Tony Meehan

Educator / Former Head Teacher

NVR Association (NVRA) Accredited Practitioner

Tony has 29 years of experience as a teacher in mainstream secondary and special schools. This includes over 8 years as head of a Pupil Referral Unit, working with the vulnerable pupils excluded from mainstream school and their families in inner London, before retiring in 2017. It was during this latter period of his career that he became convinced of the urgent need to explore alternative approaches to managing challenging behaviour in order to stem the flow of exclusions from mainstream schools.

Tony sees NVR as a powerful alternative to the traditional behaviourist models in operation in almost all mainstream schools; as a model rooted in authentic relationship-building, it is particularly apt in its focus on supporting adults to manage themselves effectively when faced with challenging behaviour from a young person.

Tony is currently carrying out research into the effects of exclusion on pupils and their families.