Personal Philosophy
My personal philosophy aligns most closely to the leadership or humanistic behaviour management approaches. It is my belief that teachers cannot force students to behave in a certain way; however, they can create a physical and social-emotional environment that encourages students to make appropriate choices regarding their behaviour (Glasser, 1997; Rogers, 2002). Students can learn to manage and regulate their own behaviour through socialisation and group work, and teaching prosocial skills (Glasser, 1992). I believe that preventative strategies while perhaps the least obvious or intrusive are the most important. It is better to prevent inappropriate behaviour from occurring, rather using corrective or supportive strategies
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According to Piaget (as cited in McDevitt, Ormrod, Cupit, Chandler, & Aloa, 2013) the age of children in upper primary school would place their cognitive development along the continuum from Concrete Operations to Formal Operations. Students at these stages of development are able to engage in logical thought processes and explain their reasoning (McDevitt et al., 2013). These skills are important for the students to have developed to enable them to work as a class developing a set of classroom rules and consequences as well as reflect on the choices they have regarding their …show more content…
Preventative strategies should have a focus on involving students in developing the classroom rules, inclusive practices, explicitly teaching prosocial skills, relationship building, creating a positive learning environment, and delivering appropriate and engaging lessons (Bear, 2015). Involving students in developing the classroom rules encourages students to take ownership of the rules (Marzano, Gaddy, Foseid, Foseid, & Marzano, 2005). When students are involved in developing the rules and consequences they are more likely perceive the rules and consequences as being fair (Bear, 2015). Consequently, students who perceive the rules and the consequences for breaking the rules to be fair are more likely to follow the rules and exhibit less inappropriate behaviour (Bear, 2015). Another important preventative strategy is relationship building. A study of primary school children found that the quality of the teacher-student relationship was an important predicator of future behaviour and educational outcomes (Hamre & Pianta as cited in Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013). A positive teacher-student relationship resulted in stronger behaviour improvement and learning outcomes, particularly in mathematics and literacy, than students who did not experience a positive teacher-student relationship (Hamre & Piana as cited in Woolfolk & Margetts,