Positive Behaviour for Learning
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) is an evidence-based, comprehensive and integrated whole school approach to student wellbeing and behaviour. It aims to:
- address the diverse academic and social needs of every student to support them to be successful
- supports students in early childhood settings through to senior years of schooling
- enables schools to establish a continuum of supports that are intensified to meet the needs of every student
- is team driven, using a problem solving approach (data, systems and practices) that engages students, parents and all school staff
- establishes positive social expectations for all in the school community
- provides a framework for the school and its community to collectively support the wellbeing of every students.
When implemented well:
- students respond positively as they have been taught what is expected of them
- staff deliver consistent responses to student learning and behaviour
- students feel safe and cared for at school. Their parents, family and community are more involved in their school
- unproductive and challenging behaviour can be significantly reduced for most students.
Continuum
Positive Behaviour for Learning establishes strong school-wide universal systems that promote early intervention, and the teaching and acknowledging of social-emotional skills. PBL helps schools to develop consistent systems to discourage unproductive behaviour.
Some students, approximately 10-15%, will respond to Tier 1 support but will continue to exhibit some difficulties. These students may be need additional academic and/or social-emotional support. Tier 2 targeted support is a team driven process. It strengthens and builds upon what has been taught to students at the universal level. A smaller group of students, approximately 1-5%, may need individualised and intensive Tier 3 support as well as universal and targeted support. Schools will build upon the foundations of the school-wide system to support these students. Interventions focus on creating and implementing individualised behaviour support plans that are linked to the universal system.
Tier 1: universal prevention
Universal prevention is the most important and powerful aspects of a whole school systems approach. Universal prevention focuses on preventing problems and creating an environment that supports student learning and wellbeing. Effective, evidence-based classroom management and instruction are critical components of universal prevention. The school's Learning and support teams and/or PBL teams work to prevent problem behaviour and increase the likelihood of academic success by creating positive learning environments for all. Establishing strong systems of universal prevention for all students helps to reduce the number of students who need additional support. This helps the school to work more intensively with students who have additional learning and support needs.
Tier 2: targeted interventions
Tier 2 interventions address students' social-emotional skills through evidence-based programs delivered to small groups of students or individual students. These students may have academic and/or social-emotional learning needs that require more targeted supports. The involvement of the classroom teacher helps the student to use new skills and builds the teacher's capacity to better understand and effectively respond to students with unproductive and challenging behaviours. Students are taught to self-regulate and learn from natural consequences. Small-group targeted interventions includes a skill building and a self-monitoring process. For example, students may check-in and out at a central location with an adult across the day with the aim of increasing productive behaviours such as attendance, work completion and academic engagement.
Tier 3: intensive interventions
A smaller group of students, approximately 1-5%, may need more individualised and intensive supports, as well as the Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports. In many cases, the problem behaviour has become 'chronic' as these students have experienced academic and behavioural difficulties over an extended period of time. As with the Tier 2 level, schools build on the foundations of school-wide universal prevention to support these students. Using data-based decision making to rapidly support these students is important. Interventions focus on creating and implementing individualised behaviour support plans that are linked to the universal system. For example, the individual plans are based upon the school-wide expectations; the identification of students in need of Tier 3 supports uses the established data decision making framework. Intensive and individualised behaviour intervention plans are developed and implemented to reduce the intensity and severity of challenging behaviours. These plans are devised using functional behavioural assessment. This assessment looks at contextual, learning and relationship factors to help explain the purpose of the behaviour. The evidence shows that understanding the function of behaviour is essential to make the problem behaviour ineffective, inefficient and irrelevant.
The following document describes how we implement PBL values at a class level: Positive behaviour of learning in the classroom (PDF 387KB)