How to deal with low-level disruption in the classroom

Tapping a pen, fidgeting, murmuring and passing notes are forms of low-level disruption. [iStockphoto]

According to Ofsted, up to an hour of learning every day is being lost to ‘low-level’ disruption.

Disruption can be high-level or low-level. Students fighting, or throwing a chair, hurling expletives at a teacher is generally considered high-level disruption. But tapping a pen, fidgeting, murmuring, passing notes, etc is low-level disruption.