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The evidence‐based Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) Programme was developed to meet demands from teachers for strategies to manage disruptive behaviours in the classroom (Webster‐Stratton, 1999). This article describes the programme and reports on its first use in the UK. In the first study 23 teachers attended the five‐day classroom management programme, 20 completed the final satisfaction questionnaire and 21 participated in a semi‐structured follow‐up interview. Teachers who implemented the training in their classrooms reported satisfaction with the programme and believed that the strategies taught were effective and improved pupils' conduct. In the second study, blind observation of teacher classroom behaviour was undertaken in 21 classes: 10 teachers had received the TCM training and 11 had not. Teachers who received TCM training gave clearer instructions to children and allowed more time for compliance before repeating instructions. The children in their classes were more compliant than children in the classes of untrained teachers. The implications of these findings are discussed.

This article reviews the contents of the previous year's editions of the Journal of Children's Services (Volume 2, 2007), as requested by the Journal's editorial board. It draws out some of the main messages for how high‐quality scientific research can help build good childhoods in western developed countries, focusing on: the need for epidemiology to understand how to match services to needs; how research can build evidence of the impact of prevention and intervention services on child well‐being; what the evidence says about how to implement proven programmes successfully; the economic case for proven programmes; the urgency of improving children's material living standards; how to help the most vulnerable children in society; and, lastly, the task of measuring child well‐being.