Behaviorist theory

Behavioral approaches are undoubtedly the ones that presently underpin class room management strategy and most discipline policies such as ‘assertive discipline’. Wheldall, Watson and Skinner are all behavior theorists (cited in Olsen and Cooper, 2001) who believe the most effective way to help learners with behavior problems is by teaching them new behaviors through the use of rewards and sanctions. Encompassed in the philosophy of this theoretical approach is the reasoning that the most powerful means of shaping behavior is that of rewards and sanctions. Thus, if a school’s behavior policy adopted this theoretical stance, a learner would be rewarded for appropriate behavior and sanctioned for any inappropriate behavior. Decisions about what rewards and sanctions are implemented are most consistently reached through observations, documentation and analysis of the specific behavior in question. It is considered that in this way rewards will shape and reinforce desired behavior, while at the same time making the negative behaviors that receive sanctions less attractive.

Case study

A Year 2 pupil, X, is unable to participate in a whole outside playtime without hitting and hurting his peers. Pupil Xs teacher, TA and SENCO all observe playtime behavior over a twoweek period looking for clues for the change in Xs behavior. Factual information is correlated regarding Xs offences and analyzed as carefully as possible looking at factors such as friendship groups, teachers on playground duty and next lessons. Xs parents are also consulted and agree to support the school by offering rewards at home if the hitting stops at school. A reward program is designed for X, giving extra choosing time if hitting does not occur during three playtimes. If X does hit another child, an outside play session has to be missed. X enjoys the extra choosing time at school and the additional rewards and praise from parents at home and dislikes missing playtimes. Within a matter of weeks the incidents of hitting decrease and eventually disappear. In this instance the behaviorist approach is successful.

Case study

Pupil Y is also a Year 2 student and displays very similar behavior to that of pupil X. The school carries out the same assessment process as they did with Pupil X. It was decided to implement a replica of Xs rewards and sanctions program including the parental support. However, after a period of two weeks no improvement in Ys behavior had been noticed and in fact the majority of the playtimes had been spent inside on his own with an adult supervisor. Y did not respond to or desire extra choosing time and did not seem to wish to please his parents. After another two weeks the program was stopped as it was only managing to isolate Y further from his peers. Other rewards and sanctions were tried by the school within its behavioral approach, but Y did not show any consistent positive behavior change. Another approach needed to be applied to meet Ys needs. In this instance the behavioral approach was not successful.

Undoubtedly educators consider the behaviorist approach to be the most straightforward and effective method for the majority of learners. However, it does not take into consideration the percentage of learners who do not value rewards and sanctions. It is for this group that educators frequently want quick fix strategies, not acknowledging that without understanding why a particular intervention is implemented will quite likely make it ineffectual and inappropriate. Vygotsky, Piaget and Bruner also felt that this ‘behaviorist’ approach was too restrictive and needed to take into consideration the social situation in which the behavior occurred. They also felt that behavior is very dependent on others and on the specific context in which it happens as well as on the self (Olsen and Cooper, 2001).