Staff at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS), along with officers from the Department of Education (DOE) are engaged in an intensive, three-day workshop on Positive Behaviour Management (PBM) meant to refresh effective classroom practices, improve the teaching and learning environment at ALHCS, and ultimately contribute to a revision of the existing Behaviour Management Plan.
As summarized by Deputy Principal Pastoral, Ms. Cherise Gumbs, the objective of PBM is to fulfil exactly what the ALHCS lays out in its Vision Statement which is to establish “a positive, warm, predictable and safe school environment where educators and students are respectful, responsible and resilient and where learning is truly valued and creativity and innovation are the norm.”
The Positive Behaviour Management workshop is being facilitated by Ms. Elaine King – an established Caribbean social development professional with more than 30 years’ experience in the education and health sectors. King has worked for UNICEF Eastern Caribbean as an Education Specialist. She remains a proponent for safe schools policies and an advocate for student-centred, rights-based education and interactive methodologies in teaching and learning.
At the opening of the workshop, Chief Education Officer, Mr. Bren Romney, remarked on the importance of alignment (a shared understanding) on ALHCS’ Behaviour Management Plan. He noted that teachers and senior management were key but equally so was a range of support staff, hence the inclusion of security officers, truancy officers, education welfare officers, crossing guards, custodians, bus drivers and administrative staff.
On Day 2, Deputy Principal, Curriculum, Ms. Sherry Marcia Hodge, chaired the proceedings which saw a remote presentation from Ms. Sophia Edwards Gabriel, OECS PEARL National Coordinator for St Lucia, as well as in-persons presentations from three ALHCS faculty. The peer-to-peer sessions were presented by teachers Ms. Jerica Crawford, Mrs. Carina Tomlinson and Mr. Jevohn Martin. Each shared their practice including strategies for positive behavior management and heightened student engagement in the classrooms and responded to questions from colleagues.
Key aspects of Positive Behaviour Management include setting clear expectations, rewarding desired behavior to encourage its repetition, applying fair and expected consequence for inappropriate behavior, modeling or demonstrating the principles and behavior required, and utilising agreed upon strategies and actions to manage issues before they escalate.
Revision of the Behaviour Management Plan (and its active use to guide teaching and learning at ALHCS) is the ultimate goal. The CEO further confirmed that once the draft Behavior Management Plan was fleshed out it would be shared with at least two other constituencies – students and parents – to ensure its appropriate refinement and alignment with all key stakeholders.
