Research School Network: A blending of evidence – Learning Behaviours

When we think about behaviour in schools, it may conjure up images of too short ties, arguing with the teacher and loud pupil disagreements with peers. Aside from the fact that the first example is easily put to bed with the emergence of clip on ties (who knew about that in the 90s?!), we must look beyond this simplistic view of the term behaviour.

As an NQT, a wise older teacher gave me one of the best classroom management techniques that I have used across the years in various guises: distract them with work. The thought being that if a pupil is focused on the work, they don’t have time or brain space to be diverted by their peers.

Thinking about behaviour in the modern context is now, more often than not, thinking about how pupils approach their learning. There is talk in staff rooms about pupils having more capacity for self-regulation, teachers learning how to activate prior learning, and high quality teaching for all.

With the interest and growth of research and evidence used to inform classroom practice, so too has there been an increase in the availability of highly accessible evidence reviews and guidance reports. The EEF have published several guidance reports which can now all feed into our understanding of how best to create desirable learning behaviours in pupils.

Taking a blended approach to the evidence across these guidance reports can be a helpful way of considering how best to implement changes to better achieve the outcomes we desire from pupils. In this blog, I want to take a recommendation or two from each of the 5 guidance reports to consider how they can complement each other.

Ensuring that teaching and learning is at optimal levels has to be the top priority of any school. To implement this recommendation with fidelity, there needs to be a school-wide drive to raise standards.

One way of achieving this is to work towards a culture whereby it feels more natural to have observers in any classroom. Adopting a supportive coaching model within the school can ensure that teachers continue to learn and develop their teaching styles, without feeling overly scrutinised.

In addition, your CPD offer has to give time to the demonstration of teaching techniques so that staff can consider different strategies and practice the execution of them, potentially through role-play with colleagues. This time can also be used to address any misconceptions, such as: a silent classroom is a productive one.

Colleagues need time to consider aspects of their own teaching and also need the opportunities to see other people teach so that there is a shared school understanding of just what is meant by high quality teaching.

Within the SEL report continues this notion of modelling. In considering high quality teaching, I suggested the concept of modelling strategies and giving staff time to practice. Here the SEL report discusses modelling to the students – through planned activities – the strategies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships & decision-making, all crucial skills for a child to develop in order to be able to function well in the world.

Emotional self-regulation is a core foundation from which we can build a successful learner. As we all know, if we have a child who is not able to emotionally self-regulate, then this can lead to self-destruction in the classroom and beyond, no matter the child’s cognitive capacities.

Just like traditional subjects such as maths, geography or RS, SEL skills need to be taught explicitly, something which is even more important in pupils who may not have stable lives outside of school.

Yet again, the notion of explicit instruction crops up in the metacognition guidance report. What we’re building here by taking a holistic view across a number of the guidance reports is what works in making an impact, and so the repetition of certain notions is helpful for us to build up a greater realisation of what we can do as educators to maximise this effect.

Being explicit with direct teaching and modelling of strategies is repeated time and again, and thus we should sit up and take notice of that.

Particularly in these uncertain times – where we’re sending pupils home to learn by themselves for 14 days – we’re trying to balance online learning with physically teaching in the classroom. We can’t be all over everything, and so we need pupils to have the capacity for self-motivation and self-regulation. These aspects can’t be taught overnight, therefore time is needed to reflect and consider how the building of these skills can be drip-fed across our curriculum.

These 2 behaviour recommendations run to the heart of everything that is suggested across the guidance reports – there has to be consistency and it has to be at whole school level.

It is our role as leaders to carefully select the ​‘best bets’ from the evidence in our approach to creating positive learning behaviours which are desirable, and then we need to hone a CPD programme which is capable of carrying the load of being explicit in how teachers should implement the delivery of these. After that, we should follow a process of monitor, check and review – re-frame if we have to – but we must stay focused on the goal of 100% consistency, 100% of the time.

This final report is about working with parents, but sometimes the parents will struggle themselves to instil in their children the habits we need them to create. They are not the professionals – they know their children well, but they don’t have the expertise of pedagogy and knowledge acquisition which teachers have gained and honed over years of experience. Thus by supporting the child with their own self-regulation in organisation, routines and habits, we are also supporting the parents.

The key notions of consistency, modelling and being explicit which run through these guidance reports all rely on strong leadership if we want the implementation to be successful. Planning carefully for what are the ​‘best bets’ within your context is a crucial stage which can’t be overlooked.

If you would like any further guidance or support , then please contact us.

Ro King, Deputy Director, Greenshaw Research School