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Chapter Nine Conclusion
9.1 This report has focused on behaviour in Scottish school from a range of perspectives: local authority personnel, headteachers, teachers, additional support staff and pupils. In doing so, it has raised a number of issues and concerns which, it is hoped, will stimulate further debate. The following points are thus raised as final issues for consideration.
9.2 It is important to stress first of all that school staff reported the majority of their pupils to be generally well behaved, both in the classroom and around school. The current study replicates many of the key findings of the earlier research by Edinburgh University (Munn et al., 2004). Low-level negative behaviour continues to be the most prevalent form of indiscipline encountered in schools. Yet, focus group discussions would suggest that these are also the most wearing for staff. Headteachers continue to be more optimistic than their staff about indiscipline, whilst the overall picture remains more positive at primary level than at secondary. On one level, it is reassuring that, in the intervening period since the earlier research, there has been no real decline in standards of behaviour nationally. However, it may be that addressing the common pattern of low-level indiscipline needs greater attention, particularly given its reported de-motivating effect on school staff.
9.3 Although more secondary school staff reported incidences of indiscipline than their primary counterparts, the very tiny number of schools where 'most' or 'all/almost all' children were said to exhibit negative behaviour were actually in the primary sector. Equally, the very few incidents of physical aggression and violence towards staff reported in the survey occurred more frequently in primary schools than in secondary. These findings were corroborated by local authority staff and in staff focus group discussions, suggesting that cohorts of very young children are embarking on their school careers with often complex difficulties, or a lack of basic social skills, which can result in behavioural problems.
9.4 Behaviour in schools is neither a single, nor a simple, phenomenon. In effect, the data presented in this report suggests that there are various 'world views' of indiscipline issues which co-exist within schools and which are dependent on an individual's status and role within the institution. Headteachers, teachers and additional support staff all have differing experiences of the degree and frequency of the positive behaviours and indiscipline they encounter. Recognising these differences and understanding the perspective of others may be an important component of any training and professional development in this area.
9.5 Finally, the 'world view' of indiscipline held by additional support staff consistently appeared to be more negative than that of other school staff, perhaps because of their proximity to the behaviour being exhibited - they may have been working with individual, or small numbers of, children with challenging behaviour. Analysis revealed that the more confident staff felt in responding to indiscipline, the less likely they were to report incidences of negative behaviour. Given that fact that additional support staff in the focus groups identified an increasing lack of confidence in their ability to deal with indiscipline, this may well indicate the need for additional support and training for such staff, especially where they rely on personal experience rather than a professional skill base to handle discipline issues. At the same time, additional support staff in the survey indicated that they were not regularly involved in whole-school discussions and training relating to behaviour. The fact that such activities can often take place after school hours suggests the value of schools giving greater consideration to fully integrating additional support staff into whole-school behavioural issues.
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