Recently, I have been reading and listening to a lot about Relationship Management Policy (RMP) and it makes me feel good inside. This approach embodies everything that I believe with respect to helping children who exhibit challenging behaviour and needs to be the replacement for traditional behaviour policies in schools, in my opinion.
The RMP facilitates a restorative approach to challenging behaviour through adopting a positive attitude towards achieving change. There is emphasis on the need for Care Teams who have responsibility for individual students providing safe, secure and nurturing environments. At the heart of this policy is the need to foster positive relationships and create safe environments. This is based on John Bowlby’s attachment theory and provides opportunities for restorative practices to be put in place which ensure an approach that is right for every child. There is evidence that the approach builds resilience within the school environment which is beneficial to all of the community stakeholders. The adults adopt the role of ‘champion’ for their students, advocating for them and their needs as individuals.
There is no room in RMP for rewards and consequences, instead this approach provides opportunities for students exhibiting challenging behaviour to take ownership for their behaviour and responsibility to work together with their care team to facilitate change.
A key element in RMP is the focus on what needs to change… in this case the challenging behaviour. Other academic needs are put to one side to be considered and dealt with at another time. The understanding that academic learning will not take place until the challenging behaviour has been resolved shows the level of understanding for the child and their behavioural skills. This ‘front loading’ of necessary behavioural skills is essential for positive outcomes in later life. Our job as educators and parents is to provide opportunities for the children in our care to learn and grow, thus ensuring positive outcomes for them in the future. In the words of Rachel Tomlinson we can "change the world one child at a time".
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