New book to help teachers deal with challenging behaviour

Goofing off, aggressive behaviour, lying and bullying are some of the extreme student behaviours a new book seeks to help teachers address without resorting to exclusion or expulsion.

Dr Valerie Margrain, a lecturer in Early Years Education from Massey University’s College of Education, is co-editor of the book launched today, which explores techniques and research around restorative justice practice in schools. The book provides constructive ideas, tips and techniques to help parents and teachers deal with challenging behaviour.

Titled Responsive Pedagogy: Engaging Restoratively with Challenging Behaviour, it explores up-to-date research into the subject, and includes tips for setting up different types of restorative conferences, and examples of scripts for restorative conversations.

Dr Margrain says restorative practice is a relatively new but growing area of interest in schools trying to find better ways to deal with difficult students.

“There has been a lot of work around restorative principles, doing things to set things right, accepting responsibility. Even the youngest of learners in early childhood education can grasp the principles of saying sorry and helping clean up a mess,” she says.

Drawing on real examples, one case study in the book focuses on four-year-old Alice, who was expelled from an early childhood centre and arrived at her next school with a lengthy file reporting her misdemeanours. Using the principles of restorative practices, the staff decided to ignore the huge file and focus on the child’s strengths and competencies. She was identified as gifted and bored.

Another case study talks of a family meeting where the father of a child who was being bullied gets through to the bully because they can relate to each other. Understanding the problem, not the student, led to re-building of relationships.

“There are no set answers, but this book helps provide information and tools that can work in different situations. At the end of the day you want a change in behaviour and some accountability. There are multiple ways of achieving that,” Dr Margrain says.

“In the big picture excluding students doesn’t resolve anything, it just moves the problem somewhere else and it’s increasingly difficult to find schools for children who have been excluded. While it is important that victims have a voice and their concerns are dealt with, we also need to be part of a society that can find constructive approaches.”

Responsive Pedagogy: Engaging Restoratively with Challenging Behaviour is published by NZCER Press and edited by Dr Valerie Margrain and Professor Angus H. Macfarlane.