Memorandum submitted by Dr Richard Crombie,
Specialist Senior Educational Psychologist: Social and Emotional
Development
Perspective: I am an Educational Psychologist
with 25 years of experience specialising in children's social-emotional
development and behaviour. My PhD is entitled Managing Behaviour
in Mainstream Schools: Changing the Culture. These are my
views, and not necessarily those of my employing authority.
SUPPORTING AND
REINFORCING POSITIVE
BEHAVIOUR
For most children this is dependent on:
— Clarity and consistency.
— Strong, collegial leadership.
This will ensure that they gain a strong sense
of themselves as learners and affiliation to their school.
Beyond that there is huge scope for children—as
part of the "Big Society" agenda—to contribute
within schools and communities. They are an important untapped
resource, and will benefit themselves and others now and in the
future, if schools can engage them in eg supporting the learning
of others.
CHALLENGING BEHAVIOUR
This arises from three main sources:
— Response to a failure to provide the
above.
— Culture and peer relationships.
— Failure to learn good enough self regulation.
As a psychologist my focus is primarily on the
latter. It is the foundation for understanding how children come
to behave in challenging ways and for working out how best to
respond to that.
IMPACT
Of course the impact of challenging behaviour
is generally addressed in terms of teachers teaching and children
learning. That is, the primary functions of schools. However,
it may be more fruitful to consider it in terms of the impact
on teachers personally rather than professionally. It is those
personal responses that are most problematic. We need to support
teachers to respond to children's challenging behaviour in a professional,
not a personal, way. Feelings of frustration, failure, lack of
knowledge and skills quickly lead to ill considered responses
and to efforts to shift responsibility.
This is not to criticise teachers who are often
faced with very difficult situations without appropriate training
or support. Training in child development and an understanding
of how children come to behave in challenging ways is crucial.
As is access to high quality consultation.
APPROACHES
There are three essential pillars for managing
children's challenging behaviour in schools:
— Understanding child development
and learning processes.
— Establishment of appropriate, professional
relationships.
— Clarity over responsibility, supported
by a sense that everyone is doing the best they can under difficult
circumstances.
Beyond that it is usually not difficult to predict
which children are likely to present very challenging behaviour.
It is essential that everyone—the pupil, parents and staff—knows
what will happen in the circumstances of a serious incident. We
plan for children's learning needs; why not for the most difficult
challenges teachers face?
I also wish to highlight the critical importance
of attending to repairing relationships when a child is left feeling
criticised, thwarted etc. This is too frequently ignored. I should
like to propose, as a first step, that following a permanent exclusion
the child and family is offered a Restorative Conference which
has the potential to go some way towards repairing the damage
done, and paving the way for the child to move on positively.
It may lead to schools recognising the potential to use Restorative
Approaches as an alternative to exclusion.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
SEBD frequently masks (other) SEN. Clarification
of the full range of needs a child may present is dependent on
good quality assessment.
Defining SEBDs as SEN is dependent on the need
for differentiation. This can be in terms of pupil: adult relationships,
curriculum or pedagogy.
ALTERNATIVE PROVISION
Efficacy is determined by purpose, and I think
we need to address that first. Who is alternative provision designed
to benefit?
There is substantial scope for schools to develop
alternative provision based on identification of pupil need. Alternative
provision by PRUs should, in my view, arise from the need to take
control of a deteriorating situation within a school. There is
no reason why access to PRU provision could not be made available
to schools on a quota basis. Schools could "trade" such
access.
Access to special school places should arise
from parental preference, not pressure from schools. Access to
residential placements should be the responsibility (in every
sense of the word) of Children's Social Care and Health, as well
as Education.
September 2010
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