Articles

A recent Macquarie University study has found that teachers should spend more time giving positive attention to good classroom behaviour than in reprimanding bad behaviour. It found that where teachers dealt with troublesome behaviour in a negative way, students not only perceived themselves to be less engaged, but their on-task behaviour was reduced. Classroom harmony can be better achieved by focusing on appropriate and positive behaviour, and trying to build such behaviour into the repertoire of a student’s classroom skill set. While negative attention will usually curtail troublesome behaviour when it occurs, it does not often reduce the behaviour in the long term.