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3 Behaviour: Creating a Calm Working Environment Sarah Pavey Introduction In this chapter, we will learn about creating an ambient environment that supports the use of our library space by all our school community. We will consider how and why disruption may occur occasionally and how we can reso...

3 Behaviour: Creating a Calm Working Environment Sarah Pavey Introduction In this chapter, we will learn about creating an ambient environment that supports the use of our library space by all our school community. We will consider how and why disruption may occur occasionally and how we can resolve it calmly and assertively so that it does not impact on other users of our service. Maybe you have a family of your own. Maybe you have experience of working with children. Maybe this role presents a whole new scenario for you and possibly, in a secondary school environment, you are not much older than some of your students. Behavioural issues with students can be stressful at times and although working in a school library is fun, this is only if we feel able to do our job effectively and within a safe environment. The good news is that most students will behave well; some may cause minor disruptions at times but only a handful will require serious intervention (DfE, 2017). Unfortunately, it is usually these few students who are the most challenging ·and visible. In this chapter, we will consider why students may be disruptive, how we can address these issues to restore balance and what changes we can make to our library to ensure a calm working environment. Why does challenging behaviour happen? Students are not naturally naughty. As humans, we need social interactions for our wellbeing and if a child is disruptive, it is usually for a reason. They may be hungry or thirsty; they may be in pain; they may be feeling too hot or too cold; they may have been upset or angry with something or someone recently; they may be being bullied; and we should be mindful that even the 30 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT weather can affect their attitude. But it might just be their brain. The part of the brain that restrains impulsive action is not fully developed until we are 25 years old (Arain et al., 2013). Children are programmed to do silly things, which is part of their lifelong learning process. Without that experience, it is difficult for them to understand why appropriate behaviour is expected. Most students will already have learned acceptable social norms growing up within their home and be 'school ready', but some will not have had a role model and this can lead to challenging behaviour. In general, students who misbehave: are unhappy, unwilling or unable to work have achieved less praise for their work have specific learning difficulties or are underachieving have poor social skills have low self-esteem are emotionally volatile are easily hurt or upset by others. However, a sudden behaviour incident may also arise as a reaction to a stressful situation. When we are stressed, angry or feeling uncomfortable, it causes levels of a chemical called adrenaline in our body to rise. This places us on high alert and brings basic instincts into action. We naturally will want to run away or fight the situation we are in that causes us distress. When a student is under the influence of raised adrenaline levels, they will not be able to listen to what we tell them or predict what might happen in the future as a consequence of their actions. They may be prone to a sudden impulsive response. Sometimes, we might meet these students while being unaware of their situation and can inadvertently trigger a behavioural incident. Here's an example - Sam got out on the wrong side of the bed. First, there was a massive row at home because he could not find his school shoes and so he put on trainers. He stormed out without breakfast. He was pulled up for his footwear on arrival at school and given a detention. He was in such a state when he arrived for his first lesson that he dropped his bag, which contained a drink that then spilt all over his friend's books resulting in a swearing match. The teacher sent him to the Headteacher because he swore at her too. He was sent back to his next lesson at the end of the period and told to report back to the Headteacher at the end of the day. He then wanders into your library at breaktime and knocks over a display stand ... The difficulty is that raised levels of adrenaline can last for 90 minutes. It is like a firework that has failed to ignite and if we return to it too soon it can explode unexpectedly. In schools, there is rarely time for a 90-minute time BEHAVIOUR: CREATING A CALM WORKING ENVIRONMENT 31 out and teenagers can be impulsive. We can now see how a 'bad day' can escalate from a minor incident to an exclusion level very quickly. We need to be mindful of these possibilities, but conversely, we should not be offering our library as a sanctuary for students who have misbehaved. Most students need the library and its services to be available to them and to provide an atmosphere conducive to work and leisure activities. We should be wary of promoting the idea that the library is a detention centre for those who have broken the school rules. Challenging behaviour can also arise through poor communication. Our students are not mini adults - they are children. As such, they have a limited experience of life and social situations. When we speak with people, we base what we say to them on our own perspectives. That perception is built from our experiences, our moral standards and expectations. The other participants in the conversation will reply based on their own values. If those viewpoints differ there may be an argument. However, if we try to understand where