Bullying - Taking the topic to the Parents and Friends

Last night we opened discussion on Bullying with our parent community. The aim of the meeting was for parents to come away with a definition of bullying and an awareness of what bullying is and what it is not.

The discussion was positive and encouraging. We were able to explain the Shared Concern Method and the positive outcomes this method has on children.

It was great to also be able to state that the children in our school are generally very well adjusted socially and do display empathy towards their peers.

Our task now is to collect data ensuring that we are becoming more aware of the children who may be reaching out for support on the playground or in the classroom.

Playground Expectations

This week we had a whole school practice of the playground expectations before school. The students were quite responsive and it will be interesting to monitor their behaviour in the morning period over the next couple of weeks. It is becoming apparent that the Infants grades need a whole group lesson about the play periods of recess and lunch. Kindergarten are not as yet familiar with the expectations and are still very much in a pre-school mentality that play time means I can do anything I like!

The Year Ahead

2008 is off to a great start. We have an action plan ready to go which is based around the results of the survey at the end of last year. One of the main areas for action was to help teachers to develop skills around conducting Functional Behaviour Assessments.

Once again teachers have begun the year addressing the Expectations Matrix to ensure consistency of teacher and student expectations across the school.

It's full steam ahead!

Survey Summary

The data collection for the Survey Summary is now complete. This data will now be used with the PBS team as well as whole staff meetings to determine the movement forward for 2008. The beauty of this system is that we are able to celebrate our achievements in a relatively short time (2 years), sustain these whilst planning priorities for the future. 

Effective Behaviour Support (EBS) Survey

We are now approaching our third year using the principles of PBS. It is an opportune time to survey staff and use the data gathered to move forward and build upon the work already done. The information gathered has been organised into graphs looking at the areas and categories of:

• School Wide Systems - Current Status

• School Wide Systems - Priority for Improvement

• Non Classroom Setting Systems - Current Status

• Non Classroom Setting Systems - Priority for Improvement

• Classroom Systems - Current Status

• Classroom Systems - Priority for Improvement

• Individual Student Systems - Current Status

• Individual Student Systems - Priority for Improvement

What are we doing?

Today I was working with Year 6 on technology projects. The whole task is directed toward making a "package" for grades across the school about Global Warming and sending a very positive message about Earth Hour in 2008. The Teacher-Librarian and I were discussing the engagement of these children in the task and the freedom they have had in deciding themselves how to present their work. It has led to students using lunchtimes voluntarily to continue this work. My point here is, what are we doing that is allowing for Year 6 in week 6 of term 4 to still be so engaged and not displaying inappropriate behaviours that we often see in this age group at this time of the year? Something is succeeding. And I dare say that the behaviour structures in place as well as teacher planning and instruction has something to do with it!

The role of school leaders in developing a caring community

Recently I read an article in the ACEL journal (Volume 13 Number 1). The article was written by Sue Roffey from UWS and looked specifically at research about emotional literacy within schools. It was most interesting in that it gave a perspective of school leadership in behaviour management. It aligns well with the basic principles of Positive Behaviour Support.

Some of the key points taken from the reading include:
• Leadership is about relationships
• Key qualities of effective school leaders:
- Emotional intelligence (personal)
- Emotional intelligence (interpersonal)
- Intellectual abilities
• Leadership is about first and foremost ideas (Sergiovanni – 2006)

The research showed that, when delivering the process of change around emotional literacy, leaders need to take into account that the foundations for positive relationships and a caring community are values, knowledge, skills, and practices. The findings of the report placed importance on the following:

• Values
• Vision
• The processes of change
• Communicating values and expectations
• Staff wellbeing
• Leadership Style
• Power and influence
• Inter and intrapersonal competencies of school leaders
• Being positive
• Sustainability

Interestingly enough Michael Fullan, along with Duignan and Sergiovanni, have written about the ‘moral imperatives’ of school leadership. This is reflective of the discussion I had with colleagues the CEO meeting – The Art of the Possible.

“… having a system where all students learn, the gap between high and low performance becomes greatly reduced and what people learn enable them to be successful citizens and workers in a morally based knowledge society.”

Emotionally literate principals, assistant principals and school leaders, need to make the way people feel about themselves within the educational setting a matter of high priority in order to achieve some much broader social outcomes.