Contextualising the Team Teach Approach for Your School’s Country and Culture
While many aspects of children and young people’s behaviour are universal, how behaviour is expressed and understood can vary dramatically across different countries and cultures.
For that reason, how we support behaviour needs to be tailored for our context, so we can make sure we are always offering the most appropriate support to the children and young people in our schools.
The Team Teach approach
As teachers and educational leaders, we know that Team Teach training equips us with a range of proactive behaviour support strategies focused on de-escalation, building positive relationships, and reducing risk – all of which are essential for the creation of a positive behaviour culture.
The values, ethos, and principles advocated by the Team Teach approach can be applied in any context. After all, it could be argued that no matter where we are in the world, ‘behaviour is behaviour’, and we always have children and young people’s best interests at heart.
As committed professionals, we strive to create environments that are safe, secure, inclusive and supportive, and one of the most effective ways to do this is through taking a child-centred, holistic and individualised approach to behaviour support, something that Team Teach advocates and, through its practical methodology, seeks to facilitate.
However, we also acknowledge that every school and every student is different, so we need to develop creative ways to contextualise Team Teach training to match the exact needs of our individual setting. By doing this, we can maximise the effectiveness of our behaviour support strategies and meet the needs of every child and young person.
Reflective questions:
- What types of behaviour could be considered ‘universal’?
- How might behaviour vary in different countries and cultures?
- What does behaviour support currently look like in your school?
Characteristics of international schools
International schools embody a number of characteristics that can set them apart from other types of school, and it is these distinct traits that underline the importance of contextualising the Team Teach approach for different countries and cultures.
Typically, international schools comprise students, staff, and families from a diverse range of backgrounds, nationalities, ethnicities, and cultures. The make-up of the school ecosystem can include expat families, international teachers, and children, young people and staff from overseas as well as from the local area.
As a result, the international school environment provides a rich tapestry of different languages, cultures, beliefs, values, and perspectives. Typically, students at these schools may follow an international or multi-/bilingual curriculum and interact daily with individuals from a wide range of different backgrounds. This type of environment helps to forge a strong global awareness and mindset, preparing children and young people well for life beyond education.
However, while no doubt a strength, multicultural, diverse environments can sometimes bring their own set of challenges with regard to behaviour. For example, an international, expat teacher could find themselves working in a country where the approach to behaviour support is at odds with their own beliefs and values, leading potentially to friction between home and school.
It could also be the case that teachers and leaders within one school hold widely divergent views about approaches to behaviour support, which can lead to confusion and misunderstanding, and make it challenging for leaders to create a clear, coherent school behaviour identity.
Reflective questions:
- How would you describe the context of your school?
- What challenges do you face when creating a shared understanding around behaviour support?
- What are the benefits of teaching and learning in an international setting?
Factors affecting the contextualisation of the Team Teach approach
Contextualising the Team Teach approach for different countries and cultures is central to successful implementation, so it is important to identify potential barriers, to ensure we work strategically to overcome these.
Barrier 1: Fragmented approach
Given the diverse nature of the international school ecosystem, it can sometimes be tricky to create a joined-up, seamless approach to behaviour support that is understood, accepted, and implemented consistently by everyone.
To be effective, we need to maximise buy-in at every level and involve all members of the school community – staff, students, and families – in the process of contextualising and embedding Team Teach principles, so that we can always offer the best support to children and young people.
Barrier 2: Cultural differences
Working in international settings, we need to be highly attuned to contextual cultural differences to ensure that we do not alienate anyone from our school community, including parents, carers and families.
To do this, we need to understand contextual factors at a deep level and ensure that we forge strong partnerships within and beyond our school setting. Having this understanding enables us to adopt strategies and approaches that work well for our students and staff, and that do not conflict with individuals’ cultural beliefs and values. That way, we can work together to create a shared understanding.
Barrier 3: Limitations on time and resources
Contextualising the Team Teach approach for our country and culture cannot happen overnight. It is an ongoing process that requires patience, time, and sustained effort and commitment at every level.
