your evidence
You may find it helpful to reflect on the different ways in which you set expectations about learning behaviour. You might like to make a video or sound recording of a lesson or ask a colleague to observe a lesson. You could use the resulting evidence to explore:
- how clearly you set general class rules
- how clearly you identify what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour
- the ways in which you use praise and rewards
- how you approach clarifying learning objectives
- the ways in which you explain the activities and tasks and the extent to which all groups of pupils respond
- the ways in which you handle the problems the pupils encounter
- how consistent your approach is between different groups of pupils.
Moving forward
If you find on reflection that you would like to change the learning culture in your classroom, is there a more experienced colleague who could coach you in some of the areas you identify for improvement? Why not try out a pupil voice activity linked to one of the points above?
Find out more
 Hallam, S., Castle, F., Rogers, L., et al (2005) Research and Evaluation of the Behaviour Improvement Programme Research Report RR 702, London: DfES
Maines, B. (1991) Coping with Challenging Behaviour in the Primary School. Redland Centre for Primary Education, with permission of University of West England.
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