Behaviour policy - Adults and Apprentices

1. Behaviour Policy

1.1    The purpose of this Policy is to ensure the safety of learners and staff, and to provide guidance on the immediate actions to take when students have failed to display appropriate attitudes and behaviours which undermine our culture of a safe, conducive to learning, environment.  Interventions will be made when individual learner actions/incidents affect the learning of others or can be judged to be unsafe.

1.2    The policy is based on the principle of ‘acceptable behaviour’, with rules to ensure safety and a spirit of co-operation within a large community. Learners should show respect for other learners, staff and visitors and act in a polite and mature way. It is important for individuals to be able to learn, to be able to teach and to be part of the NCL community without fear of:

•    Disruption of, and interference with, learning 
•    Actual or threatened violence from others 
•    Bullying 
•    Harassment, including sexual or racial harassment, or harassment on the grounds of religion, belief or disability 
•    Illegal substances or alcohol being made available 
•    Criminal behaviour (e.g. theft and the carrying of offensive weapons) 
•    Deliberate damage to property     

1.3    Learners will be made aware of this policy and the Newcastle City Learning Code of conduct at induction. 

1.4    Classroom rules may be negotiated and are displayed in some teaching spaces and Newcastle City Learning values and City Council’s values are detailed in the learner handbook and discussed with all staff and learners.

2.    Newcastle City Learnings priorities

To provide opportunities for all to learn and grow.

•    Delivering a high and consistent standard of teaching, learning and assessment
•    Deepening learning and widening the application of skills to move adults closer to the job’s market
•    Increasing learner independence and greater integration into communities 

2.1. Unacceptable behaviour can be divided into the following categories:

Minor misconduct

This includes for example: 
•    Unauthorised occasional lateness 
•    Noisy behaviour 
•    Using ‘mobile phones’ inappropriately 
•    Failure to observe reasonable instructions by staff 
•    Using inappropriate language

Repeated misconduct

This includes for example: 
•    All examples of minor misconduct, where a learner has not responded appropriately, after earlier requests to do so 
•    Regular unauthorised absence or lateness

Serious or persistent misconduct

This includes for example: 
•    Failure to observe health and safety regulations 
•    Continuous absence/lateness 
•    Disruptive behaviour 
•    Damage to Newcastle City Learning property 
•    Excessive physical contact with another learner (this may be of a sexual or abusive nature) 
•    Failure to respond to oral warnings given for earlier misconduct 
•    Failure to respond to a direct instruction given by a member of staff 
•    Using inappropriate language towards others, including comments which may cause offence, including peer on peer abuse.

Gross misconduct

This includes for example: 
•    Assault on, or threatening behaviour towards learners or staff. 
•    Bullying, harassment or the making of threats against staff or learners 
•    Theft or fraud 
•    Committing any criminal offence whilst involved in a Newcastle City Learning activity 
•    Serious damage or misuse of Newcastle City Learning property 
•    Seriously disruptive behaviour 
•    Dangerous behaviour, including the possession of offensive weapons 
•    Accessing or making available to others pornographic or other offensive material 
•    Bringing others on to the Newcastle City Learning site or compromising its security in any way 
•    Possessing, or being under the influence of drugs or alcohol 
•    Serious misuse of, or interference with, electronic systems or data 

Note:

The categorisations above are intended to be illustrative and are designed to set a framework within which staff can make a judgement as to the severity of a disciplinary issue. It should be acknowledged that all situations are unique, and that a range of circumstances should be taken into consideration before making a final judgement.

All staff to raise any incidents of bad behaviour in the college’s central records.

3. Partnership stage (informal)

3.1 The steps below detail the procedure to follow when dealing with unacceptable
     Behaviour.

For Adult Learning programmes this will be undertaken by Curriculum Managers in the first instance.  

3.2 Any information received about an incident after the event must be forwarded to the relevant Manager.

3.3 Managers may also need to follow up with other Newcastle City Learning procedures, e.g. 
     disciplinary, bullying etc., where appropriate.

Before moving to the formal disciplinary stage, the partnership stage should be implemented.

The partnership stage should be implemented where there is cause for concern, eg attendance, behaviour or a progress issue.   The Curriculum Manager should:  

•    Support and listen to identify any barriers which may be getting in the way of the learner meeting the requirements of the behaviour and attitudes expectations set out by Newcastle City Learning
•    Develop an appropriate Action Plan with the learner
•    Monitor and review progress against the plan for a period of 4 weeks
•    Discuss with the learner, where appropriate, the consequences of not meeting the required improvements set out in the Action Plan and the positive outcomes for everyone if the Action Plan is achieved.

In the majority of cases, the informal intervention detailed above should be enough to settle any issues which have arisen.