Aarif was “going off the rails”. There were days when he didn’t attend school. Even when he was in, he didn’t do much learning.
Instead, he spent his time arguing with teachers, getting removed from lessons and mostly working with pastoral staff.
Similarly, if Bethan made it to class, she couldn’t handle asking for help and, when frustration won out, she would just get up and leave - or not go to the lesson in the first place. She felt that the whole world was against her, even the staff in school, who were trying to help.
Poor behaviour is hardly a new issue in schools, but it is a problem that has been magnified post-Covid.
As our executive headteacher at Q3 Academy Tipton, Keziah Featherstone, outlined in a recent Tes article, since the height of the pandemic, increasing numbers of students - like Aarif and Bethan (not their real names) - are refusing to attend school, sometimes with the tacit permission of parents who “can’t make the kids do anything they don’t want to”.
There are also greater numbers of students refusing to go to lessons, young people more prepared to challenge and defy teachers and support staff, and an increase in more “extreme” or “uncharacteristic” behaviours, from students who never previously misbehaved.
We chose to tackle this behaviour at a relational level. Our new behaviour policy, written by assistant headteacher Kate Warmer, revolves around a team of “learning coaches” who work with students in small groups and one to one, inside and outside the classroom, to support better behaviour through high expectations, combined with the necessary incentives and consequences.
Coaching for behaviour: how it works
Four coaches were appointed on full-time temporary contracts. Two of these were external appointments, while two were existing members of staff, who changed their roles. In addition to the full-time coaches, we appointed a wider team of staff coaches, who each work with between one and three students, whom they meet once every two weeks.
The creation of four new full-time roles meant that we needed to find funding for these within our existing budget, but we felt it was worth prioritising.
A good deal of extensive staff training has accompanied this approach and we’ve also leant on external support.
Since March 2023, mentors from More Talk More Action - an organisation founded to reduce criminal activity and improve young people’s wellbeing and mental health - have been visiting the school weekly. Their support has made a big difference to students and teachers.
Our learning coaches have also benefited from our partnership with Grit Breakthrough Programmes, a charity delivering personal development and coaching programmes. They provided intensive staff and student training in July and September, challenging us all to engage rigorously with poor behaviour and change how we relate to young people.
When we have conversations about behaviour, the starting point is to focus on young people as individuals and to let them know that we are interested in their life as much as their academic grades.
By listening, understanding what they are experiencing and acknowledging their journey, learning coaches can give students a sense of agency, which has a knock-on effect on how they behave.
Behaviour management: a fresh start
We believe that every student wants and has the potential to be successful. But too often their interpretation of “success” puts up barriers, limits their beliefs and blocks their progress.
Our team of coaches helps to give students a fresh start with a trusted adult who can support them. Time and again, young people talk about the impact made by a teacher who doesn’t just wield authority or judgement but also listens and challenges - there were already plenty of teachers and pastoral staff like this at Q3 Academy Tipton but our dedicated coaches have added vital extra capacity.
To be clear, all this does not mean that negative behaviour is excused, tolerated or ignored. Instead, students see that their behaviours and their actions are a result of the choices that they are making and that with every choice come consequences. They see that it is all down to them.
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We are less than a year into this approach and we are already beginning to see the impact.
Since coaching, things have changed for Aarif. He has got a new focus. He’s studying hard to catch up on the work he’s missed and “the teachers say I’ve done a u-turn”, he reports. He is making important changes and describes how the teachers “see a different side of me now”.
Bethan has also transformed her attitude in class. She is trying her best and is much better at dealing with the challenges and setbacks of learning.
“I ask teachers for help and listen to what they tell me,” she says.
All of this has been led by the learning coaches, but is rooted within a whole-school push on shared values by associate headteacher Adam Slack.
The approach has required us to be agile with our staffing. The personnel of the coaching team has changed, some roles have been adapted, and some staff have left and been replaced.
Yet the fundamental commitment from the school to building relationships with young people that both support and challenge them to achieve their goals remains undimmed.
Mark Goodwin is director of behaviour, attendance and wellbeing across the Mercian Trust, including Q3 Academy Tipton
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