Behavior is generally termed disruptive when it disrupts the teacher's plans, upsets other class members, or in some way disturbs the process of teaching and learning in the classroom. In other words, the behavior is inappropriate in the context of the classroom and is unacceptable since it detracts from the education of the other pupils. The question remains of how to deal with such behavior and the pupils exhibiting it and, above all, how to encourage desirable behavior. This article focus on man­aging the individual in a way which is, in the long term, likely to produce least disruption and, therefore, minimal conflict.

It is possible to trace a line of cause and effect: if a human being is in dif­ficulty he or she will frequently create difficulties for others as well as for him or herself. If a child in your class habitually causes you problems, he or she is not the problem (even though it may feel like that) - he or she has a problem. This difference in perception can of itself alter your way of han­dling a situation and, therefore, the outcome.

Some pupils are simply too sad, too anxious or too angry to learn. Indeed, the three emotions are often all present and may come to the sur­face unexpectedly. Thus a pupil who is anxious or sad may suddenly become very angry. Anger may be easier to feel than sadness or fear.

I would like to emphasize that it is not for a teacher to probe into any personal difficulties a pupil may have since the former's role is to teach and he or she is neither therapist nor social worker. However, a working under­standing of a pupil's behavior can often be helpful since it may suggest ways of managing the pupil effectively so that he or she can at least cope, and at best succeed, in school.

Disruptive or reasonable? A way of considering disruptive behaviour

It could be said that all behavior is 'reasonable' if seen from the particu­lar thinking of the person responsible for it. That is to say, behavior that is totally unreasonable in a classroom could be said to be 'reasonable' if seen from the pupil's viewpoint, even if it could never be permitted. I am not suggesting that disruptive behavior should be sanctioned. Far from it, the point I am making is that understanding the thinking behind undesir­able behavior may provide a key for relating to the pupil in such a way that he or she is more likely to adopt acceptable behavior in the future. Rather than assuming that the pupil is determined to make your life as dif­ficult as possible and is simply bad, it can thus be useful to ask why he or she is resorting to disruptive behaviors for example, habit; lack of alter-native skills; preferring to disrupt than appear stupid; frustration at not being able to do the work; attempting to gain peer approval because of poor self-esteem; the need to feel 'powerful' in some way; desire for attention; for a specific reason, as with the girl with the scraps of paper mentioned earlier; as a protest against authority.

It is often useful to consider what the behavior might be saying. It is unlikely to be random and will be communicating something about and doing something for the pupil. It may, perhaps, illustrate and confirm his or her world view or perceived position in it. Thus it will in some way help the pupil make sense of the world. It may be a deeply entrenched belief resulting from earlier experiences or may have been triggered by a specif­ic incident Sometimes it is almost as if the pupil has a particular script of a play illustrating his or her stance in life. The undesirable behavior is the cue for the teacher to follow on in a way the pupil expects according to that script. If the teacher does so the pupil's self-image is confirmed. The self-image is usually a troublesome one or else the behavior would not be reg­ularly disruptive. If the teacher follows the script offered and confirms the pupil's self-image and world view the undesirable behavior has been suc­cessful and has been reinforced.

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