FSC2678 Understanding Behaviour: Supporting Children with SEN in Your Classroom

Course Description

Understanding and responding effectively to challenging behaviour is one of the most significant professional challenges facing primary teachers today — particularly those working with children with special educational needs. Yet most available training focuses on surface-level responses rather than on understanding why behaviour occurs in the first place.

This course takes a fundamentally different approach. Developed through the EU-funded PABA (Preschool Applied Behaviour Analysis) Erasmus+ research project and delivered by INSIDE EU — an organisation directed entirely by people with lived experience of disability and social exclusion — it equips primary teachers with a structured, evidence-based framework for understanding behaviour as communication and for responding in ways that support children’s learning, wellbeing, and sense of belonging.

At the heart of the course is a unique branching scenario game: an interactive, browser-based simulation in which teachers make real-time decisions in realistic classroom situations, follow different pathways depending on their choices, and experience the consequences of their approaches. No other EPV summer course in Ireland uses simulation-based learning for behaviour management. This game is not an add-on — it is the primary learning methodology, placing teachers inside the experience of the child and making professional learning both deeply engaging and practically relevant.

Across five progressive modules, participants build a complete professional framework: they learn to define and observe behaviour with precision; identify the function behaviour serves for each child; collect reliable observational data; develop evidence-based behaviour support plans; and embed sustainable practice through the School Self-Evaluation process. Every skill and concept taught translates directly into classroom action.

The course content draws on the PABA academic textbook — peer-reviewed and published through the University of Prešov — and has been contextualised for Irish primary classrooms through a pilot delivered with 25 primary teachers in Dundalk, receiving 100% positive feedback. All materials are aligned with current Department of Education policy, including the Primary Curriculum Framework (2023), NCSE guidance, NEPS guidelines, and the principles of LAOS 2022 and Cosán.

• Understanding Behaviour as Communication: Develop a neuro-affirmative, trauma-informed framework for interpreting challenging behaviour as a child’s attempt to communicate unmet needs, moving beyond reactive management toward genuine understanding.
• The ABC Model and Functions of Behaviour: Learn to define behaviour in precise, observable terms; identify the four primary functions driving behaviour (Sensory, Escape, Attention, Tangible); and distinguish between identical surface behaviours serving entirely different purposes.
• Systematic Observation and Data Collection: Build practical skills in recording and analysing behaviour using structured professional tools, including ABC data sheets, frequency recording, duration recording, and Functional Behaviour Assessment.
• Evidence-Based Strategy Selection: Select proactive and reactive strategies matched to the specific function of a child’s behaviour, teach replacement behaviours, and develop comprehensive Behaviour Support Plans that connect assessment to intervention.
• Sustainable Practice and School Self-Evaluation: Integrate course learning into the SSE process with a concrete, evidence-informed improvement plan; explore digital behaviour tracking tools; and develop strategies for sustaining effective practice while supporting teacher wellbeing.

This course is ideal for primary teachers at all career stages — class teachers, Special Education Teachers, and school leaders — who want to respond to children with additional needs with greater confidence, compassion, and effectiveness. Whether you are new to supporting children with SEN or looking to deepen an existing evidence base, this course offers a genuinely transformative professional learning experience.

Join a community of dedicated educators committed to ensuring every child experiences school as a place where they belong, are understood, and can thrive.