Behaviour management: the essential skill for teachers

Updated on: Monday, December 07, 2009

The dream of any teacher is to have a disciplined classroom where the students are not only clear of the dos and don'ts, but also adhere to the same. It is also the dream of every parent to have highly disciplined children in their homes. But more often than not, both the teachers and the parents are disappointed about what they get in their classroom and the home. Just like a road traffic with irresponsible and indisciplined drivers will be chaotic, so will be a classroom and a home with children who do not behave well.

The main reason for indiscipline among children, wherever they are, whether in the classroom or at home, is the fact that parents and teachers are not trained in an important skill called ‘behaviour management'. With the changes that have taken place in the environment, children have become very restless and their mind is distracted to a very large extent resulting in in-disciplined behaviour. Today's children are highly intelligent and at the same time a challenge to the teachers and parents. Bringing up today's children in a disciplined way has become a standardised effort.

Behaviour management

Present day teachers and parents need to develop skills in the area of ‘behaviour management'.

Two break through ideas came up in the 1970s in the United States. One was the principle of assertive discipline by Lee and Marlene Canter and the other was the principle of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) developed by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Lee and Marlene Canter gave a detailed set of procedural guidelines to teachers on how to achieve a highly disciplined classroom by following some common sense principles of human behaviour. Richard Bandler and John Grinder came out with the break through idea that a human mind can be ‘programmed' just like a computer.

Assertive discipline

The principles of Assertive Discipline and the NLP can be very effectively combined to train teachers and parents to raise highly disciplined children.

The basic principles of assertive disciple are:

1. Teachers have a right to decide the norms of behaviour in the classroom and no pupil has a right to disrupt the classroom.

2. Teachers have to be trained in assertive discipline so that they can deal with the issues of student misbehaviour.

3. To ensure a disciplined classroom, teachers should behave assertively as opposed to aggressively and non-assertively.

4. Assertive teachers are in control of the classroom and students without losing their healthy rapport with their students.

5. Assertive teachers do not behave in a timid, inconsistent or passive manner when confronted with mis-behaviour in the classroom.

6. Each teacher should establish five to six clear rules which will be implemented in the classroom and this becomes the code of conduct. In the beginning of the year this code of conduct is discussed and agreed upon by the teachers and the students. It is also communicated to the parents. The rules are displayed in the classroom.

7. The teacher also evolves the positive and negative consequences when the rules are obeyed and disobeyed by the students.

8. The teacher has a set of five to six hierarchy of consequences, both positive as well as negative, and makes it clear to the students. Once this is made clear, the teacher implements the same consistently and regularly. There are group consequences and individual consequences.

9. When confronted with indiscipline in the classroom, the teacher not merely tells the student what is wrong, but also directs how to behave and at the same time meting out the negative consequence for breaking the rule.

Positive feedback

Lee and Marlene Canter have trained millions of teachers on Assertive Discipline and the feedback has been very positive and encouraging.

While implementing the assertive discipline, a basic foundation on NLP principles will make the process even more effective. The following ‘presuppositions' of NLP are very relevant while dealing with indiscipline:

1. ‘Experience has a structure': Every time a student meets the positive and negative consequence, the mind of the student is structured and becomes disciplined.

2. ‘The mind and body are parts of the same system': Misbehaviour in a classroom is not merely an external event. The in-disciplined mind has to be ‘programmed' to behave properly. This is done by an assertive response and not by a non assertive or aggressive response.

3. ‘Underlying every behaviour is a positive response': The student should be made to feel that a disciplined classroom is in the interest of an effective learning process and the teacher is the person to do the same. When the teacher responds assertively, this positive intention creates a mental bond of respect and regard.

4. ‘People are always making the best choices available to them': While implementing the assertive behaviour model, the teacher helps the student to have another way of behaving and does not merely punish the wrong behaviour.

With lot of technologies hitting the Indian classroom, the technology of correcting student misbehaviour should also be taught to the teachers. A teachers' and parents' training programme on NLP and Assertive Discipline will go a long way in ensuring a disciplined classroom.

Behaviour management: the essential skill for teachers

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