Teamwork in the Management of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

Developing Peer Support Systems for Teachers in Mainstream and Special Schools

Fran Hill, Lynne Parsons

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781134110971
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

First Published in 2000. The work described in this book offers one model of 'peer consultancy' that supports teachers in providing an inclusive and effective education for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Developing peer support systems for teachers in school gives focus to teachers' learning and supports them as they work toward more inclusive education. Hill and Parsons present the topic so that its contents may be used as an action research programme in school to test the efficacy of peer support systems for teachers.

Part One

Conducting a needs analysis in school and identifying and assessing pupil behaviour

He who can interpret what has been seen is a greater prophet than he who has simply seen it.

(St Augustine De Genesi ad Litteram)

This part of the book deals with the value of carrying out a needs analysis and behaviour audit of a school’s requirements in relation to behaviour management. There are a variety of questionnaires, checklists and observation schedules for senior managers, teaching staff and learning support assistants to use in assessing not only the needs of pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties but also the needs of staff in relation to managing behaviour in school. Analysis of the data will provide the basic knowledge and understanding of how best to support colleagues in the workplace. Some of the data collected will be useful in informing the content of the professional development elements of the peer support meetings.

Developing peer support systems for teachers offers staff in schools a new and dynamic way of working in teams to manage pupil behaviour. It is therefore important that schools undertake a needs analysis and audit of their total environment beforehand. This can take the form of questionnaires to staff and pupils, an audit of behaviour management in the classroom and around the school, and classroom observations. This will provide a useful baseline in order to carry out an evaluation of the peer support process in addition to meeting the needs of individual pupils and should be undertaken before the workshops on developing peer support systems begin and can be repeated after an agreed time.

Carrying out a needs analysis in school has three main purposes. Firstly, it is important to be aware of and assess the school’s current processes and strategies for managing pupil behaviour. This establishes what the school is doing in relation to behaviour management and whether there are consistent and agreed structures and systems for managing behaviour. As a result of work undertaken in Oxfordshire schools over several years we were aware that of all the matters associated with special educational needs the management of behaviour often caused the most stress among teachers in schools. It often had a damaging effect on teachers’ self-esteem and their confidence in being able to manage the behaviour of pupils with diverse emotional and behavioural needs. One questionnaire (see Form 1, p. 10) examines which areas of behaviour management cause teachers most stress and whether this could be altered by the development of a regular, structured peer support system. It is also important to establish the relationship between schools and outside support agencies and how this is to be used in order to maximise teamwork within a structured peer support system. Secondly, it is essential to develop a process for assessing the success or otherwise of a structured peer support system, and to do this some kind of baseline needs to be established. Included in this baseline there should be an agreement about performance indicators to judge whether peer support for teachers is an effective way of dealing with behaviour difficulties in school. Finally, it is important to have some kind of assessment of what schools might find useful as content for the professional development element of the peer support meeting, and to know in which areas of behaviour management schools might need more support. This knowledge is as important for support services as it is for the school itself. Running parallel to this is the need to stress that emotional and behavioural difficulties are not necessarily something that can be dealt with by a constant focus on individual pupils and their perceived deficits. The purpose of the process of developing peer support systems for teachers is to begin to establish a culture whereby schools are willing to undertake a thorough analysis not only of pupil behaviour but also of their perceptions of managing behaviour. In order to do this schools have to be prepared to undertake an audit of what the school, as an institution, is doing to create an atmosphere that promotes and values positive behaviour and teamwork (see Form 2, pages 14–20). (The Pupil Reinforcement Survey (Form 3, pages 21–22) affords schools useful, additional information from the pupil’s perspective.)

In the Introduction a strong link is made between the development of peer support systems for teachers and schools as learning organisations, and the contribution this can make to increase the effectiveness of schools in terms of levels of achievement. In this section, therefore, the means are provided for schools to undertake their own action research projects to assess whether the development of formal, structured peer support systems might contribute to a more effective school.

‘Being able to observe pupil behaviour is an important skill for anyone working in schools to develop.’ (East Devon Behaviour Support Team 1993). The activity of observing pupil behaviour in the classroom or around the school must be seen as a supportive activity and is designed to be part of the process of supporting teachers and other colleagues in the workplace. It is important to stress that observing pupil behaviour in the classroom is a non-judgemental activity, which, nonetheless, is designed to challenge preconceived notions about the management of behaviour. Whilst anecdotal information can be valuable, objective observations to record specific information and behaviours depersonalises the activity and helps to create a culture in which support for staff is more than an empathetic response to dealing with problem behaviours. Observing behaviour in the classroom can provide a school with information about pupils on- and off-task behaviours, about teachers’ rates of praising and the contribution this makes to establish a positive classroom climate. It can provide schools with quite specific information about behaviour in the classroom and around school as well as forming part of the school’s overall behaviour audit. Monitoring individual pupil behaviour is very important for those pupils who are likely to become the subject of a peer support meeting. While it is sometimes necessary and valuable ‘to tell a story’ about an individual pupil, it is much more effective to be able to provide objective information which will guide the peer support meeting into developing an effective and purposeful action plan to support both pupil and staff through a difficult time.

Why observe pupil behaviour?

Objectivity

When a pupil is causing concern in terms of their behaviour it is easy to assume that they are misbehaving all the time, particularly if the teacher is feeling under stress and pressure. At these ti...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part One Conducting a needs analysis in school and identifying and assessing pupil behaviour
• Part Two Peer support systems and professional development
• Part Three Presenting a case study and problem solving
• Appendix Suggested timetable for a peer support meeting
• Bibliography
• Index