other people are coming from then we can have a constructive discussion. With students, we need to appreciate that their perspective on a situation may be very different to ours - they often have different priorities because they have no experience of the consequences. We also need to be mindful of our own language. Librarian: Lucy, can you please leave your bag in the locker area. Lucy: I can't, Miss. Librarian: What do you mean you can't? Of course you can. Just g and put it away. Lucy: I've got things in it I need. Librarian: Don't be stupid. Just go and put it in the locker. Lucy: Don't call me stupid. Librarian: Look, just go and put the bag in the locker. Lucy: No, I won't. You can't make me. Librarian: Right, that is it. You are going straight to the Headteacher. Lucy (to her friends who are listening): Silly cow! How could this have been handled better? Maybe Lucy did have items in her bag she needed for her own personal reasons. Nonetheless, there may have been a no bags policy in the library for health and safety reasons, for example, to avoid tripping over bulky holdalls on the floor. Perhaps the librarian needed to take Lucy to one side and find out the reason behind her defiance. This scenario also illustrates another common communication problem as Lucy was quite disrespectful to the librarian in the language she used. Sometimes, students have not yet learned how to adapt their tone and speech 32 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT according to the person they are addressing, which could be because their home environment has not nurtured these social skills (Behaviour2Learn, 2011). As a result, they may communicate with people in authority in the same way that they would their friends. Inevitably, this causes resentment and hostility. Remember, students tend to misbehave for a reason. It might be to gain peer approval, to gain attention, to avoid work or because they are not used to adults setting boundaries. Dreikurs, Grunwald and Pepper (2013) identified four goals of misbehaviour, outlined below. Attention goal Zoe knew that if she opened her packet of crisps noisily under the table, the librarian would be over in a shot. The librarian heard the noise and thought 'Oh no, here we go again'. He asked Zoe to stop, and she did, but she then tried to start a personal conversation. The librarian said he was busy and as soon as his back was turned, Zoe was munching again. He returned and asked her to hand over the crisps. The packet was empty. As soon as the librarian returned to his desk, he heard another packet being opened. This time, he ignored it. Zoe, realising he was not coming over again, stopped, and put the crisps away. When Zoe left the library, the librarian took her to one side and praised her for having the sense to put the bag away by herself without the need to be told. Zoe would learn that she gets rewarded for not attracting attention in an unwanted manner. Power goal Josh was reading his book at breaktime. The issue was thatJoshhad managed to spread himself and his belongings over three of the comfy chairs in the reading corner. The librarian asked him to move slightly so that others could use the space. Josh refused, saying, 'Look, I am reading my book quietly and now you are disturbing me. This is a library and it is here for reading and these others probably won't be behaving as well as I am.' Again, the librarian suggests that he moves up. Josh gets angry, saying, 'Here we go again, you are not even respecting your own rules.' At this point, the librarian was exasperated by Josh's attitude and wanted to get him out of the library altogether. But then she reflected and said, 'Oh Josh, you are one of my best library users, I wondered if you could help me with something where I need a knowledgeable person. Leave your things for a minute and come with me.' Here we can see how the librarian has distracted Josh from his dominance over the issue and yet kept his alliance. BEHAVIOUR: CREATING A CALM WORKING ENVIRONMENT 33 Revenge goal Amit had been so badly behaved one breaktime the previous week that the librarian had asked him to leave the library. He had been constantly annoying others, preventing them from working and reading and they had complained about him. Amit was not happy about this. Amit storms back into the library and starts randomly pulling books off the shelves and leaving them all over the room. The librarian asks him to stop but Amit just shouts, 'You hate me, you have it in for me, so it doesn't matter what I do.' Then, he upsets a chess set all over the floor. The librarian thinks, 'Why is he over-reacting like this? I am not going to let him get away with this,' and says, 'Right get out ... NOW!' Amit retorts, 'See, I know you hate me and you don't want me in here.' The next time Amit returns ready to wreak revenge, the librarian takes him aside for a word, sits him down in the office and tries to understand what is making him feel he is being unfairly treated. They can work out how to resolve the issue together and avoid him being excluded from the library again. Display of inadequacy goal Nadia is crying in a comer of the library on her own again. The librarian moves over to her and wearily asks what is wrong. Nadia says she is so useless and worthless at everything she does. The librarian makes helpful suggestions but every one of them is rejected by Nadia for various reasons. The librarian despairs at the situation and is exhausted by the constant effort and guilt of having such an unhappy child in the library. Nadia, not having had any reprimand for this behaviour, or action on her part requested, continues along the same track. The librarian changes tack and asks Nadia about life outside school. It turns out she has a puppy at home and is training it. The librarian praises her