This week we asked two questions about behaviour. One asked how worried teachers were about behaviour in their next lesson. A second question, the next day, asked if the previous lesson had been disrupted.
The questions tapped into slightly different things. Most teachers answer on the app at around 3.30pm, so when asked to think about their next lesson, teachers probably thought about the class they were due to teach the following morning. When asked about the class they just taught, teachers were most likely thinking about the class they taught at the end of the day.
We’re thinking about how to ask these questions in future to get around this inconsistency. But, in the meantime, the answers are fascinating.
Here’s what we found:
Teachers who were very concerned about behaviour in their next lesson were right to do so! The majority did experience disruptions.
More surprising is that around a third of teachers who were only slightly concerned about behaviour also experienced disruption in their lesson at the end of the next day.
Secondary school teachers reported a higher proportion of disrupted lessons (40%) than in primary (32%). But this gap was a lot smaller than we expected!
Is behaviour better in some schools than others? Yes, it is
When we looked, we found lessons were more likely to be disrupted in a Requires Improvement or Inadequate school and least likely to be disrupted in an Outstanding one.
This isn’t causal, of course! We aren’t saying that because a school is Outstanding then the behaviour is better. But it shows a relationship between the two. Ultimately, if you teach in an Outstanding school, it seems your lessons are less likely to involve disruption.
BUT THERE’S A BIGGER POINT HERE.
This data shows that even in an outstanding school, 30% of teachers said their last lesson was disrupted. . In failing schools, over half of teachers said behaviour disrupted their last lesson. This is a LOT of disruption. Anyone who thinks behaviour in schools is already sorted needs to find a way to explain this data.
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