Getting to the heart of the matter: Examining the efficacy of a whole-school approach to behaviour management.

This article reviews literature on whole-school approaches to behaviour management in order to address these questions: How is a whole-school approach to behaviour managementdefined in the literature? What are the key principles that make a whole-school approach effective? What are the key systems that make a whole-school approach effective? Is theinvolvement of students an important aspect of a whole-school approach? The review highlights current work on belonging, which shows that a person’s sense of belonging has an impacton their engagement and therefore achievement in a school setting. For a whole-school approach to be effective it must have a positive impact on the engagement of the students.The findings of this review suggest that schools implementing a whole-school approach must first examine the quality of the relationships within their school as these have an impact onstudents’ experiences of belonging. The principles and values about relationships that a school holds will shape the kind of whole-school approach they develop.