Behaviour in secondary schools

My poster presents descriptive information about pupils’ (mis)behaviour in secondary schools in England, from data I obtained from four comprehensive schools’ behaviour incident databases. The poster is a response to the often sensationalist claims about teenagers’ behaviour made by the press, but is also motivated by my interest in the social, psychological and behavioural aspects of educational attainment. Misbehaving pupils not only affect their own progress, but also disrupt their peers, cause staff time to be spent on discipline rather than learning, and make schools less pleasant places to work and study. My findings suggest that the large majority of pupils behave well; that targeting intensive support to the worst behaved pupils could be cost effective; and that schools should consider reorganising their timetables where possible to minimise behavioural problems. My other research projects look at the relationships between psychological resilience, peer networks and academic attainment.