for what must be a difficult job that not everyone would have the patience to see through. The librarian is not sympathising with Nadia's current situation but, through finding alternatives, can raise her self-esteem and get her to refocus, away from the negative attention seeking behaviour pattern. Some students may have recognised learning difficulties or special needs and this can affect how they behave towards us and others in the library. Within a lesson, the teacher will be aware of this, or the student will have a support worker, but in breaktimes these students often choose to visit the library as a place of sanctuary, knowing there will be an adult present to help and/or protect them. The difficulty may be that during these times we have different rules concerning behaviour and this can pose challenges for these students. We should try and familiarise ourselves with the special needs 34 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT register and, if possible, attend any staff meetings where concerns about students are raised so we are aware of special circumstances. A student with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or who is on the autism spectrum CAN'T conform but generally they will want to. If we confront them for running around in the library, they will be confused and not understand what they did wrong. We can create opportunities for ADHD students, for example, to shout 'Library will close in 5 minutes' or getting them to run an errand as a chance for them to get up and about. We could keep fidget toys at the library desk for students to borrow or invest in special seat cushions to loan out that address ADHD needs and keep these students calm. For those with autism or Asperger's Syndrome, we must ensure they have understood what the behaviour rules look like in practice. A student with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) WON'T conform unless it is on their terms. These students will claim victimisation and try to place the blame for their behaviour on you. For example, if you caution them for speaking too loudly, they will accuse you of singling them out and then will suggest they were only having to raise their voice because you were not in control of library noise levels. With these students, we need to be firm but fair and be willing to be flexible. We should avoid shouting back at them, respect their personal space, keep our body language neutral and take them aside privately to discuss the issue. We should not relate to previous incidents with these students as that can fuel the flames of the argument. Perhaps the most difficult students are those with a Conduct Disorder (CD). These students DON'T CARE about their behaviour or its consequences and appear to have a different agenda altogether. This might be the sh,ldent you have a word with for deliberately ripping pages out of books instead of copying from them. These are often the students who are in serious violation of rules, who are caught stealing or are destructive or aggressive. We can try and build a relationship of respect and model good behaviour to them. We need to decide what we should deal with and what can be let go. Once we identify this primary need, we should address it and move on while staying calm. We may need to ask for help from senior leaders or a colleague in dealing with these incidents. There are many different types of special needs and it is time well spent to discuss the behavioural nuances with the learning support department to find out about specific strategies they recommend. By keeping the way behaviour is addressed consistent for these students, it can help their control and response. So, we understand that disruptive behaviour may manifest for various reasons and we have seen how it might be dealt with within these scenarios. But how do we deal with behaviour more generally? BEHAVIOUR: CREATING A CALM WORKING ENVIRONMENT 35 Managing disruptive behaviour · Setting the rules We can learn a great deal from our teaching colleagues and it is useful if we can observe positive role models in action. Most teachers will begin their lessons calmly, with a routine. This might involve lining students up outside a classroom before entering, meeting and greeting at the door by name, or a call and response at the beginning of a lesson to underpin the behaviour expectations. The school behaviour rules may be displayed prominently on the classroom wall. During the year, the teacher learns about the students as individuals, through working with them on a regular basis. . As librarians, we are more akin to supply teachers. If a class comes to the library, it may be on a sporadic basis. The class will usually be accompanied by their regular teacher, but this then raises the question of who is responsible for student behaviour. It is important that we establish ground rules with the teacher in advance of the lesson, so clear instructions can be given to the students. If this does not happen, students may feel the situation is like two parents giving them different advice and the temptation will be to play one off against the other. We need to respect that the teacher has more knowledge of the class nuances, but if we have library rules these need to be acknowledged too and these may differ from specific classroom rules. Regardless, we should all be following the published school rules, not least because this is an inspection criterion for Ofsted (2019). Librarians also face the dilemma that, probably uniquely in the school, the physical space is used both as a classroom and for leisure time. We need to think carefully about how we manage this to avoid mixed messages being given to students. At the end of the day, a new student, Vikki, was in the library waiting to be picked up and quietly doing some homework. Vikki