Establishing positive social norms for a productive classroom environment

The topic of behaviour management and the problems teachers face in dealing with disruption to lessons continues to evoke strong argument within the profession. In a survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (2014), 40 per cent of respondents had ‘considered leaving the profession because of the poor behaviour of students’. Aside from the obvious stresses these issues create for teachers, such disruption acts as a limiting factor on how much learning can take place. Classroom culture is not the only thing we need to get right for learning to take place – but it is necessary. The Education Endowment Foundation (2018) summarises the impact of assorted behaviour interventions aimed at improving attainment by reducing challenging behaviour as moderately effective. However, effective interventions are predominantly focused on relatively small groups of pupils – for example, those diagnosed with particular special educational needs related to regulating emotions. T