When the Adults Change, Everything Changes: Seismic shifts in school behaviour

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A skilled, empathetic specialist who can work with the learner to meet their immediate needs and stem the flow of poor conduct.

Compassion and understanding before results has always been my teaching mantra when dealing with any behaviour issues and I am now armed with new methods to use within my classroom to deal with my little "darlings" that may have difficulty following the rules. It is not relying on the parents to teach it, but saying, ‘You need these behaviours to be a successful learner in this school. In the short time since reading this book, it has already made me a better principal, and in the process, a better human. When leading a school in difficult circumstances, Ofsted and the local community, quite rightly, want tangible improvements, and quickly, especially when it comes to behaviour.We are now the most improved school in Stoke-on-Trent, in the top 25 per cent of the country for progress, and have gone from special measures to ‘good’ with ‘outstanding’ features. In addition to working directly with schools, Paul has advised the Department for Education on the teachers standards, given evidence to the Education Select Committee and done extensive work with the Ministry of Justice on behaviour and restraint in youth custody.

It is one of the main factors of my career choice and helped me solidify my thoughts on wanting to be a teacher. Whilst great observation gives us the detail we need, being intuitively insightful allows us to connect the dots in the most efficient and effective fashion. As a teacher, leader and teacher trainer, Paul Dix has been working to transform the most difficult behaviour in the most challenging urban schools, referral units and colleges for the last 25 years. The school-wide policies suggested are brilliant and I only wish more schools (particularly senior schools) would address behaviour in these ways, creating an environment of positive behaviour rather than letting negative behaviour be their main focus. Moving away from a thousand good and worthy ideas in a dusty policy document and refining it down to simple consistencies that are workable.It is hardly surprising that relationships can be fraught, when they are often formed using the language of prisoner and warden. Of course, you could choose to apply the same principle of consistency to a more aggressive and punitive system.

The presentations takes core themes from ‘When Adults Change Everything Changes’ by Paul Dix and ‘Getting the Buggers to Behave’ by Sue Cowley. When I took over as head there was a lot of pushing and shoving, boisterous behaviour, particularly in the corridors.It can be really simple to show where you need to be but much harder to share the specific steps you need to take to get there. At the start of the day or at the start of the lesson, stand at the door and shake hands with your learners – like you might do if someone knocked at your front door at home. There is also some advice which sounded like it could be true and I will be discussing with the school. The adults who work with the most difficult behaviours are always in control of themselves before they attempt to take control of others. His new book 'When The Parents Change Everything Changes' is published by Cornerstone Press, Penguin Random House and is out now.