Reward systems to support individual and class behaviour can be incredibly useful tools. But too often we spend days putting together a wonderful sticker chart or traffic-light display, only to have it fail miserably when it comes to actually supporting positive behaviour.
So why does this happen and what can we do to fix it?
Behaviour: making reward systems work
I think it’s worth asking five questions about any reward system that you currently have in place.
1. Is the reward worth having?
Does the reward that pupils receive reinforce positive behaviour, or do you just think it should?
In many ways, a reward system is a bit like an employment contract: the pupils need to engage with both the expectations and the reward sides of that contract. So, it’s worth asking pupils what reward they’d like - within reason.
The reward also needs to be worth the effort you are asking pupils to put in. For instance, I once visited a pupil who was asked to work all day for three tokens. If he got all three tokens, he accessed an iPad for five minutes at the end of the day. I think he actually got more enjoyment from ripping up the token chart in protest than he did from those five minutes of iPad time.
So, if your system isn’t working, you may need to look again at the effort-to-payout ratio.
2. Is your timing off?
Similarly, you need to think about the frequency of rewards.
If you have a system that means your pupils are working days, weeks or even terms for one big reward, you may have better success with offering smaller rewards more regularly.
No one wants to work for an extended period before accessing any kind of reward. By scattering smaller rewards, pupils can see the system working in the short term.
The effort needed to meet expectations at different stages is also vitally important. To begin with, you should make it easy to succeed, and then you can make things more difficult further down the road. For your system to be effective, pupils need to “win” at least once or they won’t try.
3. Are you rewarding the right behaviours?
Reward systems should focus on three to four key behaviours. You should communicate to pupils what these are, and you should choose behaviours that will make the biggest impact on learning: for example, fidgeting is less disruptive than pupils talking over you while you’re teaching.
You also need to consider what is possible and reasonable for individual pupils. For example, if you are designing a system for a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), getting them to sit still and not fidget for a whole lesson may not be possible and expecting them to do this is certainly not reasonable. Worse still, this can be frustrating for the child and lead to the very behaviour you had hoped to avoid.
More teaching and learning:
4. Are the expectations clear?
Not only do you need to tell pupils which behaviours will be rewarded, you also need to explain to them exactly what success in those behaviours looks like.
For example, “be kind” is not a rule that anyone can follow properly because it’s too subjective. An alternative might be “use kind words, such as ‘please’ and ‘thank you’”.
Be clear by demonstrating and practising the expectations a few times, until you are sure everyone really understands them. This takes a bit of effort at the start, but it will increase effectiveness.
5. Are you sure you aren’t accidently punishing good behaviour?
Some children hate being the centre of attention or being praised: it can embarrass them or make them feel “uncool”. So bear in mind that if you start publicly praising those pupils for good behaviour, you might find they do the complete opposite next time. Instead, consider whether a more subtle reward might be more appealing.
If your rewards system isn’t working, stop for a minute and ask yourself the questions above. The answers should help you to ensure that the rewards are more meaningful for everyone in your classroom.
Adam Dean is the headteacher at Chatten Free School in Essex