Like other schools globally, staff working in international settings are juggling multiple, competing responsibilities, such as planning and delivering high-quality teaching and learning, ensuring student wellbeing, and securing high academic outcomes. As a result, despite recognising the importance of behaviour support, leaders, teachers and other staff may struggle to find the time and capacity to prioritise this area of their professional practice.
Barrier 4: Transient staff teams
Consistency is key to the success of many aspects of school life, especially when it comes to behaviour support. When students – and staff – know what to expect, they feel they are in a safe, secure and predictable environment.
Staff transience is sometimes a common feature of international schools. A continuous two-way flow of staff undoubtedly has the potential to enhance our settings through the sharing of different approaches and fresh perspectives. However, frequently changing staffing structures and personnel can sometimes lead to inconsistencies across multiple facets of school life. A transient staffing model can also make it difficult to organise structured and timely CPD and training opportunities.
Reflective questions:
- How do you currently support family engagement in your school, to ensure a joined-up approach to behaviour support?
- What specific cultural differences do you need to be aware of and respond to in your school?
- What barriers do you face around contextualising behaviour support for your school?
Contextualising the Team Teach approach for your country and culture
There are practical steps we can take to ensure that our behaviour support strategies are tailored and adapted to meet the distinct needs of our students:
1: Understand our context
To ensure that we embed Team Teach training appropriately for our school, we need to research and understand our context in relation to different cultural norms and expectations.
While we should always do what is in our students’ best interests around behaviour support, we need to reflect on the diverse make-up of our student and staff body, as well as our families and local community, to ensure that everything we do is appropriate and effective.
To promote cultural relevance, we can involve local leaders, families, and relevant community members in the contextualisation process. We may collate their input and seek ways to incorporate their suggestions when embedding the Team Teach approach. Applying sensitive cultural awareness can increase the likelihood of successful implementation in both the short- and long-term.
2: Establish an open-door policy
Creating two-way channels of communication and being transparent and clear about the rationale behind our decisions is an effective way to minimise confusion and ensure that messages are clearly understood by everyone.
As leaders, we can achieve this by establishing an open-door policy that applies not only to staff, but also to students and their families. Proactively forging strong partnerships and relationships helps build cultural cohesion and ensures that everyone across the school community feels heard, valued and included.
Through being accessible and visible, we can create regular opportunities for individuals to ask questions, share concerns, and make suggestions to strengthen whole-school community connections.
3: Consider specific aspects of Team Teach training
While the key principles of Team Teach revolve around proactive behaviour support strategies of de-escalation, relationship-building, and risk reduction, we may need to pay particular attention to specific aspects of training that need careful consideration.
During training, we can place greater emphasis on early intervention, and verbal and non-verbal communication as a way to de-escalate situations.
4: Prioritise effective communication
Even when we speak the same language, important messages can sometimes get ‘lost in translation’, resulting in confusion and misunderstanding. So, in international schools, which are often multilingual environments, there is an even greater need to consider how we communicate with each other, both verbally and non-verbally.
To ensure the Team Teach approach is tailored to our country and culture, we can focus on the nuances of language and communication and use culturally relatable images and examples. We can also make sure that any internal and external communication around the use of Team Teach is tailored and targeted to reflect the needs of the audience.
5: Consider the role of local support services
These might include mental health services, community-based resources, or government agencies. By finding out what external support provision is available locally, we can work collaboratively as a network of professionals to ensure that our approaches are aligned.
Where possible, building networks of internal and external support facilitates the forging of strong partnerships where we can share expertise and insights around cultural differences.
Reflective questions:
- Are there considerations around delivering any aspects of Team Teach training that you need to reflect on in your school?
- How could you further develop communication around behaviour support, within and beyond your setting?
Contextualising the Team Teach approach as an exciting opportunity
Contextualising the Team Teach approach for your school is an exciting opportunity. It takes thoughtful reflection, intentional leadership, and an ongoing commitment to meeting the distinct needs of the whole school community. However, the benefits are significant for the whole school community.
Through sustained effort and buy-in at every level, we can contextualise our approaches to align with our country and culture, while always maintaining the key overarching principles of effective behaviour support.
Please get in touch any time if you’d like help with behaviour in your organisation.
