Challenging Behaviour - An Educator's guide to surviving the classroom.
Challenging behaviour has, for a long time, been the source of much anxiety, confusion and fear for many Teachers, Tutors and Support Staff in classrooms across the globe.
In the USA Challenging Behaviour - and a lack of support from Leaders around how to manage it - has been cited as the primary reason for staff joining the profession leaving within the first two years.
Here in the UK the picture isn't that different with a record number of fixed and permanent exclusions recorded in the last year, a third of all primary exclusions being for 'Assault of an adult' and the majority across all ages being for 'Persistent disruptive behaviour'.
Loosely, Challenging Behaviour is defined as:
'Any behaviour that interferes with Children's learning, development and success at play'
'Any behaviour that is harmful to the child, other children or adults'
'Any behaviour that puts a child at risk of later social problems or school failure'
(Klass, Guskin & Thomas '95 and Ritchie & Pohl '95 Et Al)
The reality is Challenging Behaviour represents something much simpler for a lot of us - 'Any behaviour that we, the young person or those around them find challenging'.
I appreciate that sounds simple but, well, it is.
But behaviour isn't all about kicking off, flipping over tables and punching people... I mean, it can be... but it is far more often a subtle build up of frustrations and intolerance that leads to a presenting behaviour - the outward expression we then find challenging.
In this blog I wanted to start by looking at the reasons behind the behaviours we see in our classrooms, the antecedents that might have proceeded them and what they might mean in context.
I've always broken the wider reasons behind Challenging Behaviour in to 4 main categories -
Attention:
Young People often seek attention from peers and adults around them as a way of self validation - 'To feel like I belong I need people to acknowledge I'm here'.
This is often a learnt technique from when they are young - 'If I scream loud enough mum will come over and sooth me'.
Attention is often masked by or masks other needs - 'I've been trying really hard and mum and dad haven't noticed - why should I bother'.
The type of attention is not necessarily important - 'I don't care if they are praising me or telling me off - as long as they are spending time with me'.
That last point, that attention can be good or bad whilst still fulfilling the same need, is critically important. This phenomenon is commonly seen in the Secure Estate and Care Settings where young people have been repeatedly let down, abused or ignored by adults around them. Once in care they develop unhealthy attachments with professionals who buck this trend and give them time and attention. The Young Person may then hurt that same adult when they are too busy to spend time with them. If the young person can not get positive attention they will force the workers hand in to spending time with them even if that is through restraint, de-escalation or punishment.
Escape:
Low level 'Persistent disruptive behaviour' (tapping a pencil constantly, trying to distract others in the class etc.) is all designed to eventually help them escape the task at hand - 'At worst my teacher will move me on to easier work, at best they'll kick me out the class where there's NO work!'.
A sudden outburst or 'kicking off' to spark an immediate response - 'Stacy is going to beat me up at lunch - if I kick off now though I'll be sent to the head's where I'm safe'.
Normally a sign of an under-developed emotional vocabulary - 'On the outside I'm telling you to f**k off - On the inside however I want you to know I'm not coping right now and have no idea how to contain this emotion'.
Physical or Psychological Need:
For some Young People it feels good, physically and/or mentally - 'It doesn't matter how chaotic my life gets - when I kick off I have all the power'.
It can act as a method of control - 'If I wear my teacher down enough they'll give me what I want... I'm in control of this situation'.
Or stability - 'Everything is changing in my world; my home, my work, the people I look up to etc. But the one thing that's always the same is how people react when I do something naughty'.
It even applies to self-harming and self-injurious behaviour - 'When I hurt myself that's the only thing that matters in that moment... not all the other stuff going on right now'.
It's easy to overlook that people with poor self-esteem or self shaming/harming thoughts can often, inadvertently, recruit those around them to fulfil their harmful behaviour. An example of this is when a boy with body confidence and/or self esteem issues does something 'strange' in order to be pushed away or ostracised by their peers. This then confirms their own belief that they are not worth their peer's attention.
And finally... Reward:
Again a learnt behaviour from primary age - 'If I sulk and cry for long enough mummy will eventually buy me an ice-cream (to shut me up)'.
This then creates a link in the brain - 'I behaved badly and got a reward... go figure?!'
Every time mum/carer/teacher/support etc. does this it reinforces the link only making it stronger - 'I really want another ice-cream and I know what to do to get it!'.
The reward strategy is a double edged sword - on one side giving the Young Person the ice-cream stops the challenging behaviour immediately however, on the other side, it creates a longterm pervasive problem whereby the behaviour will reoccur every time the Young Person wants a reward. This type of behaviour, if already entrenched, benefits from an awareness of the cycle of change:
Commonly, Young People will travel around this cycle on average 7 times before meaningful and persistent change is achieved (although when you have a Young Person pecking away at your patience it can seem like a lifetime!). But remember, change is more than possible, in fact with the right attitude, preparation and vision, change is inevitable.
This article obviously only scratches the surface of challenging behaviour and how to manage it. I hope to cover more and more over the coming months but would appreciate your feedback, comments and questions... I think.
For now though, good luck out there!
Ben
