Inclusive Discipline: Alternatives to Detentions and Isolations
Time to scrap suspensions and exclusions. For some children, they just don't work!
What does traditional discipline look like in your setting? I imagine it includes verbal warnings, comments in planners, removal from lessons, pastoral support, detentions, and isolations. I’ve previously explained my views on behaviour policies here. I think they’re missing the point and focus too much on punishing the behaviour rather than understanding the cause of said behaviour.
Within your settings, I would also guess that there are often the same pupils in isolation, detention, being removed from classes etc. There certainly has been in the settings I’ve worked in. This begs the question then, do these strategies REALLY work for these children? It feels very much as if schools are enforcing the same strategies over and over again and expecting different results.
Are there other options then? If so, what are they? Can they be easily implemented in your setting?
In this blog, I will outline some strategies that have worked for me. It’s important to note here that these strategies must be implemented BEFORE a child receives detention and/or isolation. They should not be used INSTEAD of. The whole point here is to prevent children from reaching the threshold of detentions and isolation. You may already be thinking of some children in your setting. You might be thinking “Ha! Other strategies would never work for them, there’s no hope, they’ll always be in detention/isolation.” If you are, then maybe you need to be re-directed to this post.
Popular Discipline Techniques
Let’s have a brief chat about popular behaviour policy strategies (within England) and their effectiveness for this small cohort of children. Again, I’d just like to reiterate here that I am NOT advocating for a complete change in behaviour policy. I’m merely suggesting that for this cohort of children who are always in detention/isolation, other strategies should be used.
Verbal warnings
These are extremely confusing for children. Especially the cohort we’re discussing. Some teachers make it extremely clear that a verbal warning has been given “Tom, this is your first verbal warning, please stay in your seat.” Others don’t at all “Tom you need to stay in your seat, I won’t tell you again.”
The tone used with verbal warnings is key too. Some teachers might use a kind and non-threatening tone. Others may use a more firm and strict tone. Depending on the tone, the child will most likely respond differently. The use of a strict and firm tone might elicit a more aggressive response which in turn, progresses the child along the behaviour policy. Softer tones might not hold enough weight for the child to take them seriously. It’s a real balancing act!
Effectiveness
There’s so much to consider here but an overarching factor of verbal warnings is that they are often done publicly, in front of the whole class. I’ve found that this never really works for this cohort. Once that shame and embarrassment have landed, they zone out and extra punishment is almost expected. Hence why there’s often rapid escalation from these children after receiving a verbal warning, it almost becomes a tennis match!
Teacher: Initial Verbal warning.
Child: Aggressive response, usually including a few swear words.
Teacher: Asking for the planner to place a comment for swearing/answering back.
Child: Refusal, more swearing.
Teacher: Calls for pastoral support and threatens child with detention.
Child: Gladly accepts threat of detention, more swearing, often leaves the classroom.
Comments in Planners
In most secondary schools in England, and some Primary schools, children have planners. These planners usually contain their timetable, spaces for notes and spaces for teachers to write comments. Parent/carers can then check these at the end of every day to see how well their child has got on at school.
Effectiveness
For our cohort of children, these planners aren’t making it out of their school bag. More often than not, they “lose” their planner. After all, if you’re continually getting in trouble, why would you actively carry around a planner? Even if they do have their planners, they’re definitely not showing them to their parents/carers after school. Think about Tom, do you really think he’d do that?
Hilariously though, in some schools, if you forget your planner, it’s an automatic detention…
Class reward systems
If you’re a Primary school teacher in England, you’ve definitely seen these little monsters.
Class reward systems, such as this one, are great 90% of the time, especially for younger children. However, for our cohort, not so much… They almost immediately lose their effectiveness.
Think about it, everyone’s name is displayed on the smart whiteboard, and everyone’s name is green, apart from yours. How would that make you feel? It just increases feelings of guilt and isolation, especially if the class are working super hard to achieve 4,000 points for the end-of-year class reward.
Effectiveness
As soon as these reward systems are displayed on the screen for all to see, for our cohort they immediately lose their effectiveness. Once the toothpaste is out of the tube and everyone’s seen that they’re on minus points. It doesn’t matter what that minus number is to them. There’s no difference between -1 and -500. In fact, for some children, it becomes a challenge to get as many minus points as possible!
Detention/Isolation
9 times out of 10, at the point of receiving the detention, the child is dysregulated and therefore doesn’t understand and/or care why they have received a detention or isolation. The lack of understanding and care about the consequences ultimately results in the child disregarding these strategies completely.
I’m not sure what they’re like in your settings but detention and isolation rooms were often bleak places in the settings I’ve worked in. There was usually an offer to catch up on missed homework (without support) or time to read.
Effectiveness
The first couple of times these punishments are received, there might be a period of time where the child shows marked improvement. However, after a few visits to these rooms, these children can develop an interesting strategy. Isolations are effectively a day (or multiple days) without having to do any work, result! Detentions offer extended time in school which may be attractive to some due to their home circumstances. Most, however, will just stop attending as they realise this is basically the end of the behaviour policy line. The next step is removal from school completely, which still seems quite far away for this cohort.
Alternative Provisions / Off-Site Directions
Alternative provisions and off-site directions are sometimes used as a bit of a re-set mechanism for pupils who are continually placed in detention/isolation. They are also used for pupils who are at risk of permanent exclusion or those who have been permanently excluded.
Both strategies involve the child receiving their education from a different setting, usually around 6-12 weeks. This throws up a lot of challenges in regard to attachment needs, compounding previous trauma, friendship breakdowns etc.
