5.2 Reinforcing Positive Behaviour: Next Step

On this page

  1. Reinforcing Positive Behaviour With an Action – Step 3
    1.1 Example of an Action: Future Behaviour Letter
    1.2 Examples of an Action for Primary and Secondary Education
    1.3 Introducing the Future Behaviour Letter
    1.4 Discussing the Letter Afterwards – Primary and Secondary Education
    1.5 Ensuring the Letter is Always Submitted – Primary and Secondary Education
    1.6 Where Does the Pupil Write the Letter?
    1.7 Using the Letter During Whole-Class Teaching and Independent Work
    1.8 Keeping the Use of the Letter to a Minimum
  2. Guidance for Teachers
    2.1 Compassion for the Pupil
    2.2 Keeping Letters for One Year
  3. Exceptional Situations
    3.1 Pupil Refuses to Accept the Letter – Primary and Secondary Education
    3.2 Pupil Continues to Disrupt the Lesson
    3.3 Collective Disruption of the Lesson
    3.4 Interrupting the Lesson – Professional Boundary
    3.5 Patient Information Leaflet
    3.6 Exceptions Within FFT Regarding Removing Pupils From Lessons
  4. Alternative Measures to Reinforce Positive Behaviour
    4.1 Reflective Writing Task – Astrid Boon
    4.2 The Pupil Designs Their Own Corrective Measure
    4.3 A Constructive Conversation
    4.4 Asking About Motives – Additional Intervention
    4.5 Staying Behind After School
    4.6 Creative Writing Task
    4.7 Meeting with Parents, School Leadership, Pupil and Teacher
  5. Origin and the Pitfall of Punishment
  6. Examples
  7. Summary
  8. Credits

Teachers reinforce positive behaviour and commitment by taking an action.

When it is necessary to address a pupil’s behaviour or commitment, I ask the pupil to write me a ‘Future Behaviour Letter’.

Introduction video

For more information check out our other introductory videos here.

Current Approach:

What measure do I currently use to stop disruptive behaviour?

Future Approach:

What action do I take to reinforce positive behaviour or commitment in the future?

Introduction

‘Reinforcing positive behaviour: next step’ is one of the two modules within the focus area ‘Behaviour Management Strategies’ of Friendly and Fair Teaching (FFT).

Image: Behaviour Management Strategies (overview)

A commonly used measure in education is setting punishment work or removing a pupil from the lesson. Both actions can damage the relationship between teacher and pupil.

Friendly and Fair Teaching therefore searched for an action that does not feel like punishment. The current version of this action is called the ‘Future Behaviour Letter’, which forms Step 3 of Behaiour Management Strategies.

First, we present several examples of such a letter. Then you will read how to introduce the letter to your pupils, how to discuss it afterwards, and how to ensure that a pupil always submits the letter.

What makes the letter effective?

The letter ensures that:

  1. the pupil’s behaviour and commitment improve and the disruption does not recur;
  2. the pupil actively contributes to solving the problem;
  3. the follow-up discussion improves the relationship between you and the pupil;
  4. you rarely need to use the ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ (Step 3), because Steps 1 and 2 come first;
  5. the task does not feel like punishment, but does cost the pupil time;
  6. everyone benefits: the pupil, classmates, teacher, parents and school. Lessons run more smoothly and pupils achieve better results.

This is followed by guidance for teachers, instructions for dealing with exceptional situations, and finally a description of alternative measures to use when the ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ does not have the desired effect.

1. Reinforcing Positive Behaviour With an Action – Step 3

Image: Reinforcing positive behaviour with an action (overview)

The action you take with FFT is handing out a ‘Future Behaviour Letter’. This assignment enables you to remain friendly and fair at all times.

1.1 Example of an Action: Future Behaviour Letter

This example of a ‘Future Behaviour Letter‘ was developed in collaboration with secondary school leaders. It can be used in both primary and secondary education. FFT recommends using this example as a starting point when designing your own action.

The assignment is brief and takes little time for the pupil. By asking pupils to write a letter, you avoid associations with punishment work.

In the letter, you ask a pupil who disrupted the lesson two questions. By answering them, the pupil reflects on what happened and considers how to prevent similar disruptions in the future.

