Nicola qualified as a teacher in 1995 from the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff and has worked across South Wales as both a supply and permanent teacher in mainstream and special schools. She is currently teaching at Blackwood Primary School.

Her experiences of working with challenging behaviour in school led her to develop an interest in behaviour management and to develop a framework called "The 10 Rs for Behaviour Managment".

The 10 Rs is a term for a group of strategies that are efficient 'tried and tested' techniques for managing children in the classroom, no matter what the behavioural difficulties are.

They aim to prevent the occurrence of behaviour difficulties, or if problems do occur, they show how to quickly re-establish appropriate behaviour. Nicola respresents the 10 Rs in a triangular formation as this illustrates how each element is a foundation for the next one and relies on its predecessor to be effective.

'The Ten Rs'

Nicola says "We have so many talented teachers with a passion for their subject that in order to deliver a lesson effectively I feel that teachers need to be trained in classroom management techniques as well as understanding their own levels of self confidence and assertiveness."

"They need to understand what makes them angry or afraid when challenged by a pupil. If they think about the words or mannerisms they use to maintain discipline they can then adapt their behaviour to turn negative situations into positive and inspirational classroom experiences."

According to a survey conducted in 2007 by the Teachers Support Network 63% of teachers had considered leaving the profession because of pupil aggression and unruliness. Nicola has used successfully used her techniques to turn around negative situations and integrate children with challenging behaviour back into mainstream classes.