I was covering a lesson the other day with some slightly disengaged year-eleven pupils the other day; nothing terrible, but they just weren’t focusing or responding to my chivvying (sp?) along. After a little while, one of the pupils asked if they might be allowed to have the radio on. I then offered this an incentive for “five minutes of focused working”. Instantly, heads went down, mouths shut firm and pens scribbled furiously. I turned the radio on after five minutes, and they kept going. Thirty-five minutes later, they had all done thirty-five minutes of virtually silent completely focused work, and the lesson ended. Amazing.

I had the same class later that same day. They came in, and I said that if they worked hard for five minutes, I’d put the radio on. I rather generously put it on after about 20 minutes or moderate work, and turned it off about three minutes later. Come period 5, the year nines couldn’t have cared less if I put the damn radio on or not.

The missing ingredient should be pretty obvious: ownership. In the first lesson, it was their idea, of something they actually wanted – and there was the peer pressure of the fact that one of their number had suggested it, and would be annoyed if someone else spoilt their chances of getting it. Behaviour management is in many ways all about this simple idea: rewards are things that pupils want, sanctions are things they don’t want. And things they (don’t) want now. Finding what those things are is the challenge we must all face.