Paul Dix - After The Adults Change: Achievable behaviour nirvana

After the Adults Change is a manifesto for change in schools, and is particularly relevant at a time when society has realised the huge importance and role of schools in delivering more than simply academic education.

PHIL NAYLOR, PODCAST HOST, NAYLORS NATTER, DEPUTY HEAD TEACHER AND LOCAL AUTHORITY GOVERNOR

After the Adults Change has something for everyone. It isnt just about supporting the children who bring behavioural challenges; it also has practical ideas and advice and recognises the needs of those children who just want to learn.

SHARON PASCOE, HEAD TEACHER, FOCHRIW PRIMARY SCHOOL AND BRYN AWEL PRIMARY SCHOOL

Paul Dix provides a straight-talking practical blueprint to help schools create a positive and constructive culture around behaviour and relationships. Pauls wealth of experience makes After the Adults Change a modern classic and a book of the times that is an essential read for all school leaders.

JON TAIT, DEPUTY CEO AND DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT, ARET LEARNING TRUST

Paul Dix is amazing! His writing is full of warmth and sincerity, and his care for teachers and students shines through in his latest offering. In our post-COVID-19 world, teachers and educators need to keep supporting our kids through these turbulent times and After the Adults Change shows us how it can be done!

KARL C. PUP, TEACHER, FOUNDER OF ACTIONHEROTEACHER.COM, AND AUTHOR OF THE ACTION HERO TEACHER: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT MADE SIMPLE

After the Adults Change is written with a kindness and sensitivity that mirrors exactly the tone that a classroom or school built on ready, respectful and safe would have. It is a positive, supportive and considered work that provides numerous reminders of why we do what we do along with strategies and suggestions, genuine examples of these in practice, and the characteristic, self-deprecating humour that made When the Adults Change, Everything Changes such an accessible and yet powerful read.

COLIN GOFFIN, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, BIG PICTURE LEARNING UK

If you want to transform the way that your school community does behaviour, then After the Adults Change is the book for you. Pauls strong belief, based on real-life research and practice, that the culture of a school is a reflection of the behaviour and attitude of the adults is compelling and truly inspirational.

MARC DOYLE, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, CONSILIUM ACADEMIES, AND EXPERIENCED HEAD TEACHER

After the Adults Change is a refreshing, intelligent, thought-provoking and easy-to-read book. I love the layout and how Paul uses evidence based theory and real-life case studies to support his writing. The book contains many new heart-centred approaches and takeaways to put into practice, especially at the end of each chapter in the Stop that!, How to lead it and Nuggets sections. I could, in fact, write a book about this book; however, I will stop and allow you to read and digest this ground-breaking book for yourself.

LAURA HENRY-ALLAIN, MBE, AWARD-WINNING GLOBAL WRITER, SPEAKER AND CONSULTANT

This book is about sustained, achievable, long-term school improvement. The behaviour nirvana is characterised by an embedded whole school culture of high expectations, the development of skilled and reflective professional practitioners, and high levels of pupil agency.

SIMON KIDWELL, HEAD TEACHER, HARTFORD MANOR PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY

All children deserve to feel safe, loved and valued and if this is your mantra, then grab this book with both hands and enjoy the read. From behaviour management strategy to everyday practical tips, there is something for everyone in After the Adults Change. Heres to continuing the revolution and ensuring that school years lead to a bright future of choice and opportunity for all.

KATIE ROBERTS, HEAD TEACHER, DA VINCI ACADEMY

After the Adults Change is the perfect guide to strengthening relationships with children and young people and to ensuring positive behaviour, from both children and adults. This book should be your companion to introducing and embedding relational approaches, whether on a class or whole school level. It is a hugely practical resource for every adult who works with children and young people.

JENNIFER M. KNUSSEN, HEAD TEACHER, PITTEUCHAR EAST PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY

My Granny was Austrian and she made the best vanillekipferl anyone has ever eaten. Dont @ me with your recipes I am not prepared to argue about that. She was gentle and kind with a strong Austrian accent that she tried to hide from years of having to. Mitsy, as she was known, had escaped the Jewish ghettos just before the Second World War, sponsored by an Englishman to work as a domestic servant in a large country house. She was a refugee who left her sisters and family behind to grab a chance of a safer life. That story is remarkable enough. Being an Austrian woman in England in 1938 and living without being able to speak English rendered her voiceless. Yet she had a voice stronger than we ever knew and a story that was only revealed to me recently.

In 1937, at the age of 25, she wrote an article that was published in a German newspaper. That is a remarkable feat for a woman so young. The article was heavily and openly critical of Hitler. She did not hold back. Mitsy was subsequently arrested and spent a year in prison. A true heroine, she never spoke to anyone about it. We are still uncovering the details.

I know that it is right to speak out against injustice, even in the face of those who seek to muddle the truth. Maybe strength is inherited, not created. So, this book is for you, Maria Hedwig Greimann, who, in the face of immediate risk to her own life and liberty, spoke truth to power. I hope I have even an ounce of her courage, humility and strength. I wont hold back either.

There is a behavioural nirvana. One that is calm, purposeful and respectful, where poor behaviour is as rare as a PE teacher in trousers and relationships drive achievement. Annoyingly, and predictably, the road is hard and the ride bumpy and littered with clichs. It is achievable, though, and when you get there it is a little slice of relational heaven.

The steps outlined in When the Adults Change, Everything Changes are about shifting the behaviour of the adults and changing the response the child receives. You will soak that up through this book too. Read them in any order the core message is the same. Your deliberate, planned behaviour underpins everything.

This book will challenge you to rejig your time to introduce coaching for every child and refresh your restorative approach to keep everyone thinking. We will look at the knotty issues that need to be overcome when holding to inclusive values and explore how to lead your classroom or school like a plodding tortoise, not a performance enhanced hare. We will look in detail at how to support those who cause chaos while protecting those who just want to learn. And we will do it all without blame or any notion that a childs behaviour is the fault of the teacher.

I will share work that I am inspired by, including the Glasgow Model (and from schools across Scotland) which has reduced exclusion and improved provision for those at the margins. We will drop in and learn from schools who have been Paul Dixing it for years and those who are innovating brilliantly with the strategies from the start. Along the way, I will reaffirm my commitment to managing behaviour with calm humility and the right of every child to learn in peace and my utter disdain for ludicrous notions of zero tolerance/no excuses and any other euphemism for being shitty to kids.