asked the librarian if she could use her phone in the library to call her mum. The school rules allowed students to phone a guardian after the end of school, so the librarian agreed. The next day the librarian caught Vikki on the phone during a library lesson and confiscated the device. Vikki was distraught, embarrassed and confused. She thought the librarian had given her permission to use the phone in the library. It is so important that we make our rules explicit. Hopefully, we will have been allowed an induction lesson at the start of the year to set our ground rules, but then we need to be mindful of new students. Deciding on a set of specific rules for the library in addition to the school rules requires thought. Because every school is unique, we cannot just borrow from another librarian and tick the box. We need to plan what is needed in our school library so that it provides both a good working environment but also somewhere for 36 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT students to relax and recharge. It is like a referee controlling a sports match - knowing what to let pass and when to blow the whistle. Too many rules and students will not engage, participate or use our library; too few and we run the risk of mayhem! Three common rules that underpin library behaviour concern: library noise levels eating and drinking within the library numbers of students at breaktimes, before and after school. A first step in deciding how we will deal with these scenarios is to consult the school rules and adhere to these as a priority. Secondly, we need to consider if our specific rules should be conditional to allow for differences between lesson time and breaktimes. Thirdly, we should think about the health and safety consequences if the rule is not applied. We should not set these rules in isolation - it is important to discuss our intentions with our line managers to ensure we are keeping to the wider aims of the school community. This is especially crucial because, as has been mentioned, behaviour is an inspection criterion. If we are taking over a role from a previous librarian, we can use our new employment status as an opportunity to reflect and, if necessary, change existing rules. Consider these scenarios: The students from a younger year group were playing a noisy library game as part of their library lesson. However, the space was being shared with older students who complained they could not cor:tcentrate on their revision. After the lesson, it was breaktime, and the same younger students, excited from their lesson, continued to make noise about the books they had discovered. This drove others away from the library who were looking for a quiet space. Water fountains had been placed around the school to ensure students were keeping hydrated but the nearest one to the library was some distance away. Some students were now filling up bottles and bringing them back to the library, which had a no eating or drinking policy. It was raining and the number of students trying to get into the library at lunchtime was far too many for the space. The librarian was trying to help users and the student librarians were unable to control the flood of people. It was noisy and chaotic! When we face such dilemmas, we need to ask what we can manage ourselves, what could we manage with some support and what do we need to pass to someone more senior for resolution? We should use our line managers so that BEHAVIOUR: CREATING A CALM WORKING ENVIRONMENT 37 the rules we set help us to carry out our role safely and efficiently. We should not be afraid to ask for help and support when we need it. Working with students Once our scaffold of rules is set, we need to think about how we manage the behaviour that we see from our students. Mostly, we will be dealing with low level disruption arising from talking, movement, social interactions, relation­ ships between students and between ourselves and our students. We should follow the school behaviour plan and stepped consequences consistently. Fundamentally, we need to remember - what we allow, we encourage. How we are viewed by students depends upon three factors: our body language; what we say; and the tone of voice we use. The most important of these is our body language. Our non-verbal communication can help diffuse a situation without a word being said. What we say is the least important of these three factors, yet we should still be mindful of the language we choose to use. Regardless of our means of communication, there are some general pointers we can use in the management of low-level disruption: Always plan for good behaviour. Separate the inappropriate behaviour from the student. Focus on the primary behaviours. Actively build trust and support. Model the behaviour we wish to see. Be mindful of our language. Follow up on issues that count. Let us consider some of these factors in more depth. We should always make it clear that it is the behaviour that is being addressed and not the student. If we label a student as 'bad' it can confirm an already poor self-image and reduce self-esteem. The student will live up or down to their given label, so we need to offer hope and help to change their behaviour. If we have repeat offenders, we should keep a record of their names, incidents and dates in case the behaviour escalates or the information is needed to build a wider pattern of their behaviour elsewhere in the school. We can help these students to change by giving them responsibilities and praising them whenever possible. If they do change, then appropriate behaviour should ALWAYS be associated with the student, because they themselves have become empowered by making a positive choice. We can help them achieve this response firstly by making the choices explicit and then through rewards and sanctions. 