Establish and maintain expectations, guidelines and boundaries for students to encourage mutual respect and allow for positive relationships to develop in the classroom. Reinforcing positive behaviour is equally important.

Engage students in the development of a class agreement or expectations. The following are some examples. In this class we will:

• listen to different ideas without ‘put downs’
• not interrupt while someone is talking
• stick to the point
• allow everyone the right to speak
• be responsible for our own behaviour
• keep what other people say in class as confidential
• never refer to someone by name when giving an example
• always support each other
• respect other’s cultural traditions, beliefs, values and languages
• respect that everyone has the right not to offer an opinion.