Schools - fostering a positive, inclusive and safe environment: guidance

Section 5: Identifying appropriate consequences

Behaviour interventions sit within the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) staged intervention^[8] framework, ensuring responses are proportionate, fair and tailored to individual needs. These responses can be:

• universal (preventative approaches linked to underpinning ethos and culture)
• targeted (individualised approaches for those requiring additional support)
• specialist (for more complex needs or linked to a specific risk assessment, often involving multi-agency support)

Universal (whole-school level)

As set out in section 3, a school’s culture, values and ethos should establish clear expectations and boundaries for behaviour. This allows for consistency in expectations across all areas of the school and in classrooms/learning spaces ensures all children and young people understand what is expected of them.

As set out in the section above on consistency of approach, responding to behaviour at a universal level should involve staff persistently stating and reinforcing expectations, linking these expectations to school values. Proactively identifying when these values are not being evidenced, through warmly stating the expectation and reminding children and young people of them is important. This means explicitly teaching and practising routines, structures, transitions and appropriate learning behaviours.

Staff can deploy a range of classroom/learning space management strategies to encourage positive behaviour and address low-level disruption. For example, acknowledging and praising children and young people who meet expectations or using non-verbal cues such as eye contact, proximity or hand signals to redirect behaviour subtly. Schools should seek to develop standardised approaches such as agreed and consistent use of merits, warnings, and de-merits, training on de-escalation techniques and processes that are used to avoid further escalation of behaviour.

Most children and young people will respond positively to this approach. Responding to unmet expectations is more equitable when the approach taken to consequences is predictable for all children and young people, staff, and parents.

Targeted

There may be situations where universal approaches are not enough and a child or young person requires more support, for example:

• when the needs of the child or young person require a more individualised response
• when the nature or severity of the behaviour requires a targeted response
• when universal approaches have been unsuccessful and additional support is required

Specialist

When targeted interventions have not been successful, specialised support may be required through an individualised support plan.

Specialist interventions could involve risk assessments and/or multi-agency collaboration, including joint work with educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, or child mental health services. These interventions can also involve consideration around the curricular offer, bespoke environment, groupings, pedagogical approaches or interventions designed on assessment of need. In some cases, it may also be appropriate to seek advice from specialist organisations, particularly when supporting children and young people where issues of discrimination, inequality or identity are present.

Assessment

In many cases, targeted and specialist interventions should be informed by:

• an assessment of the child or young person’s needs and behaviour; and, if appropriate,
• a risk assessment to identify and mitigate the likelihood of further harm to the child, other children in the class or staff, or the recurrence of behaviour.

Schools and education authorities should have clear processes and Career-Long Professional Learning (CLPL) in place to support staff in carrying out these assessments and implementing appropriate, proportionate responses.

Needs assessment

An assessment of a child’s needs should align with GIRFEC policy guidance and Additional Support for Learning legislation and statutory guidance. Where behaviour is an ongoing area of need, it is a wellbeing concern.

In order to do this, an assessment of the child’s needs should be made using the GIRFEC key questions.

What is getting in the way of this child or young person’s wellbeing?

Do I have all the information I need to help this child or young person?

What can I do now to help this child or young person?

What can my agency do to help this child or young person?

What additional help, if any, may be needed from others?

To answer these questions schools need to assess what the barriers are to a child being able to effectively engage in and contribute to the life of the school.

Risk assessment (see guidance)

The nature of the behaviour or the child or young person’s needs may also require a risk assessment and a safety plan to be put in place. This risk assessment is distinct from the needs assessment as it is focused on identifying what actions can be taken to keep both the child, and other children, young people and staff, safe. If a risk assessment does not effectively mitigate risk, it must be promptly reviewed and adapted in collaboration with relevant professionals.

Risk assessment should support educational settings to

1.reduce risk both in terms of frequency and intensity of the risk and

2.promote safety and improve wellbeing of everyone in the learning community by identifying risk.