Short version – Secondary Education

Future Behaviour Letter

Name _________________________ Class _____________

Answer the two questions below in well-structured sentences. Before writing your final answers, make a draft first. The teacher keeps the final version and may refer to it later. Submit the letter to your teacher at the agreed time.

What is the reason for this letter? What happened, and what did you do?
(At least three complete sentences: beginning, middle and end.)

What can you change or improve in your behaviour?
(At least three complete sentences: beginning, middle and end.)

Signature of pupil _______________________             Signature of teacher _____________________

1.2 Examples of Actions for Primary and Secondary Education

Different age groups require different types of assignments, with varying length and appropriate titles. See the links below for examples by age group:

  • Primary education – letter to the teacher (lower and middle years), reflection letter
  • Lower secondary education – reflection report
  • Upper secondary education, vocational education and teacher training – Preparation for a performance review may be the most appropriate title

1.3 Introducing the Future Behaviour Letter

During the ‘Practice Period’, you discuss the ‘Framework’ and the ‘Triangle’ (Managing Expectations) with your pupils. You introduce the ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ in the very first lesson because:

  • Simply announcing that you may use this assignment is ineffective. It is also ineffective to start with only the first two steps (non-verbal and verbal) if pupils do not yet know that you have an effective measure. Only when the first pupil submits a letter do all pupils experience its impact. Therefore, the advice is to issue a letter in the first lesson of the ‘Practice Period if necessary. If the first lesson goes well, you issue the first letter no earlier than lesson four.
  • The first pupil who writes a letter can be seen as a scout. This pupil shows classmates that you set clear boundaries. Once pupils see that you effectively limit the space for disruption, they accept these boundaries as a given. After the first letter has been written and submitted, pupils tend to avoid this assignment because they hear from the scout that it costs time. Pupils then begin to weigh the perceived benefits of disruption (status or appearing autonomous) against the disadvantages (loss of time and having to reflect on and adjust their behaviour).

1.4 Discussing the Letter Afterwards – Primary and Secondary Eduction

The follow-up discussion when the letter is submitted is usually positive. This is because:

  1. the immediate emotion has subsided;
  2. the assignment requires genuine reflection;
  3. the conversation takes place privately, without an audience;
  4. issues may emerge that you were not previously aware of, leading to mutual understanding;
  5. the relationship is repaired by acknowledging the pupil’s effort.

As Jonathan Haidt (2012) notes:

 “We do not express gratitude to repay debts, but to strengthen relationships.”

Primary Education

  • During a break or after school—preferably the same day—you discuss the assignment with the pupil. Ask them to summarise what happened and what they plan to do differently. If the answer is satisfactory, indicate that the matter is resolved and thank the pupil. You start again with a clean slate.
  • If a child cannot yet write, ask them to draw what happened and explain the drawing.

Secondary Education

The discussion can be brief. Ask the pupil to summarise what happened and what they intend to do differently. After an acceptable response, indicate that the matter is resolved, thank the pupil and keep the letter. If time allows, ask whether the pupil would like to give you a ‘Tip’ as well; this makes the conversation more balanced.

1.5 Ensuring the Letter is Always Submitted – Primary and Secondary Education

In practice, both teachers and pupils want to complete the assignment as quickly as possible. As a result, pupils usually submit the ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ promptly.

Primary Education

If you have issued a letter, try to deal with and resolve it with the pupil before the next part of the school day. This allows you to start the next session positively and without disruption.

Secondary Education

It is essential that when you give a pupil an assignment, the pupil actually submits it. It is equally important that you remain calm during the process and avoid conflict. What should you do if a pupil does not submit the letter?

Your response depends on the context. Below, a possible agreement is described first, followed by the appropriate response if that agreement is not honoured.

1. Agreement: The pupil submits the letter outside lesson time. The pupil does not show up.

In this case, you contact the parents and ask them to ensure that the assignment is submitted at the next lesson. The first few times you contact parents, this may feel uncomfortable. Fortunately, parents are usually appreciative of your request for support. While parental involvement does not work for every pupil, it does for most. By calling parents, you give the assignment additional weight and demonstrate that you take it seriously.