38 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT We must be mindful that sanctions do not change behaviour. They need to be applied for long enough to allow a student to change their choice. Rewards do change behaviour, so praise or a tangible prize for positive action works wonders. Rewards should not be given as bribes and a reward, once given, should never be taken away. Good manners are the social glue that help us form social groups. We can model good manners by always saying please and thank you. We can gently correct those who do not demonstrate good manners. We need to show our students the respect that we would expect for ourselves, so for example, if we have to break off working with one student to deal with another, we need to remember to apologise. This, along with a calm outward appearance in our body language and facial expression, helps maintain a pleasant atmosphere. Our students will look to us for clues about positive attitudes too. Even if we are having the worst day ever, we need to use our acting skills and shield our emotions from them. In our mannerisms, our tone of voice and in the language we use, we should endeavour to: be definite, giving clear instructions show we are aware, so the student understands the consequences of a bad choice be calm and consistent so the student considers us as always being fair give structure to the task or lesson so the student can see the small steps be positive, giving lots of praise regularly so the student remains motivated be interested so students can see we are human be flexible and know when to allow a little leeway for a better outcome be persistent and do not give up on something we have already started engage with students so they can see we are keen for them to succeed. If we model our own behaviour and expectations, we may already have created an ambient atmosphere for our library. This respect and understanding from students do not happen instantly. It takes time to nurture and grow. Even when this environment is well established, there will be incidents because, as we have seen, behaviour can be affected by all kinds of variable factors over which we have little or no control. So, what do we do to resolve any issues? Here are some ideas. Following an established procedure that is known and understood by students The level of noise from the library lesson was rising steadily. The librarian followed the steps in the behaviour rules that were established and agreed BEHAVIOUR: CREATING A CALM WORKING ENVIRONMENT 39 by students and the librarian at the beginning of the year. The librarian issued the class a warning with a consequence. A few students did not heed this advice. The librarian moved over to each of them individually and had a quiet word, informing them of the detention they would receive if they chose not to use a quieter voice. One student, Faz, continued to disrupt, so at the end of the lesson the librarian took Faz aside and issued the detention. This demonstrates the importance of being fair but consistent in our approach. Faz will learn that the behaviour was his choice and his responsibility. Dealing with non-verbal disruption At breaktime, Asha was trying to attract the attention of a boy she fancied by deliberately giggling with her friend and glancing over at him. The librarian asked Asha to concentrate on her reading and reminded her of the library behaviour rules even at breaktime. Asha responded with eye rolling and much flicking of her hair. The librarian decided to let it pass and Asha stopped. However, a short time later, the original behaviour resumed. This time, the librarian asked Asha quietly to come to the office where she had a quiet word to establish ground rules and to explain that the library could not be used in this way. This librarian hoped the situation would resolve itself, but when the poor behaviour resumed, it was important for the message to be given away from an audience so that Asha would listen and understand rather than trying to impress her friends with a 'cool' attitude. Using verbal strategies During the lesson, the librarian noticed that Temi was out of his seat again, bothering students at the other tables. The librarian moved to talk to him but as ever he was full of excuses for his actions, claiming he was doing work. He even stated he was glad the librarian had come over because he wanted to ask a specific question about a resource. The librarian confirmed what Temi said and then issued a directive: 'Temi, maybe you were visiting that table to discuss work AND now I want you to return to your own space and carry on with your work there. Thank you.' This is a powerful tactic because it defuses conflict by seeming to agree with the student. By using the word 'and', the compliance is more readily acceptable. This approach minimises the potential for getting into arguments. It allows us to move on and regain the momentum of the lesson. 40 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT We need to make positive responses when requiring good behaviour, indicating this is what we expect: 'Terry, stand still and wait your tum, thank you.' NOT: 'Terry, stop pushing or you will go to the back of the queue.' 'Greta, I need you to choose to face the front and listen, thank you.' NOT: 'Greta, stop talking and pay attention.' 