Supporting students with problem behaviour in school settings

There is a need in Australian schools to replace child-excluding discipline of problem behaviour with more child-including approaches. Positive behavioural support (PBS) is a systematic, educative process for managing problem behaviour. This approach to assessment and intervention for students with special needs is firmly established in research and in practice, particularly in the USA and the UK. For a decade, formal training in PBS at Griffith University has enabled individual teachers to become competent coordinators of the intervention process for specific students. Some Griffith initiatives in PBS training have enabled graduates not only to effect individual case management in special education units but also to facilitate and lead school-wide interventions. Three projects in Queensland schools over several years have sought to build capacity within school communities through teamwork and university-school collaborations. Properties and issues in PBS implementation are discussed.Arts, Education & Law Group, School of Education and Professional StudiesFull Tex