In exceptional cases, parents may side entirely with their child. You still thank them for the conversation and wait to see whether the pupil brings the letter to the next lesson. This step allows you to retain control over the submission process.

2. Agreement: The pupil submits the letter in the next lesson. The pupil does not have the letter with them.

You then ask the pupil to collect the school’s standard removal-from-lesson form and give the pupil a copy of the letter. You instruct the pupil to report back to you at the end of the lesson with the completed ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ and the school’s removal form.

With this action, you remove the pupil from the lesson—not out of anger, but because the pupil has not brought the assignment. At the end of the lesson, the pupil submits both the letter and the removal form to you. Below you will find what to do if the pupil does not report back.

3. Agreement: The pupil is instructed to complete the letter outside the lesson, collect a removal form, and report back at the end of the lesson. The pupil does not show up.

You inform senior staff that the pupil has truant­ed. You contact senior leadership and consult them on how to proceed.

4. Agreement: The pupil submits the letter in the next lesson. The pupil does not attend that lesson. You resolve this yourself (without involving senior leadership).

Check whether the pupil is officially absent that day. If the pupil is present at school, and you have a free period, go to the classroom where the pupil is currently being taught (discuss this in advance with the colleague concerned). Ask the pupil to step outside briefly and write the letter in your presence. Afterwards, discuss what the pupil has written.

Proposal for an Agreement Between You and Senior Leadership

(The final form of this agreement is decided by senior leadership.)

You inform senior leadership which pupil has not submitted the letter. A member of senior leadership locates the pupil and instructs them to collect the letter at 7:30 a.m. from the caretaker (a stack of copies of the FFT ‘Future behaviour Letter’ is available there). The pupil writes the letter immediately and submits it to senior leadership before lessons begin.

1.6 Where Does the Pupil Write the Letter?

Choose one of the following options:

1. At School, at the End of the School Day

You may choose to agree with the pupil that the assignment will be completed outside lesson time in your presence. In that case, you only give the assignment once the pupil returns at the agreed moment. After the pupil has completed the letter, you can discuss it immediately. This is a simple and effective option, as staying behind also costs the pupil additional time, which strengthens the impact of the assignment.

2. At Home

You ask the pupil to put the letter in their bag and complete it at home. You agree on a specific day and time at which the pupil submits the assignment to you.

1.7 Using the Letter During Whole-Class Teaching and Independent Work

Teacher-Centred Education – Whole-Class Teaching

If a pupil has already received two Tips within a period of eight lessons and disrupts the lesson for the third time within that period, you ask the pupil to write you a ‘Future Behaviour Letter’. Consider printing the letter on yellow paper. The colour yellow has a signalling effect, comparable to a referee’s yellow card.

If you ask a second pupil to write a letter, you interrupt whole-class teaching and ask all pupils to work silently on homework. This prevents you from issuing too many letters and avoids a negative shift in classroom atmosphere (professional boundary).

Student-Centred Education – Working Independently

If a pupil has already received a Tip in two previous lessons and it is necessary for the third time to address that pupil’s behaviour or engagement, you ask the pupil to write a ‘Future Behaviour Letter.

If you have given a Tip to four different pupils during independent work, you interrupt independent work and continue with whole-class teaching. At that point, the environment is too unsettled for pupils to concentrate effectively.

1.8 Keeping the Use of the Letter to a Minimum

Deliberate Action

You first take Step 1 (non-verbal), then Step 2 (verbal), and only then ask a pupil to write a letter. This ensures that you act deliberately rather than impulsively.

Non-verbal Prevention

Before giving a pupil the assignment, you slowly pick up a ‘Future Behaviour Letter. If the pupil stops disrupting, you put the letter away again. You thank the pupil with a nod or a compliment (thumbs up). In this way, you non-verbally avoid having the pupil to write a letter.

2. Guidance for Teachers

2.1 Compassion

It is important to issue the assignment in a friendly manner, for example:
“It’s unfortunate that I have to give you this assignment now, but this is what we agreed.”

In this way, you show compassion for the effort required of the pupil. You remain friendly while redirecting behaviour and avoid damaging your relationship with the pupil. With your action, you make it clear that you are not seeking retribution. You remain friendly and clear.

