An Expert Look At… ...Ofsted And Behaviour Management

Every week, one of the Tes team will take a look at one of their specialist topics and offer their unique insight. This week: Ofsted wants to find out more about what works in managing pupil behavior. But will its findings prove controversial? John Roberts takes a look.

- John Roberts

“Behaviour management is a subject that causes a lot of heat, and sometimes rather less light.”

So says chief inspector Amanda Spielman, who has chosen to make behavior the theme of Ofsted’s first major announcement of this school year.

This “heat” can certainly be felt on social media, where the issue of behavior and how schools deal with it is at the heart of the ongoing debates about standards, as well as inclusion and exclusion.

To this end, inspectors have been speaking to schools about how they manage behavior and are planning further research to identify what the most successful schools are doing on behavior management.

In her new commentary on the issue, Ms. Spielman suggests that contentious terms such as “restorative justice” and “zero tolerance” were rarely mentioned by heads and teachers to whom Ofsted spoke.