Discipline within primary schools

[Courtelle]

Hello, I am currently studying on an access to Teacher Training course. I intend to research discipline within Primary schools, any information given is completely confidential, if you require to see a copy of any work I have used I will be more than happy to supply you with a copy.

What are your opinions on discipline within primary schools.

Are you aware of the discipline/reward systems in place in schools today?

Are the discipline and reward systems in place today effective?

What discipline or reward systmes would you put in place if it were possible?

Thanks for you help.

What discipline or reward systmes would you put in place if it were possible?

None. They stop the kids being intrinsically motivated and make them extrinsically motivated instead.

Kids can be aware of what is and isn't acceptable behaviour without being punished.

Are the discipline and reward systems in place today effective?

Absolutely not. For example my DS lost 1 minute of golden time on Mon - which means he is punished today for something he did on Mon. He has been upset all week over this. He refuses to accept that it is a fair punishment for pushing into a line - and I know today he will have a total meltdown, and school will call DH in to explain what how well they handled it....

The stickers the kids come home covered in are totally patronising - and even very young kids realise this.

I only know about the discipline/rewards in my childrens school. I'm not sure if I know of all the systems in place.

Discipline seems to be a major issue at their school at the moment and they have introduced several new ideas since half term.

We have always had merits, though I feel that children who find work hard are not always given these as readily as children who find it easy, they don't seem to be given for extra effort.

They also give raffle tickets for good behaviour/work, raffle drawn at end of week for some small trinket per year group. (Don't like this very much.)

They have a behaviour scale on the walls of classroom and children get moved up/down scale according to behaviour, not sure if re-set each day.

They send home "happygrams" if the children have been at top of behaviour scale all week, not sure what children who have have sliped down scale get (and parents were not told about this so if they get nothing they are not aware children misbehaved). They are also giving them chocolate biscuits or sweets if they have behaved all week!!! supposed to be a Health School.

ds, yr 3 tells me they will get an easter egg at end of term if the boys manage to all be at a certain level (and the girls on a higher level).

But from things I have seen when I have helped out, bad behaviour is not picked up on and dealt with straight away, even when i have informed teacher of dangerous things like needles being thrown. I have since spoken to the acting head but am not completely satisfied (child spoken to but not teacher). But we are aiming to move house and schools asap.

At dd's school there is much emphasis on rewards. Children get stickers that earn them a bronze, silver, gold and ultimately platinum certificate. They get cards that are totalled up at the end of the week and the class with the most cards get the trophy for the following week. Pupil of the week for either attainment effort or behaviour gets a trophy and their photo with the trophy gets displayed (each child will be pupil of the week at some point) The class with highest attendance get the school cuddly toy for the week.There are happy sad and neutral faces each child each day starts on happy and are moved across for misdemeanors.If a child is on the sad face they get a chat with the teacher or HT and a pep talk on how to improve.
It seems to work behaviour is outstanding according to OFSTED despite it being a high SEN school in a very deprived area with lots of challenging children.

In dd's school they don't have golden time (not in reception or KS1 anyway, don't know about further up in the school) and they don't have any kind of behaviour charts on the walls.
The children have a sticker book in their tray, they earn stickers and the reason for the sticker is written down next to it, dd has got stickers for things like good effort in reading, maths and her speech therapy group, the books are private to the child and it seems that all children are rewarded for their efforts as dd is not one who ever plays up in class but she gets a good amount of stickers in her book it seems, not too many, they may complete a page of five stickers in a month so about one a week, this keeps the stickers meaningful. As I said all dd's stickers have been for good work and effort but I would imagine if a child struggled with some aspects of behaviour then they would get stickers for working on those issues.
I asked dd what happens if somebody is naughty in class and she tells me that the child sits on the carpet with a timer to think about what happened and then when the timer goes off they go and say sorry to who ever needs an apology. For more serious things a child may miss break time and sit outside the office. I was waiting for a meeting with the speech therapist recently and two reception boys were sat out side the office and I asked them if they were feeling ill and they told me they were missing break as they had been throwing sand at each other and not stopped when asked to, so it seems that more serious punishment is reserved for things that could course hard to another and repeat offence, seems fair enough to me.

