A new programme that was recently introduced to primary schools has seen positive response in the classroom and has reported a 43% reduction in children’s off task classroom behaviours.

The international programme called the PAX Good Behaviour Game was trialed for the first time this year in 21 Irish schools. According to Irish teachers, it has vastly improved the overall behavior of pupils with ‘29% of the pupils scoring with the most challenging behaviours before the programme moved into normal range after the 12 week delivery period. All children benefited, but the children with more difficulties benefited the most.’

PAX creators say that The Good Behaviour Game is based on promoting desirable behaviours with proven games and fun activities which improve classroom behaviours. Children are divided into teams which are rewarded for delivering positive behaviours which support the classroom activity. All teams are competing against themselves and all teams can win.

According to PAX, the games take place while the students are engaged in regular school work. They can last from a couple of minutes up to 45 minutes, are played at least three times a day, and increase in duration over time.

PAX back up their claims with scientific data from classrooms in the US, and purport that ‘Internationally the programme has been shown to gain an extra hour of quality teaching and learning classroom time each day that is otherwise lost to minor disruptions and distractions.’

According to a press release by PAX, Irish teacher, ‘Denise Carter, at Our Lady Immaculate Junior National School in Darndale, said she went from having a challenging class to having highly motivated children: “Every single child in the room got the PAX programme and was engaged. We started to get much more done in the classroom with far less disruption and time wasting. Class line ups can be done in seconds rather than minutes by using the Good Behaviour Game.”’


For more on this programme please see goodbehaviorgame.org

Comments