Further guidance on risk assessments is available from www.gov.scot.

Relational approaches

As highlighted earlier in the guidance, responding constructively to a child or young person’s behaviour that doesn’t meet the expectations of the school community plays a vital role in supporting positive relationships and behaviour while ensuring the safety of all children and young people and staff. This should happen in a staged approach depending on the schools values, expectations and needs of the individual child or young person.

There are a number of approaches and strategies that schools can use to support improved relationships and behaviour. These include:

• nurturing approaches
• good use of class management strategies
• developing social, emotional and behavioural skills through curriculum delivery
• collaborative working between pastoral care/child or young person/behaviour support teams
• relational and restorative approaches
• solution-oriented language and approaches, and
• Mentors in Violence Prevention programme (MVP)

For more information about these approaches see Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2, Annex B.

Determining the most appropriate response in each individual circumstance is a matter of professional judgement within the context of the school’s relationship and behaviour policy. In many instances it may be appropriate to adopt a combination of approaches. For example, evidence suggests^[9] restorative approaches work when implemented effectively as a whole school approach, rather than being a restorative conversation in isolation, and may involve other appropriate consequences to respond to the child or young person’s behaviour.

Support for staff

Education Scotland provide a suite of learning resources to support staff to promote positive relationships and behaviour. This includes units on:

• relationships matter
• relational approaches
• expectations and consequences
• the brain and emotional regulation
• self-regulation
• co-regulation and de-escalation
• attunement
• active listening
• reframing

Core principles

• Appropriate responses should include both support and challenge, aiming to improve relationships and behaviour while reinforcing a positive school ethos.
• The focus should not be on punitive action, instead linked to interventions designed to support and encourage behavioural change.
• They should help ensure the rights to safety and education for all children and young people and staff.
• They should be proportionate, fair, and tailored to both the needs of the child or young person and the wider school community.
• They should relate back to the values and expectations a school wants to reinforce.
• They should focus on learning and improvement, reinforcing the desired behaviour.
• They should be embedded in the school’s culture and ethos and implemented fairly.
• They should be used in response to consistent whole-school expectations, but should be child-centred and tailored to children’s needs.
• They should take account of the legal and policy frameworks underpinning considerations relating to children with additional support needs and those who are care experienced.
• They should be natural, logical or positive where possible.

There are two main elements when identifying appropriate responses.

1.Action that is required in the moment. This is to ensure a safe and respectful learning environment by addressing behaviour as it occurs.

2.Identifying underlying needs contributing to behaviour and potential risk mitigations. This allows appropriate support to be in place for children and young people to support long-term change and to keep themselves and others safe.

An effective approach balances both elements. Responding in the moment ensures that expectations are upheld consistently, while longer-term support ensures children and young people’s needs are met and they are supported to develop the skills, understanding, and self-regulation needed to engage positively in school life and beyond.

Responding in the moment

Where behaviour occurs that doesn’t meet expectations as previously agreed by the school community, a decision will need to be taken about how to respond in the moment, on the basis of professional judgement, within a framework of known school processes and supports.

There will be number of factors that could influence this decision making, including:

• the nature of the behaviour, including whether it requires immediate escalation, such as if relates to safety or prejudice (safety must always be a priority for attention)
• if a previous needs assessment or risk assessment has been carried out for a child or young person which means there may be a planned approach in place for responding to their behaviour
• the context of the incident, including whether the child or young person is in an emotionally regulated state to engage with the response effectively, or if it would be more appropriate to delay the response until they have had time to calm down
• the whole school approach to positive relationships and behaviour as set out in the school’s policy, including operational guidance for staff
• the specific needs of the child and whether they have additional support needs

A school’s relationships and behaviour policy, and accompanying operational guidelines for staff, should provide clarity around the processes to be followed by staff, including steps for escalating concerns and responses.

