One third of Australia’s children will be better supported at school, thanks to a Telethon Kids Institute evidence review of what works best to support student behaviour needs.
New South Wales schools will focus more on prevention, early intervention and promotion of student wellbeing, under a recently released student behaviour strategy informed by Telethon Kids Institute research and recommendations.
Researchers led by Professor Donna Cross, Program Head of Development and Education at Telethon Kids, undertook an evidence review in collaboration with the NSW Department of Education and other stakeholders.
Released in 2019, the report – Strengthening school and system capacity to implement effective interventions to support student behaviour and wellbeing in NSW public schools – provided the local context and evidence base needed to strengthen the NSW education system’s approach to student behaviour and support for schools and teachers.
The New South Wales Education Student Behaviour Strategy, released in March this year and currently being rolled out across the state, is based on local and international best practice and focuses on early intervention, increased support, and professional development – all aimed at assisting teachers’ classroom management and student behaviour needs.
Senior research fellow Dr Natasha Pearce said the report which originally informed the strategy had helped the NSW Department of Education to take a proactive systems approach rather than reactive approaches to poor behaviour, and to focus on embedding positive behaviour influences within relationships, the curriculum, and the wider school process.
“Our report used three sources of evidence and identified common themes across all three to develop a plan for good practice and implementation support,” Dr Pearce said.
“The results have provided the evidence to strengthen the capacity of the system and schools to implement effective interventions and support student behaviour and wellbeing across the continuum of care.”
Dr Pearce said that to ensure the report reflected local context, researchers mapped the current capacity of New South Wales’s student behaviour support system and gathered evidence from NSW educators to identify approaches that were working well and opportunities for improvement.
In line with the recommendations, the state’s new behaviour strategy moves beyond management and discipline only, to include a wellbeing and prevention approach – giving schools easier access to allied health and professional behaviour support services.
Professor Cross said the collaborative nature of the report – which saw researchers work in partnership with the NSW Department of Education (Learning and Wellbeing Directorate), the Centre for Evidence and Implementation, and NSW school staff and stakeholders – allowed for more impactful recommendations.
“Combining years of research with evidence-based practice by our team and others from around the world allowed us to impact policy and practice in a meaningful and sustainable way,” Professor Cross said.
She said the resulting strategy was innovative and would deliver a new system of learning and wellbeing to students and teachers. “It will put early intervention and an expert workforce at the forefront of student behaviour initiatives within the New South Wales education system.”