2.2 Keeping Letters for One Year

Once the pupil has signed the letter, it becomes an agreement between you and the pupil. You keep all letters (containing pupils’ agreements or stated intentions) in your archive for one year. By keeping the letter, you can remind a pupil who disrupts again in a later period of the solution they themselves proposed.

3. Exceptional Situations

Below is a description of a number of exceptional situations in which it is important to have a clear strategy in place.

3.1 Pupil Refuses to Accept the Task – Primary and Secondary Education

Primary Education

Ask the pupil to walk with you and complete the task with an SEN coordinator and/or a member of the school leadership team. If the pupil refuses, say:
“If you refuse now, I will ask the SEN coordinator or a member of the school leadership team to remove you from the classroom.”

Ask the rest of the class to continue working calmly and go to the relevant colleague. Briefly explain the situation and ask whether your colleague can calmly remove the pupil from the classroom. The pupil then completes the task in the presence of that colleague. Discuss the task with the pupil and thank them. The pupil may then return to the classroom, and the matter is closed.

If the pupil still refuses to complete the task, discuss the next step with your colleague. For example, invite the parents for a meeting and have the pupil complete their work in the presence of the SEN coordinator and/or school leadership until that meeting takes place.

Secondary Education

Larger task

If a pupil refuses to accept the letter at the moment you issue it, say:
“You can stop this behaviour now, otherwise I will unfortunately have to give you a larger task.”
(Prepare for this by having a larger but comparable task ready.)

In most cases, saying this is enough for the pupil to accept the smaller task. If the pupil continues to protest, ask them to leave the classroom. If they refuse, say:
“If you stay seated now, this will become a matter for the school leadership. You still have the opportunity to leave the classroom.”

If the pupil continues to refuse, leave the classroom yourself and ask a colleague for assistance. Together, you persuade the pupil that leaving is now the best option. In this way, you retain control of the situation.

Preferring a Conversation

Sometimes a pupil asks for a conversation instead of a task. In the video under Examples, Josie explains that she has experienced this. Josie teaches at further education level, training teaching assistants. For her pupils, and generally for older pupils, this is a common response to receiving a letter:
“I find this task childish; I would rather you spoke to me briefly at the end of the lesson.”

You do not agree to this request. Although this wish (in this case from students) is understandable, research by Astrid Boon shows that a “good conversation”, especially at that moment, is often ineffective. There are several reasons for this:

Such a conversation costs the pupil little time and does not require reflection. Without reflection on the cause of the disruption and on possible improvement, no real change takes place.

Without a task to complete at home, the pupil gets off lightly and does not lose any time.

After the lesson, you often have very limited time to discuss the disruption. Neither you nor the pupil has had a night’s sleep yet, and emotions can quickly take over. Such a heated conversation reinforces the impression that you are reacting impulsively.

3.2 Pupil Continues to Disrupt the Lesson

What do you do if a pupil who has just received a ‘Tip’ or a ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ continues to disrupt the lesson?

For the remainder of the lesson, pay as little attention to this pupil as possible. There is no point in desperately trying to make the pupil stop during that lesson. By consciously giving attention to the other pupils, you prevent yourself from becoming angry.

If ignoring the behaviour does not have the desired effect and the pupil continues to provoke you, take out your ‘Tip Book’. Describe the pupil’s behaviour as if you were a reporter. You say nothing; you write. The pupil sees that you are making notes in your ‘Tip Book’ and looking at them. The pupil assumes that you may attach consequences to these notes. In most cases, the pupil backs off, and you can leave the notes as they are, without taking further action.

There is a small chance the pupil will ask what you are writing. You then explain that you are describing what they are doing and that, if necessary, you will use these notes in a conversation with school leadership.

If the pupil still pushes boundaries, contact your line manager after the lesson and use your notes from the ‘Tip Book’ as the basis for discussion.

This approach is essential to remaining friendly at all times. If you were to give this pupil a second ‘Tip’ within the same lesson, become angry, or remove a pupil from the lesson who already has to write a letter, you would miss the opportunity to de-escalate a simmering conflict.

