Introduction
In modern society, the number of minors with deviant behavior is increasing, which is one of the most urgent psychological and pedagogical problems. George (2018) states that approximately 20% of the school-age population experiences a mental, emotional, social, or behavioral disorder. There is a large number of reasons for the occurrence of deviant behavior. For example, brain damage or pathology of the nervous system. In addition, deviations can be caused by unformed communication skills, fears, self-doubt, negative media influence, complicated relationships with parents. Positive behavior support is an approach used to reinforce changes in the behavior of students who experiences learning difficulties. This approach is necessary to minimize the number of adverse situations in schools. This article aims to study scientific papers to support positive behavior, describe the 3 tier intervention, and examine the impact of supporting positive behavior on students with deviant behavior. This topic was chosen following its current relevance since deviant behavior is an acute problem of school society, and positive behavior support is an approach that can solve this problem.
An Overview of Positive Behavior Support
The main goal of supporting positive behavior is to create a process that aims to change students’ deviant behavior. Positive behavior support (PBS) is a school-wide structure for providing support within a multi-level system that meets the needs of students, using preventive and proactive evidence-based methods (George, 2018). This approach provides an opportunity to understand what provokes abnormal behavior and forms the basis of a strategic plan to prevent the further development of deviant behavior. The support of positive behavior creates an individual approach to each student and considers all the factors that affect their behavior. When using this approach, it is necessary to identify the very cause of the student’s negative behavior, understand what can positively impact the changing of the current behavior, and systematically implement it, replacing the negative with positive.
Deviant Behavior
Deviant behavior contradicts generally accepted norms, violates social standards, and rejects the rules of human community, activity, customs, traditions. Deviant behavior of students is currently quite common and is practically observed in every school. This situation has put deviant behavior in the center of attention of sociologists, teachers, psychologists, doctors, law enforcement officials. This deviation lies in the peculiarities of the relationship and interaction of students with the surrounding world, the social environment, and themselves. Among the most common reasons for deviance are the incompleteness of personality formation, the negative influence of family, and the immediate environment. Prevention of deviant behavior involves a system of general and special measures at various levels of social organization: state, legal, economic, social, socio-medical, psychological, pedagogical. The success of implementing preventive activities is mainly determined by such conditions as consistency, complexity, timeliness, consistency.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Support
Behavioral interventions are defined as strategies used by educational institutions concerning students to direct their behavior in a positive direction. Behavioral interventions are divided into three tiers, each of which has its peculiarity and purpose. Tier I positive behavior measures include interventions that dictate the norms of behavior in the classroom. These interventions allow teachers to provoke the development of positive behavior and punish negative deviant behavior. To implement these measures, teachers need to give students clear and accurate behavior instructions. To determine in advance how they are obliged to ask a question, what should be the volume of the conversation and any related actions of the students. Noticing that a student successfully introduces positive behavior, the teacher should note this and reward it.
Tiers II and III measure include more resounding behavioral support for students from teachers. Tier II assists students formed in small groups, and tier III includes individual activities for each student separately. To start individual work with a student at tier III, it is necessary to organize a meeting consisting of pre-teachers, parents, and other essential people. It is vital to think over an individual behavior plan in detail, to evaluate the characteristics of the student that form deviant behavior for the program to be successful. In case of progress, after a certain x of the fact that the compiled program will require constant changes and changes in the daily schedule.
Even though the introduction of all three levels is quite complex, many schools aim to obtain maximum success from implementing this model. Asiyai (2019) conducted a study and concluded that deviant behavior negatively affects the academic performance of students, both in urban and rural schools. George (2018) found that without the use of targeted interventions, students would not have demonstrated positive changes in behavior. Hannigan and Hannigan (2020) claim that not every school has been successful in implementing all three levels of support for positive behavior. The study shows that only 86 schools out of 113 were able to achieve success at all three levels of implementation (Hannigan & Hannigan, 2020). The model can still be considered successful since the indicators, although not maximum, are still relatively high.
Implementing Support For Positive Behavior
The implementation of support for positive behavior occurs in four stages. The first step is to identify the problem and understand at what point a failure may occur in attempts to fix this problem. This step will allow teachers to build the most profitable strategy for preventing potential losses. The second step will be based on a previously defined problem. The purpose of this step is to develop rules and actions to avoid possible problems. In addition, in this step, it is necessary to create activities that teachers would like students to perform in order to demonstrate positive behavior. This step also recommends thinking through the conditions that will help maximize behavior corrections. In this step, teachers need to think through all the details and strategies they believe will succeed and be feasible.
The third step is the actual implementation of the strategies that were thought out in the previous steps. In this step, everything must go consistently and in accordance with what was thought out. It is also important not to ignore the socially unacceptable behavior of students if it occurs. The maximum effect will be achieved when all the proposed actions are combined. The last step is the final data collection, which will show how successful the training and implementation of positive behavior is. If the results are positive, then the strategy works, and it is necessary to adhere to it further. If there are no results, teachers need to review the process and develop a new one taking into account the mistakes of the previous one.
Effectiveness Of Implementing Support For Positive Behavior
It is imperative to understand how practical the introduction of support for positive behavior in schools is. The study conducted by Madigan et al. (2016) aimed to study the introduction of positive behavior in schools over nine years. Lewis et al. (2017) also conducted studies on the level of student achievement when implementing the same approach. With the correct application and detailed thinking of strategies, this approach is quite effective. Experimentally, it was revealed that the results of the implementation of the program are positive and must necessarily be put into practice as additional measures (Madigan et al., 2016). In addition, by examining the performance indicators, Lewis et al. (2017) concluded that positive behavior support had a positive impact on reducing aggression among students, the percentage of suspension from classes decreased, and there was also an improvement in grades. Based on the research data, it can be concluded that the approach is practical and helps to improve the social environment in schools.
Conclusion
In conclusion, based on the articles studied, it can be noted that deviant behavior is quite a big problem for teachers and students. This approach supports positive behavior and aims to develop a strategy for teachers to work on students’ behavior to eliminate deviant behavior and establish positive learning outcomes. The approach is practical for self-implementation and an additional measure for dealing with students’ complex and deviant behavior. Deviant behavior is expressed in changes in value-semantic orientations, moral attitudes, and the motivational – need a sphere of personality, that is, in the deformation of the system of internal self-regulation and self-reflection. Although some studies have shown that the introduction of three tiers of positive behavior support did not work, the problem is in the detailed elaboration of the strategy of extra-attention and not the model’s success. According to the purpose of choosing this topic for study, it can be concluded that deviant behavior has been studied, and the positive impact of supporting positive behavior has been noted.
References
Asiyai, R. (2019). Deviant behaviour in secondary school and its impact on students’ learning. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 9(3), 170-177. Web.
George, H. (2018). Introduction to the special issue of behavioral disorders: positive behavior interventions and supports. Behavioral Disorders, 43(3), 340-343. Web.
Hannigan, J. & Hannigan, J. (2020). Best practice PBIS implementation: evidence indicators in each tier of the PBIS champion model. Journal of School Administration Research and Development, 5(1), 35-38. Web.
Lewis, T., McIntosh, K., Simonsen, B., Mitchell, B. & Hatton, H. (2017). Schoolwide systems of positive behavior support: implications for students at risk and with emotional/behavioral disorders. AERA Open, 3(2), 1-11. Web.
Madigan, K., Cross, R., Smolkowski, K. & Strycker, L. (2016). Association between schoolwide positive behavioural interventions and supports and academic achievement: a 9-year evaluation. An International Journal on Theory and Practice, 22(7), 402-421. Web.