UNIT 1: What is a Classroom Contract?
UNIT 1: Behaviour Management - Behaviour for Learning and Classroom Contracts
What is a Classroom Contract?
At the beginning of the school year or term, teachers at Umubano Academy establish a set of rules and expectations with their learners. This is a collaborative process, led by the teacher, where the whole class agrees on the rules and expectations they think should be applied. When the class and teacher have agreed on the class rules and expectations they want, these rules are displayed on a wall chart in the classroom. Both the teacher and learners sign their names under the agreed rules and expectations, creating a 'Classroom Contract'. This document encourages learners to take personal responsibility in the classroom and it means that everybody knows what is expected of them.
Reflection
Take a few moments to think about how the school year started when you were at school. Did your teacher talk about the rules and routines with you? Did you feel involved in the process? And now think about yourself as a teacher; how do you normally start the year with a new class in your current school? Who is responsible for setting the class rules -the Head Teacher, you or the learners? Are you happy with the way this works or would you like to try to do some things differently?
Did you learn to do anything different regarding establishing the rules with learners, as part of your teacher training (TTC or other training)?
When making the class rules, it is important to remind the learners that we want the rules to be positive and to focus on what to do in class, not what not to do. Sometimes the teacher might not agree with the ideas that their learners suggest. For example, they might suggest a negative rule. If a learner suggests the rule, “Don't run in the classroom,” we can ask them to think of a positive rule that means the same thing e.g “Always move around safely in the classroom.”
Here is a photo of classroom contracts at Umubano Academy. You will see that nursery learners stamped their handprints to sign the contract, as they are not yet able to write their names. Another idea with nursery learners would be to have pictures to represent each of the rules, to help learners understand and remember what they mean.