Incredible Years program improving student behaviour

<h3>The Incredible Years program has been highly praised by education minister Hekia Parata for its impact on primary children&&num;8217&semi;s behaviour&period;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"content">&NewLine;<p>Speaking at the Positive Behaviour for Learning &lpar;PB4L&rpar; school-wide conference in Wellington&comma; Ms Parata released the results of an evaluation of the Incredible Years &lpar;IY&rpar; teacher program&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More than 12&comma;000 teachers who work with children aged three to eight years old have completed the Incredible Years Programme since it was introduced in 2011&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The evaluation by the New Zealand Council for Education Research &lpar;NZCER&rpar; surveyed around 1&comma;000 of those teachers&period; They found that 90 per cent of ECE teachers and 75 per cent of primary teachers reported less disruptive behaviour in their class following this course&period; &&num;8220&semi;That’s really significant for those children&comma; as well as for their teachers&comma;” says Ms Parata&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The IY program focuses on strengthening classroom management strategies&comma; promoting children’s positive social behaviour&comma; reducing classroom aggression and increasing cooperation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Creating positive environments where children can learn enhances their achievement&period; This evaluation showed that for those children identified with the most challenging behaviour&comma; by the end of 2014&comma; 55 per cent of them were achieving at a medium or high level compared to 35 per cent at the start of the year&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The IY program is part of the PB4L initiative&comma; which has been shown to have a positive impact on school environments and student behaviour&period; Nearly 700 schools are participating in PB4L School-Wide&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A total of &dollar;105&period;2 million has been invested in PB4L since 2010&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;