The behaviour test: football fallout

It all kicked off at breaktime. Again. The accusations are flying, but you have a lesson to teach. What do you do? Ban all ball games, asks Paul Dix?

The scenario

Aden hit Ryan, or so Daniel says. Ismail was nowhere near. David’s arm “REALLY HURTS” and Alfie has done a runner. Ryan said bad words. Lots of them. And Lucas kicked someone; he’s not too sure who. Sam has noted who did what to whom in fine detail and Oscar is not happy about his name being written down. Harry’s leg is bleeding “all over the place”. The staff member on duty saw nothing even though Sam told her “like, a 1000 times”.

Fifteen minutes ago you had your trickiest group of boys just where you wanted them. They were studious and caring, gentle and kind. Now the break time football derby has struck again, turning them into a sweating, arguing mess spilling loudly into the classroom.

How do you respond? Do you:

A Unpack it all

There are clearly children who are upset and hurt. There are some accusations that need to be heard and explanations that must be given. Start the rest of the class off with a 15-minute task and take the time to sort out what has happened.

B Ban it

Impose an immediate and absolute ban on football at playtime. Collect in all footballs, tennis balls and spherical objects that might be used for an improvised game. Institute a paired playtime policy where children are not allowed to mix in larger groups. Insist on calm play that does not involve physical contact.

C Give them control

You refuse to get involved in their arguments again. You can take the ball away for the day, but it is a continuing problem that is not going to be solved by your instant mediation. The children need to create a better routine and you will support them. This is going to take some time to deal with, but not now. Not in learning time.

A Unpack it all

The rest of the class pretend to work as you gather the straggle of boys into the quiet area. After convincing David that his arm is not broken (or even bruised) you give each child a turn to speak. It soon transpires that unpacking what happened at breaktime also involves unpacking some other incidents that occurred at the weekend at an adult party. As you get deeper into the layers of disagreement, it is clear that more time is going to be needed to separate genuine upset from invented anguish. As the rest of the class give up pretending to work, you realise unpacking has taken more time than you had anticipated. The boys are calmer and less sweaty but nothing has been resolved. As the boys mutter back to their seats, you worry that calls from anxious parents with half a story are the inevitable outcome.

Talking behaviour

> When is the best time to deal with arguments that erupt at playtime?
> Can you give sanctions to children for behaviour that is reported but not witnessed?
> Is it OK to set the rest of the class off on a task while you speak to a group about their behaviour?

B Ban it !

Banning football feels good. At first the girls even thank you for it. The boys, however, have that ‘serious?’ look on their faces. Many of them live and breathe football and slide into mild grief. After a day of boys looking sheepish and sidling up to you with ‘when will we be allowed…’ questions, they find other things to do at break time.

The girls start to wish for the heady days of football violence as their quiet corners and gentle games are disrupted by marauding boys on the look out for trouble. It soon becomes clear that unoccupied boys can cause more disruption than ball boys. Lack of activity at break time has also led to more physical activity in lesson time – the drama has become a crisis. Relenting on the ban doesn’t feel good, but appears a ‘least bad’ solution.
With theatrical and beautifully meaningless promises of best behaviour, the boys skip out with the ball. You are back where you started.

Talking behaviour

> Can banning be an effective way to teach self-discipline?
> Should mixed games be encouraged?
> How long do you keep the ball before the punishment has run out of steam?

C Give them control

You tell the boys clearly and calmly that you will speak to anyone who still needs to speak to you at the end of the lesson. At the beginning of the next breaktime, you bring the children together for a conversation that is entirely focused on what is going to happen from now on. The children agree three behaviours they will show while playing physical games. They clarify their meaning and agree a symbol that will represent the behaviour. Using traffic cones or upturned cardboard boxes as goal posts, the behaviours can now be displayed while the game is being played.

At the same time you demonstrate a routine for dealing with arguments and ask the children to enact the top three most common problems. The boys agree to stop the game two minutes before the bell. The children decide how they are going to show good sportsmanship with handshakes at the end of the game.

Before they are given the ball, remind them of their agreements. There will still be flair ups but there is visible structure and a common approach for dealing with disagreements. Conversations soon become about choices and not personalities.

Talking behaviour

> Are children more likely to keep to the boundaries when they have a hand in setting them?
> What are the visible expectations for the children at playtime?
> How much should play be initiated by adults at playtime?

Which approach did you use?

A Your behaviour style:
Unnecessarily urgent

So much instant and absolute attention is a great reward for a bit of unruly football. Of course children who are genuinely hurt or upset demand instant attention, but it should never be at the expense of the others. Children who demand a huge amount of attention straight after morning break are strangely assuaged by lunch break. For some, the daily break time inquisition is an attractive alternative to cracking on with the morning’s work.

B Your behaviour style:
Toys out of the pram

There are always repercussions to banning anything. There are consequences for the girls who in general prefer to play differently. The boys who spend all break charging about need to spend break running around. The problem is not the ball but the unstructured nature of the game and everyone’s different interpretation of what is acceptable behaviour on the ‘school pitch’. If you have to constantly remove objects in order to stop children misbehaving you are not teaching them discipline. Within reason, the limits must be in their heads – not in the things they are allowed to play with.

C Your behaviour style:
Liberal lunacy?

The control you want your children to show cannot be imposed forever. They need to take control of their decisions and behavioural routines. Involving them in the decisionmaking does not mean handing it over completely. They need your support and your ability to keep it simple and safe. Helping them to learn how to deal with the difficult bits of playing in large groups will take time at first, but it pays dividends in the longer term.