ED1003: Understanding and Guiding

Children’s Behaviour

Classroom Behaviour Plan

Monica Italiano

The University of Notre Dame, Fremantle


Personal Philosophy

The early childhood setting is a miniature community, in which children

develop, and practice the skills inherent to coping with the interactions and

challenges they will face as they grow. The early childhood setting must

then support children in being successful and valued members of the

class. The physical and human environment surrounding the children

should support them in developing and maintaining self awareness and

self management, social awareness and relationship skills, and the ability

to make responsible decisions. The sense of agency children are

supported in developing encourages independence and resiliency, key

skills needed to thrive in the modern world.

Minimising disruptive behaviour in the classroom is important, as

disruptive behaviour inhibits learning for both the child exhibiting the

behaviour and their peers. The best classroom management approach is

one that focuses on preventing disruptive behaviour. Knowing why a child

is behaving in the way they are, aids the educator in putting measures in

place to prevent this from happening.

A child’s behaviour is the overt communication of the inner happenings of

their mind; children behave to interact and have their needs met. Children

behave in ways that they believe, at some level of consciousness, will help

them achieve their goals of having their needs met. This means that a

child’s dysfunctional behaviour is most typically caused by unmet needs.

Children need to feel a sense of belonging and attachment to those

closest to them, they need to be empowered through responsibility and

opportunities to achieve in order to develop a positive self-concept and

high self esteem. Children need to feel safe and secure especially

regarding their basic life needs such as food, sleep and warmth. If a child

as not receiving positive regard and as a result, feels as though they are

not valued equally amongst peers, their relationship with the educator and

the group is damaged and their need of feeling a sense of belonging is

unmet. This could result in the child exhibiting anti-social behaviours such

as telling tales or lying to the teacher. At the most basic level the child’s

need to feel as though they are worthy and valued is not being met, and

they are only trying to get this need met in any way they can.

Disruptive behaviour can also occur if the child is not yet developmentally

prepared to cope in a pro-social way in a certain situation. They are not

equipped with the skills needed to meet the expectations of adults, for

instance by sharing. Children have not yet developed a social

understanding that the implications not sharing can have on relationships

as their life experience has not yet prepared them for this. It is the role of

the educator to have conversations that challenge the child’s way of

thinking and provokes thought which supports the social and emotional

learning that occurs in their interactions with others. The educator can

provide emotional literacy, model pro-social behaviour and encourage

feelings of security and belonging for all members of the class. The child

may also not be developmentally equipped to achieve success with the

educator’s intended educational outcomes. The teacher must ensure that

the learning is within the realm of possibility for the child, and individualise
the learning and teaching for each student. The children must also be

extended and not become disengaged with their learning from lack of

stimulation.

Children need to have a clear and comprehensive idea of what is

expected of them. Clear boundaries and expectations need to be

communicated to the children and remain consistent so children are aware

of what behaviour is appropriate. The educator must provide reasonable

expectations for the children, so they feel safe and secure in the rules of

the classroom.

Theoretical Stance

Lev Vygotsky theorised that children develop by exposure to knowledge,

skills and concepts that were slightly beyond their ability but maintained

within a “zone” of possible development (Miller, 2016). Vyogotsky believed

that children develop primarily through interaction with the human

environment (Miller, 2016). It is important that children have a healthy

attachment to those around them and feel supported and respected in

their environment (Corso, 2007). Vygotsky’s theory is relevant to early

childhood education as it guides the behaviour of the educator as a model

for appropriate behaviour and a crucial agent of socialisation. The theory

emphasises the need for learning to be individualised and catered to the

child’s educational needs; children need to experience success. Vygotsky

suggested that learning should never be “too” difficult for the child,
meaning out of the realm of possibility for them.

Vygotsky highlighted the need for authentic human interaction and

scaffolding in learning. This shapes the way educators involve themselves

in children’s play, the vehicle of learning innate to children. The content

children explore through their play is developmentally appropriate and

significant to the child, meaning the learning is able to occur in Vygotsky’s

Zone of Proximal Development. The educator scaffolds the learning by

asking questions and encouraging deeper thought.

