Teaching for positive behaviour

<h2 class&equals;"intro">Supporting the social and emotional wellbeing of our children and young people is a priority for all school leaders and teachers&comma; according to the Ministry of Education&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>With this in mind&comma; the Ministry has just published a new resource written for teachers in all New Zealand schools and kura to help them support the behaviour&comma; engagement&comma; participation and learning of children and young people&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Teaching for Positive Behaviour<&sol;em> includes sections on creating a supportive learning environment&comma; encouraging reflective thought and action&comma; facilitating shared learning&comma; and providing sufficient opportunities to learn&period; Each section has a range of strategies for teachers to use along with an example of effective practice&period; The resource also includes activities designed to support staff professional learning and development and links to further information&period;  There is also a self-assessment tool at the back&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While this resource focuses on proactive and purposeful approaches to teaching and learning&comma; wider aspects of school life also impact on a students’ wellbeing and their ability to focus and learn&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Wellbeing&commat;School toolkit&comma; wellbeingatschool&period;org&period;nz&comma; it has been specifically designed to help schools identify how different aspects of school life contribute to a safe and caring environment and deter bullying&period; It can also suggest particular areas to focus on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the Ministry&comma; children and young people might appear okay when there is actually an underlying problem&period;  Local and international research suggests that bullying is a serious problem in our schools&period; The best way to find out how students genuinely feel about the environment at their school is to ask them through an anonymous student survey&comma; such as the Wellbeing&commat;School survey&period; It is now free of charge through until December 2018&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;