When identifying appropriate responses, staff should be mindful that certain approaches can unintentionally reinforce feelings of shame, particularly for children and young people who have experienced adversity or trauma. Shame can undermine a child’s sense of belonging and self-worth, leading to disengagement or escalation in behaviour. Feelings of alienation can also emerge in this context, especially when young people perceive themselves as excluded or misunderstood. As such, an assessment of need, as outlined above, should be undertaken.

Consequences should be positive, natural, or logical where possible.

Positive consequences should be reinforced all of the time. They provide positive recognition for behaving well. They support emotional health and relationships.

Natural consequences occur without adult intervention, allowing children and young people to experience the direct results of their actions. They are proportionate and help develop cause-and-effect thinking skills.

Logical consequences are directly related to the behaviour, aiming to help learners understand the impact of their actions and encourage responsible decision making.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

The UNCRC emphasises the importance of respecting and upholding the rights of all children (being those under 18) in actions and decisions that affect them. School staff have a responsibility to implement consequences in a way that is consistent, transparent, and aligned with the UNCRC.

To support schools in putting children’s rights into practice, Together Scotland has developed a UNCRC Framework designed to help embed the UNCRC across policies and practice.

The UNCRC does not prevent the use of consequences but it does require that discipline in the context of education is undertaken in a way that is consistent with the child’s dignity.

Children have the right to express views in decisions that affect them (Article 12), which includes being involved in discussions about their behaviour and any resulting responses. This approach helps to empower them to take responsibility for their actions while ensuring their right to education (Article 28) and ensuring all children are protected from harm (Article 19). Consistent with this, when the child is calm and regulated, helping them learn from the situation is crucial.

As children have the right to be safe from harm and to an education, it is important that our approach to behaviour recognises that disruptive and harmful behaviour can often see one child infringing on another child’s (or staff member’s) rights. There must be particular attention to reinstating and protecting the rights of those who have been harmed by poor behaviour. Often, those harmed are disempowered in some way, and their needs and rights can be ignored or forgotten. The rights of the child who has caused harm cannot be allowed to obscure or override the rights of those they have harmed.

Responses must be aligned to a child’s developmental stage and support reducing the frequency and intensity of the undesirable behaviour over time. The ultimate goal is for all children and young people to learn appropriate and safe ways to behave.

When addressing behaviour that impacts on teaching and learning, and/or the safety of others, it is essential to balance the rights of the individual child with the rights of other children and the adults who support them.

Where a child’s behaviour is impacting on the rights of others to access their right to an education, an assessment of their needs is required to ensure that their educational offer, is in keeping with the UNCRC, including

• Article 2 (non-discrimination)
• Article 3 (best interests of the child)
• Article 12 (right to express views and be heard)
• Article 28 (right to education) (specifically, every child has the right to an education and discipline in schools must respect children’s dignity and rights), and
• Article 29 (goals of education) (education to be directed to: the development of every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full; the development of the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures and national values, and the environment; preparation of the chid for responsible life in a free society)

From the above, it is therefore important that in order to learn how to respect the rights of others, a child displaying behaviours that are impacting on the rights of others, is very likely to require an individualised approach (which may include the use of exclusion) to meet both their rights and those of their peers.

Processes for escalation

There may be situations where the response to behaviour would involve escalation. In some situations, the requirement for escalation may be immediate. Examples of such situations may be:

• behaviour where the immediate safety of the child or young person, their peers or staff, is at risk
• the behaviour constitutes a child protection concern requiring those procedures to be invoked
• other features of the behaviour, for example where it has an underlying basis of prejudice (such as racism, misogyny, homophobia, or other forms of discrimination), requires decision making on the response to be approached with particular care to ensure it is appropriate and will not lead to further trauma for the person experiencing the behaviour, and that it includes effective responses for promoting equality and inclusivity
• behaviour that significantly compromises teaching and learning or the integrity of the physical environment
• if they have reason to believe that a crime may have been committed against either a child, staff member or other adult and are required to seek the immediate advice of Police Scotland

In other situations, escalation may be required if approaches to responding to behaviour are unsuccessful, or if a child or young person’s behaviour is worsening, indicating additional support or responses are required. This would mean progressing through the school’s Staged Intervention Approach.

