When the Adults Change, Everything Changes: Seismic shifts in school behaviour

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I can't recommend When the Adults Change, everything Changes highly enough, and I know that if you were to ask the staff in school they would all say exactly the same. Thank you, Paul Dix and Pivotal Education! Many of the ideas in this book are clearly good practice e.g. the focus on positive relationship building, the suggestions for how to build such relationships, the concept of ‘botheredness’ and the use of recognition boards.

BOOK CLUB RESOURCES - When the Adults Change BOOK CLUB RESOURCES - When the Adults Change

I have known of Pivotal's work for three years now. In 2013, I sent my assistant principal to be a Pivotal trainer and she returned to transform the culture and the feel of a very broken and challenging school through the development of positive relationships, a focus on encouragement and a restorative approach to student behaviour. The impact was huge, with the exclusion rated being reduced by 94% in one year. One main approach that works across many schools is a sense of consistency, with pupils and teachers knowing what is expected, along with visible kindness and respect among every within a school community. In his book “When the adults change, everything changes” Paul Dix explores some approaches in cultivating a school culture where visible consistency creates rapid seismic improvements in behaviour, even where the elusive magic behaviour solution is never quite within reach. The main reason I took issue with this suggestion, however, was actually not the suggestion itself. It was more because I was right in my prediction that some not-so-good SLTs, particularly at struggling schools, will clutch to this and other ideas potentially to the detriment of their teachers. I know of a secondary school in Birmingham which has made ‘handshakes period 1’ a . . . wait for it . . . ‘non-negotiable.’ It would be an insult to the reader -as you’re probably a fellow educator- for me to list all the reasons why this is entirely unacceptable, so I won’t bother. While Dix does not advocate the former, I do believe that it is in the profession’s best interest for such suggestions to be expressed as exactly that: suggestions or ideas. Not saving graces. Don't react emotionally to bad behaviour. At all.This again sounds obvious, but I am willing to bet that every teacher can identify a time where they allowed emotions to creep in. I certainly can. Dix emphasises the importance of keeping calm and makes a number of suggestions to support this aim. He also emphasises the importance of tone and body language, something I think is often overlooked.full day behaviour training to share the five pillars of the approach with staff, so that we are consistent in our attitudes to students and they are consistent with us.

When the Adults Change, Everything Changes Quotes by Paul Dix When the Adults Change, Everything Changes Quotes by Paul Dix

Suitable for all head teachers, school leaders, teachers, NQTs and classroom assistants – in any phase or context, including SEND and alternative provision settings – who are looking to upgrade their own classroom management or school behaviour plan. You're a trainee or NQT who has seen a number of behaviour policies and just aren't sure about any of them." You always learn something useful from engaging with Paul, and the fact that he writes with the old one-two of passion and compassion makes this learning easy and pleasurable. I have learnt much from this book that will shape and amend my future practice and whole-heartedly recommend it to even the most experienced teacher. Reading this book changed my practice overnight, and I've been teaching for 28 years. I knew it was just what we needed, so I've become something of an evangelist. Now staff are reading it and we've based training and practice around what we truly believe to be the way forward. Support staff feel they have the language to deal with misbehaviour and that they are part of a consistent approach. There is a noticeable calmness about all the staff and they can't wait to come into the staffroom and tell everyone else how “the script” has worked! Some are even using it on their own children at home. Dix has given me lots of questions and starting points to think about when planning our behaviour management. For example, how do we identify children who go over and above? I will also return to his useful tips, for example the '30 second script' - a formal one-to-one intervention for poor behavior in class that lasts no longer than 30 seconds.The strategies should be adopted by all schools as a blueprint for behaviour. If it were, it would dramatically improve learning, make children feel safer and positively change lives. This book oozes common sense and made me significantly reflect on my own practice. I can't wait to share this book with my colleagues and prove, with this evidence, that when the adults change, everything changes! Regardless of your own working environment and the behaviour challenges you face, I'd really recommend this book. As the head teacher quoted on the front cover states -˜Paul Dix gets it. After reading this book, you will too'. I completely agree. Five stars. I firmly believe that almost nothing in education is an exact science: It is seemingly impossible to isolate and explore the effects of any single variable whilst simultaneously controlling others. In addition to this, in my own teaching life, I’ve seen things being hailed as good practice one year only to be discarded- or even condemned as bad practice- the next: VAK learning was sworn by when I did my PGCE and was rubbished but a few years later. Charismatic teachers’ lessons were once criticised for being ‘too teacher led,’ and now schools praise those same teachers for their classroom management and questioning. Triple marking was once raved about as something that ensures rapid progress, but now researchers argue that the hours-to-impact ratio is unjustifiable. On a personal note, teachers like Paul (and like you if you choose to read this fantastic book) literally saved my life. It's not easy being a hero, but this book gives you all of the tools and wisdom you need to put your intentions into action.

WHEN THE ADULTS CHANGE, EVERYTHING CHANGES

Paul has developed his philosophy from a wide range of mainstream primary, secondary and special schools based here and abroad. Yet, most impactfully, the book concludes with a handy 30-day magic challenge for schools to strive towards in focusing on creating a positive behaviour culture - drawn from ideas shared in the book. Fundamentally, expecting a change overnight is unrealistic, but changing ideas, cultures and expectations over a 30-day period offers everyone within the community to practice some of the changes without any dire consequence, but keeping a record of current problems and reflecting upon starting points will help show how progress is being made during the period of change. When the AdultsChange, Everything Changes is a fabulous, must-read book for all educators and people working with children and young adults.Overall, this book empowers teachers to make better choices to help improve their students’ behaviour and therefore the learning environment. No doubt, at some point online you would have seen a teacher (most probably an American kindergarten teacher) shaking hands with their pupils upon entry into the classroom. The enthusiastic teacher waits at the door while their pupils line up to receive their very own, teacher initiated, personalised handshake. After all kinds of twists, turns and high-fives, the uplifted pupils enter the classroom one by one. I must admit, it does make for some entertaining viewing! But in any case, one may conclude that Dix would be against any behaviour policy involving sanctions, irrespective of whether or not it is effective as he seemingly considers all common sanctions inherently immoral. This is something I fundamentally disagree with.