Behavior Guidance Policy

Rationale: To ensure that all adults at Bright Beginnings are aware of the practice of guiding children’s behaviour. Bright Beginnings aims to collaborate with parents and whaanau in providing positive guidance with regard to their child’s behaviour.

Policy:

1. Bright Beginnings will uphold the Early Childhood Regulations-
   1. Every child in the centre learns respect and dignity for each other and every child is afforded this right;
   2. Every child is given positive guidance and reinforcement for appropriate behaviour, with respect to their age and stage of development;
   3. Every child is given positive guidance using praise and encouragement and avoiding blame, harsh language and belittling or degrading responses;
   4. Children shall be encouraged to verbalise feelings and wants rather than use physical measures;
   5. Children are given guidance and control but no child receiving guidance and control is subjected to any form of ill treatment, solitary confinement, immobilisation or deprivation of food, drink, warmth, shelter or protection.
2. Bright Beginnings aspires for children-
   1. Respect: to encourage all children to have respect for themselves, for other people (their feelings, beliefs and values) and for the environment;
   2. Understanding and Compassion: to help children to understand other people’s views and experiences and to be caring and accepting of them;
   3. Responsibility: to enable children to have an increasing ability to take responsibility for their own actions and to understand the consequences of their behaviour;
   4. Fairness and Equality: to give children an understanding of how to be equitable to all; to share and give everyone an equal opportunity (with respect to everyone’s different needs);
   5. Politeness and Consideration: to teach children how to be fair to all and how to be polite and considerate whilst acknowledging cultural traditions and values;
   6. Kindness: to promote acts of kindness for each other and to assist children in ways of being safe towards each other;
   7. Trust and Safety: to show children how to keep themselves and each other safe and to give them the confidence to express their concerns and fears in an appropriate way.
3. Bright Beginnings believes the purpose for guiding children’s behaviour is to-
   1. Teach children how to be a good friend. We believe all children want and need friends;
   2. Provide a holistic approach to guiding children’s behaviour;
   3. Enable children to develop self-management skills and to take responsibility for their actions in a safe and nurturing environment;
   4. View the guidance of children’s behaviour as a long term and ongoing process, and that children develop the understanding that their personal worth is not dependant upon daily behaviour or ability;
   5. To work in collaboration with parents and whaanau, providing a continuum between Bright Beginnings and the child’s home environment;
   6. To comply with legislation.

Recommended procedure:

1. Teachers will model desirable behaviour and act as positive role models for children at all times.
2. Teachers will contribute to creating a stimulating and interactive environment that encourages children’s learning and development with a space for innovative and creative learning experiences for children.
3. Children will have specific, clear boundaries and limits of acceptable behaviour toward children, adults and the environment.
4. Children will have the opportunity to explore what it means to be a good friend and be responsible for the implementation of this concept.
5. Rules regarding safety issues will be non-negotiable.
6. Encouragement, praise and positive guidance of acceptable behaviour will be the focus for guiding children’s behaviour.
7. Open and fluent communication between teachers every day is important. It ensures consistency and supports and encourages others in guiding children’s behaviour.
8. Teachers will be allocated daily areas of responsibility to ensure all areas of play are adequately supervised and a healthy and safe environment is provided where children can develop their understanding of playing as a good friend.
9. Children will be encouraged to work cooperatively alongside others, to take responsibility for their actions, and to develop an awareness and respect for the rights of others.
10. All adults within the boundaries of Bright Beginnings will not, at any time, use any form of physical or emotional punishment for guiding children’s behaviour.
11. A variety of strategies can be employed to positively guide children’s behaviour:
    1. Anticipate – teachers will be aware of the social nature of children, and therefore adequately supervise children in their interactions. Positive reinforcement of acceptable behaviours will be used through verbal and non-verbal communication;
    2. Be Boring – teachers will attend to the child and not their behaviour, they will avoid giving labels to children, especially words such as ‘naughty’ or ‘bad’. Using their knowledge of the child, staff will use the most appropriate behaviour management strategy;
    3. Interrupt – staff will interrupt inappropriate behaviours by directly speaking to the child and discussing the behaviour with them;
    4. Redirect/Reinforce – staff will use positive redirection and reinforcement. If a child is angry or lashing out, they will be encouraged to find appropriate ways of dealing with their emotions, for example- kick a ball or vent their frustration on the play dough;
    5. Chill Out – if a child has lost control of themselves, teachers may temporarily remove the child from the play area to a quiet and safe area. A teacher will remain with the child during this time. The child will always have the opportunity to discuss their behaviour and ways to peacefully resolve it. Children will also be encouraged to develop self-management strategies by indicating when they are ready to play as a good friend.
12. The teacher will always step into a situation when-
    1. Children are not using safe hands;
    2. The play becomes destructive of the materials or equipment;
    3. The children ask for help, or it seems evident that they need help;
    4. Children are not using kind words;
    5. The noise level starts to escalate;
    6. Children are not using good listening;
    7. Children exhibit signs of stress-raised voices, tense body language, tears etc;
    8. Opportunities to extend play occur;
    9. A child interferes with another’s creativity.
13. At all times parents, caregivers and whanau will be informed and part of the process in establishing behaviour guidance plan for their child. There may be background occurrences that are influencing children’s behaviour. This may include-
    1. Children’s health and well-being, learning and development, sleep patterns, nutritional needs, and stress levels due to certain circumstances.
14. Teachers will assess and modify the immediate learning environment. That is, the centre layout, routines, curriculum, group sizes, rules and expectations, teacher to child ratios, interactions between teachers, children and their peers. Teachers will-
    1. Seek information from parents/whaanau about their behaviour guidance for their child and collaboratively work together to achieve consistency;
    2. Develop as a team a scale of positive reinforcement strategies for children with behaviours of concern. Positive reinforcement strategies could be-
       1. A smile;
       2. A high five, a handshake or a hug;
       3. Praise;
       4. Incentives for socially competent behaviour.
    3. Support the child to play as a good friend;
    4. Help the children to express themselves appropriately using verbal and non-verbal communication;
    5. Foster children’s self-worth, self-esteem and confidence;
    6. Document behaviour plans and give copies to teachers and parents/whaanau;
    7. Ensure and maintain confidentiality. Confidentiality is of paramount importance.
15. In the instance that the above strategies have been explored with a child, staff may seek outside advice and guidance from child protection agencies, health agencies or organisations such as Group Special Education.