Developing Behaviours for Learning
Behaviour for Learning: A teacher's guide to building the academic skills of a life-long learner.
What Are Behaviours for Learning?
Every lesson is a tug-of-war between time and attention. When pupils arrive with the right habits - listening actively, tackling tasks with curiosity, reflecting on mistakes—the rope moves effortlessly in your favour. These habits are what we call Learning Behaviours: observable actions that help children take charge of their own progress and work productively with others.
Research shows that such behaviours are not fixed traits; they can be taught, practised, and strengthened just like reading fluency or number sense. That’s why the Structural Learning team built a Learning Behaviours Framework - a clear roadmap that tracks how students grow from “novice” to “expert” in areas such as self-regulation, collaboration, and strategic thinking. When teachers have shared language for these behaviours, classroom routines become sharper, feedback gets more precise, and pupils see exactly what “good learning” looks and feels like.
But the benefits reach beyond tidy lessons. Schools that embed learning behaviours report calmer corridors, richer dialogue, and higher-quality work because every adult is reinforcing the same expectations. Effective pedagogy and strong relationships still matter, of course, yet those elements thrive when students arrive ready to listen, grapple with ideas, and support one another.
This article unpacks practical ways to cultivate the positives (e.g., goal-setting, metacognitive talk) and curb the negatives (e.g., task avoidance, low-level disruption). Use the ideas to fine-tune your classroom management, align whole-school culture, and give every learner the tools to succeed both now and in the years ahead.
What you need to know
- Learning behaviours are teachable. With explicit modelling and feedback, pupils can acquire the habits that make learning stick.
- A shared framework sharpens practice. Common language lets staff diagnose needs quickly and offer targeted support.
- Culture follows behaviour. When positive habits are visible and celebrated, classrooms become calmer, dialogue deepens, and academic outcomes improve.
From Theory to Classroom Practice
Why do some pupils thrive when others switch off? The answer sits at the crossroads of psychology and pedagogy. A handful of classic theories offer practical clues:
– Skinner’s Operant Conditioning reminds us that what gets reinforced gets repeated. Praise, feedback tokens, or simple acknowledgement can lock in positive learning behaviours far more effectively than reprimands alone.
– Attribution Theory warns that if children blame setbacks on luck or teacher bias, they can slide into “why bother?” mode. Reframing success and failure around effort helps nurture a growth mindset.
– Social Loafing shows that group tasks sometimes hide passengers. Establishing clear individual roles - and celebrating each one - keeps every learner accountable.
Beyond behaviourism, personality lenses matter too. Jung’s archetypes highlight neurodiversity: a “Thinker” may crave logic and clear criteria, while an “Explorer” thrives on open-ended challenge. Matching task style to learner preference can prevent frustration before it starts.
Context also shapes conduct. Kohlberg’s moral-development stages, along with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, remind us that family expectations, peer norms, and community values spill into the classroom daily. A behaviour plan that ignores those wider forces rarely sticks.
Finally, motivation research - especially Self-Determination Theory - flags three universal drivers: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When lessons offer choice, achievable stretch, and a sense of belonging, pro-social behaviours rise and disruption falls.
A recent review by the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation found that classrooms using structured behaviour-for-learning strategies enjoyed a 20 % boost in academic engagement. Theory, in other words, isn’t ivory-tower garnish; it’s a toolkit for unlocking potential.
What you need to know
- Reinforce what you want more of. Small, timely rewards beat blanket sanctions.
- Mindsets are malleable. Frame effort as the route to success so pupils own their progress.
- Autonomy, competence, connection. Design tasks that hit all three, and positive behaviours follow.
Developing Behaviour for Learning
Successful learning behaviours include an overlap of cognitive and behavioural habits and skills. These attributes all have names and have been studied by developmental and educational psychologists for decades. Within our framework we refer to them as 'Learning Skills'. That is, they are both the mechanism of a successful learning outcome and the end product. To give you a concrete example of an effective learning outcome, let's look at Oracy. We want our learners to be confident speakers, this is an essential skill in life. But Oracy is also a classroom tool for building deep knowledge. It's possible for teaching strategies to address both the short-term and long-term goals of an education if we think of behaviour for learning this way.
Key Learning Behaviours: What Successful Learners Do
Successful learners share a common toolkit of habits. They look for feedback, regulate their emotions, and stay curious even when tasks are tough. Cultivating these behaviours - inside and outside the classroom - helps every learner meet academic goals and enjoy the process along the way.
Core behaviours
– Learning to Learn – identifying strengths and gaps, then using self-assessment and reflection to plan the next step.
– Self-Regulation – managing emotions and impulses, delaying gratification, and staying on task during challenging moments.
