Better Behaviour

Reviews / Votes

Effortlessly brilliant. Jarlath's combination of deep understanding, hard evidence and splutteringly funny stories is irresistible.


Jarlath unveils the child behind the behaviour. Invaluable for anyone working with children and young people. -- Paul Dix 'Better Behaviour is easy to read and accessible to all. Textured with personal parenting anecdotes it has a conversational style to its message. Jarlath's authentic voice and pragmatic approach encourages you to be an active reader. The reflection points throughout hold the reader to account, moreover, the discussion points encourage you to bring others into the discussion. The impact of reading Better Behaviour will be the reframing of your own classroom practice, via a deeper understanding of how our values translate into our actions. Jarlath's ultimate goal is to affect cultural change in our schools, through his experience and insight - this book is practice informed and values-driven.' -- Hannah Wilson In debates about education Jarlath O'Brien's voice is an important one. When he speaks, I listen - and then think very hard about what I believe. Better Behaviour has exactly that effect; Jarlath's authoritative voice of experience confronts us with the idea that if schools are going to be truly inclusive, then every child needs to succeed and this has to be about fundamental principles, not merely a list of exceptions and special cases. Here is a coherent set of ideas and principles about behaviour management that will resonate with many and challenge many others - as any great book should -- Tom Sherrington A thought-provoking book that should be on the reading list of every new and established teacher, particularly with the renewed focus upon reducing exclusions. -- Carol Smart * SNIP newsletter * I simply loved this book, and introduced it to colleagues, the language was earthy and the stories very real to the classroom environment. Many of my student's found this a useful book, to facilitate an awareness of strategies that can be employed to work with challenging behaviours in the classroom. A key message in the book that stood out for the teacher training students was that a lot of the behaviours experienced by them are and have been fully experienced by fully trained teachers, the message had a universal effect and gave students hope with confidence. -- Deirdre Daly