Student Misbehaviour Report

Introduction
In the 21st century teachers face many challenges in the classroom setting that can sometimes be
overwhelming. Student behaviour management is one of the toughest challenges teachers deal with
on a daily basis (McEwan, 2008). Lack of discipline in public schools has become a major problem
that communities must deal with (Gu et al., 2011).

Student misbehaviour in the classroom is the main cause of classroom disruptions; misbehaviour is
classified as any behaviour that interferes with teaching or learning (Alvarez, 2007).Misbehaviour
can include things such as not completing task activities, speaking over other students, bullying
other students and not listening to teacher instructions. This type of behaviour creates a disruptive
learning environment and will have a negative impact on all the students in the class, resulting in
inability to focus and learn (Omoteso and Semudara, 2011).

It is important to identify and rectify the problems which exist in public schools, as well as using
teachers to identify problems members of the general public can also be a useful tool to pass
judgment on the health of the education system (Gu et al., 2011).

This report will identify different attitudes and beliefs people have about student behaviour in
todays schools, this will be done by conducting face to face informal interviews of 6 different
individuals. The individuals interviewed included teachers, parents, pre service teachers,
psychologists and business people.

After identifying views and beliefs the interviewees have about student behaviour we will draw on
relevant theory and research in this area and we will discuss how the interviewees beliefs correlate
or dont correlate with current research.

Research and theories on adolescent development and behaviour management will also be analysed
and compared to the views and beliefs of the interviewees, after analysing all the findings we will
outline the implications for current teachers and outline tools teachers can use to deal with the
student misbehaviour.

Attitudes and beliefs of the interviewees

Parents Mujo and Radmila Cibralic Believed that young people today lack respect for authority
compared to how it was 30 years ago. They also believe that technology advances were also having a
negative effect on students behaviour as well as changes in parenting practices.

High school teacher David Eleas Thinks that puberty plays a big role in student misbehaviour as
well as upbringing.

Psychologist Sara Karns - Believes that stress, societys expectations and home environment all play
a big part in student behaviour.

Business man Mick Calik Thinks students are spoiled today, he also believes parents spoil their kids
by not letting them take any risks and by treating them as babies which results in misbehaviour.
Pre service teacher Sohaib Chaudrey Believes that home environment as well adolescent
development all contributes to student misbehaviour.

Analysing the findings

Mick Calik believes that student misbehaviour is a result of them being spoiled by their parents, he
believes some parents treat their high school kids as babies and dont allow them to take any risk.
This belief correlates with Robert Epsteins theory on Adolescents.

Robert Epstein believes that teenagers should be treated like young adults rather than children; he
also states that treating teenagers like children can cause serious mental development problems
(Epstein, 2010). According to this theory treating teenagers like young adults will result in them
acting like young adults and treating them like children will cause them to act like children. Teachers
can follow this theory and treat their students like young adults and hopefully this can help foster a
positive leaning environment.

David Eleas and Sohaib Chaudrey both believe that student upbringing, developmental changes as
well as home environment play a big part in student behaviour and misbehaviour. These beliefs
correlate with the Biopsychosocial Model (BPS) which states that biological, psychological and
social factors all play a significant role in human functioning (Sarafino & Smith, 2014).

This model can also be very important tool teachers can use to diagnose student misbehaviour and
identify why the student is misbehaving. The teachers makes the diagnosis by examining the 3
factors which make up this mode (biological, psychological and social factors) .After examining the 3
factors the teacher outlines what factor is responsible for the misbehaviour. After diagnosing the
issue the teacher can take the best steps to deal with this issue.

Both David Eleas and Sohaib Chaudrey come from the same education field which is teaching, one
is a teacher already and the other is a pre service teacher, this can explain why their beliefs about
student behaviour are very similar.

Sara Karns believes that the stress students face can result in misbehaviour as well as other
problems like anxiety and depression. She believes that this stress can be a result of high
expectations placed on students by parents, school, and society. This belief about young people
experiencing high stress can be linked to G. Stanley Hall theory which classifies adolescence as a
period of storm and stress and states that mood swings peak during adolescence (Lerner et al.,
1998).

