Research School Network: Improving behaviour: consistency is key What does the evidence tell us about the importance of consistent approaches to behaviour in schools?

Why behaviour, and why now?

Conversations with school leaders and teachers at the moment will reveal that behaviour, alongside attendance, sit high on their list of priorities.

But behaviour is a complex issue, which unfortunately does not come with quick wins or easy fixes.

Consistency matters

Evidence suggests that consistency and coherence at a whole-school level are paramount. This applies to consistency of expectations as well as consistency of high-quality teaching for all pupils. Achieving this at a school level is one of the great challenges of school leadership: as Professor Dylan Wiliam puts it: ​“it [often] matters much less which school you go to; what matters more is who teaches you when you are there”.

So, consistency matters: it matters to pupils – who have a sharp radar for inconsistency and unfairness, it matters to their families, and it matters to all staff working in our schools.

The consistency conundrum

However, when working in a dynamic human environment, making constant decisions about applying strategies in specific circumstances, and making reasonable adjustments for specific pupils, some inconsistency is inevitable. We might call this ​‘the consistency conundrum’, and balancing behavioural consistency with necessary personalisation is one of the many skills of effective teaching and school leadership.

We might ask ourselves:

• How do we support staff to navigate situations with an adaptive flexibility that remains true to the school’s core principles?
• How do we consider, communicate and bring staff together around the​‘why’ of a strategy?
• How do we inform how a strategy is interpreted, adapted and implemented every day?

Gary Aubin, former content specialist for SEN at the Education Endowment Foundation, write more about the concept of ​‘flex’ in his blog which you can find here.

As with almost everything in schools, how we implement our approaches to behaviour is critical. We know that changes implement to behaviour at a whole-school level take longer and are harder to implemen, but have a greater impact on attainment compared to individual classroom changes. Consistent, predictable approaches have benefits for all students.

Because these changes are hard, it is essential to evaluate our school culture and consider which aspects of what we do might benefit from greater clarity and consistency. One common fous area is on ensuring consistency is maintained at less structured times including breaks, lunch and during extra curricular activities. We then need to train and support all school staff on how to implement any new approaches approaches, enabling all colleagues to implement policies consistently.

Using mobile phones

So let’s return to Sam’s school from our vignette at the start. What might Sam’s school do to re-implement the strategy on mobile phones which has drifted over time?

From our checklist questions earlier, we might consider the following:

How do we support staff to navigate situations with an adaptive flexibility that remains true to the school’s core principles?

There are some exceptions which Sam’s school might consider. For example, some pupils might use a mobile phone to monitor a medical condition: the identity of these pupils can be clearly and repeatedly made known to all staff so that an exception can be made.

How do we inform how a strategy is interpreted, adapted and implemented every day?

A very clear and over-communicated procedure with appropriate forms for teachers, pupils, and parents can help with this. An example from a Blackpool school is below.

When introducing whole school approaches, leaders should consider the following questions (EEF, 2019):

• Are all staff who interact with children trained (e.g. teaching assistants, receptionists, lunchtime staff)?
• Is there a sense of shared responsibility or does this new policy feel ​‘done to’ the school community by leadership?
• Are those in the wider school community (beyond the SLT and teachers) involved
• What impact will you see in school if this strategy is successful? How can that be measured?