3.3 Collective Disruption of the Lesson

A collective disruption usually occurs during whole-class instruction. Respond as follows:

First, use the Lighthouse gesture to ask the group for attention. If the group does not respond adequately, write on the board:
“General Tip: Please pay attention.”
This shows that you are giving the whole group a ‘Tip‘. If you have introduced the ‘Abacus‘, display the orange image. If you are not using the ‘Abacus‘, write in large letters on the board: “Tip 1: Please pay attention.”

If the group still does not respond well, use the same gesture again to ask for silence. If pupils continue to disrupt, write on the board: “Tip 2: Please pay attention.”

Ask for silence a third time using the gesture. If the group still does not respond, randomly select a pupil and say:
“Unfortunately, I now have to ask you to write a letter.”

3.4 Interrupting the Lesson- Professional Boundary

While teaching, either your personal boundary or your professional boundary may be crossed. By using your professional boundary, you prevent your personal boundary from being reached.

A personal boundary is the most subjective and least suitable boundary to apply while teaching, as it is based on personal feelings. The risk is that you become emotional or angry.

A professional boundary defines how you respond as a professional. It involves knowing and weighing when and why it is important to act, and following an effective procedure.

The action you take when your professional boundary is reached differs between teacher-led instruction and independent work.

Teacher-Centred Education – Whole-Class Teaching

When you are teaching the entire class, the first yellow future behaviour letter is a warning. When you hand out the second red letter , to another student (only in 1 percent of all lessons this can be necessary) you indicate your limit is reached. Therefore, after the red letter, you stop teaching. You give the following instruction, “I stop teaching now. Start doing homework (can be any subject) in silence.”

If two students have a conversation, you set one aside. You keep observing students and see to it that they do their homework in silence. When there are no more places left to separate students, you announce that unfortunately you will have to remove the next student who is talking from class. This is a necessary exception at FFT. If you allow deliberation, you undermine your own authority.

By stopping the lesson after handing out the second Future behaviour letter, you isolate up to two students from the group. The other students do not have an assignment. It is now up to the two students to write a letter. Only after the assignments are handed in the two students participate in the next lesson. After this, the entire class will function better.

By interrupting teaching the entire class, you are indicating your professional limit. With asking your students to do homework in silence, you prevent that:

  • students make you react like a puppet to disruptions in the lesson.
  • students stretch your professional limit to your personal limit. You then can become angry. A wanton mutiny-like power play develops. Several students can then be sent out of class within a lesson.
  •  you hand out more than two letters. If more than two students get the assignment, as a group they feel indignant. Chances are that in addition to students also parents, colleagues and school administration will protest the excessive number of letters you hand out.

None of this is necessary. It is much better to calmly wait for the completion of the two assignments and then start the next lesson with a clean slate.

Student-Centred Education – Working Independently

If, during a lesson with whole-class teaching, you ask a second pupil to write a ‘Future Behaviour Letter’, your professional boundary has been reached. At that point, you stop the lesson and ask all pupils to work silently on homework. Give the following instruction:

“I am stopping the lesson now. Everyone, work quietly on homework (any subject is fine), without consulting one another.”

Ensure that no one talks. Any pupil who does talk is seated separately. If there are no places left to separate pupils, announce that the next pupil who talks will unfortunately be removed from the lesson. FFT generally advises against removing pupils from lessons, but this is a necessary exception.

If you allow discussion in this situation, you undermine your own authority. Stopping the lesson should be done only occasionally (see Frequency of the Three Steps of ‘Behaviour Management Strategies’).

This approach prevents:

  • pupils manipulating your responses to disruptions;
  • you crossing your emotional boundary and becoming angry;
  • the development of a power struggle in which your measures become increasingly ineffective;
  • multiple pupils having to write a letter, which together costs the class too much time and reduces time for homework, potentially leading to complaints from pupils, parents, colleagues, and school leadership.

By stopping the lesson after the second letter, you isolate a maximum of two pupils from the group. These two pupils have a time-consuming task; the others do not. Once the letters have been discussed, the whole class functions better.

3.5 Patient Information Leaflet

The ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ works in a way comparable to medication: it is curative. This section can be seen as the patient information leaflet that accompanies the FFT “medicine”: the letter.

