Not Four Names, One List: The 6 EEF Behaviour Recommendations

It is 8 .43 in the morning, and while you are standing at the door, period one is fine, period two is also fine. Right. But period four, you know, the group right after lunch, is absolutely not fine. No, not at all. And you know it before they even arrive, because you can literally hear them coming up the stairs. Oh, the noise on the stairs. So what is actually in your head walking into that room? Honestly, a list of names. Four of them. Just four specific names.

Yeah. And that is exactly where every behavior conversation starts. I mean, you sit down and you list the names. But the evidence we are looking at today, it points to a harder, very different answer. This is the education commute. So if you are wondering why we are starting with that specific heavy feeling on the stairs, it is because this is the eighth. In our run through the national leadership qualifications. The eighth one already. Yeah. We are taking them a cycle at a time. You know, reading the public documents underneath them.

We have already done the headship route and the special educational needs coordinator route. Which were big ones. They were. This time, we move to the leading behavior and culture route. And there are three of these episodes because behavior is really where that rote spends its time. Yeah. And just a quick word about that context. When we did the headship route first, well, we looked at how it has a professional development cycle and a behavior section. Right. We took the professional development half there deliberately and we saved the behavior evidence for right now.

We wanted this run to focus on it properly rather than doing it twice. Exactly. So to give this proper focus, let's keep that scenario going. I will be in the chair of the teacher dealing with period four. Sounds good. And I will be in the chair of the middle leader who has been tasked with, quote, sorting out behavior in the department. Which, when you think about it, is a mandate with absolutely no method in it whatsoever. None. So give it a method. Right. For the method, we look to the Education Endowment Foundation.

On the 7th of June, 2019, they published a guidance report called Improving Behavior in Schools. This document is the foundation here. It lays out six recommendations. Six of them. Yes. And I want us to look at the exact wording they use because the order they are in is the actual argument. Okay. Let's hear them. I am going to take these slowly in their exact order. One, know and understand your pupils and their influences. Yeah. Two, teach learning behaviors alongside managing misbehavior. Three, use classroom management strategies to support good classroom behavior.

Right. Makes sense. Four, use simple approaches as part of your regular routine. Five, use targeted approaches to meet the needs of individuals in your school. Okay. And six, which sits underneath all of them, consistency is key. I want to stop right there at the top of that list. Yeah. Know and understand your pupils is first. Before anything else. First, I mean, before any strategy is even mentioned. Underneath that first recommendation, the report puts three points that I would argue are the entire foundation of this episode.

I want to read these exactly as they are written. Go ahead. First, pupil behavior, quote, has multiple influences, some of which teachers can manage directly. Okay, that's one. Second, understanding a pupil's context, quote, will inform effective responses to misbehavior. Right. And third, every pupil should have a supportive relationship with a member of school staff. I want to look at that phrase, the first one, some of which teachers can manage directly. Yeah, it's interesting. That word some is doing a tremendous amount of heavy lifting there. It really is.

It is an incredibly careful sentence in both directions. Yeah. Think about the balance it strikes. Right. It doesn't say that a pupil's behavior is all down to the teacher, but it also doesn't say that the behavior is entirely out of your hands. It clearly states that a part of it is yours. The professional job is knowing exactly which part you can manage. Which is actually a huge relief if you are the teacher waiting at the door. You know, you aren't carrying the burden of everything that people brings into the building, just the part you can manage.

Exactly. So how does this translate into the framework for the qualification? Because we usually start there. Yes. Well. The Department for Education has a framework for the leading behavior and culture qualification published in October 2020. What is striking is that its statements on this topic are almost word for word the same as the reports. That tells you exactly how directly the framework is built upon the report. That direct, huh? Very direct. The very first statement in the behavior section of the framework reads like this, taking it slowly.

While classroom -level approaches have a big impact on pupil behavior, consistency and coherence at a whole school level are paramount. Right. Now, I am going to push back here because this is where the theory hits reality. Let's hear it. I have been in the meeting where leaders say, let's use data to identify need. And what actually materializes in front of you is just a massive spreadsheet. Ah, yes. The spreadsheet trap. Exactly. It becomes a league table of behavior points. broken down by teacher. And if you are looking at a list of kids and a list of points, that is not a diagnosis.

No, it's not. It is just a naming exercise with a chart attached to it. I think that is a very fair, realistic description of how these meetings usually go. But if you look closely, the framework has two statements that cut directly against that kind of spreadsheet exercise. What do they say? First, reading the text exactly. some teachers will benefit from intensive support to improve their classroom management yes some teachers and while that is true I mean, if you've been in a school for any length of time, you know that is the exact sentence that gets weaponized.

