Three ways to help trainees manage behaviour

Behaviour can challenge any teacher. This year, the Department for Education’s National Behaviour Survey reported that 70% of teachers said that misbehaviour had negatively affected their health and well-being. It also reported that the proportion of teachers expressing confidence in managing misbehaviour had declined significantly since 2024.

New teachers’ confidence in their ability to manage behaviour is particularly low. A separate government survey recently found that fewer than half of early career teachers felt well-prepared to deal with challenging behaviour. Therefore, increasing the speed with which trainees develop confidence managing behaviour is likely to have broad positive effects.

At Proxima, we’ve analysed over 10,000 trainees’ responses to behaviour scenarios in order to understand what they find most challenging about managing behaviour. Here are our three top recommendations for teacher educators based on what we’ve learned.

1. Talk about why it’s hard to be consistent

Almost every trainee knows that consistency matters. When quizzed near the start of their training year, 99% of trainees using Proxima agreed with the statement, “Consequences are most likely to be effective when they are upheld consistently”.

The challenge comes when consistency appears to conflict with another goal, such as building positive relationships or maximising learning time. The following scenario illustrates this tension:

Before starting a class discussion, you set clear expectations about raising hands.

You said that you would reward pupils making good contributions and give a demerit to any pupil shouting out.

Shortly after starting the discussion, Ryan shouts out while another pupil is speaking.

You want to teach pupils learning behaviours and ensure that all pupils benefit from the discussion.

What would you say to Ryan? Justify your decision.

1. “Ryan, I like your enthusiasm, but you’ve got to raise your hand. I’m afraid that’s a demerit.”
2. “Ryan, please put up your hand next time. After Jess has finished, I’ll come to you next.”

Trainees who select Option 2 (typically 10-20% of respondents) usually justify their choice by saying that they want to protect their relationship with Ryan or avoid wider disruption if he reacts badly to the demerit:

"Giving Ryan a chance will help build a positive relationship with him."

"Providing an extra reminder fosters a good relationship with Ryan."

"Ryan might argue back and disturb the class if I give him a demerit."

"I don’t want to disturb the flow of the lesson by giving a demerit."

Rather than simply reasserting that consistency matters, it’s likely to be more effective to anticipate and explore the perceived tensions that prevent trainees from being consistent.

For example, trainees that are concerned by the potential disruption caused by upholding a consequence may find it helpful to consider that reinforcing expectations early in the year is likely to be an investment that repays itself over the course of the year. Similarly, trainees that are concerned about damaging relationships by issuing consequences might find it helpful to consider strategies that can be used to mitigate any negative effects of doing so, such as using empathetic language or having a short reset conversation.

2. Spend more time on the power of praise

Trainees often underestimate the power of praise. As with consistency, when asked, almost every trainee says that praise is important. But we’ve found evidence that trainees often need additional support to understand the particular value of praise as a way to reinforce expectations and recognise pupils’ contributions as part of an inclusive classroom.

For example, in a scenario that asked participants to choose between catching a pupil out by sanctioning them when they were off-task, and catching a pupil in by providing specific praise when they were working well, some trainees thought that the sanction would be more effective because it was unnecessary to reward ‘expected’ behaviour.

To help trainees who underestimate the impact of praise, it might be valuable to emphasise that regular, specific praise is a behaviour management strategy supported by a strong and consistent evidence base. In order to help teachers overcome a reluctance to provide praise, which can be cultural, the EEF even recommends teachers consider adopting a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions in its guidance on behaviour.

3. Provide multiple opportunities for practice

When it comes to behaviour, knowing what to do is not the same as knowing how to do it. Trainees’ responses to approximations underline how helpful it is to provide multiple, sequenced opportunities for practice.

For example, almost every trainee can articulate the benefit of creating consistency for pupils by following school behaviour policies. However, when responding to approximations that test this belief, many trainees do not follow the school policy. In one scenario, for example, when a typically well-behaved pupil discreetly checks their phone, many trainees are tempted to deliberately overlook it, even if the school policy states it should be confiscated.

Providing trainees with multiple opportunities to practise responding to scenarios like these helps build their confidence and fluency. Whether it’s scripting responses that help pupils understand why particular rules are in place, or rehearsing giving instructions in a calm, authoritative tone, responding to approximations makes it easier for trainees to bridge the gap between theory and the classroom.

We are already hearing about the positive consequences of this type of preparation from both providers and trainees who use Proxima, and from mentors supporting trainees who have used approximations of practice as part of their training.

---

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to our newsletter here.