BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT

Behavior Management

Behavior Management and Operant Conditioning

Behavior Management at Schools

Education institutions are established for the purpose of making children learn and acquire behavioral skills that are desirable in the society. There are several ways for teachers to apply different teaching style considering behavior management theories. Some teachers are effective in managing students some apply different rules and norms of the class which does not encourage students at all. The responsibility of teacher is not to give lecture and learning materials but also to create such an environment where students learn and enable teachers to provide quality education and learning skills to their students.

As a matter of fact, if we take into account the management theories we come to realize that teacher's personality and their implementation of management techniques play major role in students' outcome or results. Sometimes teachers' management styles vary according to the ethics and policies of the schools.

Schools have a culture of teaching children everything regarding discipline and manners that children are meant to follow. This strategy is applicable for those students who are well mannered, average and mildly naughty in nature, who need to be reminded of the set behavior and boundaries but this strategy does not work for those who are disturbed, uncontrollable and deliberately rude. Those students are not bad at all; they are actually psychologically or emotionally disturbed and need special attention of teachers.

Student Centred Approach

Student centered approach give freedom to children to apply their behavior on their own will. There will be no strict rule involved in managing behavior. The approach is based on independency that encourages students' participation in decision making, group discussion, assign responsibility of behavior to the class, encourage active participation and let them make their own goals and objectives. Some teachers are very rigid and adopt traditional style of teaching. Teaching style depends on a child's nature and situation. If a student is out of control, violent and ill-mannered, teacher would not apply the same student centered approach as child is already spoiled and immature, he would not adopt and decide the positive behavior himself.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning (also called instrumental conditioning, learning and Skinnerian conditioning type II) is a concept of behaviorism initiated by Edward Thorndike and developed by Skinner in the mid- twentieth century. This theory is interested in learning which results in action, taking into account the consequences of making it more or less likely the reproduction of said behavior.

In psychology, operant conditioning is a form of learning in which the result (the reinforcing stimulus) is contingent on the behavior that occurs. Operant conditioning involves the execution of behaviors that operate on the environment based on the consequences (outcomes). In general terms, the behavior that is favorable is followed by a favorable outcome, strengthening the behavior's tendency to be repeated (Cole, M.R. pp. 247-262). Operant conditioning is an associative learning that has to do with the development of new behaviors in terms of their consequences, not the association between stimuli and reflex behaviors that exist in classical ...