ABSTRACT
A major concern within the behavioural approach to teaching is with the identification of things and events which children find rewarding and to structure the teaching environment so as to make access to these rewards dependent upon behaviour which the teacher wants to encourage in his class. A recent refinement of applied behaviour analysis (ABA) is known as functional behaviour assessment (FBA). It argues that applying general reinforcements and punishments to similar behaviours is less effective than adjusting the specific consequences at work with each behaviour, although this is by no means proven. All According to behaviourism, the main purpose of discipline is the managerial goal of establishing, maintaining or reinstating order so that students can be successful at learning. It seeks to achieve this by teaching students to comply with outside controls. Behaviourists are interested only in descriptions of behaviour that can be verified through observation.