At the right dosage, medication helps; at too high a dosage, it becomes counterproductive. It is unwise to administer the “medicine” (the letter) to the whole class. Excessive use leads to unrest and an increasingly tense atmosphere.

How do you deal with protests from pupils who have been asked to write a letter? How do you prevent irritation among pupils, parents, colleagues, and school leadership about the amount of work you assign? What do you do if they challenge you? How do you handle a large group of pupils handing in letters before lessons start?

You prevent this by:

  • only asking a pupil to write a letter after two Tips. This delays issuing a letter; at the earliest, a pupil is asked to write one in lesson three;
  • aiming to issue a maximum of one letter per lesson per teaching mode (whole-class or independent work). Only in very exceptional situations do you issue two letters in one lesson.

3.6. Exceptions in Secondary Eduction Regarding Removing Pupils from Lessons

FFT recommends not to send students out of class. However, there are two exceptions:

  1.  If you agreed with the student to hand in the Future behaviour letter the next lesson, at the beginning of the next lesson you wait for the student at the classroom door. You then have an extra copy of the Future behaviour letter on hand. When you see the student arrive, you ask for the assignment. If the student does not have the assignment with him, you give this student a copy of the assignment and ask the student to make it out of class and turn it in at the end of class with a send out bill. Even before class begins, you now have sent this student out of class.
  2. Another exception is “transgressive behaviour”. If a student hits a fellow student or scolds you or his peers, you expel this student immediately. By doing so, you are guarding safety for the entire group.

4. Alternative Measures to Reinforce Positive Behaviour

The first time you use a ‘Future Behaviour Letter‘ , it is deliberately kept short. This helps to avoid associations with punishment or retribution.

Below are a number of alternative measures that contribute to behavioural change. You use these measures when, in a subsequent period, a pupil again displays disruptive behaviour and the earlier measure has proved insufficiently effective.

4.1 Reflective Writing Task – Astrid Boon

Astrid Boon is an educational psychologist. She is the author of Straf/regels and Te gezellig in de les (Too Cosy in the Classroom). In this video, she explains the purpose and importance of the reflective writing task and describes how to design such an assignment.

How do you design a reflective writing task?

After the lesson, you and the pupil jointly formulate the reflective writing task and add a date. Once the text has been agreed, you ask the pupil to copy this advice ten times and have it signed by their parents. You also specify when and where the pupil must submit the text.

The reflective writing task focuses specifically on the incident that led to the measure. A reflective writing task consists of four components:

  1. Naming one’s own behaviour
    (This is not acceptable because …)
  2. Reflecting on one’s own behaviour
    (When I …, I cause …)
  3. Avoiding justification
    (Even if I …, because this makes the problem bigger rather than smaller …)
  4. A constructive suggestion
    (From now on I will …, so that I …)

Example of a reflective writing task

From now on, I will no longer push or pull at other people’s clothes, even if someone has taken my pen, because that only makes the situation worse. A better solution is that next time, when I feel myself getting angry, I will go to the teacher and ask for a different seat, because my neighbour provokes me. In this way, I can prevent myself from disturbing the whole class by not keeping my hands to myself, and I can also avoid having to do such a childish writing task.
— Boon (2009), Astrid

A reflective writing task is tailored to each specific situation and therefore takes time to prepare. Its content addresses very concretely the cause of the incident that led to the assignment. The reflective writing task combines elements of reflection with characteristics of traditional punitive writing tasks.

Leraar 24 produced a film about Astrid Boon. In this film, you see how teachers and pupils at various schools work with the reflective writing task and how Astrid Boon, as an educational psychologist, created support for her approach at different schools in Amsterdam. She has written several books about her work and also gives lectures throughout the country, demonstrating, among other things, how pupil behaviour can be redirected using reflective writing tasks.

4.2 The Pupil Designs Their Own Corrective Measure

José Caballero, board member of the Friendly and Fair Teaching Foundation, explains his approach in chemistry lessons:

“When I address a pupil about their behaviour or effort, I ask them, in a conversation after the lesson, to come up with a measure themselves that solves the problem. We then agree on this together. In most cases, the pupil adheres to the measure they have devised.”

4.3 A Constructive Conversation

If, at a calm moment, you discuss the consequences of problematic behaviour with a pupil in your role as mentor, and calmly ask whether the pupil is considering the consequences of repeating a year, such a conversation can sometimes lead to behavioural change.

