Two students. Both shout out constantly during whole-class instruction.
The first one gets the class laughing every time. Peers turn around. You make eye contact. The room reacts. He shouts out again tomorrow, and the day after.
The second one gets sent to the corridor. Every time she gets loud, she’s out of the room, away from the worksheet she’s been struggling with for twenty minutes. She shouts out again tomorrow, and the day after.
You’ve been using the same consequence for both. It’s working for one of them — just not the one you want it to work for.
Behaviour that repeats is behaviour that works
Every behaviour that a student repeats is doing something for them. It’s getting them something, or getting them out of something. The technical term for this is the function of behaviour — but you don’t need the jargon. Just ask: what is this behaviour getting the student?
When a behaviour works, it repeats. When it stops working, it fades. This is not defiance, manipulation, or personality. It’s just how learning works — for all of us.
The catch is that two students can do the exact same thing for completely opposite reasons. And a response that removes the payoff for one student hands it directly to the other.
The four functions in plain language
Researchers have grouped the reasons behind behaviour into four categories. Here’s what they actually look like in a classroom.
Attention — from adults or peers
The student is getting a social reaction. It might be your reprimand, a classmate’s laugh, or even a concerned look from across the room. The reaction is the reward.
Example: A student makes jokes during silent reading. Every time you tell him to stop, he grins. Every time a peer snorts, he doubles down. The behaviour is attention-maintained — your response is the fuel.
Escape — from work, noise, or social demand
The student is getting out of something uncomfortable. That might be a difficult task, a noisy environment, a social situation, or a transition they’re dreading.
Example: A student tears up her worksheet right before independent writing. She gets sent to the office, misses writing entirely, and comes back calm. The behaviour worked — it removed the demand.
Access — to items or activities
The student is trying to get something specific: a particular toy, a preferred seat, screen time, a turn on the computer.
Example: A student grabs another child’s pencil case every morning. When he does, staff redirect him with the class set of pencils. He now has pencils. Access maintained.
Sensory — works even when alone
The behaviour produces a physical sensation that is reinforcing in itself. It doesn’t require anyone to react or anything to be handed over. It works in isolation.
Example: A student rocks in her chair throughout the lesson regardless of who is watching or whether anyone responds. The movement itself is what maintains it.
Most behaviours in classrooms are attention- or escape-maintained. Sensory functions are common but often over-assigned — not every repetitive behaviour is sensory; check the other three first.
For a more detailed definition, see the function of behaviour entry in the glossary.
Why this changes what you do
Back to the corridor.
For the first student — the one who shouts out to get the class reacting — sending him out does reduce the behaviour. He loses his audience. Over time, if it’s consistent, the shouting-out decreases because it no longer works.
For the second student — the one avoiding the worksheet — the corridor is not a punishment. It’s the whole point. She shouted out to escape a hard task, and you gave her an escape. Every time you send her out, you make it more likely she’ll shout out next time she hits something difficult.
Same consequence. Opposite effects. The difference is function.
This is the same logic behind why preferred items used as universal de-escalation tools often backfire — see The iPad is Not a Reinforcer for a detailed breakdown of why function-blind rewards make things worse, not better.
The takeaway for practice:
- Attention-maintained behaviour: reduce social reaction; don’t engage during the behaviour; build in structured attention for appropriate behaviour.
- Escape-maintained behaviour: don’t remove the demand as a consequence; modify the task as a prevention strategy instead; teach a functionally equivalent way to ask for a break.
- Access-maintained behaviour: don’t accidentally deliver the item when the behaviour occurs; make access contingent on an appropriate request.
- Sensory-maintained behaviour: consider whether the behaviour causes harm; if not, scheduled access to the sensory input often reduces disruption.
How to find the function without a degree in it
You don’t need to run a formal assessment to build a working hypothesis. You need to watch two things: what happens right before the behaviour, and what happens right immediately after.
Before (the antecedent): Was a demand placed? Was attention removed? Did something change in the environment? Was a preferred item taken away?
After (the consequence): What did the student get or get out of? Did someone react? Did a task disappear? Did they get an item or activity?
Patterns emerge faster than most teachers expect. A student who escalates at the start of every maths lesson, and de-escalates the moment she’s moved out of the room, is telling you something.
Two tools that make this easier:
- ABC Data Sheet — a structured way to record Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequence across multiple incidents and start seeing the pattern.
- Behaviour Scatterplot — a simple grid that shows you when during the day the behaviour is most frequent, which often points directly at the function.
Neither requires specialist training. Both take under five minutes per incident.
Where to go next
Function-based thinking is the foundation of almost every effective classroom behaviour strategy. Once you understand why a behaviour is happening, the response choices become much clearer — and far less likely to backfire.
For a broader set of strategies organised by function and classroom context, start at Understanding Behaviour in the Classroom.