Effectiveness
When used correctly, alternative provisions and off-site directions can really work. If a particular school, has put in all the support they can think of and the child is still ending up in detention/isolation then a reset and regrouping might be beneficial. It’s also really helpful if the setting the child is going to has highly specialised staff there. These staff should be able to unpick a number of reasons the child could be continually in detention/isolation.
However, there is a real risk that the child may never attend this setting and feel like they have been cut off from their school community. Resulting in them being placed on the Child Missing Education (CME) register.
What is inclusive discipline?
Inclusive discipline involves using trauma-informed and restorative practice strategies to understand the behaviour a child is displaying. These techniques can be used throughout most days and, when implemented correctly, can provide key signs for a child’s behaviour trajectory.
Restorative Circles
Restorative circles can be used for a number of different reasons. Their main goal is to be a safe space in which children can discuss a topic, often facilitated by a teacher. For these circles to be effective, ground rules need to be set. E.G. one pupil talking at a time - I know
has a great post on this! No blaming - focus on the impact of the behaviour rather than blaming each other! And most importantly, allowing time for reflection.Example incident - Tom throws his book into the middle of the table and walks out of the classroom, disrupting his peers.
The circle begins with preparation, ensuring everyone understands the purpose and ground rules. During the circle, each child shares their perspective, starting with Tom, who explains his frustration and actions. His peers then share how his behaviour impacted them, focusing on their feelings rather than blame. This open dialogue helps Tom understand the effects of his actions, fostering empathy and accountability.
The circle concludes with collaborative problem-solving, where Tom commits to strategies for managing frustration (e.g., asking for help), his peers agree to support him, and the teacher ensures ongoing check-ins. By emphasising reflection, mutual respect, and actionable solutions, the circle repairs relationships and restores a positive learning environment, reducing the likelihood of repeated disruptions.
Effectiveness
When implemented correctly, these circles are great! They not only allow all the children involved to understand the behaviour, but they also create real, actionable outcomes. If you’re struggling with questions to use in these circles, please see this post.
Depending on your settings behaviour policy, you might choose to explain the sanction to Tom during this circle or at the end. This way, Tom is more likely to truly understand the reason for the sanction as he has heard how his behaviour made his peers feel.
Behaviour Reflection Journals
These are a mix of the restorative circle and the planners we’ve previously discussed. They are tools that help children reflect on their actions, understand the impact of their behaviour, and identify strategies for improvement. After an incident, the student completes prompts or questions designed to guide them through the process of reflection. These typically include exploring what happened, why it happened, how it affected others, and what could be done differently in the future. By encouraging self-awareness and ownership, these journals help students connect their actions to their emotions and decision-making.
You can copy this technique and just start with 1 page of A4 with these questions. This will often feel less challenging to a child than a full journal. You can also give the child the option to complete this independently or together. I would suggest completing the first few with the child so you can model how to complete them.
Effectiveness
Behaviour reflection journals foster personal responsibility and serve as a proactive approach to behaviour management. Teachers can review the journal with the student, offering support and constructive feedback to reinforce learning. Over time, this process builds the student’s ability to self-regulate, enhancing emotional literacy and promoting positive changes in behaviour. These journals can also be sent home so parents are aware of any incidents that have taken place and they can also understand the actions from said incident.
Check-ins / Feeling Board
By far my favourite method is the use of check-ins and a feelings board. These are so simple to input into your daily routine and provide great signals to children's behaviour trajectory. A feelings board can take up one of your many display boards in your classroom - or if you’re really techy, you can make them for the smart board!
I’ve found the best way to do this is the following: Have a display explaining different feelings E.G. happy/sad/anxious/angry/lethargic - change the language depending on the cohort - and have a shoe box with a hole cut-out of the top. Every morning, the children take a small piece of paper and write their feelings on it, with their names, and place it into the shoe box. During morning registration/form time, a member of the class staff goes through the box and can pick out any children who may need extra support that day.
Effectiveness
This method provides daily indications of how the children are feeling. It’s important to do this at the start of every day so you can quickly and sensitively deal with anything that may cause a child to go into crisis - if left unsupported. You may find that children begin to verbally explain to you how they are feeling. I can’t begin to explain how important this is, if they do start to do this. Stop what you’re doing and listen to them. This will pay huge dividends in the future!
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
My third-ever blog was about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For this cohort of pupils, it is so important to make sure they have had enough to eat and drink before you place any work in front of them. We all know how irritable we can get if we’re ‘hangry’! Having juice, biscuits and fruit readily available every morning and throughout the day made a huge impact on levels of behaviour. In my previous setting, we were lucky enough to have a toaster and after a very trying couple of months. We realised that one particular pupil only needed a cup of tea and a bagel to prevent them from entering crisis. Some of you may think this is pandering to children wants and not their needs. However, this particular pupil was hardly ever fed at home and regularly arrived at school on an empty stomach.
Effectiveness
For me, this has always been the most effective behaviour management tool. With the cohort of children we’re talking about, having food and drink readily available is a MUST. It can also be used as a distraction technique. E.G. if a pupil is entering crisis, ask them for help making the juice, toast etc. Rules, routines and boundaries need to be set for the use of the juice, biscuits, toast etc but I’m sure you’ll be able to work out some that are applicable to your setting.
Conclusion
I hope I’ve been able to highlight why traditional behaviour policy techniques might not work for this particular cohort of children. Let me know in the comments below, which of the inclusive discipline techniques you’re going to implement into your setting!
