Impact of school-wide positive behaviour support on learners' wellbeing and engagement

Schools implementing School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) aim to create effective and equitable learning environments that benefit all students, including those who may be disconnected from school and exhibit behaviours of concern. Schools implementing an SWPBS framework are well-positioned to incorporate this approach into their existing practices. Central to SWPBS is the prevention of disruptive and anti-social behaviour using data-based decision-making. The authors examine systems for preventing and responding to challenging behaviour; in particular, they emphasise the importance of teaching social behaviour in non-classroom school locations for the purpose of increasing prosocial behaviour. Research from a large-scale longitudinal mixed-methods study funded by the Australian Research Council and the NSW Department of Education is used to elucidate how schools that had been implementing SWPBS for at least five years established improved approaches to addressing disengaged learners and learners with behaviours of concern. Although the research reported demonstrates the positive impact of SWPBS on students’ wellbeing and engagement with learning, future SWPBS research needs to extend beyond case studies and quasi-experimental research designs. Australia needs more investment in robust research designs, which utilise the higher levels of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s evidence hierarchy, to more rigorously ascertain the impact of SWPBS on academic and non-academic outcomes