Responding to complex learning behaviours in a disability-affirming classroom

Teachers are often expected to manage behaviour but are rarely invited to reflect on what behaviour signifies or how it connects to broader beliefs about the purpose of education. What is truly being aimed for when discussing “managing” behaviour? And how might those aims shift when starting from the belief that the purpose of education is to cultivate the will to act in ways that are valuable, and that all students are capable and worthy of this development?

What if behaviour is understood as a form of communication, something that, when approached with curiosity and a willingness to listen, reveals what is needed to create settled and affirming classrooms?

In this seminar, Dr Natalie Thompson contends that rethinking the purpose of education can shift the focus from student compliance and control to one centred on participation, belonging, and safety.

The session offers a practical and provocative conversation, drawing on the perspectives of individuals with lived experience of disability to challenge deficit-based thinking and affirm the role of teachers as relational professionals. At a time when classrooms are increasingly unsettled, this discussion invites participants to reframe complex behaviour as a catalyst for reimagining the purpose and conditions of education.

Facilitator:

Dr Natalie Thompson is an education lecturer from our Faculty of Arts and Education. Natalie’s research focuses on critical education theories, literacies, disability and inclusion. Through her work, she aims to promotes dialogue on education as a public good, the purpose of education and the relationship between pedagogy and politics.

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