## Key Ideas > [!abstract] Core Concepts > > - **Partial truths overextended**: These viewpoints contain elements of truth but are often taken too far or lack practical classroom application > - **Timing and context matter**: Middle of lessons not appropriate for psychological diagnosis or complex relationship building > - **Professional boundaries**: Teachers are educators, not therapists, and should focus on their core expertise ## Definition **Behaviour Myths**: Common but problematic beliefs about student behaviour that contain partial truths but are overextended beyond practical application in educational settings. ## Connected To [[Education as Natural Development]] | [[Engagement]] | [[Relationships and Regulation]] | [[Classroom Management]] --- ## All behaviour is caused by unmet need This perspective contains elements of truth but becomes problematic when extended beyond appropriate boundaries. Considering underlying causes of challenging behaviour, such as anxiety, can be useful when developing long-term adaptive coping strategies. However, not all needs should be met in the moment they arise. If a student is disruptive because they want attention, this is not necessarily a need to meet during a maths lesson. The middle of a lesson is not the time for psychological diagnosis or addressing complex needs, which are better left to trained support staff working with students with complex needs. ## Children naturally want to learn The view that children are naturally good, curious, and intrinsically motivated to learn stems from romanticist ideology rather than empirical observation. This romantic perspective faces several challenges when examined against classroom reality. The common "paperclip test" cited as evidence of children's natural creativity is flawed. Children finding many uses for a paperclip does not measure superior creativity but rather reflects that adult brains have optimised for efficiency. Many children do not naturally gravitate toward challenging subjects, as thinking hard is genuinely difficult. Comparing the curiosity of a 5-year-old to teenager behaviour affected by hormonal changes ignores developmental differences. Few children naturally want to learn about abstract concepts like rock properties. Not many children naturally want to learn, and thinking hard remains difficult across ages. ## Building relationships for behaviour The idea that students only behave for people they like is reductive and misrepresents the purpose of professional relationships. Students should behave regardless of relationship status, just as they should treat all people with dignity. Cover teachers deserve the same behavioural respect as regular teachers. The purpose of building relationships is that they matter intrinsically, not as behaviour management tools. Good rapport comes from creating a structured environment and ensuring student success, not from being "nice". ## Relevance and engagement The notion that students only behave when content is "relevant" or "engaging" confuses motivation with basic behavioural expectations. A thought experiment clarifies the issue: if you are in church listening to a sermon you don't care for, would you start walking around, making paper planes, and telling the pastor to leave? The answer reveals that behavioural standards exist independent of personal interest. Some content is genuinely dull but remains educationally crucial. Solving equations is necessary but not inherently [[Engagement|engaging]]. Attempts to make content "relevant" through context face the problem of individual differences. A basketball context may interest half the class whilst creating [[Cognitive Load|extraneous load]] for others. The relevance paradox further undermines this approach: taxes are very relevant to everyone, yet Year 9 students do not jump at the opportunity to learn about taxes. Students should behave because they are learning important information, not because it entertains them. ## Restorative practices as universal solution The claim that restorative practices can address all behavioural issues faces a basic challenge: you cannot apply such a reductive idea to the full spectrum of society. If this were the case, prisons would be unnecessary. Even the Norwegian restorative justice model, often cited as exemplary, has a 25% recidivism rate. Whilst low, this demonstrates that restorative approaches do not address all behaviour. Resource constraints pose another obstacle. Where are the trained psychologists and funding required for comprehensive restorative practices? There is no evidence that teachers can function as therapists after completing years of specialised training in education rather than mental health. Teachers are educators, not mental health professionals. They should focus on educational expertise whilst supporting students within appropriate professional boundaries. ## References Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. *Psychological Bulletin*, 117(3), 497-529. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497 Brophy, J. (2006). History of research on classroom management. In C. M. Evertson & C. S. Weinstein (Eds.), *Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice, and contemporary issues* (pp. 17-43). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Geary, D. C. (2007). Educating the evolved mind: Conceptual foundations for an evolutionary educational psychology. In J. S. Carlson & J. R. 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