However, if a “constructive conversation” is not linked to any concrete consequences for the pupil, behavioural change usually does not follow. In this context, watch the video by Astrid Boon, in which she explains that a conversation with a pupil is not always effective.

In the examples below, watch the video of Josie, who deliberately avoids a conversation with a pupil because there is insufficient time for reflection at that moment. Instead, she chooses to have the pupil write a ‘Future Behaviour Letter‘ .

4.4 Asking About Motives – Additional Intervention

Suppose a pupil hits another pupil.
“Ask the pupil to write down why they wanted to hit the other person. Keep that piece of paper and return to it later with the pupil. You can then ask whether this is still how they feel.”
— Eidhof (2021), Bram

4.5 Staying Behind After School

Two Practical Examples:

“How long are you going to keep doing this?”

A boy repeatedly refused to complete a short assignment for a particular subject. I then asked him to stay behind and gave him the instruction: complete the assignment now, and when you are finished, come to me. The boy started working. Meanwhile, I marked the work of other pupils. When he had finished, he was allowed to go home. The same pattern repeated the next day and the following week. At some point, the boy came up to me and asked, “How long are you going to keep doing this?” I replied, “Until you simply do your work during the lesson.” The next day, the boy immediately started working in class. The problem resolved itself. I did not need to get angry.

The “complaint wall”

I was in Year 12. On a Friday afternoon, a friend and I were playing chess in an almost empty school. After finishing the game, we picked up two blackboard erasers, the old-fashioned kind with chalk dust, and started hitting each other with them. A laboratory assistant asked us to stop. We thought this was completely unnecessary: we were in the sixth form, it was our free time, and we did not even have a lesson with him. So we cheerfully carried on.

A month later, I was taken out of a lesson by the headteacher. He kindly asked what had happened that afternoon. I said that nothing had happened. He then asked me to stand by the so-called “complaint wall”, a bare wall at the top of the main staircase where everyone passed by. He told me to wait there. After an hour, he asked again what had happened. Again, I said, “Nothing.” I had to wait again. By then, the school was almost empty. Standing without being allowed to do anything is exhausting.

For the third time, the headteacher came and asked what had happened. Hesitantly, I admitted that I had been playing with blackboard erasers with a friend. The headteacher simply said, “Don’t do it again,” and then I was allowed to leave. This example shows that loss of time, without anger, can be a powerful corrective measure.

4.6 Creative Writing Task

Create the beginning of a fable about a self-created disruption. Invite a student who disrupted the lesson to finish the fable in a creative, friendly and fair way.

4.7 Meeting with Parents, School Leaderschip, Pupil and Teacher

If a pupil does not respond adequately to reinforcing positive behaviour, nor to one of the alternatives such as the reflective writing task, it is time to hold a meeting about the pupil’s behaviour involving the parents, school leadership, the pupil, and the teacher.

This requires the pupil to talk with their parents (who naturally want to know what is going on) and to explain, in the presence of parents, school leadership and teacher, what is happening and how the situation can be put back on track. This is time-consuming and confronting for the pupil, but in exceptional cases it is necessary.

5. Origin and the Pitfall of Punishment

Punishment is as old as humanity itself. Prideaux shares the following assumption attributed to Nietzsche:

 At a certain point in prehistory, he [Nietzsche] assumes, a particular way of acting emerged that was harmful to the community. This led to the imposition of punishment. This was the moment at which morality was constructed; this was the moment when our instincts were first restrained by a punishing society. Over time, the imposition of punishment led to introspection. Introspection led to conscience.”
Prideaux (2018)

Seen in this way, punishment can be beneficial. The risk, however, is that the person receiving the sanction may experience it as unjust or disproportionate. When that happens, the relationship comes under pressure: the punishment may be perceived as unfriendly or even hostile.

