Effective strategies for pupils with EBD

published:  November 2004

Which strategies are effective for primary school pupils with emotional or behavioural difficulties (EBD) in mainstream classrooms?
We think many practitioners will have a keen interest in research that has investigated different strategies for supporting children with EBD in mainstream primary classrooms, so in this TLA research summary, we have summarised the findings of a systematic review of research, which was designed to uncover and synthesise all the studies on this topic (published between 1970 and 2000).

The review is:

Evans, J., A. Harden, J. Thomas and P. Benefield. Support for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties in mainstream primary classrooms: a review of the effectiveness of interventions. EPPI-Centre and NFER: 2003.

Although behaviour management is a high priority in schools, it appears to be an under-researched topic. The reviewers found relatively few research studies investigating the impact of behaviour strategies in primary schools. Ten of the 28 relevant studies that they did find provided sound evidence about the effectiveness of three types of strategies:

• training programmes
• the arrangement of children’s tables in the classroom; and
• rewards and sanctions.

The reviewers also reported on other behaviour strategies which showed some evidence of being successful at improving behaviour for children with EBD. They considered these alternative approaches needed further evaluation and concluded with recommendations to researchers for robust approaches for evaluating behaviour interventions. Practitioners who want to monitor the effects of behaviour interventions in their own schools will find their suggestions about evaluation helpful too.

As usual, we present a number of case studies. Two of the studies are drawn from the review. We have also included five other case studies in order to provide extra illustrative material. Whilst these extra studies describe activities which were not evaluated using the robust methodology underpinning the main review, they nonetheless point to interventions practitioners may wish to explore in their own schools in the context