There is real antagonism in some quarters toward any interpretation of a behavioural approach to behaviour management. I understand it. Let me explain where I stand.
Behaviourism developed as a revolt against the prevailing ways of doing psychology. It advocates that psychology should be a science of behaviour — without reference to mental states that cannot be observed. It looks at how behaviours can be learnt and unlearnt through reward and punishment, reinforcement and extinction.
The objections from critics are obvious enough. We cannot ignore what children are feeling or thinking, how much food or sleep they have had, whether they have just lost their bus money. Children are human individuals and should be treated as such. And the critics are right. We cannot give every child all the time they might need each day to talk through personal issues. That is what targeted mental health initiatives, learning mentors and inclusion managers are for. So what place does a behavioural approach have alongside these more child-centred ways of working?
If I say "Thanks for looking this way, John," am I cynically manipulating him? Or am I expressing genuine gratitude — allowing me and the rest of the class to get on with the lesson I have planned? Is there no humanity in that? When you thank someone for making a cup of tea, are you really only saying it so that they make more cups of tea in the future?
The intention is the key. Students and adults alike can see what your intention is very easily. They know whether you have their best interests at heart. They know whether the consequences you give are fair and consistent, or purely punitive.
The vast majority of the child-centred work I have done in my career was made possible by starting with a broadly behavioural approach.
Circle time, philosophy for children, emotional intelligence work, PSHE, SEAL, and genuine relationships are all much easier when you have a calm and controlled foundation to start from. I gained control and then let the power go. The classroom should be a benevolent dictatorship: we make unilateral decisions regularly, but like all good leaders we share our reasons as fully as possible.
A behavioural approach should be seen as a foundation — not a means to an end and not the basis of a school's ethos. It can give teachers and students the time and space to explore more effective, more person-centred approaches. We can do all of this if we are satisfied that our humanity underpins our behaviour.
Thanks for reading — and I mean that.