– Motivation – knowing why a subject matters and persisting when motivation dips.
– Critical Thinking – weighing evidence, spotting bias, and applying knowledge to solve real problems.
– Communication Skills – listening with empathy, speaking clearly, and writing with purpose across subjects.
– Creativity – generating original ideas, connecting seemingly unrelated concepts, and testing fresh approaches.
– Problem-Solving – recognising patterns, making logical connections, and drawing sound conclusions.
– Mathematical Thinking – modelling real-world situations with numbers: graphing trends, predicting outcomes, and estimating probabilities.
Why it matters
When these behaviours are embedded in day-to-day routines, learners become more resilient, lessons run more smoothly, and progress accelerates. Use the Learning Behaviours Framework to teach, model, and reinforce each habit—and watch engagement rise.
What you need to know
- Habits beat tricks. Long-term behaviours trump one-off strategies.
- Teach, model, reinforce. Show learners what the behaviour looks like, practise together, then celebrate when you see it.
- Make it visible. Display the behaviours, reference them in feedback, and let learners track their own growth.
Behaviour for Learning in the Classroom
A positive climate begins with crystal-clear expectations. When behaviour routines are planned into lessons from day one, teachers spend less time firefighting and more time teaching. Think of behaviour for learning not as a separate “add-on” but as the silent architecture that supports every task, question, and discussion.
Two core expectations anchor most classrooms:
– Attentive Listening – learners track the speaker, note key ideas, and prepare questions rather than interrupt.
– Active Participation – learners ask, answer, build on one another’s ideas, and probe for clarity during group work or debate.
To foster that climate, reinforce the behaviours below. Each one maps to the Learning Behaviours Framework and can be modelled, practised, and praised.
Key behaviours that sustain effective learning
• Be prepared – materials ready, minds ready.
• Own your work – take responsibility for deadlines and quality.
• Wait your turn – no talking over others.
• Listen fully – show attention through eye contact and note-taking.
• Show respect – to teachers, classmates, and yourself.
• Use appropriate language – keep dialogue constructive.
When these habits become routine, respect flows both ways, transitions run smoothly, and lesson time is maximised for genuine learning.
Developing Positive Relationships and Behaviours
Learning is powered by relationships. When learners feel known, valued, and safe, they lean in, ask brave questions, and persist when work gets tough. Three strands shape that climate:
– Teacher–Learner Relationships
High expectations plus genuine warmth build trust. Greet learners by name, check in often, and give feedback that spotlights effort and strategy (“You organised your ideas clearly…”) rather than talent (“You’re smart”). Consistency earns respect; authenticity sparks motivation.
– Learner–Teacher Relationships
Invite learners to see you as a partner in growth. Encourage questions, frame mistakes as data, and explain your reasoning (“I’m modelling this step so you can see how experts plan”). When learners grasp the why, they take ownership of the how.
– Peer Relationships
Clear norms—listen actively, build on ideas, challenge respectfully—make every voice count. Use mixed-ability groups, rotating roles, and quick reflections (“What helped our team succeed today?”) to keep accountability high and social loafing low.
Quick wins to strengthen all three strands
• Start each lesson with a personal greeting or check-in.
• Model restorative language for resolving conflict.
• Embed cooperative routines (Think-Pair-Share, peer feedback).
• Align praise to your Learning Behaviours Framework (“Great self-regulation during that tricky task”).
• Keep families in the loop so positive behaviours are reinforced at home.
When relational trust grows, disruption drops, self-esteem climbs, and the class can focus on deeper learning rather than surface compliance.
Transforming Culture with a Behaviour-for-Learning Agenda
Whether critical thinking is a skill or a disposition is still debated—and the same question applies to every learning behaviour teachers hope to cultivate. Schools that rely mainly on sanctions often struggle to move beyond surface compliance. In contrast, settings that spotlight positive learning dispositions see calmer classrooms and more independent learners. Clear, specific feedback whenever a learner shows curiosity, self-regulation, or collaborative thinking strengthens those habits until they become automatic.
Structural Learning’s Learning Behaviours Framework is designed to make this shift practical. The framework names each behaviour, maps its progression, and pairs it with a badge system that helps teachers recognise growth and keeps parents informed. Over time, consistent reinforcement builds a culture where self-regulated learning is the norm and disciplinary issues decline.
Reinforcing Effective Learning Behaviours
Recognition turns good habits into lasting habits. Schools that shine a spotlight on specific learning behaviours - curiosity, self-regulation, collaboration - find that those behaviours appear more often and with greater consistency. A simple, visible reward system can help:
– Badges or stickers linked to a short set of target behaviours make progress tangible for younger learners.
