Different behaviour management methods

Recently here at EYC we have had a lot of practitioners getting in touch asking for support and advice in handling group behaviour and behaviour management. A common complaint at the moment seems to be the general behaviour of a whole class/group/room of children rather than just one or two children with behavioural issues. This can be for many different reasons but it is important for the welfare of the children and practitioners that the group behaviour is quickly brought back under control and that the children are behaving in a way that is beneficial to their development. Some of the reasons that a whole group of children may have begun misbehaving include:

• Boredom
• High expectations
• Lack of stimulation
• Lack of understandable rules
• Over stimulation
• Not enough calm/quiet time
• Not enough outdoor time
• Lack of stability and continuity
• Not a strong enough routine
• Too much routine

Managing group behaviour

When a whole class or group of children are not behaving in the ways they should this can cause a massive amount of stress for practitioners and it can become a disruptive learning environment children meaning they are not getting the play and learning opportunities they need. Here are some helpful tips and links you might like to try to restore some order to a disruptive group.

• Strong key bond
• Effective parent partnerships with shared expectations
• Golden rules – These should be based on the positive instruction and visually displayed. Practitioners should also remember to ask the children for the behaviour they would like to see rather than state the behaviour which is not safe in the learning environment for example instead of ‘no running indoors’ ask for ‘walking inside please’ or instead of ‘stop hitting each other’ ask for ‘kind hands towards your friends please’ 
• Simple instruction – Sometimes children can become overwhelmed with the instructions they are given, keeping it simple can be really effective. For example instead of ‘stop standing on your chair, you must sit on your chair nicely for lunch’ sometimes asking simply ‘on your bottoms please’ can be much more effective.
• Plan based on interests – If children are not interested in the resources or activities they are more likely to misbehave. 
• Flexible routine – Routines is incredibly important, but all routines need to be slightly flexible. If the children are misbehaving maybe it’s time to change activities alternatively if they are all highly engaged leave them to enjoy this a little longer
• Change the environment – Sometimes a simple change such as moving a bookcase, swapping containers or changing the role play can be highly effective in encouraging the children to become engaged in the activity and play again.
• Challenging yet achievable – Ensure resources and activities are challenging yet achievable. This ensures children are not being over or under stimulated. Bare all children in mind when you plan this.
• Outdoor play – Ensure the children are getting enough physical exercise for the day and opportunity for larger gross motor skills to be used in order to burn off any extra energy. 
• Behaviour charts, systems, cards etc – Sometimes these can be highly effective, sometimes not. It is down to each setting whether they want to try this option or not. You might want to read this article before you make a decision. 

Do you have any other techniques which have worked well?