Author's Name:	DR. WELLINGTON SAMKANGE
Subject Area:	Social Science and Humanities
Subject	Education
Section	Research Paper

Behaviour modification; Behaviour reinforcement; Punishment; Reward; Extinction

Education plays a key role in the development of the child. The child has to be developed physically, mentally, socially, and morally. Such development involves behaviour modification. Parents and teachers play crucial roles in ensuring that healthy behaviours in children are promoted, at the same time ensuring that the occurrence of unwanted behaviour in children is decreased. They have to employ different techniques which contribute to behaviour modification in children. Behaviour modification is based on the theory of conditioning. The theory of conditioning focuses on two types of conditioning which are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. The two types of conditioning are concerned with the stimulus and reward system respectively. The paper therefore explains the concept behaviour modification. It also covers such concepts as reinforcement, punishment, reward and extinction in relation to behaviour modification. The paper draws examples from the Early Childhood Development (ECD) level. It further discusses the role of the teacher in behaviour modification. In order to contribute to the total development of the child, the teacher has to employ different behaviour modification techniques. The paper concludes that behaviour modification techniques used by the teacher have to be carefully selected so that children are not abused in an attempt to modify their behaviours.