Introduction and summary of resource
Managing pupil behaviour is one of the main concerns for student teachers before, during and after initial teacher education (ITE). Characteristically they crave more input on ‘behaviour management’ at all stages of their development. One of the assumptions underpinning these concerns, and how they can be addressed, is the notion that behaviour management is something that can be learnt in separation from teaching the subject and that pupils need to be managed before they can be taught. The Behaviour4Learning website has a refreshing approach to these issues and locates pupil behaviour in a wide social, psychological and educational context. The integrated model employed by B4L team shows how everything that teachers and pupils do, and are, impinge upon what they call ‘learning behaviours’.
‘Behaviour4learning' (B4L) emphasises the crucial link between the way in which children and young people learn and their social knowledge and behaviour. In doing this the focus is upon establishing positive relationships across three elements of self, others and curriculum …B4L has implications for pupils, teachers, parents and other professionals……It applies as much to teachers and their relationship with children as much as it applies to the children themselves.’
www.behaviour4learning.ac.uk
In this sense there is very little that is covered on any ITE programme which is not about behaviour management, or what might more usefully be described as the development of ‘learning behaviours’.
This resource will examine the potential for the B4L model to analyse what learning behaviours look like in the music classroom. It will also critically review the music specific resources found on the website.
The model
The B4L team are at pains to emphasise that the model can be applied to all children, at any age and not just those perceived as being ‘difficult to manage’. The B4L approach is fundamentally linked to a view that ‘behaviour’ in classrooms and whole schools/settings does not occur in isolation. It is the product of a variety of influences and not simply a pupil’s unwillingness to behave or learn as required by the teacher. At the heart of the model are three sets of relationships which impinge on pupils when learning in school; what they call an ‘eco-systemic approach’
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The three sets of relationships which contribute (or not) to a culture and ethos of learning behaviour are as follows:
Relationship with Self: a pupil who does not feel confident as a learner and who has ‘internalised’ a view that s/he is unable to succeed will be unlikely to engage in the challenge of learning and (in consequence) may be more inclined to present ‘unwanted behaviours’
Relationship with Others: all ‘behaviour’ needs to be understood as ‘behaviour in context’. Behaviour by pupils is triggered as much by their interactions with others (pupils, teachers or other adults in schools/settings) as it is by factors internal to the child.
Relationship with the Curriculum: pupil behaviour and curriculum progress are inextricably linked. Teachers who promote a sense of meaningful curriculum progress in learning for each pupil will be more likely to create a positive behavioural environment.
The model also assumes that this integrated triangle of relationships is influenced by relationships to four other external factors.
Services: for example, the relationship of a school and its pupils to the local authority (and services), or government funding initiatives.
Family: for example, the support for learning in the family and the engagement of the family by the school
Community and culture(s): for example, the relationship between the local culture(s) and school, the role of the school in the local community
Policies: for example, the influence of polices that impinge on the school such as the national curriculum and the key stage 3 strategy programme.
The result is a powerful model to interpret and explore the learning behaviours of pupils in the music classroom, which in any account is complex and multi faceted.
Using the model to explore classroom music
In this section a number of questions are provided which encourage use of the model to explore learning behaviours in the music classroom. It is clear that reflection on any one aspect of this model will of course have implications for all of the others. For example, if pupils do not achieve in the curriculum they are likely to have low self esteem which could impact on their relationships with music teachers and their peers. It could be that the reasons for low achievement are related to poor motivation as a result of a dissonance between school and community culture and that neither the local music service nor the school has been able to provide a curriculum to address this dissonance.
Relationship with Self: Do pupils exhibit self esteem in music lessons? What is their self image as a learner in music? Do they feel that their identity is valued in the music classroom? Do they see themselves as a musician? How can school music develop positive orientations to these questions?
Relationship with Others: Do pupils feel part of a musical community in the classroom? Are they able to work collaboratively in music lessons? Do they feel included in music lessons? Are they able to show respect and tolerance for their peers? How can school music develop positive orientations to these questions?
Relationship with the Curriculum: Do pupils have a sense of achievement in the music classroom? Do they develop their musical knowledge and understanding? Do they value this musical knowledge and understanding? Are they able to contribute to the content of the curriculum? Is learning acknowledged which has taken place out of school? How can school music develop positive orientations to these questions?
Services: Do local music services have inclusive provision? What links are made between the school curriculum and music service provision?
Family: To what extent do families feel included in school music? What links are made between music at home and school?
Community and culture(s): To what extent does the local community feel itself reflected in the musical culture of the school? Does the school take its music into the local community? To what extent does the school draw on the musical resources of the local community?
Policies: Do pupils feel motivated by the national curriculum? To what extent are national initiatives (such as Wider Opportunities) impacting upon school music? What has been the impact on pupil learning of the key stage 3 strategy programme for music?
If the answers to these questions are negative then ‘unwanted’ and challenging behaviours are more likely. Also, given the integrated nature of the model negative answers in any one dimension will impact upon the others.
