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Five-session mentoring course

Defiance and non-compliance

Who it's for

Consider this course for a pupil showing:

  • Refuses direct instructions even when calm and no clear reason is given
  • Repeatedly tests limits and boundaries across different settings
  • Argues or talks back about rules rather than simply not managing them
  • Behaviour is noticeably better with specific adults, suggesting a relationship-driven pattern

What it works towards

  • Understand why rules exist rather than experiencing them as arbitrary
  • Build a trusted relationship with at least one adult
  • Practise following instructions with less friction
  • Find acceptable ways to disagree or negotiate

The five sessions

  1. Session 1 Why rules matter to me Pupil can describe a personal view of school rules and identify which feel fairest and least fair.
  2. Session 2 The choices game Pupil can link a choice to its likely consequence, for both positive and negative examples.
  3. Session 3 Listening and following instructions Pupil can follow a first-time instruction using an agreed strategy during the session.
  4. Session 4 When I disagree Pupil can practise disagreeing assertively rather than defiantly.
  5. Session 5 My behaviour agreement Pupil has a co-created behaviour agreement and knows how it will be reviewed.

A sixth session follows, without the pupil: the mentor writes the support plan and agrees next steps.

The approach, and where it comes from

Sessions draw on relational and restorative approaches recommended in the Education Endowment Foundation's Improving Behaviour in Schools guidance, which finds that strong pupil-staff relationships and consistent, personalised responses do more to shift defiant behaviour than blanket sanctions. This is consistent with the DfE's Behaviour in Schools advice, which asks schools to build a culture of high expectations through relationships and clear routines rather than rules imposed without explanation, and supports the standard expected under Ofsted's attendance and behaviour evaluation area.

Try it with a small group

Three weeks free, no card, up to three staff and ten pupils. Everything recorded during the trial carries over if you continue.

Start the free pilot

Or read the white paper, which sets out the evidence behind each of the twenty courses.

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