For teachers who are juggling lesson preparation, marking, meetings and admin tasks, simple strategies that are easy to implement are the only methods that will stick.
Small adjustments to routines, expectations and communication can make a noticeable difference to classroom behaviour, helping lessons run more smoothly while reducing stress for both teachers and pupils.
Impactful classroom management strategies
Here are four quick classroom management tips that are easy to introduce and deliver lasting results. Prepare how you will approach using these beforehand and try them when you’re feeling comfortable to increase classroom confidence and tranquility.
1. Establish clear routines from the start
It may sound obvious but consistent routines help students know exactly what is expected and why. Entry routines, equipment checks, activity transitions and lesson endings are all good places to start with clear classroom management methods.
Teachers often find that routines save them time because they’re spending less energy on repeating instructions and getting students’ attention. You may discover that consistency is really important after holidays, timetable changes or when you’re covering classes to keep control and maintain student focus.
2. Keep instructions short and simple
It can help to reduce confusion by making expectations easy to follow, such as only giving one instruction at a time and displaying key tasks on the board so pupils can refer back to them when necessary.
The use of concise instructions is also vital as this minimises repeated student questions and keeps lessons moving at the appropriate pace. For example, asking pupils to write the date, title and main learning objective or getting them to complete the Do It Now activity by itself with no other instructions is likely to work well.
3. Use positive reinforcement
Modelling the behaviours you want from your students is essential from day one. Recognising positive behaviour has been shown to have a greater impact on pupils than only focusing on negative incidents.
There are many ways you can praise positive behaviour, such as verbal comments, house points, recognition boards, awards or positive home contact. Notably, being specific when praising behaviour lets students know why someone is being recognised and helps them focus on attempting these behaviours themselves.
4. Deal quickly and calmly with low-level disruption
Nipping things in the bud helps reduce friction in the classroom as a quick reminder or standing close to an unsettled student can stop an issue from developing.
Educational studies have confirmed that lengthy public confrontations with students can be disruptive and take the lesson off track. Teachers who can separate the behaviour from the individual and apply behavioural policies consistently are likely to have more effective results.
The majority of children respond to calm so it can be extremely helpful to promote a steady, predictable response to issues as often as you can to build respect and confidence with your students.
Try these great resources to support your classroom management style
These resources are useful for both primary and secondary teachers:
- Quick classroom management tips checklist - a brand new tool for teachers to dip into and use to create a calm classroom environment.
- Classroom routines checklist
- 20 tips for lesson planning and classroom management
- Managing attachment behaviours in the classroom
- Positive behaviour management: confident communication in the classroom
- ABC behaviour chart template
Primary focused resources
- Behaviour management
- Steps to success poster
- Respectability raffle: Printable behaviour reward system
- Five minutes left activities
- Golden guidance for circle time
- Our learning intentions - display
- Reward certificates
Secondary focused resources
