Going to infant and junior school is all about learning, but not just learning numeracy and literacy. Until children learn how to behave appropriately in a classroom then their academic learning is often secondary and unfortunately if a child is disruptive then they can prevent other children from learning.

Encouraging good behaviour in the classroom is an essential part of a child’s education, just like learning other social skills. This behaviour cannot be learned at home as ‘classroom behaviour’ is, in many ways totally different from ‘home behaviour’ so it needs to be taught and learned in school. Many teachers become very frustrated because their efforts to teach children the National Curriculum are undermined by the difficulty of maintaining discipline in circumstances which are far from ideal. However, there are things which can be done to improve matters and these small incremental measures can have ‘knock on’ effects. That is not to say that teaching is ever, ever easy.

All children respond well to positive reinforcement, in fact they respond better to positive reinforcement than negative. So giving praise and encouragement for behaving in the right way is more likely to get them to behave well than telling them off when they behave badly. However, they also tend to forget pretty quickly as well, especially in reception classes, so you need something more long lasting than a word of praise.

Here at Brainwaves we produce all kinds of certificates, badges and stickers to help motivate children to achieve and to continue achieving. Amongst our ranges you will find a fabulous set of stickers to reward good behaviour. The beauty of stickers is that they are seen, and commented on, by other people in school and the child will still be wearing them at home time, so their parents will also encourage their good behaviour in the classroom.