A national  Managing Behaviour in Schools Policy was published today by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

The policy, which is very generic. discusses the definition of  behaviour and understanding behaviour as well as the causes of student misbehaviour in class.

In a single paragraph it says that: "The appropriate steps for dealing with student misbehaviour are: understanding the behaviour completely, thinking about it carefully and dealing with it intelligently. The quality of teaching and learning progress can be guaranteed when student misbehaviour can be managed effectively."

The policy complements two other documents - strategy and implementation - that list what actions may be taken against misbehaving students. The documents are available on ilearn, a website available only for teachers.

Sandra Cortis from the Directorate of Educational Services, said the focus was not just on students' rights but also responsibilities, to ensure that they grew up to respect themselves and others.

She said each school had its own realities and challenges and the policy would be implemented with the heads of schools, who have been given space to take their own initiative.  

Mr Bartolo said behaviour was cornerstone in education.

You do not manage behaviour by telling children to sit down and shut up. Problems sometimes arise because children are sometimes unhappy with the experience we are offering them and we have to be conscious of that. We can have the best programmes and facilities, but it all collapses if we do not have good behaviour. 

http://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Pages/Policy-Documentation.aspx