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory suggests that to develop well,

children need constant, stable and reciprocal interactions with attentive

and caring adults (Miller, 2016). Children who don’t get this kind care

eventually look for attention in inappropriate places. The model shows the

five layers of the environments surrounding the child and how their

interactions and experiences within them, shape them developmentally.

The model is influential to early childhood education practice as it

highlights the importance of developing secure and positive relationships.

Practice must involve a connection between the child’s home and

classroom in both the physical environment and the positive interactions

with the child’s family. Children are also encouraged to forge positive

connections with peers and the school community as it becomes a part of

their identity.
Social/ Emotional/ Education Aims

The early childhood setting should foster a passion for learning within

children. Children ideally will develop a love for learning and a desire to

play an active role in their own learning. All children should feel as though

they are capable of success in the classroom, in all facets of their learning,

and believe that they are “good” learners. The child should never feel that

something is beyond their grasp and unachievable as this can be

detrimental to the child’s self-image, lowers their self-esteem and

damages the relationship the child has with learning and education.

Learning that is child-centred and play-based is extremely effective in

ensuring the learning is individualised to the students needs as they are

discovering what they are developmentally ready for. The learning that

occurs within this context is genuine and authentic for the child. It is the

resources and scaffolding provided by the educator that extends and

enriches this learning.

The greatest social aim for children is that they are intrinsically motivated

to behave in a pro-social way. Children will exhibit pro-social behaviours

because they have a positive self-concept, viewing themselves as good

people, and they understand how they can behave in a way that

demonstrates this. In order to behave pro-socially, children need to have

developed a certain level of social awareness, a key aspect of emotional

intelligence. Children who are socially aware, experience greater ease in

developing and maintaining relationships as they can “read” the social

situation and act appropriately. Children who are able unable to empathise
with peers will experience greater difficulty in maintaining friendships and

avoiding conflict.

Children should learn relationship skills and how to appropriately interact

with others. Relationship skills are important for children’s social and

emotional development as they are integral to the quality of the child’s

current and future relationships. Children learn how to perform pro-social

acts such as playing cooperatively, sharing, apologising sincerely and

avoiding and resolving conflict. Children need to be supported in

developing high self-esteem so that they feel confident enough to engage

in risk-taking in their learning and that they are worthy of positive, healthy

relationships.

The early childhood environment must be conducive to a child’s self-

management. A child’s self awareness and developing self-regulation is

key to the child developing a sense of agency and independence in the

classroom. A child that is able to self-regulate will be able to manage

themselves and exhibit less disruptive behaviours than a child that can

not.

Practices - Pre-primary class

The social and emotional education aims are achieved through the

educators practice. The educator can structure the environment in a way

that is conducive to the achievement of the goals. The indoor and outdoor
classrooms should be child-centred. The children should feel ownership of

the space and it should function in ways that supports their sense of

agency. Children need to be explicitly taught what is available, where it is

located and rules around its use. The environment should be designed in a

way that allows for children to be able to reach all of the materials

themselves, so they can choose to play with the things they are interested

in. The children should be expected to respect the space and the

resources by tidying the materials they use when they are finished with

them. The shelves in the classroom will be within the children’s reach and

the resources and materials will be organised with designated areas for

each so the children are empowered with the knowledge of how to pack

away the materials.

The classroom should be representative of the children in the class. It

should reflect their experiences; children’s learning builds on what they

already know. Materials and resources should reflect the children and their

culture. The bridge between the home and classroom should be made by

allowing time and flexibility in transition. Parents should be encouraged to

bring their children into the space, which at the beginning of the year they

will have already been introduced to and familiarised with, and the children

should be supported in bringing transitional objects to school.

