All teachers will encounter challenging behaviour during their career, and some of it will surely be from their students!

Challenging behaviour can take many forms, from a minor disagreement or excessive verbal enthusiasm in a group, to physical intimidation, and even violence in a teaching session. A book such as this cannot provide you with a full set of strategies and techniques to manage that challenging behaviour, but it can give you some worthwhile starting points. This chapter first introduces our broad definition of challenging behaviour, then a well-known approach to group dynamics, which helps understand how groups work, and through that how you can manage your own groups to reduce the chances of challenging behaviour. The chapter then moves on to consider the other types of behaviour which you may need to learn how to manage. Key techniques to use when managing challenging behaviour, linked to short case studies involving behaviour problems, follow. The chapter concludes by reinforcing the idea that behaviour management is an organisational issue as much as a teaching issue.