G. Stanley Halls beliefs about adolescence and their behaviours contradict Robert Epsteins theory.
Robert Epsteins theory sees adolescence as a cultural product of industrial societies (Epstein, 2010),
were as G. Stanley Hall clearly acknowledges that during adolescence there are certain changes that
young people go through which result in high stress and turmoil (Lerner et al., 1998).
Mujo and Radmila were the 2 parents interviewed their beliefs were that students lack respect for
authority and believe that students were much better behaved few decades ago, they put this down
to changes in technology like mobile phones and computers. They also blame a change in parenting
now days compared to before.

It is clear that parents now days are more hesitant to discipline/punish their kids because of
changing views about what is acceptable and what is unacceptable punishment (Arendell, 1997).
Smacking children was perfectly normal 30 years ago now days its considered abuse. Teachers used
to have to right to physically discipline their students now days its a crime.

These changing social norms about parenting and discipline can be a factor associated with
misbehaving students and should be seriously looked at in order to identify if there is a link between
misbehaving students and parenting practices.

As far as the role technological advances play when it comes to behaviour its difficult to say how
they affect behaviours, tools such as ICTs play mostly a positive role when it comes to student
learning (Kent, 2008), but the teacher must ensure that the students are using the ICTs for school
work and not going on sites such as Facebook.

There is research that suggests that too much computer time and not enough face to face
interaction for young children can increase the chances of anti-social behaviour (Subrahmanyam et
al., 2011). This research suggests that parents must limit the number of hours their kids spend on
computers or similar devices and ensure their kids spend sufficient amount of time outside.

Overall its clear that technology might sometimes be disruptive and cause the students to misuse
the technology but ultimately its up to the teacher to monitor the classroom and ensure this
doesnt happen (Kent, 2008).

Implications for teachers

Teachers nowadays have to deal with many more challenges than in previous decades and arguably
they have less tools and less authority to discipline students than in previous decades. Classroom
management may be the most discussed topic amongst teachers at all levels and at all stages of
their teaching careers, many teachers quit the profession because they cant successfully manage
their classroom (Alvarez, 2007). In order for teachers to be successful in their teaching careers they
must be able to manage and control their classroom as well has have good rapport with the student.
Therefore teachers need to know what methods or tools they can use to be successful at behaviour
management.
Tools to manage misbehaviour
Behaviour management is closely linked to discipline, behaviour management tries to prevent or
respond to student misbehaviour in order to rectify the behaviour so it doesnt get repeated (Slavin,
2009). There are a number of ways teachers can try and manage student behaviour some of these
ways were outlined earlier e.g. biopsychosicial method, and Robert Epstein theory, treating
students like young adults to encourage adult behaviour.

Other tools which schools can implement is De Jongs Principles and practice for managing student
behaviour, these principles outline that the community as a whole is the best way to improve
student behaviour rather than just relying on the school by itself to treat misbehaviour (De Jong,
2005). De Jongs Principle encourages multi-component interventions to facilitate behavioural
change (De Jong, 2005). This model can be a useful tool if the school has the support from the
outside community and parents of the students but if they dont have this support this model cant
be implemented.

Ed Fords Responsible Thinking Process (RTP) is another useful model that can be used to alter
student behaviour; this model aims to inform students who are misbehaving how their behaviour is
affecting others and tries to get the students to think of ways they can reach their goals without
violating the rights of others (De Jong, 2005). This model is all about students reflecting on their
misbehaviour and understanding how it affects others around them. This model might work with
some students willing to change their behaviour, but other misbehaving students might struggle to
see how their behaviour affects others or they might simply be unwilling to alter their behaviour.

The GRIP Method is also a good way teacher can identify and deal with student misbehaviour. GRIP
method involves the teacher to gather information about misbehaviour, respond to misbehaviour
e.g. talk to the student, Involve others services if needed e.g. principle, family. And finally promote
positive behaviour for the student e.g. positive feedback, reward system for good behaviour.

