Accentuate the positive key to behaviour management in schools, conference told
Restorative practices, resilience programmes, anti-bullying fostering care, support and connections at secondary schools
might not be the topics most people would expect at a conference focussing on behaviour management in schools, but these
are some of the session themes at the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) School-Wide conference that closes in
Wellington today.
Keynote speaker Susan Barrett works at Sheppard Pratt Health System, a private non-profit health system located in
Baltimore, Maryland where she leads their work with the University of Oregon and Johns Hopkins University to implement
and evaluate Positive Behaviour Interventions in Schools (PBIS).
Dr Terry Scott has expertise in teacher education, teaching methods, and pre-school education and is president of the
US-based Council for Children with Behaviour Disorders. His key messages include the importance of simple things such as
adults acknowledging good behaviour with comments like "Thanks", "I appreciate…" and "I’m impressed…" and correcting
inappropriate behaviour in a constructive way with questions such as "Is that the right way…?" and "What is a better
way…?"
The third keynote speaker, Judge Andrew Becroft has recently been appointed New Zealand’s Children’s Commissioner after
15 years as the principal Youth Court Judge and is well known for his compassion for the youth offenders he dealt with
in his role as Principal Youth Court Judge and his advocacy for better ways to work with high-risk young people in a way
that's not stigmatising, or labelling or patronising.
PB4L School-Wide looks at behaviour and learning from a whole-of-school as well as an individual child perspective,
reaching down to ECE settings. By strengthening relationships and creating more positive home and school environments
PB4L schools remove barriers to engagement and improve students’ chances to achieve both at school and beyond.
Addressing the conference yesterday, Minister Parata told delegates that one of the initiatives, the Incredible Years
Teacher Programme has recently been evaluated by the New Zealand Council for Education Research. They found that 90
percent of ECE teachers and 75 percent of primary teachers reported less disruptive behaviour in their class after
taking the course.
There are now over 600 School-Wide schools in New Zealand.
ENDS