– Clear rubrics show exactly what each behaviour looks like at different stages, so feedback is precise (“You showed advanced self-regulation by sticking with that problem for ten minutes”).
– Public celebration - whether in assemblies, on classroom walls, or via home-school apps - signals that these habits matter as much as test scores.
When behaviour cues are woven into everyday teaching, they become part of the school’s DNA. Teachers gain a common language for coaching deeper learning; learners track their own growth; parents see concrete evidence of positive habits forming. Over time, these acknowledgements can feed into wider assessment systems, providing a fuller picture of each learner’s development beyond academic grades alone.
Effective teaching marries content with calm. Strategies that reduce noise, set clear routines and intervene early with off-task behaviour protect learners’ attention and maximise time on learning. Whether it’s a brief reset signal, flexible seating, or agreed group-work roles, each technique lowers the cognitive “background noise” so knowledge can take centre stage.
If low-level disruption persists, academic impact stalls—regardless of how strong the curriculum is. That’s why cultivating positive learning behaviours is a collective responsibility: every adult models them, every lesson reinforces them and every feedback cycle rewards them. When respectful conduct becomes habitual, teachers spend less energy on discipline and more on helping learners find meaning in the material.
Teaching Behaviour for Learning: A Practical Framework
A behaviour-for-learning framework gives staff a clear blueprint for planning, teaching and assessment. By mapping each lesson to specific learning behaviours - such as self-regulation, collaboration or critical thinking - teachers can design tasks that develop those habits alongside subject knowledge. The same framework then becomes a lens for formative assessment: do learners demonstrate the behaviour during discussion, paired work or independent practice? If not, the next lesson can include targeted modelling and rehearsal.
Ambulatory (Move-Around) Teaching
One powerful way to embed learning behaviours is through ambulatory settings—spaces where learners rotate among reading, writing, listening or speaking stations without leaving the room. Movement keeps energy high and supports multiple modalities, while clear station roles reinforce responsibility and self-direction.
Benefits of ambulatory practice
– Reduces transition time; materials remain in place as groups move.
– Frees the teacher to observe, question and coach rather than direct every step.
– Promotes independent problem-solving and choice.
– Builds self-regulation as learners manage time and tasks at each station.
– Encourages peer support and verbal rehearsal before written tasks.
When a behaviour-for-learning framework and flexible room design work hand-in-hand, classrooms become laboratories for curiosity, ownership and purposeful talk - conditions where deep learning can flourish.
Further Reading on Behaviours for Learning
Here are five key studies on behaviors for learning and their effect on outcomes in children.
1. Domínguez Escalón, X., & Greenfield, D. (2009). Learning behaviors mediating the effects of behavior problems on academic outcomes.
Summary: This study finds that learning behaviors mediate the impact of behavior problems on literacy and mathematics outcomes in at-risk preschool children. The evidence base highlights the importance of addressing behavioral issues to foster successful learners.
2. Beisly, A. H., Kwon, K.-A., Jeon, S., & Lim, C. (2020). The moderating role of two learning-related behaviors in preschool children's academic outcomes: learning behavior and executive function.
Summary: The study demonstrates that learning behaviors and executive functions moderate the relationship between family socioeconomic status and children's academic outcomes, emphasizing the role of emotional learning and metacognitive practice in fostering successful learners.
3. Grindle, C., Hastings, R., Saville, M., Hughes, J. C., Huxley, K., Kovshoff, H., Griffith, G., Walker-Jones, E., Devonshire, K., & Remington, B. (2012). Outcomes of a behavioral education model for children with autism in a mainstream school setting.
Summary: This study shows that a comprehensive behavioral intervention model, implemented in a mainstream school setting, significantly improves adaptive skills in children with autism. It underscores the importance of evidence-based practices for successful learning outcomes.
4. Ma, X., Shen, J., Krenn, H. Y., Hu, S., & Yuan, J. (2015). A meta-analysis of the relationship between learning outcomes and parental involvement during early childhood education and early elementary education.
Summary: This meta-analysis reveals a strong positive correlation between parental involvement and children's academic achievement. It emphasizes the role of dialogic and metacognitive practices in promoting emotional learning and successful learning outcomes.
5. Day, S. L., Connor, C., & McClelland, M. M. (2015). Children's behavioral regulation and literacy: The impact of the first grade classroom environment.
Summary: The study highlights that children's behavioral regulation and classroom environments significantly affect literacy outcomes. It demonstrates the importance of integrating emotional learning and metacognitive practices to create successful learners.
These studies collectively underscore the significance of behavioral and emotional learning, metacognitive practices, and parental involvement in enhancing educational outcomes for children.