Product reviews for That Behaviour Book

This book will challenge you to confront yourself. Do not read it unless you are ready to go on a journey to being a better teacher and a better human being. Whilst this book provides so many valuable tools and strategies, it is so much more than a ‘how to ... what to do if’ book. Steve is clear that our biggest asset in the classroom is our willingness to see children as fellow human beings. As Steve eloquently puts it, ‘Your job as a teacher is to help young people build their futures, to assist them to thrive and achieve their potential.’

I have long been suspicious of the so-called ‘zero tolerance’ approach to behaviour. How can we say we love and value our children and have developed sophisticated policies and protocols to safeguard our children from harm, yet say we have zero tolerance of behaviour, which may well be communicating distress, trauma, fear and distrust? Perhaps the most subversive thing about this book is that it challenges the notion that children and young people are to blame for disruptive classrooms. As adults in the classroom, we have the power to create learning environments of mutual respect; Steve provides both the tools and research to prove this to be true.

Steve is himself a student of life, and in this book he is honest enough to laugh at himself. This book will make you laugh at yourself too. Steve’s anecdotes are presented in a wonderful ‘Gervase Phinn’ style and readers will identify with so many of the stories relayed by Steve.

Reading this book gave me hope. Hope to believe that there is a better way to teach and support our children, not least those from broken homes and dysfunctional families. Nelson Mandela suggested that education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world. Yet too many of our children are being excluded from lessons and even their own school community every day. If every teacher and every Ofsted inspector were to read this book, and apply the challenges and tools provided in their professional work, I believe we would see outcomes improve and the so-called disadvantage gap close significantly.