Category Archives: Behaviour

Education For All?

Posted on November 18, 2016 by suecowley

“Schools for all – institutions which include everybody, celebrate differences, support learning, and respond to individual needs” The Salamanca Statement In 1994, not all that long after I started teaching, the UK was one of 92 governments and 25 international … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Children, Inclusion | 6 Comments

The One Disruptive Child

Posted on May 15, 2016 by suecowley

I am the one disruptive child The one you’ve labelled as too wild I scatter chaos through your class Destroying lessons as I pass. I like to make my classmates laugh By doing stuff you think is daft You worry … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Children, Poetry | 4 Comments

No Excuses and the Case of the Slow Drying Sun

Posted on April 27, 2016 by suecowley

It’s Sunday night and “Houston, we have a problem”. It’s not that the kid hasn’t done her homework; the problem is that the homework isn’t dry yet. This time round the homework was to celebrate the end of the Solar System topic … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Children | 2 Comments

It’s a bit more complicated than that

Posted on February 26, 2016 by suecowley

It would be lovely if there was a ‘simple solution’ to behaviour in schools, and at home as well for that matter. Or at least at first glance it appears as though it would be lovely. If the kids would … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Children | Leave a comment

Tear Down the Wall

Posted on February 16, 2016 by suecowley

I was thirteen years old in 1979, when Pink Floyd’s double album “The Wall” came out. When my friends and I first heard “Another Brick in the Wall”, we didn’t need to ask what Pink Floyd meant by “no dark … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Children, Schools | 2 Comments

Power Play

Posted on January 10, 2016 by suecowley

It is an axiom of teaching that teachers need to be able to control a class of students. In part, this is to do with safety – with one adult and thirty children, there have to be some boundaries. Mostly, … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Children | 10 Comments

At What Cost?

Posted on December 16, 2015 by suecowley

By their very nature, small children are full of energy and movement. They fidget, they wriggle, they flit from place to place. They play constantly, because they are filled with a burning desire to explore and discover the world around … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Children | 8 Comments

Eradicate Excuses

Posted on November 13, 2015 by suecowley

Dear Nick, I saw in your speech yesterday that you said it was possible for kids to have “No Excuses methods injected into them”. I’m a parent, and I can tell you – I need some of that stuff! Perhaps … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Government | 4 Comments

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Progressive?

Posted on October 25, 2015 by suecowley

In recent months, I have been growing increasingly concerned about what the Big Bad Progressive (BBP) has been up to. I have heard via the blogosphere that the BBP has ripped all the tradition out of schools, prioritised stories over … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Books, Teaching | 7 Comments

The Xylophone Technique

Posted on September 23, 2015 by suecowley

A few years ago, I met a teacher who told me he managed his classroom ‘By Xylophone’. When he said this, my first thought was “say what?”, my second thought was “that sounds cool”, and my third thought was “how on … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Creativity, Evidence | 3 Comments