As the saying goes, this book does what it says on the tin; it aims to outline the dos and don’ts of behaviour management. The dos and don’ts of behaviour management, however, differs to most other books out there as it does not list all the different techniques and strategies that teachers should use within a classroom; instead, it aims to increase the understanding of reader of the different factors that affect a child’s behaviour and emphasises that the behaviours, habits and values of the teaching staff are the most important factors.
The foreword states that 68 per cent of newly qualified teachers feel unequipped for their roles in the classroom, highlighting how important it is for teachers to be informed on ways to manage behaviours within the classroom. The introduction of this book highlights how useful behaviour management can be when used effectively by using two case studies of students who were underachieving due to different factors in their lives. Once the factors that were leading to their problems in school were understood and changes were made to the weekly timetables and extra-curricular activities of the students, they both went on to either studying at university level or working in a full time job. The end of the introduction has a questionnaire for readers to complete which covers the topics of the seven chapters of the book.
The first of these seven chapters focuses on whether the reader is who they need to be internally, i.e. do they have the values they need to be a teacher? This chapter starts off with another task for the reader; the reader is asked to list their reasons for becoming a teacher and put them in order of importance. The use of a clever metaphor of rope representing shared values of teachers within a school demonstrates how important consistency is in behaviour management. The authors state that when communicating with students, teachers should always aim to be calm, confident, clear, compassionate and consistent.
Empathy is also focused on in this chapter as an important skill to have. The authors explain that males naturally have more problems with this skill, as they are known to be “systemisers” and usually only read facial expressions as being positive or negative but may struggle to come up with the exact emotion someone is showing. A particular skill that underlies empathy is to mirror the body language of the person someone is communicating with. The Freudian theory behind this is also explained, to provide the reader with an understanding of the psychological theory that underpins this skill. At the end of chapter one, the relevant part of the questionnaire that was included in the introduction of the book is provided for readers to complete again. Allowing the reader to complete this questionnaire again encourages individuals to reflect upon what they have learnt in this chapter and to compare their answers to the questionnaire before and after reading chapter one.
Chapter seven focuses on a topic that is usually ignored by other books and highlights how much of an impact humour can have on behaviour management and in creating relationships. One way in which this can be done is by using self-deprecation, referring to the ability to belittle or make a joke of one’s self to be humorous. According to the authors, having this ability allows an individual to come across to their students as being very confident in their own skin. This chapter also explains the benefits of laughter and explains how it can change a work environment into a play environment and how laughter can open up relationships. However, the authors make sure to also focus on the bad types of humour, which can humiliate others and cause offence. Two important things for teachers to remember here are to never laugh directly at a child and to not use sarcasm.
Other chapters focus on whether the reader is who they should be externally, whether they understand their students’ behaviours and manipulative anger and also whether they can use de-escalation techniques. All of these chapters take the same form, by including the relevant parts of the initial questionnaire at the end of each chapter to allow for self-evaluation. The consistency throughout the book makes it an easier read as this ensured that the reader knows what to expect at each stage. The writing style of the authors makes this book accessible to all teaching staff, from trainee teachers to those with years of experience.
Overall, this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read. The examples and quotes from teachers and well-known public figures help the reader to better understand the points being put across in each chapter and the light-hearted writing style of the authors make this one of the few books on behaviour management that keeps the reader completely engaged throughout. Although this book is primarily written with teachers in mind, the practical aspects of the book such as the questionnaires, the tasks and the thought-provoking questions asked throughout make it relevant to almost anyone working in an environment with children. Ultimately, the ability to manage behaviours is something that anyone who has regular contact with children can benefit from.
