EuroPBS

The PBS  Europe  project addresses  the  needs  of  teachers  in five  European secondary schools in coping with challenging behavioural  issues  in  everyday  school life. Challenging behavioural  issues  can  negatively influence teacher-student  interaction, class climate and the learning  environment.  Teachers  often  feel  unprepared, unconfident and  incompetent  in trying  to  manage  challenging  behaviour  and this  can  affect  teachers  self  efficacy. Teachers of all participating (associate) partners indicate the need for interventions, tools and support in  dealing with challenging behavioural  problems  of  students,  both  individually  and  in  the group, and if possible to prevent this behaviour. The project provides an innovative solution to  address  the  needs  of  teachers,  by  transferring  a  proven  US  concept, Positive Behavior Support  (PBS),  and  adapting  it  to  the European  setting. PBS can  be  defined  as: “an assessment-based approach for supporting students with behavioural problems that provides an  empirically  validated  set  of  strategies  for  preventing  problems  and  promoting  pro-social behaviour”  (Hieneman,  Dunlap  &  Kincaid,  2005).

Implementing PBS is a  systems  change process  for the entire  school.  The  underlying  theme  is  teaching  behavioral  expectations  in the same manner as any core curriculum subject.  The  consortium  wishes  to  implement  the  PBS  framework  in  its  five  participating  secondary schools  and,  if  possible  and  where  necessary,  ensure  its  cultural  fit  with  the  ecological situation present in each pilot school. Based on the results, experiences and observations of these  five  pilot schools,  a European  PBS  concept was developed.

Within  the  project  three main  activities  are  distinguished: 
(1) school  development: development  of  the  European PBS  concept  and  implementation  in  the  partner  schools,  (2)  development  of  a PBS Handbook  and  Training  Tool  Kit for  In  Service  training,  and 
(3) research  activities:  are teacher  needs fulfilled  and  does  their  teacher  efficacy  grow  when  dealing  with  behavioural problems.

The  five  pilot  schools  have  successfully  started  with  the  PBS  implementation process  and  this  has  impacted  their  school  organisation,  class  climate,  teacher-student relations, the  way  how  they  view behavioural  problems  and  the design of  interventions. Partner schools are proud on the implementation and especially on the team of teachers who have  accomplished  this.  All  schools  use  explicit  behaviorial  expectations  based  on  agreed values  and  rules  to  establish  a  safe  and  predictable  learning  environment  where  students, staff  and  other  stakeholders  can  learn  and  behave. Based  on  the  results,  experiences  and observations  of  these  five  pilot  schools,  a  General  PBS  Europe  concept  is  developed, describing in detail the US PBS concepts, the way the PBS Europe concept was developed, and the added European flavour to the US PBS concept. Based on this General PBS Europe concept,  the  PBS  Europe  Handbook  for  Implementation,  a  Training  Toolkit  with  PBS Materials,  a  4-Day  In-Service  Training  Program,  and  a  DVD  was  developed. 

These  are  the main  products  of  the  PBS  Europe  project  and  can  be  found  on www.europbs.com. Results on  teachers’  sense  of  self  efficacy  revealed  that  participating  Turkish  and  Hungarian teachers  tended  to  report  a  higher  sense  of  self-efficacy.  Interviews  revealed  that  teachers reported  they  were  positive  about  their  own  self-efficacy. Even  though  teachers  were  faced with challenges during the project, they reported positive changes took place in their schools. Teachers stated PBS contributed to their development as a teacher. A pilot in implementing a  specific  intervention  in  the  Portuguese  school  showed  that  the  intervention appears effective  based  on  the  pre  and  post behavioral  data as  well  as  the  opinions  of  students, teachers  and  parents.  Students  showed  less  problem  behavior  and  the  majority  more  pro-social behaviors. Students and parents reported that the support was helpful and effective. The multi-country partnership has benefited from the project in terms of collaboration on PBS school development trajectories, and developing a European version of the US PBS concept by  building  the  foundation  of  a  European  PBS  Network,  which  will  continue  to  collaborate and share experiences after the project period.

Goei, S.L. (2013). Public Final Report EUROPBS. Report written as part of PBS Europe project 50996-LLP-1-2010-NL-COMENIUS-CMP. Amsterdam: VU University. DOI: 10.13140/2.1.4059.2647