Behaviour in dd's school is very good, they don't seem to need incentives to be good, the school is a community and everybody looks out for each other, it is a small (around the 130 pupil mark) village school, everybody knows each other, the older ones look out for the younger ones, the staff to child ratio is excellent and playground supervision is also good, I think this all promotes good behaviour far more then a chart on a wall.

We don't really use rewards (other than praise) or punishment (exceptional circumstances ) just expectations which children seem to rise to

We do have stickers and certificates but I would agree with mrz that it is the expectation of good behaviour: a sort of- "this is what we are like at this school, people say what a lovely school/ comment on our fab behaviour and we are proud of it..." sort of approach that the children really do seem to respond to.

The school I work in is not in a particularly affluent area or with particularly supportive parents(in fact some are very confrontational and awkward!) but the children are well mannered (rush to open doors, stand aside for an adult etc.)and work hard.

My teacher friend tells me ?if you want to see who the naughtiest child in the class is, look for the one plastered in stickers?

This is certainly true at DD's school & it's amazing how quickly even young kids suss this one - DD (YR) said to me a while ago "X is still being really naughty in class mummy, but sometimes he is good & then he gets lots of stickers"

(X being a boy I had to speak to DD's teacher about last term as he was continually picking on her & she was getting upset)

I'm pleased to say that other than umpteen stickers for eating all her dinner ( not sure about those ) DD has only had one sticker for "behaviour" this term - for taking it upon herself to tidy up the book corner without being asked

At DD's school they set really high expectations & bad behaviour just isn't tolerated at all & they clamp down very hard on it from day one of reception. Of course there is still the odd incident but generally the kids seem to rise to the expectations set.

Sometimes I think punishments can work, not least to reassure children who are being picked on or bullied that their feelings actually do matter. Of course you can choose to call them something else if you like- quiet time or consequences or whatever- but sometimes I think something needs to be seen to happen. And even the loveliest school can't totally avoid deliberate bad behaviour from children who for some reason are upset or angry, or just very spoiled by their parents.

Ds' school expects hard work and a positive attitude, but I have to admit that despite years of family positivity about learning, the only thing that will actually make him do any homework is the threat of lunchtime detention. This is not the school's fault, I don't think it's even our fault, it's about ds and his choices, and tbh I think the best way to help him is to make him do the work he has to do.

But you need a good balance, so that life doesn't become all about punishments and rewards. And I do actually think dcs' schools have achieved this.

I'm surprised you aren't asking about behaviour management rather than discipline. The term discipline can have quite negative connotations where the focus is often on punishment. (Sorry, but am a bit of a pedant.)

I used to work with schools devising behaviour policies. And now am a parent of 2, so have seen it from both angles. Many schools are more enlightened about BM than they used to be years ago, especially in inner city schools where there can be very dynamic BM demands and staff are required to act as a team to manage what goes on. My daughter's school has a golden time system which only has value for some of the pupils, so one of the key secrets to successful rewards systems is to find rewards that have value for as many pupils as possible. I don't think her school have got the hang of BM at all - there is no whole school approach, and they don't seem to know what to do with 'repeat offenders', who all just seem to get bawled out by the head and then sent home. There is so much more they could be doing.

To be honest, the best practice I've seen in schools has been where BM is a low-key, supportive approach that doesn't require huge amounts of attention because the school are aware that positive relationships and bolstering pupils' self esteem are key factors in keeping negative behaviour to a minimum. If the pupils feel that they can achieve their best, develop their strengths and support others in doing the same, it makes it a happy place to be (and for everyone, not just the children.)

The importance of a well-taught, stimulating and relevant curriculum cannot be underestimated in keeping pupils focused on their primary purpose (also good lunchtime experiences help - good play equipment, shelter, quiet places, inclusive games, nice environment, lunchtime clubs, etc). Prevention is better than cure.

Schools that regularly review behaviour policies and take a whole school approach (e.g. involving midday supervisors as well as class teachers, TAs and pupil representatives) have the best successes, IME. It will have limited success if treated in isolation, though. Regular review of teaching strategies and curriculum go hand in hand with it. If the children are bored, or have the wrong targets/strategies, it is bound to cause mischief.