A school’s relationships and behaviour policy, or operational guidelines for staff, should be clear about the situations which would require an immediate escalated response.

Safety must always be a priority for attention. There should also be clarity about the processes for escalation, for example, where responses should involve a Principal Teacher or a member of the senior leadership team, or might involve Educational Psychology or outside agencies, such as CAMHS or social services. Staff can seek advice from the relevant local authority Education Officer.

There will be situations where exclusion is being considered as a proportionate response when there are no appropriate alternatives, for example in order to facilitate immediate safety. Exclusion is an appropriate and necessary tool which is available to school leaders in certain circumstances. However, exclusion alone is unlikely to lead to behavioural change for children who require additional social, emotional and behavioural support, or who may have a disability. The aim of an exclusion should be to improve outcomes for the child or young person and therefore the space provided by exclusions must be used constructively to resolve the situation and ensure positive and appropriate support is in place for all. This could include developing a plan to provide appropriate support to address the child’s behaviour and prevent recurrence and to undertake a risk assessment that protects them as well as the safety and wellbeing of other children and young people and staff. Where exclusion is being considered, decisions should be taken with reference to the national guidance on exclusion ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2’ and local guidance and exclusion policy. Schools and local authorities must ensure continued access to education through appropriate alternative educational provision for the duration of the exclusion.

There will also be particular considerations under legal and policy frameworks for example, where the child has an additional support need to ensure responses are not discriminatory, or where the child or young person is care experienced. Further information can be found in Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2.

Supporting longer-term change

For many young people, a one-off response that reinforces a boundary or expectation will be sufficient to address the behaviour of concern.

However, for other young people, simply addressing disruptive behaviours in the moment, without also planning and providing follow-up support, is unlikely to lead to long-term change, and therefore more targeted or specialist support is required to address their behaviour. In such circumstances, it is important that schools do not just respond to behaviour in isolation and that they assess why it may be occurring. If consequences are applied without understanding the function of the behaviour, they may unintentionally reinforce it or fail to address the underlying cause, making long-term positive change in their behaviour less likely.

As such, responses should have two goals with regards to promoting positive relationships and behaviour:

1. to promote the child’s wellbeing – including their social skills, executive function and emotional regulation

2. to reduce the frequency and intensity of the behaviour over time (reducing the need for adults to address the behaviour)

Situations requiring consideration of approaches to support longer-term change could include:

• if a child or young person is not responding to the school’s universal approach to relationships and behaviour
• the behaviour is not changing despite multiple targeted interventions, suggesting the staged approach is not effective, the school should review the individualised response to the child or young person’s needs to reconsider which interventions may be effective.
• assessment of a child’s need is such that they will require multiple opportunities to develop pro-social skills and behaviours that support learning and personal growth, such as through reinforcement of messages or more targeted support specifically around emotional regulation, social interaction and/or by reducing stressors.

As set out in section 5, consideration of how to support longer-term change may require a needs assessment to be undertaken, aligned with the GIRFEC and ASL Act frameworks.

In addressing a young person’s underlying needs, schools may be able to draw on the support of other local services, such as Educational Psychologists. These services may be able to support schools by carrying out Functional Behavioural Analysis which is an evidence-based approach to understand the underlying reasons for behaviour which inform decision making around appropriate responses and supports. This analysis involves:

• considerations relating to the behaviour, including what happened before the behaviour and what the potential triggers were; what behaviours were observed; and what happened after the behaviour
• taking into account the broader context of the child, including other sources of assessment, and an understanding of trauma, adversity linked to poverty and protected characteristics such as disability on a child’s developmental presentation