Rules and behaviour expectations

Rules are statements that contain one or more of the following: an antecedent, a behaviour or a consequence. They provide learners with the expectations of the educator and the school (Martella et al. 2012: 220). In other words, they specify to the learners what should be done and what should not (Macharia et al. 2014: 201). According to Anderson and Spaulding (2007: 28), rules provide structure and consistency, allowing the principal and the educators to maintain a positive environment and provide legal, ethical and social accountability. This is in line with the statement of Ugboko and Adediwura (2012: 42) that the main objective of rules on learner discipline is to enhance a positive and constructive paradigm of values. It is imperative that there should be rule-governed behaviour in classrooms and in the school. Rule-governed behaviour is behaviour that is

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controlled by verbal or written rules (Martella et al. 2012: 221). It is to everyone’s benefit for learners to behave appropriately and avoid infringing on others’ rights and property (Manning & Bucher 2013: 259). However, non-adherence to school rules by learners is a common challenge for the principal (Ngara & Magwa 2015: 132). Learners break rules when they think the rules are senseless or inappropriate, when they are either in need or have a limited fear of getting caught (Allen Queen & Algozzine 2010: 46). Rule infractions refer to those learner behaviour that are in direct opposition to procedures in the school (Colvin 2010: 48).

In order to establish effective classroom rules and defuse rule infractions, the school management team with the principal should set the school and classroom regulations, routines and procedures and behaviour expectations (Colvin 2010: 48). Regulations are concrete behaviours that are requested of all learners to ensure particular outcomes for learners and staff such as proper dress codes, civility and use of proper language; procedures are the manner in which an educator wants tasks and activities in transitions to be performed; and behaviour expectations are the several principles or guidelines for learner behaviour (Lane et al. 2011: 28; Colvin 2010: 48-49). Colvin (2010: 49-50) states four prerequisite conditions that relate to practices educators conduct to ensure learners are cognizant of the rules that are operative, namely (a) school rules must be taught and established by the faculty; (b) classroom rules and expectations are systematically taught; (c) learners are frequently acknowledged for following the rules; and (d) practices are in place to monitor and review the rules. Rules and behavioural expectations are taught within the first weeks of the school, called the honeymoon period (Manning & Bucher 2013: 259; Iverson 2003: 40). However, Colvin (2010:49) insists that they should be taught throughout the school year. Lane et al. (2011:28) add that they should be explicitly modeled, practised and reinforced, and if learners fail to behave properly, there should be a booster session to follow-up their behaviour through prompts and reinforcement until the behaviour is performed satisfactorily. They propose the following steps for designing a discipline plan with rules: (a) state positively a few rules (Carr & Chearra 2004: 2); (b) explain the expectations (c) positively reinforce the learners to follow them through behaviour-specific-praise; and (d) establish consequences for undesirable behaviour.

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Strout (2005: 17) argues that expectations should be continuously taught and rehearsed on a daily basis to encourage learners’ cooperation, and avoid confusion so that misbehaviour decreases (Reider 2005: 7).

Allen Queen and Algozzine (2010: 47) state that responsible educators must relay discipline through teaching and practice, while promoting learners’ internal responsibility, accommodating their individual differences and respecting their dignity as human beings. A responsibility-oriented school environment should endorse the following three principles, namely (a) schools must be for learners, not for principals and educators; (b) learners must participate in the decisions made to keep their school safe, clean and inviting; (c) and school curricula must adequately place appropriate emphasis upon learning, problem solving and responsibility. Mendler, Curwin and Mendler (2008: 98-99) suggest problem-solving procedures when rules are broken, namely (a) ask learners what is good about the problem; (b) ask the learner what is bad about the problem; (c) list all possible solutions to the problem, through brainstorming techniques and (d) decide on the best possible solution to the problem, along with the learners, other educators, the principal, the superintendent and parents concerned. This implies that for rules to be effective and to reduce rules-infractions, learners should be engaged in the development of the classroom and school rules. There should be pupil voice, choice and participation in the process (Cole et al. 2013: 247; Mitra 2006: 8; Smit 2013: 353; Way 2011: 366). Cefai and Cooper (2010: 194-195) argue that a change in the power dynamics that exist between educators and learners is needed whereby pupil voice is not seen as learners taking over, but rather a collaborative and democratic process in learning and behaviour control. This is a restorative practice that establishes consensus through consultation with learners and parents, and it encourages shared understanding and ownership of rules by learners (Hendry 2009: 47). Iverson (2003: 39) asserts that educators use their attractive power to voluntarily involve learners to behave acceptably as per the code of conduct of the school and the classroom rules. Attractive power is relationship power, which makes them likeable and helps them know how to cultivate human relationships with learners.

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Moreover, Allen Queen and Algozzine (2010: 9) state that educators should teach the three Rs (respect for yourself; responsibility for your actions; and remembering the rights of others) to all learners. They propose the responsible classroom management plan which includes three principles namely (a) responsibility is taught and incorporated instructionally within a warm and inviting classroom; (b) standards, guidelines and expected behaviour should replace rigid school and classroom rules; and (c) consequences teach learners to self-correct inappropriate behaviour and assume responsibility for their actions. In so doing, an alternative behaviour is selected to replace the challenging behaviour so that the learner is provided with alternative acceptable responses rather than merely eliminating behaviour (Zirpoli 2008: 400; Porter 2007: 61). This is the Fair-Pair Rule.