RESEARCHEARCH


Most behaviour management books focus on schools, but my research has been specifically written for the post-16 education and training sector. There are, of course, many


differences between school and post- school contexts. But the assumption tends to be that advice for schools is equally applicable to post-16 provision. Many school writers discuss, for example, physical proximity to students in schools as a method of quietening classes. In an adult environment this can have different implications, such as invading individuals’ space or even harassment. The ‘whole school’ approach,


recommended by many authors, is problematic for FE providers. They may have 10,000 learners spread over different sites where there are no assemblies, bells or uniforms, and no chance of addressing the whole student body in one room. Again, students in schools are always


younger than teachers, whereas in further education and training this is not necessarily the case. Speaking to parents is frequently advised in the school sector. In the education and training sector the disruptive students can be parents themselves. I believe post-16 students in this


country are being offered the gift of education and training, but too many


Merv Lebor has taught for over 40 years from entry level to Masters degree students. He is currently a teacher educator at Leeds City College, University Centre.


‘We don’t need no education’ - strategies to tackle negativity


Classroom behaviour management is critical to calm and successful teaching and learning.


But how can tutors, feeling isolated by disruptive students, find a way to win them over? By Merv Lebor


are literally fighting not to receive it. I have explored these issues from


many perspectives, such as through the lens of entering disruptive classrooms, speaking to trainees or focusing on the problems that blended learning is supposed to resolve. I’ve used several research methods, including interviews, questionnaires, reports and narratives, and speaking to experienced teachers, managers, trainees, teacher educators and ‘disruptive’ students themselves. I have asked questions about how


students, who were categorised as ‘disruptive’, viewed their classes. Classes were identified as ‘disruptive’ by their institution, department or teachers, but this opens questions about how to identify such students. Is such labelling highly subjective?


What are the criteria for being disruptive? Would students be prepared to identify themselves or answer questions about being ‘badly’ behaved in sessions? Did they blame ‘bad’ teaching? The students’ feelings were critical.


Should these students be referred for professional counselling? Could the system ever cope? Interviewing a sample of students on their expectations about lessons gave clues about students’ perspectives on the teacher/learner relationship.


Many of the teacher training


departments in the post-school sector I researched believed in embedding behaviour management training into different modules. Some 85 per cent of teacher educators interviewed argued that there was not enough time, it was not a suficiently important issue, or that the problems were so diverse that it made sense to teach behaviour management in this way. But 90 per cent of trainees who were


questioned argued that behaviour management was often not taught at all. Many argued there should be a specific behaviour management module to ensure they were prepared. We are running a module at Leeds


City College, University Centre, where we are preparing trainees with strategies and techniques for dealing with a range of challenging situations. The aim is to stop the isolation many tutors face, by allowing open discussion of problem classes, and emotionally and psychologically developing trainees by examining strategies, case studies and modelling support systems. This book hardly claims to solve all


the problems. Rather it challenges assumptions made in teacher education departments where, perhaps, behaviour management is not embedded in a mandatory way.


This article is based on research


carried out by Merv for his new book, Classroom Behaviour Management in the Post-School Sector. Student and Teacher Perspectives on the Battle Against Being Educated. It is published by Palgrave Macmillan.


22 ISSUE 31 • SPRING 2018 INTUITION


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