Managing non-compliance in the classroom: a review of empirically based interventions

Non-compliance in the classroom is a serious and time-consuming problem for teachers. This article reviews empirical studies over the last 10 years that describe interventions delivered by classroom teachers to manage non-compliance within both regular and special education classrooms. Strategies such as behavioural momentum, effective commands or precision requests, positive reinforcement and group contingencies can be used effectively by teachers at little cost of time or money. Other strategies show potential but need further research before they can be classed as empirically-based. Multi-component interventions, involving combinations of antecedent and consequence based strategies, may hold the greatest potential for classroom use.