Behaviour Contracts

Students who continually find difficulty in meeting expectations and agreements need the ongoing support of their parents/carers and teachers to do so. It is our duty of care to ensure that we continue to strive to find strategies which will be successful in assisting them to do the right thing and do the thing right. 

Sometimes it is too easy for us to adopt the attitude that these students 'can’t learn', rather than the more preferable one of, “I haven’t got what it takes to inspire them to learn.” 

A “Behaviour Contract” is a strategy that has proven an impetus and support for students to modify their behaviours to focus on their learning. Such a contract must be seen as one of the last opportunities the student has to meet expectations, before serious consideration of their future enrolment begins. The key outcome to strive for in all cases is win-win for everyone; this may mean the student being moved to another educational setting. 

Guidelines to follow when designing a Behaviour Contract include:

• people to be present must include the student, his/her parents/carers, student’s advocate (usually Welfare Coordinator), Assistant/ Deputy Principal and any outside agency representatives (if any)
• it must be time bound; another meeting scheduled a week or two later to assess progress or lack of it
• acceptable behaviours are clearly agreed upon and documented
• unacceptable behaviours are clearly agreed upon and documented
• rewards for meeting the contract discussed, agreed upon and documented
• consequences for breaking the contract discussed, agreed upon and documented
• the contract signed by all present and explained to all the student’s teachers 

Should the student meet the expectations of the contract, then he/she has earned the right to continue his/her education in mainstream classes. Vigilant monitoring of the student’s progress is essential to support him/her remain on track. 

Should the student not meet the contract by continuing to not meet expectations and agreements, the Assistant Principal will instigate formal suspension/expulsion/exclusion processes or seek an alternative educational setting. Usually, students on behaviour contracts are also supported by counselling in areas of anger management, self esteem, family issues, etc. They may also be on modified learning programs. 

To send consistent acceptable behavioural messages to the school community of students, parents and teachers of 'the way we do things around here', both rewards and consequences need to be regularly communicated.

Please click here for a Behaviour Contract  

“So many people fail to realise that “them” is really “us”.” P.K. Shaw