Oh, completely. It turns into a stick to beat people with during a performance review. It absolutely gets weaponized. But the reason it shouldn't be used as a stick is found right next to it in the report. The report points out that improving classroom management, quote, usually involves intensive training with teachers reflecting on their classroom management, trying a new approach and reviewing their progress over time. Intensive training, trying new approaches, reviewing. progress over time. Exactly. So the finding in the evidence is not simply some teachers are the problem.

Right. The finding is that when classroom management is the specific area that needs improvement, a quick conversation and setting a target will not fix it. The school actually has to buy into and provide the intensive version of support. Which brings us right back to the reality of resources. Intensive training, reflection, and reviewing over time, well, it costs money. This is the timetable episode all over again. It is the timetable episode again. And here is the honest truth about that reality. Identifying the need on a spreadsheet is the cheap half of the process.

Yeah. Meeting that need with intensive training is not. So if identifying names on a spreadsheet isn't the right way to diagnose the problem. What should leaders actually be looking at? What should the data be telling us, if not just who is misbehaving? The framework provides a very clear answer to that. You have to look at time and place before you look at people. Time and place. Yes. The statements in the framework are that whole school changes, quote, usually take longer to embed than individually tailor or single classroom approaches.

And crucially, that behavior programs, quote, are more likely to have an impact on attainment outcomes if implemented at a whole school level. OK, I see. So your diagnostic question as a leader shouldn't be, who is this? It should be whether what you are seeing is isolated to one room or if it is a pattern across the school. And the noise on the stairs before period four after lunch, that is a pattern, isn't it? Exactly. If it is period four after lunch and it is happening across several rooms, then you are not dealing with four individual names.

You are dealing with a transition issue. And fixing a whole school transition is a completely different piece of work. It is also, frankly, a much cheaper piece of work than individually tailored interventions for multiple pupils. I want to stay on this because shifting from who to when and where is the kind of thing you can actually take into a school tomorrow. How do we fix that transition? Well, the framework states that establishing and reinforcing routines, including through positive reinforcement, can help create an effective learning environment.

Okay. And if we go back to the report, the fourth recommendation is to, quote, Use simple approaches as part of your regular routine. Simple approaches? Yes. The report gives its own examples of what this looks like. Things like breakfast clubs, specific behavior -related praise, and working with parents. Right. It notes that these are approaches that don't require complex pedagogical changes and have been shown to be promising. Let's pause on that word. Promising, not proven. Promising. And it is vital that we read the report accurately and keep that word exactly as written.

Yeah. The report says promising rather than proven. And we should not upgrade it to make it sound more definitive than the evidence supports. It shows potential, but it still requires the work. And if a school puts that work in, you know, if a leader launches these routines and policies, how long do they have to wait before any of it actually shows an effect? This is perhaps the most critical warning in the entire document for any leader who is launching a new behavior policy in September. I will read the statement exactly.

Please do. Teacher and pupil behaviors, quote, become ingrained and can be difficult to change. So most whole school behavior policy or practice change will likely take more than a school term to demonstrate impact. Wait, more than a school term? More than a school term to demonstrate impact. Written right there in the Department for Education's own framework. Wow. Why? Because behaviors become ingrained. They are habits built over years. You cannot undo ingrained habits quickly. That makes a lot of sense. So if a leadership team reviews a new policy at the October half term and sees no change, the policy has not failed.

It simply has not started yet. That might be the single most useful sentence we discuss in this episode. And unfortunately, it is the one that people under pressure will find hardest to believe. It requires patience. And it pairs perfectly with what we covered in the implementation episode. You have to stop doing something first, make a limited number of carefully chosen changes, and pursue them diligently. It is the exact same argument, just appearing in a different document. All right. But let me push you to the limit of this framework because there is always a limit.

Fair enough. If I am that teacher at 843. Knowing that whole school changes take more than a term is great for the long run. But none of this tells me what to do about the four specific names in my head right now. And that is a fair challenge. The report acknowledges this in its fifth recommendation, which focuses on targeted approaches for individuals. Okay, what does it say? It explicitly says that universal systems, quote, are unlikely to meet the needs of all your students. It goes on to say that for pupils with more challenging behavior, quote, the approach should be adapted to individual needs.