Just had another thought, never underestimate the power of the hidden curriculum (ie, the things that the National Curriculum doesn't deal with at all or terribly well.) So that would mean:

staff as role models (using positive language, taking pupils to one side to have a word rather than bawling them out/humiliating them, praise, notice the positive about them and what they do, etc).

positive role models for pupils (e.g. public figures/famous figures, both historical and contemporary/ people who use their gifts and talents, esp including those in the school community).

Taking pride in the school and its role in the local community (foster links with other schools and local organisations, having visitors to the school, maintaining a safe, inclusive and welcoming building and grounds, having a school motto/song/colours).

Friendship building skills (sometimes discussed as part of PSHE but not effective if it's not modelled by all staff)

Having a plan to help newcomers feel welcome..

The list goes on but I guess you get the picture. Make school a place that's good to be in, and the pupils may be more reluctant to risk their place within it..

So, forgive me for what I'm about to say, but....

How many of you have behaviour charts on your fridge for your own DCs? (not talking SN here).
I never have, because it's never been necessary. So I'm afraid the question that would pop into my mind if I visited a school that had charts everywhere and sad faces on the board and so on, would be, "does this school have a problem with behaviour?"

Think that missmehalia has hit the nail on the head with her list. Good behaviour management has to be inherent in everything the school does and expects from its pupils. Sure there will be some pupils who take a while to "get it" but the aim is to get everyone on board with the philosophy, from the HT to the lunchtime supervisors.

well said clam ... I hate those bliddy clouds and suns!! The school ethos determines behaviour not stickers...
I'm not a fan of the "behaviour management" industry either to be honest

For poss behaviour we use Dina school which is great.

At DD school, they have golden time on a Friday. If their behaviour is good they have full time. If they have earned cubes over the week, through bad behaviour, they have minutes taken off, upto no golden time. I think this is a great way as all the children get a reward for good behaviour.
When DS1 was in KS1 (different school),they used chocolate bars at the end of the day for all children that had had bad behaviour, but were good at some point in the day. I hated this, as all the good children never got anything for their good behaviour. Some of the "good" ones became "bad", just to get a choccy bar at the end of the day.
DD, also gets house points, for good behaviour/helping/work.

The use of more traditional phonetics-based lessons helps boys catch up with girls

sorry wrong thread

personally for NR children I hate golden time

and year 1 and 2

I just don't like golden time full stop!

If the early years are supposed to be child-led, surely the reception children should be seeing all the time as "golden".

Even later on, Golden time is reinforcing the idea that the rest of the time is "work".

we had an awful one in year 1 display board was devoted to a large sun, a white cloud and a black cloud.
Children all started at hte beginning of term on white cloud then moved up or down depending on behaviour,

On face value not hideous, however my son spent 3 weeks on the black cloud with no change (before you all say what a terrible child he must be... he is just a normal boy) I can't beleive that he did absolutely nothing to redeem himself for 3 whole weeks.

Still this was from the teacher who said he is a bright boy, he should know how to sit still 6 yr old boys wriggle regardless of IQ don't they?

I work in Early Years so didn't feel I could comment on the junior classes...

Any BM scheme that puts a spotlight on behaviour is bound to polarise the pupils, and stick them in a box regardless of their academic or other strengths and weaknesses. Having it so high profile is playing a very dangerous game.

Not all children have the bulletproof self esteem required to handle this type of categorisation.

Can only really comment on Reception as that is where my child is at the moment. I'm not a teacher, have only done a bit of child development stuff at uni (many moons ago).

The system at my DC's school seems to be a combination of verbal discipline, time out, sticker charts, being praised and held up as examples of 'good role models' when good, and being sent to see the head when 'bad'.

It's hard to say how effective the various systems are, but personally I've always shied away from systems such as pasta jars, stickers etc. We've also never done time out, and I've tried to avoid the whole 'if you're good you'll get a chocolate' thing.

Agree with MissMehalia that self-esteem and feeling part of the community is vital in managing behaviour. It seems to make sense that when a child is labelled 'bad' (be that by lack of stickers, being given 'black clouds' etc) then this alienates them from being 'good' and they start to react defensively. How would you feel if this happened to you as an adult?

Bad behaviour should of course be challenged (and I'm personally quite hard line about this), but I'd prefer the direct verbal approach (preferably away from the attention of others), and not publicly labelling children as 'good' and 'bad' - if they are more often labelled as 'bad' then that becomes part of their identity, to themselves and others.