Teachers to be given lessons on classroom management

Frazzled teachers will be offered step-by-step lessons in keeping classrooms calm, when education ministers issue detailed behaviour management guidance in time for term one next year.

‘If we don’t get the fundamentals right at an early age, it makes it more difficult for children to catch up and keep up with their peers,’ says Smith Family chief executive Doug Taylor. Picture: iStock

Frazzled teachers will be offered step-by-step lessons in keeping classrooms calm, when education ministers issue detailed behaviour management guidance in time for term one next year.

As short-staffed schools ­struggle to attract and retain teachers, ministers have authorised the Australian Education Research Organisation to issue new rules, including demonstration videos, on controlling rowdy classrooms.

Some of the old-school advice will include placing desks in rows or horseshoe shapes so all children can see the teacher.

AERO chief executive Jenny Donovan said teachers would be given detailed advice on ways to respond to “disengaged or disruptive behaviour’’.

Teachers will be taught how to set and enforce rules, and establish routines for students to enter and leave a classroom.

As AERO prepares to release the teaching guides in December, NSW Education Minister Prue Car said it was “pretty outrageous’’ that many universities had failed to train teachers in classroom management before they had graduated.

“When I go into classrooms and staffrooms, brand new teachers will say they felt like their ­degree has not prepared them for the classroom management of kids, which is pretty outrageous,’’ she said.

Universities have been ordered to beef up their teaching of classroom management in degrees by the end of 2025 – meaning that all trainee teachers will not emerge with the skills for six more years.

The guidance coincides with a push for teacher safety and student welfare to be prioritised in the upcoming National School Reform Agreement.

Federal, state and territory ministers will meet in December to negotiate new targets for student success – including academic and wellbeing measures – that will be pegged to taxpayer funding for schools from 2025.

Members of a group of education leaders, set up to advise federal Education Minister Jason Clare on the priorities for schools pending, want a focus on literacy, catch-up tutoring and student wellbeing.

The Smith Family, a charity to help poor children finish school, is calling for more focus on teaching basic literacy and numeracy skills, with catch-up tutoring for students who fall behind and career advice to keep kids at school.

“If we don’t get the fundamentals right at an early age, it makes it more difficult for children to catch up and keep up with their peers,’’ Smith Family chief executive Doug Taylor, a member of the advisory panel, said on Tuesday.

He said small group tutoring could “improve literacy and numeracy and help students who fall behind to catch up and keep up with their education’’.

Australian Primary Principals Association president Angela Falkenberg – who is also advising the minister on schooling reforms – called for more “joy’’ in classrooms, and better community connections.

“We need to focus on student learning and develop a specific primary curriculum … that focuses on the basics and leaves room for play, joy and engagement,’’ she said.

Ms Falkenberg said the curriculum should “allow space for literacy and numeracy together with activities which connect kids and make them part of a community’’.

She said schools should be measured on literacy and numeracy learning, as well as student engagement, fitness, access to health services and screening, and ties to the community.

“Reading must be taught well in every classroom but (there are) many factors which impact on children’s learning,’’ Ms Falkenberg said in her submission to the school reform agreement.

“If a child is fearful, neglected or abused, a great learning environment is insufficient.

“If a child’s health needs are not addressed, if a child is hungry or anxious, if they can’t see properly … all of these things impact on their ability to learn.

“If parents feel connected to the school and are involved in sports teams and community events, the support for children’s learning is enhanced,’’ Ms Falkenberg said.