6. Examples

Punishment is as old as humanity itself. Prideaux shares the following assumption attributed to Nietzsche:

 At a certain point in prehistory, he [Nietzsche] assumes, a particular way of acting emerged that was harmful to the community. This led to the imposition of punishment. This was the moment at which morality was constructed; this was the moment when our instincts were first restrained by a punishing society. Over time, the imposition of punishment led to introspection. Introspection led to conscience.”
Prideaux (2018)

Seen in this way, punishment can be beneficial. The risk, however, is that the person receiving the sanction may experience it as unjust or disproportionate. When that happens, the relationship comes under pressure: the punishment may be perceived as unfriendly or even hostile.

Josie teaches in higher professional education. She has completed the Friendly and Fair Teaching course and has received a Friendly and Fair Teaching diploma.

She talks about her experience with assigning a reflective report (a variant of the ‘Future Behaviour Letter’). With this video, we add the note that FFT advises issuing a ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ no more than twice per lesson. In the video, Josie responds effectively to a pupil who protests against her measure.

Pupils from the Pieter Nieuwland College say:

“Sending us out of the classroom doesn’t work … but a reflective report does.”
(This was the name previously used for the ‘Future Behaviour Letter.)

Removing a pupil from the lesson

In this video, pupils explain that removing them from the lesson is ineffective. They indicate that the ‘Future Behaviour Letter'(which they refer to as a reflective report) is effective. At their school (Pieter Nieuwland College), it was common practice that if a pupil did not submit the letter to the teacher, the school leadership took over responsibility for ensuring it was submitted.

Several teachers and pupils from the Pieter Nieuwland College speak in this video, recorded during the period 2014–2017.

They explain how they ask a pupil to write a ‘Future Behaviour Letter’ and how they discuss it afterwards with the pupil. In the video, this assignment is referred to as a reflective report or simply a letter.

Pupils describe the effect of the letter in their own words.

7. Summary

If a pupil does not respond adequately to the first two steps of ‘Reinforcing Positive Behaviour‘ (non-verbal and verbal), you take action using a ‘Future Behaviour Letter’. Writing this letter does cost the pupil time. Through this assignment, the pupil is given the opportunity to play an active role in improving their own behaviour.

Reframing your mindset: while assigning the task, keep in mind that you are helping the pupil to function better in the classroom in the future. You know that by reinforcing positive behaviour in this way, you prevent both yourself and the pupil from becoming stuck in a power struggle. This awareness helps you to remain friendly.

During handing out a letter, you do not take over the pupil’s negative attitude. When you intervene, you show compassion and understanding for the demanding task that awaits the pupil by saying, for example:
“I’m sorry that I have to give you this task now, but this is the agreement.”

If the pupil does not submit the letter, even after a second opportunity, you ensure that it is eventually submitted. Only then your action is effective.

8. Credits

Gabrielle la Rose – Safety coordinator at Pieter Nieuwland College in Amsterdam

Gabriëlle mediates in conflicts between pupils and teachers. In doing so, she uses a reflective report. Writing a reflective report costs a pupil time. Her assignment forms the basis for the ‘Future Behaviour Letter‘.

Stephan Dinkgreve – Science teacher

Stephan attended a music lesson taught by Johan ’t Hart. He devised a variation on the way he saw Johan maintain order. Instead of assigning punishment work, which Johan used at the time, Stephan used a variation of the reflective report described above. Johan adopted this new approach to reinforce positive behaviour from Stephan. Together, Johan and Stephan laid the foundations for Friendly and Fair Teaching.

From Stephan, we also learned that when a pupil protests against being given a reflective report, a teacher can calmly and kindly say:
“You can stop this behaviour now, otherwise I will unfortunately have to give you a larger reflective report.”
Stephan also introduced FFT to Astrid Boon.

 

Jeroen van Morselt – Senior member of staff at Pieter Nieuwland College

As a school leader, Jeroen van Morselt worked closely with Johan ’t Hart (music teacher at PNC in Amsterdam). Together, they ensured that any pupil who was required to write a ‘Future Behaviour Letter‘ always submitted it. Colleagues of Johan at PNC worked in a similar way with Jeroen. Teachers who collaborated with Jeroen in this manner sent fewer pupils out of lessons.

M. de Roij – Participant in the Friendly and Fair Teaching course

Teachers often give the ‘Future Behaviour Letter‘ their own name. In primary education, M. de Roij refers to the letter as a Thinking Letter (Nadenkbrief; see blog).