It is important to remember that behaviour does mean something slightly different in the context of children and young adults compared to what it means for the rest of us.

The learners we teach are in a developmental period of their lives.

They are learning.

And our teaching covers not just the content of the curriculum but also the norms and values we live by.

This means learners are learning how to behave, as well as the knowledge and understanding tied to different subjects.

We want learners to behave well. To learn how to behave as we behave. Like adults.

However, this needs to be tempered by the knowledge that learners will, at times, fall short – and that this is inevitable.

How could it otherwise be the case?

We can say with absolute certainty that boundaries will always be tested, that there will always be behaviour that is contrary to what we want, and that some expectations will end up being missed.

This is part of growing up.

We’ve all been there and, to varying extents, exhibited behaviour as a child or young adult that we would not expect of ourselves as a grown-up.

None of this is to excuse poor behaviour. Far from it.

But it does serve as a reminder that the pursuit of high standards is a continuous process.

And, to demonstrate that there is nothing new about this, here are three historical quotes.

First, words inscribed on a 6,000-year-old Egyptian tomb:

• ‘We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self-control.’

Second, Plato, the founding father of western philosophy, was heard to remark the following in the fourth century BC:

• ‘What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders; they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets, inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?’

And third, here is Peter the Hermit in AD1274:

• ‘The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint … As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behaviour and dress.’

Three quotes that remind us that when we hear people bemoaning the behaviour of children and young adults today, it’s really nothing new.

Throughout our teaching, during every lesson we teach, we need to be aware that we are always faced with the task of managing behaviour.

Or, to put it another way, from the moment they enter the education system to the moment they leave, learners are developing a knowledge and understanding of how to act, as well as what the consequences of their actions will be.

The point is further emphasised by the fact that, for many of us, looking back on our childhood, our teenage years, and even our early twenties, we see that we were still learning – still developing – our understanding of who we are, how we are to behave, and what is expected of us.

The second point to note is that, at different stages of development, various psychological and biological factors come into play as an influence on learners’ behaviour that we, as adults, have long forgotten about.

Hormones are the most obvious example.

While many adults speak wistfully of the desire to be a teenager once again, such thoughts are often bathed in a warm nostalgia that glosses over the tumultuous hormonal experiences that go hand-in-hand with this period of development.

Again, the point is not to provide an excuse for poor behaviour, but to offer further explanation of the forces shaping learners’ decision-making.

Remembering to think about these forces and take them into account when managing behaviour can make the whole business much easier – as well as much simpler.

In large part this is because we have some reasonable means to explain that which, at first glance, may appear irrational to us.

Characterising behaviour as irrational often prevents us from gaining an insight into the thought processes of the person whose actions we are judging.

Most people believe that the things they do are based on logical reasons.

That is, choices that follow from prior premises.

This is why many people deemed irrational can explain why they did things and provide explanations that are coherent within the set of boundaries they posit.

Here is the crux though – the last part of that sentence: within the boundaries they posit.

This identifies the fact that much irrational behaviour seems rational to the individual who carried it out because they are working with premises from which their subsequent decisions appear to logically follow.

Thus, a hormonal teenager may behave both irrationally and rationally, in that their behaviour appears irrational to us but rational to them.

Knowing this makes it a lot easier for us to bridge the divide and to help learners understand why, although they might feel what they have done is acceptable, it is in fact unacceptable when viewed from a different perspective.

As ever, knowledge is power and, in terms of behaviour management, having at least a working knowledge of child and cognitive development allows you to appreciate and unravel some, if not all, of the behaviour that might at first seems surprising.