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Teachers overwhelmingly report feeling confident managing behaviour. But confidence alone doesn't solve the challenge schools are facing.
Schools already have behaviour policies, routines and expectations designed to support staff when behaviour disrupts learning. Staff work hard to apply these consistently and maintain positive classroom environments, with DfE research suggesting that many teachers feel confident managing misbehaviour.
Yet many schools are still experiencing the same pattern: repeated incidents, repeated follow-up, and significant amounts of staff time being diverted away from teaching, learning and support.
This raises an important question for school leaders, SENDCos and pastoral teams.
If confidence is already high, why is behaviour still taking up so much capacity?
The issue isn't always confidence
In a DfE survey of more than 1,000 teachers, 96% of primary teachers and 94% of secondary teachers said they felt confident managing misbehaviour. Yet teachers reported losing around seven minutes in every 30 minutes of teaching time to it (DfE School and College Voice, May 2025).
Staff feel equipped, but a considerable amount of time is still being lost.
That matters because confidence and capacity are not the same thing.
A member of staff can know exactly how to respond to behaviour and still spend a significant part of their day managing disruption, following up incidents and supporting pupils who need additional help.
It's also important to recognise that behaviour isn't always experienced in the same way across a school. Recent research found that 85% of primary leaders and 81% of secondary leaders described their schools as calm and orderly most or every day, compared with 51% of primary and 55% of secondary teachers (DfE School and College Voice, March 2026).
Those different perspectives don't necessarily mean one group is right and the other is wrong. But they do raise important questions about how behaviour is experienced across different roles, and where pressures may be most keenly felt.
When repeated incidents become repeated demands
Lost lesson time is only part of the picture.
Repeated incidents often create additional demands across the wider school:
- Follow-up conversations
- Behaviour recording and monitoring
- Pastoral support
- Parent communication
- Planning and reviewing interventions
Over time, these demands accumulate.
The DfE's Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders research found that 59% of teachers and middle leaders said they spent too much time following up behaviour incidents.
Schools may have staff who know what to do, but repeated disruption can still place significant pressure on classroom teachers, pastoral teams, SEND staff and leaders.
For senior leaders, this can create a difficult tension. Staff may feel confident responding to behaviour, yet repeated incidents can still take significant time, attention and emotional energy across the school. Even where clear systems and expectations are in place, some patterns of disruption may continue to place pressure on staff capacity and follow-up processes.
So the challenge isn't only knowing how to respond. It's also how schools can reduce the need for repeated responses to the same patterns.
Looking beyond managing behaviour
Responding effectively in the moment will always be important. But when the same patterns keep repeating, the bigger question is what might help reduce the need for repeated intervention in the first place.
This means becoming curious about recurring patterns and considering what might help staff recognise need earlier across the school.
Not to replace behaviour management. Not to lower expectations.
But to complement existing approaches with a deeper understanding of what may be affecting a pupil's ability to regulate, participate, engage and learn.
From repeated firefighting to earlier support
If staff already know how to respond to behaviour, the next question is where schools focus their effort.
More training in behaviour management may not be the answer on its own. Recognising need earlier and responding consistently can help reduce cycles of repeated disruption and the time spent repeatedly responding to the same incidents.
A relational, preventative approach encourages staff to look beyond the immediate moment and consider what may be affecting a pupil's ability to regulate, engage and learn. Combined with shared approaches across the school, this can help build greater consistency in how pupils are supported while reducing the need for repeated firefighting. For Thrive Schools, this whole-school approach helps create shared principles that enable staff to recognise need earlier and respond more consistently.
Thrive's Evaluation Report 2026 found that practitioners in participating Thrive Schools described calmer classrooms, improved peer relationships and a stronger sense of safety and belonging. Staff also described feeling less overwhelmed by the emotional demands of their roles, supported by clearer shared approaches, more consistent responses to pupils’ needs and stronger collaboration across staff teams.
As one teacher shared:
"The children are significantly happier and calmer in school, and the whole community feels closer and safer than before."
Over the coming weeks, Thrive will be exploring how schools can move beyond managing behaviour alone and consider approaches that help staff recognise earlier and respond consistently.
Are leaders and staff seeing the same picture? Join the conversation in our upcoming webinar
Staff may feel confident responding to behaviour, but repeated incidents can still take considerable time and attention across a school. When leaders and classroom staff experience those pressures differently, there is an opportunity to look more closely at what is happening in practice.
Join Thrive's upcoming webinar, Bridging the Behaviour Gap: Are Leaders and Staff Seeing the Same Picture?, where we'll explore why leaders and classroom staff can sometimes have very different experiences of behaviour, what this can mean for consistency and support, and how schools can bridge the gap between policy and day-to-day practice.
Tuesday 6 October | 4pm to 4.45pm
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