Factors leading to behaviours that disrupt the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training (CET)

Setting ground rules in the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training

Ground rules or the lack of ground rules is the first factor that leads to disruptive behaviours. If I don’t introduce ground rules at the start of the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training (CET), learners are not aware of their boundaries. As a teacher, you need to enforce discipline and consequences as otherwise boundaries won’t be respected.  

Even before ground rules, are the learners on the right course? If learners are on a course which is not right for them. It’s too difficult, it’s too challenging or they see no value in the training then you are already going to have difficult leaners. I’m lucky that all my learners go through a vetting process before they join the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training (CET) as we can establish these needs but in corporate training, learners are put on a course because their manager thinks it’s important, but you need buy-in from your learners.  

Discipline in the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training

Discipline is important, we are all humans and get distracted, but we need to control the conversation to keep it on topic. Sometimes learners get too excited therefore we need to be recognised the time to calm it down and move on. Even when teaching the Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training (CET) I dislike having to interrupt learners’ conversations, but you also have a schedule you need to keep to.  

Activities that focus on engaging learners should be meaningful, have a sense of competence to drive attention and challenge, give autonomy to the learner and a sense of control over their methods of achieving targets to establish activity-based learning and teaching approaches. Lack of stimulation can demotivate learners. 

Behaviours that can disrupt a learning environment include: 

Exclusion: those excluded from tasks or activities feel left out and isolated therefore to reconnect they often move towards disruptive behavior to get attention which will help feel included. 

Lack of understanding: lack of understanding creates unnecessary stress and frustration which causes learners to switch off from the task and reoccupy their minds with disruptive behaviour to feel included. 

Ability (not enough or too much): some learners may find the lesson too easy or too difficult which can result in a disengagement with the tasks you have prepared. Some learners may not feel challenged enough and therefore withdraw from the lesson because they’re bored or frustrated. 

Social: social individuals and extroverts sometimes have trouble ending conversations because they like to talk and sometimes struggle to switch topics quickly which increases wasted time. 

Personal: Personal factors, such as instincts and emotions, and social factors, such as cooperation and rivalry, are directly related to a complex psychology of motivation.  

Learning Difficulties: Learners with difficulties in learning may also have problems with attention and concentration. This can make it harder for them to understand what they have to do, or complete a particular task, movement or action. This will cause learners to disrupt the environment with learners expressing frustration, anger, aggression and even violence. 

Peer pressure: People may be directly teased for being smart or earning good grades, leading to less effort or pride in their education; peer pressure in other areas may also spill over and influence educational performance by learners being encouraged to participate in disruptive behaviour by their friends. Think about how you behaved at school where you were encouraged to misbehave by others just to fit in. 

Environment: is the seating layout suitable for your learners? Is the room too hot or too cold? What’s the noise level like – is it too high that it distracts your learners? 

Health: health issues whether short-term such as headaches or long-term such as illnesses will affect learning as learners will feel uncomfortable and not being able to focus on learning.