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Behavioural Difficulties : Behavioral Difficulties

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Six weeks ago, I was asked ‘What Behavioural Difficulties in education means to me’. I explained that the term ‘behavioural difficulties’ instantly made me think of medically defined disabilities, purely because a student’s disability can affect their behaviour in many ways (Gates, Newell & Wray, 2001). My views to date have changed slightly, as I have developed the opinion that ‘behavioural difficulties’ are the net result of a situation or problem, the student’s behaviour simply being catalysed by the environment or situation. This behaviour is usually difficult or problematic (Gates, Newell & Wray, 2001) for the teacher, or others, which is often when that student is categorised as troublesome, or labelled with ‘behavioural …show more content…

I still believe that teachers do not look deeply enough into student’s behavioural issues, as stated in part one. Situations that catalyse behavioural issues are not usually recognised, brought to anyone’s attention, or questioned; all that’s seen is the problematic behaviour of the child (Langley, 2009). The current solution, dealing with the ‘behaviour as if it is the problem’ and labelling the child with ‘behavioural difficulties’ is problematic. Langley explains “‘…challenging’ behaviour as a name for unacceptable performances is not a diagnosis, nor is it a special education condition.” (Langley, 2009, p.9) He goes on to explain that “One of the key factors in behaviour management is in understanding why challenging behaviour occurs” (Langley, 2009, p.1).
After research, I have discovered there are two main things that need to occur for a teacher and school to entirely understand a situation and act accordingly. Whakawhanaungatanga, teacher, student, family, school and community relationships, need to be present, (Langley, 2009) and teachers need to be prepared to modify their pedagogy to suit their students (Gardner, 1993). A teacher or school cannot expect to know a student’s personal life, nor have a child’s respect and cooperation, if there is no base relationship between that student and teacher. Nor are teachers or

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