Report 4

Behaviour Management in Schools

Auditor General’s Overview

The majority of Western Australia’s 276 000 plus students attending public schools behave well. They follow classroom and school rules, pay attention in class, do their school work, and cooperate with their teachers and other students. This is critically important because orderly classrooms are linked with high student engagement and academic success.

But, some students do behave poorly at school. Managing these students is less about exercising rigid discipline than it once was. The Department of Education’s approach is to promote positive behaviour and engage students in learning. What has also changed is that principals now have more independence to develop behaviour strategies that best suit the needs of their students and school. This is a good thing.

Currently it is difficult to get a clear picture of how schools are managing student behaviour and whether their strategies are making a difference. This is essentially because the Department of Education does not have precise or complete information, and this needs to change.

My audit involved reviewing behaviour management practices at a sample of schools. All had adopted the Department of Education’s positive behaviour approach and a quarter of these were showing good results. We identified some common characteristics that helped schools make those improvements.

The audit also involved a substantial survey of school leaders. The survey provided us with useful information about the attitude and approaches to student behaviour that exist within WA’s public schools. For instance, 44 per cent believed that student behaviour is improving, while 38 per cent considered that it is getting worse. Eighteen per cent were undecided. What was apparent from the survey and our discussions with school staff is the impact that poor student behaviour has on principals’ and teachers’ time and its effect on other students.

The Department of Education recognises that skilled teachers are central to managing student behaviour effectively, and providing training in classroom management is one of its key strategies for supporting schools. What was evident to us was the need for the training to be better targeted to those teachers and schools that need it most.

School leaders, teachers and student support staff told us that issues such as family dysfunction, mental health problems and trauma are affecting student behaviour more than ever. While schools are part of the solution, they cannot address all the contributing factors to student behaviour without the cooperation of parents, government and the broader community. My work during this audit and others has made it clear that a half-hearted approach will not succeed in addressing these important societal issues.

 
Page last updated: March 19, 2014

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