And most importantly, it says that teachers, quote, should be trained in specific strategies if supporting pupils with high behavior needs. So the answer is training. Yes, which means the document provides a training requirement, not a quick technique. It gives you the shape of the answer, not the answer itself. So after all of this, I still have to walk into period four. You still walk into period four. What changes today is your mindset. You walk in knowing that you are not carrying the burden alone as a list of four names to fix by yourself.

Yeah, there is a shift. You know that the first diagnostic question the department needs to ask isn't who is doing this, but when and where is this happening? Let's ground this. What does that first recommendation know and understand your pupils actually look like practically across different types of schools without relying on complex data systems? Let's start with primary. Well, in a primary setting, the point about every pupil having a supportive relationship does the most work, simply because the same adult sees the child all day. Right, of course.

A practical application could look like the class team taking 10 minutes to sit down and name, out loud, which adult each child in the room would actually go to if they needed help. Just naming them. Yes. And the crucial part is specifically noticing the children nobody names. That is, recommendation one, fully actioned in 10 minutes with absolutely no data system involved. Right. That makes complete sense when you have one teacher all day. But what about secondary, where a pupil sees seven different faces across seven different rooms?

In secondary, applying this looks like the department pulling its own records, but filtering them by period and by week rather than by pupil. By period and week. Exactly. You ask when the incidents cluster before you ask who is in them. If the answer reveals that the issue is always a specific time of day or a particular corridor, then the fix is establishing a routine rather than just issuing a sanction to a pupil. That's a very different approach. And what about in a specialist setting? In a specialist setting, the framework contains a statement that reads as if it were written almost exclusively for that room.

Reading it exactly. A predictable and secure environment benefits all pupils, but is particularly valuable for pupils with special educational needs. And right alongside it, the framework notes that the ability to self -regulate one's emotions, quote, affects pupils' ability to learn, success in school, and future lives. So how does that change the approach? It means that in a specialist setting, predictability must be treated as a provision. It should be timetabled, staffed, and protected rather than just viewed as good practice that happens to occur when the day is going well.

So let's bring this all the way back to the stairs. It's the exact same period for... And the exact same noise is coming up the steps. It is the same noise. But this time, you know that the very first recommendation is to know and understand your pupils and that pupil behavior has multiple influences, some of which teachers can manage directly. So instead of being overwhelmed, you are simply looking for the part that is yours to manage. You know that if the noise is a pattern across multiple rooms, it is a transition issue, not just a set of names.

Exactly. And you know that whatever routine the department puts in place to change it will... take more than a school term to show an impact, so you are not going to judge yourself or the policy at half term. It is the exact same period for, but experienced entirely differently. Before we wrap up, I want to leave a staff room seed. Oh, let's hear it. At break tomorrow, ask whoever is standing nearest the kettle to name the people in their form who they think would say no adult in the building really knows them.

That's a tough question. The goal isn't to fix it on the spot. It is just to notice how quickly a name arrives in their mind. It reinforces the report's own words that every pupil should have a supportive relationship with a member of school staff. And here is the walk -in. If a governor or a visitor walked in tomorrow and asked how your school knows what its behavior needs actually are, is the answer? They get a set of numbers about pupils. Or is it an analysis of when and where the behavior happens?

That's a great question to ask. And the second question, which is much harder. When the answer has been that a colleague's classroom management is the thing that needs to improve, did that colleague get intensive training, reflection, and review over time? Right. Or did they just get a conversation and a target? The evidence explicitly demands the first. Most systems only fund the second. Very true. Let's distill this down. Four things to take off the drive. One, the first recommendation comes first for a reason. Know and understand your pupils and their influences before you attempt any strategy.

Pupil behavior, quote, has multiple influences, some of which teachers can manage directly. And every pupil should have a supportive relationship with a member of school staff. Two, ask when and where before you ask who. If it is a pattern across rooms, it is a transition, not a list of names. And you must look for patterns across rooms because consistency and coherence at a whole school level are, in the framework's exact word, paramount. Three. Change takes more than a school term to demonstrate impact because teacher and pupil behaviors become ingrained.

A policy judged at half term has not failed. It simply has not started. Four, where classroom management is the identified need. The evidence says the solution is intensive training with reflection and review over time, not just giving someone a target. Identifying the need on a spreadsheet is the cheap half. Everything we have discussed today is linked in the show notes, including the guidance report and the framework, which are both free to open. And there is a printable one pager for this episode at the education commute dot co dot UK.

Perfect for parents or for the staff room. And there are two free newsletters while you were over there. One is designed for staff and the other is for parents and carers. It is the exact same evidence simply written for the person reading it. Safe trip in. See you at the gates.