Conclusion
This report has identified that student misbehaviour is definitely a big problem in todays schools. All
the individuals interviewed agreed that student misbehaviour was evident in todays schools;
however they did have different attitudes and beliefs about what factors cause this misbehaviour.

The interviewees from teaching backgrounds clearly believed that puberty and adolescence plays a
big part in student behaviour they also acknowledge that upbringing is very important cause of
misbehaviour, their beliefs are a clear reflection of their previous studies.

The parents interviewed clearly believe the student behaviour is much worse than in the past and
think change in parenting practice is the real problem, as well as advances in technology students
can access. This report has identified that parents definitely dont discipline their kids as much as
before and this is due to uncertainty on parenting practices. Parents also worry about how their
discipline will be viewed by the friends and wider society.
So this lack of discipline in the home environment can definitely be a reason some students
misbehave in the school environment. More research needs to be done on this changing of
parenting styles throughout the decades.

The other 2 interviewees had different beliefs and attitudes towards student misbehaviour. Mick
Caliks beliefs correlated with Robert Epsteins principles on adolescent developments. Its unclear if
Micks views are correct about student misbehaviour but Robert Epsteins theory is a popular view
held by many professionals that if students are treated like young adults they will ultimately behave
like young adults.

The Psychologist Sara Karns believes that stress and high societys expectations of students result in
their misbehaviour. Its clear that her beliefs correlate with G Stanley Halls beliefs on adolescence.
These beliefs and views held by Sara on students behaviour can be linked to Saras education and
work as a psychologist.

Implications for teachers and the importance of managing student behaviour was clearly analysed in
this report. Its clear that many teachers who fail to keep their classroom controlled and their
students behaving are likely to be unsuccessful in their job and ultimately quit the profession.

Tools and methods teachers can use to deal with misbehaviour have also been identified and
explained. The tools range from community interventions such as De Jongs Method, to teacher
interventions GRIP methods, to also student centred reflection method ED Fords Responsible
Thinking Process (RTP). There is no right or wrong method to deal with student misbehaviour,
different methods might suit different situations or different schools. Ultimately its up to the
teacher to decide how they will deal with certain misbehaviour in their classroom.

Perhaps the best way to ensure the students are behaved and there is a positive learning
environment is to employ Robert Epsteins principle and treat students like young adults rather than
treating students like children and talking to them in an authoritative manner. By doing this the
teacher can hopefully build positive rapport with their students and the students will behave in the
right manner, and there will be no need for other behaviour interventions.
References

Alvarez, H. (2007). The impact of teacher preparation on responses to student aggression in the

classroom, Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 1113-1126.

Arendell, T. E. (1997). Contemporary parenting: Challenges and issues. Sage Publications, Inc.

De Jong, T. (2005). A framework of principles and best practice for managing student behaviour in

the Australian education context. School Psychology International, 26(3), 353-370.

Epstein, R. (2010). Teen 2.0: Saving our children and families from the torment of adolescence.

Linden Publishing.

Gu, H., Lai, S. L., & Ye, R. (2011). A cross-cultural study of student problem behaviors in middle

schools. School Psychology International, 32(1), 20-34.

Kent, P. (2008), Think creatively for ICT, Teacher, 190, 44-47.

Lerner, R. M., Boyd, M. J., & Du, D. (1998). Adolescent development. Corsini Encyclopedia of

Psychology.

McEwan, R. (2008), Think creatively for ICT, Teacher, 190, 44-47.

Omoteso, B. A. and Semudara, A. (2011), The Relationship between Teachers Effectiveness and

Management of Classroom Misbehaviours in Secondary Schools, Psychology, 2 (9), 902-908.

Sarafino, E. P., & Smith, T. W. (2014). Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions. John Wiley &

Sons.

Slavin, R. (2009), Educational psychology: Theory and practice, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:

Pearson Education Inc.

Subrahmanyam, K., Greenfield, P., Kraut, R., & Gross, E. (2001). The impact of computer use on

children's and adolescents' development. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology,

22(1), 7-30.