The environment should have “quiet spaces” where children can retreat if

they feel it would benefit them, supporting their self-management. the child

is then able to withdraw themselves from conflict, confrontation or any

provocation of disruptive behaviour. The space can be resourced with

emotion posters, soft furnishings such a beanbag to roll on, or a large,

plush toy to hug, a mirror, some “squeeze” toys and a timer. Children can
go there to calm down, and understand that it is not a “time out”. Once the

child is calm, the educator can “debrief” with the child and engage in the

conversations that provoke understanding and growth in the child’s

development. The children should also have their own space, such as a

tray or a bag hook, where they can store their food, water bottles or shoes

if they are to be taken off for outdoor play, for instance.

At the commencement of the school year, children will take part in the

collaborative negotiation of rules for their class. These rules will be

displayed clearly and, along with classroom routines, will be visible and

referred to frequently throughout the day. This will allow children to feel a

sense of ownership over the classroom and their behaviour; they will be

more inclined to feel as though the rules are “fair” and want to follow them.

The children will be introduced to behavioural expectations, such as sitting

down in the gathering space when they enter the classroom, at the

commencement of the year and this will remain consistent so the children

will feel secure in what is expected of them.

The class will engage often in sharing experiences, where children can

raise any concerns and share any emotions or occurrences they feel need

to be heard by their peers. This promotes a sense of belonging within the

group, children can all feel valued, understood and respected when this

sharing experience is conducted in a supportive manner.

Children will engage in learning that is relevant to their interests. The

concepts explored will be heavily influenced by the interest expressed by

the children in the class. For instance if a significant amount of students

express an interest in outer space, the educator can establish and support
learning experiences about this topic that children will naturally be

extremely engaged in. This engagement dramatically increases the child’s

ability to be successful in their learning, increasing self-esteem and

encouraging the child to have a positive self-concept as a learner; the

children enjoy learning and having a positive view of the learning

experience.

As an educator, it is imperative to model the behaviour expected of the

children. Social learning is a large determinant of behaviour, and being

exposed to positive, pro-social behaviour is key to a child developing

these behaviours in turn. The teacher is responsible for ensuring they

have a positive relationship with the students, taking care of their verbal

and non verbal language and what it is communicating to the child. Eye

contact, smiling and warm, welcoming words and tone allow the child to

feel respected, valued and safe in the environment. The teacher should be

involved in children’s play in order to scaffold learning and provoke deeper

thought.

It is important the educator teach emotional literacy; the names of

emotions, not only ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ but ‘anxious’, ‘worried’, ‘joyful’ and

many more. The educator should establish a personal connection by

naming their own emotions and how they are felt in their body. Mood

monitoring can be taught as the educator may say “Right now I feel like a

four out of five, my shoulders are nice and relaxed and I can take big

breaths in and out”. The teacher can promote belonging and pro-social

behaviour by valuing all contributions and praise the desired behaviour in

other students.
In extreme cases, it is important to consider functional behaviour analysis,

where observation considers context, time, situation and participants with

the view of making a hypothesis about what the behaviour communicates.

The behaviour might be intended to gain attention, gain an object or

reward, avoid attention, avoid an experience or get revenge. Once the

educator is able to determine the function, the plan would consider

catering for this in another way. For example if the child is misbehaving to

avoid work, the educator could assume the work is too hard, and alter the

teaching so that the child is able to experience success. If the intention it is

to gain attention, the educator can provide this is socially appropriate ways

such as personal private praise. In some cases it is necessary to liaise

with the school psychologist and the child’s parents. The child and the

educator may also benefit from the development of an Individual

Behaviour Plan for the child.

In the case where the misbehaviour of a child adversely affects another

child, the educator must employ natural justice. In the interim between the

educator seeing to the victim, the child may have the object of the conflict

taken away, such as a toy, or be instructed to wait in a certain space. This

allows for the child to be removed from the situation, minimising potential

harm; it is not the only guidance strategy to be employed.

References

Ferris Miller, D. (2016). Positive Child Guidance (8th ed.). Boston, MA:

Cengage Learning

Corso, M. (2007). Practices for enhancing children’s social-emotional

development and preventing challenging behaviour. Gifted child

today, 30(3), 54-56.