Developing ‘learning behaviours’ in the music classroom
However, wrapped up in any positive answers to these questions are what can be seen as ‘learning behaviours’ in the music classroom. What are these ‘learning behaviours’ in music and how the model can be used to promote them? Using the questions above and the table below begin an inventory of ‘learning behaviours’ in music and how they might be promoted. A similar table can be drawn up for the four ‘satellite’ dimensions.
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Music specific resources on the B4L website
All of the generic resources on the website can be used to support an understanding of behaviour for learning in music. The best of these can be located in the rich model developed by B4L. However, and despite the editorial angle of the website, there are some which assume that a rationale for the management of pupil behaviour can take place independently of this wider context. Such an approach promotes the notion of managing pupils before we teach them, prioritising teacher actions over pupil learning and a ‘tips for teachers’ approach behaviour management.
The music specific resources can be found at:
www.behaviour4learning.ac.uk/...menu=17866
These include:
Using music to inspire and motivate across the curriculum
A case study of a project at Bannockburn Primary School using music across the curriculum to motivate and improve self-esteem of pupils.
The Research Study
A Scottish Centre for Research in Education project was carried out within a Music Department with three new intake classes who attended twice weekly (currently unavailable).
Motivating boys through music and dance
The ‘ARTSalive!’ website details a project in a primary school aimed at improving the behaviour and motivation of underachieving boys in Year 5.
Can the use of background music improve the behaviour and academic performance of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties?
An article from the British Journal of Special Education, Volume 25, Number 2, June 1998, pp. 88-91(4)
Arts, education and society: the role of the arts in promoting the emotional wellbeing and social inclusion of young people
In this journal article, Vassiliki Karkou and Judy Glasman provide an overview of current debates about the place of the arts within education.
Commentary
It is disappointing that there are so few music specific resources and none that have been posted since 2006. There is much potential for the application of the B4L model when learning how to teach music which has yet to be exploited on the website, and to be fair in wider literature and resources in the field.
Several of the resources are based on the notion of music as behaviour management especially in relation to disaffected youngsters. The assumption is that music (and the arts) has the power to act positively on how pupils relate to themselves and others. On the face of things this would seem to be exactly what the B4L model is all about, encompassing two elements of the central triangle, and yet there are issues surrounding this interpretation.
The issues are to do with the notion that music is ‘good’ for us and often come in the following forms when justifying music in the curriculum:
- Instrumental justifications: in which the experience and understanding of music uniquely reaches other dimensions of human cognition e.g. developing mathematical skills, spatial skills, language (the Heineken effect). It is also suggested that contact with ‘great’ music can develop intelligence (the Mozart effect)
- Therapeutic justifications: in which an engagement with music can have cathartic and healing powers; it can promote health, develop self esteem and cure damaged lives
- Civilising justifications: in which learning in music makes for a better and more rounded human being
- Emotional justifications: in which music making is a means of developing our emotional intelligence
No one can doubt the importance of how achievement in the arts can positively benefit the self esteem of pupils or their ability to collaborate with others, although it is less certain that this is a power specific to music and the arts. However, this is a partial and often pathological account of what learning in music is essentially about. The resources typically report on pupils who are disaffected, have special educational needs or low self esteem. Consequently the learning behaviours targeted in the projects are not musical behaviours but generic behaviours. The emphasis here is often on music impacting upon general behaviour as opposed to the pupils developing the behaviours necessary to be successful at music. This is an important distinction if music is not just seen to be a way of ‘soothing the savage beast’. For this reason, the discipline of learning in music is underplayed in these resources in favour of learning through music. In B4L terms the relationship with the curriculum is subverted by an emphasis on relationships with self and others, and this is an unbalanced manifestation of the model.
This critique is does not underestimate the importance of the projects to the pupils involved. It can also be conceded that music specific learning behaviours were developed as part of the work. However, the message is important here and learning in music should not just be seen as servicing social and personal development if it is to be taken seriously as a discipline by all pupils. Resources which focus on a notion of ‘music can be good for you’ tend to underplay the importance of a pupils’ relationship with the curriculum. Recent curriculum development initiatives such as Musical Futures have shown how important this is if learning behaviours are to be developed in music. The project is based on a premise that pupils are alienated from the music curriculum when they do not ‘own’ it, and getting this relationship right is crucial. Indeed, there are precious few resources in music which explore the implications of a fully integrated approach to learning behaviours as outlined in the B4L model.
Conclusion and challenges for ITE
Behaviour is complex and there are many issues which are outside of the influence of music teachers. There are no quick fixes, but what is certain is that if the wide ranging implications of the B4L model are take into consideration when dealing with pupils, they are more likely to exhibit learning behaviours.
The main challenges for ITE are:
- how to integrate the B4L model into learning how to teach music and move away from ‘tips for teachers’;
- how to show that almost anything that we do in ITE has a bearing on what has been traditionally called behaviour management, but is more usefully conceived of as developing learning behaviours in our pupils.
