Chaotic classrooms trigger new school rules

Stressed school teachers will be trained to control chaotic classrooms through smartphone bans and an ‘eyes on me’ approach to lessons.

Stressed teachers will be trained to control disruptive students. Picture: iStock

Stressed school teachers will be trained to control chaotic classrooms through smartphone bans and an “eyes on me’’ approach to lessons.

With rowdy behaviour robbing one in three teachers of teaching time, the federal government will spend $3.5m on an Engaged Classrooms initiative. The project will train teachers to set routines and use strategies to keep distracted students on track during lessons.

Education Minister Jason Clare said educators want “more time to teach’’.

“A lot of teachers tell me when they leave university and jump into the classroom for the first time, they don’t feel as prepared as they should be to manage a classroom full of students,’’ he said. “By providing more resources to teachers, we can help them manage the classroom better, which is good for them and their students.

“When students are fully engaged in the classroom, they learn at their best, and teachers have more time to teach.’’

The Australian Education Research Organisation will set rules and routines, and provide video demonstrations and online training materials tohelp teachers stay in control of classes.

Former teacher and academic Tim McDonald, who has written a book on classroom management and is now chief executive of the YMCA in Western Australia, will lead the project.

Dr McDonald on Tuesday said some students did not know how to behave at school, and needed to be taught.

He said teachers needed to harness the “peer group pressure’’ of children and teenagers to reward good behaviour. “We assume students know how to behave but all students need to be taught how to behave in the classroom. Routines must be taught,” he said.

“A young person might have challenging behaviour at school but if they go to work in fast food or retail, they don’t swear at the customers. So if they can do that at work, they can do it in the classroom as well.’’

Dr McDonald said some universities were failing to train teachers in classroom management during their four-year education degrees. “Teachers are telling us they need assistance with classroom management,’’ he said. “It’s generally low-level behaviour of students not doing their work or moving around the classroom … that is really disruptive.

“Calm and order and predictability is a precursor for learning.’’

Dr McDonald said mobile phones – banned in most primary schools everywhere except Queensland – could distract students from their lessons.

He also said calm classrooms and regular routines would benefit students with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or autism. “For students who are neurodiverse or on the autism spectrum, clear guidelines and boundaries make it predictable and safe,’’ he said.

Dr McDonald’s program includes advice for teachers to insist students keep their “eyes on me’’, and practise lining up quietly to enter class.

The government’s intervention comes as a Senate committee investigates disruption in Australian classrooms. The Australian Education Union has blamed disruption on underfunded schools failing to provide enough support to students with a disability, and the Australian Secondary Principals Association has warned that some students are affected by dysfunctional families, domestic violence, mental illness and homelessness.

It says “disempowered parents and carers lack the skills and support to raise young people through their adolescent years’’.

“Many teachers are at breaking point (and) the addition of disruptive youth adds to this load,’’ it told the Senate inquiry.

‘Eyes on me.’ Dr Tim McDonald’s rules for calm classrooms:

Explain to students what you are going to do to get their attention.

“I will say ‘Tik tik’ and you will stop what you are doing and say, ‘boom’. Your full attention will be on me. I will know you are listening when you are looking at me. Now let’s practise.’’

Explain to students what you expect every time they enter your classroom.

1. You will line up in pairs outside the room.

2. Then you will move quietly into the room.

3. Then you will stand quietly behind your desk.

4. Then I will welcome and greet you and ask you to sit.

5. Then you will sit quietly with your eyes focused on me.