The National Teacher Research Panel was set up about 15 years ago by CUREE supported by a group of national education agencies most of which no longer exist. It had three main goals:
- To ensure that all research in education takes account of the teacher perspective
- To ensure a higher profile for research and evidence informed practice in government, academic and practitioner communities
- To increase the number of teachers engaged in and with the full spectrum of research activity.
Over the several years of its existence, the Panel, supported by its expert advisers in CUREE, has helped and encouraged dozens of teachers and school leaders to do high quality but practical research. The Panel also helped them report their findings succinctly, in plain English and focused on relevance to other practitioners. This is one such example of that work.
It is now widely accepted that exclusion from school and/or poor attendance are related to low academic achievement. The result of this can be less stable career patterns, greater unemployment and generally fewer opportunities for self-development. In some cases the young people concerned may engage in anti-social activity and/or become involved in criminal behaviour. The poor behaviour of some pupils can also disrupt other pupils' learning, reducing educational opportunity for all.In England, overcoming truancy and bad behaviour in schools has been an important goal for many years. Many local authorities have established multi-agency strategies to tackle these problems. It is seen as crucial to improving levels of attainment for all pupils, improving their life chances and improving communities as a whole.The national 'Behaviour Improvement Programme' (BIP) set up by the government in July 2002 provided 34 local authorities with the funds to support behaviour improvement strategies aimed at reducing exclusions and raising attainment. In order to do so, the BIP aimed to identify and respond to issues of pupils' behaviour that had the potential to lead from disaffection to disengagement to increasingly poor behaviour that disrupted other pupils' learning and led to the exclusion from school of those responsible. The strategies all involved multiagency working through behaviour and educational support teams (BESTs).Evidence about behaviour improvement strategies has accumulated steadily. (See, for example, Halsey 2006 in the further reading section). This TLA research summarises a report which explored the 'Behaviour Improvement Programme' and evaluated its effectiveness. The study describes what schools did - by themselves and through working with other agencies - to try to improve attendance and attainment for the most vulnerable young people.The study is:Hallam, S., F. Castle, L. Rogers, A. Creech, J. Rhamie and D. Kokotsaki. Research and Evaluation of the Behaviour Improvement Programme Research. London: DfES 2005 (report RR702).The study found that secondary and primary schools participating in the programme achieved improvements in attendance compared with control schools. The study also found that there was a reduction in fixed period exclusions in the secondary schools and there were some indications of improvements in attainment.In LAs where there had been the greatest improvements, working in multi-agency teams (Behaviour and Education Support Teams - BESTs), conducting audits of behaviour to identify problems and deploying lead behaviour professionals (LBPs) were all identified as key measures. The study suggests that multi-agency working brings additional dimensions to responding to pupils' needs,j including: specialist professional input and support, additional resources and a more in-the-round perspective on young people.This summary presents teachers and schools with detailed observations and findings in relation to multi-agency approaches to improving behaviour. The focus is mainly on the strategies that have been tried by schools and partner agencies that are linked with improvements in exclusion rates and attendance, and that help to create the conditions needed for learning to take place.The summary does not provide readers with detailed information about teaching and learning strategies. A wide range of evidence, much of it summarised in other TLA research summaries on this site, suggests that by improving learning teachers can raise pupils' self-confidence and motivation and make a positive contribution to enhancing behaviour. This evidence includes the following conclusions:
high teacher expectations about pupils' ability to learn are linked to high standards of learning
teaching that builds on pupils' starting-points helps to connect pupils with their learning
structured, collaborative group work improves pupils' communication and dialogue and increases pupils' motivation.
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