Inclusion - excellence for all
Pupil behaviour management
Papers & recommended reading | Editorial reviews | Task for trainees
Focus
The management of the behaviour of all pupils is of crucial importance to
raising achievement in an inclusive learning community. The MFL classroom
raises its own particular challenges for experienced and beginning teachers.
Not least of these challenges is the perception by teachers and pupils that
much of the teaching and learning in MFL classes is carried out in whole-class
teaching mode. The revisiting of lesson observations of your student teacher
cohorts past and present may well present an overall picture in which whole-class,
teacher-led learning is dominant; beginning teachers will need to acquire
skills to operate within this existing current framework, and develop their
knowledge of alternative strategies which encourage greater pupil independence
from the teacher.
Whilst behaviour management will necessarily involve engagement with some sanction-based ‘oppositional’ strategies as a final resort, the focus of the national ‘behaviour for learning’ policy is about accentuating the positive and creating the socially and emotionally harmonious and comfortable yet challenging conditions in which pupils can, and wish to, learn languages. It is a complex area of teacher education, involving the full range of teacher skills, atributes and sources of knowledge.
In order to address these aims, the ITT/ ITE programme needs to undertake study of the national behaviour4learning strategy and how it can specifically be adapted for use in the MFL classroom; the programme also needs to consider alternative models of teaching and learning in the classroom. It follows that the MFL teacher needs to engage with behavioural and pedagogical research and theory that strives to link cognitive, social and affective factors, and consider its application in the MFL context by targeted observation of practice. Study of the notion of ‘behaviour for learning’ will necessarily involve continuous review of the areas of establishing working relationships; appropriate and meaningful assessment; congruence with school policies; effective and challenging planning; addressing the diversity of pupil backgrounds, attainment and motivation via differentiation; teaching and learning styles; whole-class and more independent learning modes; and making best use of material, ICT and human resources.
It is hoped that the student teacher, informed by engagement with the notion of a ‘disciplinary tool-kit’, and by an inquisitive and explorative approach to methodology, will emerge with a positive and effective capacity for dealing with possibly the biggest challenge to teachers starting in the profession: managing pupil behaviour.
Study of this topic has the potential to address aspects of the following very wide range of QTS standards, depending on the trainer’s particular emphases:
| Professional attributes | |
| Relationships with children and young
people |
Q1, Q2 |
| Frameworks |
Q3 |
| Communicating
and working with others |
Q4, Q5, Q6 |
| Personal professional development | Q7, Q8, Q9 |
| Professional knowledge and understanding | |
| Teaching and learning |
Q10 |
| Assessment and monitoring | Q11, Q12, Q13 |
| Subjects and curriculum |
Q14, Q15 |
| Literacy, numeracy and ICT |
Q17 |
| Achievement
and diversity |
Q18, Q19, Q20 |
| Health and well-being | Q21 (a) (b) |
| Professional skills | |
| Planning | Q22, Q23, Q24 |
| Teaching | Q25 (a) (b) (c) (d) |
| Assessing, monitoring and giving feedback | Q26 (a) (b), Q27, Q28 |
| Reviewing teaching and learning | Q29 |
| Learning environment | Q30, Q31 |
| Team work and collaboration | Q32, Q33 |
This is an area designated by the ITT MFL project as requiring further research-generated theory in the specific context of teaching and learning MFL in UK schools.
Task for trainees
Group discussion
Your observation of lessons in school will have included watching teaching
and learning in other areas of the curriculum. On the basis of your observations,
what are the aspects of teaching MFL that are particularly demanding in
terms of managing pupil behaviour? To what extent do the members of your
group agree on these aspects?
Does the school behaviour management policy work in your school’s MFL department? Drawing on the differing experiences of the group members, identify aspects of successful school policies in relation to the needs of MFL departments.
You will have observed a lesson in which you judged pupils’ behaviour
to be good, and of the type to which you would like to aspire in your own
classrooms. Can you recall: WHAT did the pupils learn in that lesson? HOW
did they learn it? Do your recollections collectively inform your discussion
about priorities in establishing ‘behaviour for learning’?
Observation focus
While observing lessons in other areas of the curriculum, identify the opportunities
for pupils to work more independently of the teacher. Record positive and/
or negative effects on pupil behaviour from this level of challenge.
Identify a MFL colleague who manages pupil behaviour well, and observe his /her lesson(s) with a very specific focus on behaviour for learning. List the strategies they deploy: are they drawn from general principles of good practice applicable across the curriculum? Or are there aspects of the teacher’s approach very particular to the MFL learning environment?
You should arrange to observe an experienced colleague teaching a challenging
group within the MFL department. Make notes on how the teacher makes effective
disciplinary intervention;
· WHAT does he/ she say?
· HOW does he/ she say it?
You should arrange to observe an experienced colleague teaching any group
within the MFL department.
Select one pupil, and write a running commentary on exactly what he/ she
is expected to do, and is actually doing, during the lesson. Afterwards,
ask yourself these questions to analyse your commentary to assess the effectiveness
of the planning:
· How many different things was the pupil required to do in the course of
the lesson?
· Did the pupil have opportunities to work (semi-) independently from the
teacher?
You should arrange to observe an experienced colleague teaching any group
within the MFL department.
Make a note of anything about the way the teacher conducts the class that
would make you either:
· feel comfortable, or that
· you find fun or motivating
Check your planning
Do you have a target language script for disciplinary intervention? Have
you thought how the pupils will understand this? Will you use English for
any stage of disciplinary intervention? In which circumstances exactly?
Have you prepared differentiated versions of central tasks, to keep all your pupils challenged and interested?
How much of the lesson are you going to teach the whole class from the front? Have you allocated time during which you will hand over some responsibility for learning to the pupils? Are they clear about your expectations of their behaviour during such a phase of the lesson?
Have you a means of checking you are keeping pupils busy, and that their learning is progressing during a lesson, by adding a column to your lesson plan headed What pupils do?
You might even opt to change out of whole-class teaching mode and plan
to organise the class into groups with set tasks to complete, or even a
language problem to solve!