'Zak, remember to walk calmly around the library, thank you.' NOT: '01, YOU, STOP RUNNING!' It is useful for us to practice making statements rather than asking questions and assuming students will comply with our request. Never ask a question unless we really want to hear the answer. To give an example: the librarian was sure that Leanne had just sworn at her and without thinking asked Leanne, 'What did you say?' and the answer was ... Well, you can imagine! There are many tactics we can use both in lesson time and breaktime to gain control and send a signal to students or to issue a directive. If we need silence to issue a directive, we can use a visual signal by adopting a pose and a look that students will notice, such as crossing our arms or staring. Or we might choose to use a physical signal, such as a timer, stop clock or giant egg timer or display a traffic light system or electronic timer on a whiteboard. We can give an audio signal using clapping, bells, whistles or a 1-2-3 countdown, or we might use a kinaesthetic response by asking students to raise their hands, copying as we raise ours, indicating we need their attention. Within lessons, it is important to retain control. Part of this involves communicating our expectations of when activity is to take place and when to stop. We can use some of the signals already suggested. Students find it difficult to judge time, as do we all if we are absorbed by a task, so playing music is another useful technique to signal the end of time for an activity when the music stops. When students do not comply, we can use repetition (the gramophone record approach) to give some leeway and we should not be afraid to use humour to coax them back on task. It is important to have empathy and to try and see the students' viewpoint if there is a conflict brewing. However, whilst we can be reasonable with our students, we should not reason with them. Managing serious behaviour issues As we have noted, serious and dangerous behaviour issues are rare. We need to keep ourselves and students safe and, if an incident of this nature occurs, BEHAVIOUR: CREATING A CALM WORKING ENVIRONMENT 41 we need to find help to deal with it. It is very unlikely that the situation we face has originated in the library; it is more likely to be an accumulative effect from something that happened previously in the day. Typically, this may happen when a student is tired or hungry, so certain times of the day are more likely to be a flashpoint. Unfortunately, this is often when the library is at its busiest. How do we handle this? Firstly, we need to remove any physical objects or other students from the arena. We need to move the offender to a quiet space or ask them to step outside. We can send another student to fetch help. The remaining students will probably be shocked and compliant if you have this under control. Once the disruptive student has calmed down, if help has still not arrived, move them to a separate quiet space and try- inaneutral, low and calm voice and giving them plenty of personal space - to let them tell you their version of events. Wait for them to tell you, do not probe. In response, use their name and agree with them anything that is factually correct, but do not pass judgement or comment on other aspects. Do not refer to the past or the future. We do not have to make eye contact. Sometimes giving them a sweet can help them feel better, especially if they might be hungry. Hopefully, by now, we will have support. We should be mindful of the natural after-effects following incidents of this kind. We will feel upset and shaky, and we too will need some time out. Once we are feeling calmer, we can record what happened and name the student and any witnesses. It is important that if the student returns, we make it clear to them that we do not hold a grudge. It is useful to talk the incident over with colleagues when we have experienced such a shock - this helps our own mental wellbeing and gives us confidence to face the student again. In summary No one is perfect when it comes to behaviour management. It is not predictable, l;mt we can lessen the risk of both low-level disruption and more serious outbursts if we remember: we CANNOT directly control the behaviour of students, but we CAN control some of those things that lead to poor behaviour and show them that behaviour is their choice we have LITTLE CONTROL over external factors - such as poor housing, lack of parenting skills or family issues - that may be affecting the student we have 100% CONTROL over how we choose to respond emotionally to the behaviour of students. 42 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT We also have three basic rights: (1) to be safe; (2) to carry out our role effectively; and (3) to be treated with dignity and respect. It is important for us to maintain emotional balance in busy and fast­ moving education settings. When we are calm and rational, we are most effective. We can use our own emotions as a model for students to follow. We do not want to be so controlling that we are unapproachable. However, we are not their friend and do not want to run the risk of being taken advantage of. Tough love is a good approach. Here, we acknowledge: it is our job to set the boundaries students may test those boundaries students make mistakes in their behaviour - that is normal and healthy students need to be helped to experience achievement caring means saying 'no' and meaning 'no' at the right time there is always more to a young person than their behaviour problem. We want our students to learn boundaries with dignity, but at the same time understand the effects of risk taking and motivation through praise. We need to be mindful that confrontation makes poor behaviour worse. If we want to see good behaviour, we must teach it to our students according to their needs. Action points Ensure that the school behaviour code is displayed in your library. Revise your school library behaviour policy with your line manager and, if possible, with representative students for both lesson time and leisure time. Be aware of who you can contact in an emergency. Find out which students are registered as having special needs and discuss behavioural policy with your SENCo. Consider how you will communicate acceptable noise levels to library users.