The impact of challenging behaviour on the child's peers:

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The Department for Education (DFE) states that incidents of challenging behaviour are increasing and the impact of this is far reaching, it impacts the child themselves, the education staff and the child's peers (DFE, 2024). Within a behaviour report issued in 2012, it was identified that peers who witness challenging behaviour can suffer from lost learning opportunities, bullying, peer on peer abuse, violence, school related anxiety and school avoidance (DFE, 2012). 

A research report conducted by Scales et al. (2024) for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change delved deeper into the peer views of challenging behaviour and identified that lost learning and feeling unsafe are the most common concerns from the views of peers. It also highlighted that children of Secondary school age are reported to lose on average one fifth of their learning time due to difficulties of managing challenging behaviour within the classroom. Teachers also recognised that the classroom environments can be turbulent and unsettled which is not conducive to an effective learning environment. Due to this, it can sometimes be hard to redirect the children back to their learning. 

Only 39% of pupils are reported to feel safe at school with over one quarter of young people being bullied within the last year which has resulted in a young person being absent from school for at least one day within the last three months. Worryingly, the schools that report regular disruption from challenging behaviour are now seeing that the overall pupil attainment, attendance and progress are suffering as a result (Scales et al., 2024)

Previous research by Shreeve et al. (2002) suggests that the pupil perception of the effectiveness of school reward and sanction systems vary from setting to setting. Whilst some pupils agreed that the sanctions are effective at deterring negative behaviour, some pupils felt that the sanctions and rewards were not consistently used by their teachers and therefore ineffective at managing classroom behaviour. 

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The impact of challenging behaviour on school staff: 

In a survey of over 3,000 staff:

• 82% of the workforce who told us that challenging behaviour by pupils and students had increased, said this negatively affected their mental health and wellbeing

• 70% who report a similar increase in challenging interactions with parents said it had the same effect on their mental health

• 84% of staff who told us that that verbal or physical abuse by pupils or students has increased believe it is due to a lack of provision for students’ physical, emotional, and mental health needs.

There are many definitions of challenging behaviour but when I read this one it seemed to tick all the boxes and is defined perfectly 

• “…behaviour, within the context of your school, which prevents participation in appropriate educational activities; often isolates children from their peers; affects the learning and functioning of other pupils; drastically reduces their opportunities for involvement in ordinary community activities; makes excessive demands on teachers, staff and resources; places the child or others in physical danger; and makes the possibility for future placement difficult” (Harris, Cook and Upton, 1996, p. 23). 

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Further impacts of challenging behaviour on teaching staff:

A report written by The National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women's Teachers (NASUWT) identified the following impacts of experiencing challenging behaviour:

• ·         A lowered morale and lack of enthusiasm amongst school staff

• ·         Suffering from work related stress and/or anxiety

• ·         Needing to take time away from work due to physical injury or effects to their mental health

• ·         Staff feel less confident when dealing with future incidents of challenging behaviour.

• ·         Worrying about the impact that this behaviour is having on the child themselves and the other children within the classroom. Teachers expressed concern at the impact of other children witnessing challenging behaviour and any distress this may cause.

• ·         Worrying that children’s needs are not being met, particularly when there are no other staff members available to support the class or the child.

(NASUWT, 2023)

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Teacher Views: Supporting children

Education staff believe that action is needed to meet the needs of children and young people; by supporting the children and young people it is hoped to improve the impact of challenging behaviour on school staff, creating a happier outlook for all (Estyn, 2024).

Action is required on many levels, firstly support both within the classroom and outside of the classroom needs to be increased, including increased capacity within external agencies such as Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services to support children, their families and their schools.

Teaching staff also feel that they require more specialist training for supporting children who display behaviour that can challenge, while the curriculum needs to improve to increase children’s engagement and better meet their needs overall. (NASUWT, 2023)

However, it is worth noting that the above actions would only work if these services were given a budget increase to support the needs of children, currently schools and health services are underfunded and are lacking room for anymore capacity without extra funding, all of which are having a knock on effect on children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.  (Richardson and Lawrie, 2021).