CONSULTANCY

I now work predominantly as a behaviour management consultant, based directly in schools — supporting staff and school leadership to build consistent, practical, whole-school approaches to challenging behaviour.

Many schools find that supportive, constructive, sensitive feedback from an outsider makes an enormous difference. Depending on your school’s needs, I can:

• Observe, support and mentor beginning and experienced teachers, as well as school executive
• Review and evaluate your school’s behaviour management and welfare systems, with a written report and practical recommendations
• Work directly with individual students experiencing challenging behaviour, and help staff build sustainable strategies around them
• Run staff development days, conferences, or staff meetings tailored to your school’s specific context

Every school is different — consultancy is tailored to your setting, your staff, and the students you’re most concerned about.

WHAT I COVER

I have extensive experience in providing professional development to schools regarding;

1.  the establishment of whole school systems of behaviour support,
2.  the embedding in the culture of a school of positive interactions with students, and
3.  the development of a school climate where the wellbeing of students (social, behavioural and learning) informs a teacher’s interactions with them (I have a saying: When in doubt, ask the question, ‘What is in the best interests of the child?’).

As well, I provide, among other things, practical tips for managing students with emotional, behavioural and/or psychiatric disorders; provide insights into the meaning behind disordered behaviour; and offer mentoring to individuals or groups of teachers.

When providing consultancy to a school I will, over the course of my involvement, train the staff in the following concepts and implement the embedding of these concepts into the school. These concepts include:

1. the 3 major strategies for managing disruptive behaviour, that is 1) Getting the academic program correct so that a child is neither bored nor frustrated, 2) Teaching the expected behaviour, and 3) Teachers managing themselves so that they can be great role model for socially deficit students.,
2. how to talk to students who have emotional disorders,
3. the importance of managing our own emotions, and how to do that,
4. the use of preventative scripts to encourage compliance,
5. the use of corrective scripts when we need to set limits around behaviour,
6. the importance of maintaining a high level of positives to corrections,
7. how to give an instruction that will encourage compliance,
8. how to promote consistency among staff when dealing with students with challenging behaviours,
9. how anxiety in students often manifests as disruptive behaviour and ways to manage this,
10. practical step-by-step methods for dealing with non-compliance. This includes and is not limited to; the actual words teachers use, the tone with which they are used, the importance of proximity, redirection, vicarious praise, selective attending, wait time, relationship building and humour.
11. school culture and how it either supports or hinders the consistent application of rules,
12. written rules vs unwritten rules,
13. how to avoid confirming a student’s dysfunctional view of the world and themselves. The teacher does this by providing themselves as an alternative role model to any dysfunctional ones the students might have previously been exposed to.
14. why some students say nasty / hurtful things and how to deal with it when they do,
15. Why a ⅓ of positive feedback doesn’t work, and ways to get around this,
16. “We get what we accept.” Exploring the reasons why we “accept” certain behaviours that we really don’t want to, and strategies to get us out of this common trap.
17. whether instructions are optional,
18. the implausibility and shortcomings of avoiding a child’s “triggers,”
19. what to say when you don’t know what to say,
20. the necessity of sanctions (including detentions and suspensions) around certain misbehaviours, and
21. why teaching is a free personal growth course!

“Dear Ian. Your positive impact on our setting has been nothing short of transformational. Your expert knowledge, coupled with extensive experience, built the capacity of our staff and was tailored to our unique, challenging context. Thank you!”Comment from a Principal of a NSW DET primary school, NSW

Get in touch to discuss how consultancy could work for your school.