Bozana Novkovic

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Bozana Novkovic
18407567
Pedagogy for Positive Learning Environments
Dr Roberto Parada
Assessment 1 Report
‘Why do young people misbehave in school?’
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‘Why do young people misbehave in school?’

The topic of students’ behaviour within the classroom is one that does not lead a stray

within the teaching profession. This report aims to identify why students misbehave in

school by compiling information from various backgrounds and ages through interviews.

The exploration of research in adolescent development, and how personal understanding of

student behaviour can affect or improve teacher practice; while considering the factors of

years of teaching experience, gender and mentality. Though both ends of the spectrum

should be taken into consideration when addressing the issue of student misbehaviour. This

will be further discussed through literature and interview findings.

Frequency and occurrences of student misbehaviour tends to be measured in numerous

ways due to age, gender, perception of misbehaviour, external factors and how countries

around the world approach students’ misbehaviour. “…Classroom behaviours can be

defined as those behaviours that involve rule breaking, violating the implicit norms or

expectations, being inappropriate in the classroom settings and upsetting teaching and

learning” (Sun and Shek, 2012). Alter, Walker and Landers (2013), measured students’

misbehaviour through teachers’ perception and teacher demographic. Teachers’ that were

involved within the research were split into two categories depending on gender, their

teaching experience, the grade being taught, what approaches they would undertake when

faced with misbehaviour. “Identification of teachers’ perceptions of which challenging

student behaviours are most prevalent and problematic serves multiple purposes. First,

measuring baseline rates of the most prevalent challenging behaviours can lead to targeted

interventions for specific challenging behaviours” (Alter, Walker and Landers, 2013). Nine

variables were measured as problematic behaviour which ranged from disruption, verbal
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aggression to physical aggression and so on. Results highlighted that each teacher with a

different background had an opinion on what was problematic student behaviour and what

was not as concerning. Those who have been teaching for 16-20 years do not see student

isolation as problematic as opposed to those who have been teaching from 11-15 years

(Alter, Walker and Landers, 2013). Iranian teachers are divided in public school and private

school systems and as a result, different strategies were used to in still discipline for

students’ misbehaviour. Students have also given their opinion and perspective on how

teachers would approach problematic behaviour. “The results showed that, based on the

students’ perspectives, teachers in public schools availed themselves more of aggression

strategies and punishment than those of private schools” (Aliakbari, Mirazaee and Aliabadi,

2013). Gender also highlights teacher perspectives on student misbehaviour, as well as

students’ perspectives on who and how approaches would be implemented on student

problematic behaviour. Female Iranian teachers would in still more punishment than Iranian

male teachers, regardless of whether they were in a private or public school (Aliakbari,

Mirazee and Aliabadi, 2013). Alter, Walker & Landers (2013), have found that verbal

disruption was viewed differently by female and male teachers. Female teachers feel that

verbal disruption is a problematic behaviour, though male teachers disagree. “Male and

teachers with less than 16 years of experience did identify Isolation/No social interaction as

a more prevalent and problematic challenging behaviour than other demographic groups”

(Alter, Walker & Landers, 2013). Although the factors of gender, experience of educators

seem to impact how they perceive student misbehaviour, students also hold a perspective

on how their educators behave within the classroom as mentioned previously. Motivation,

support, understanding and engaging content are elements to produce positive learning

environments, however, in some cases this lacks from teachers and results to problematic
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behaviour. “In some subject matters, students lack the motivation they need to engage in

and benefit from the teacher’s instruction. This lack of motivation can be traced partly

students’ pessimistic domain-specific ability beliefs, partly to their lack of desire to exert

effort in the domain, partly to their perception that the learning activities being offered are

simply unappealing things to do” (Cheon and Reeve, 2015). Disengagement is an issue that

is predominately misunderstood within the classroom. Schussler (2009), discusses that yes,

there is no definite answer as to how to captivate students’ willingness to stay on task,

however, using meaningful content for students and challenging them in appropriate areas

would decrease the chance of managing behaviour within the classroom. “As adults, we do

not choose to engage in which we see no relevance. We should not expect students to be

any different” (Schussler, 2009). Misbehaviour from students is viewed as a negative issue,

though teachers are not always held accountable or reflective for these such occurrences.

Teacher behaviour and attitude is just as crucial in the classroom for students. Strikwerda-

Brown, Oliver, Hodgson, Palmer & Watts (2008), conducted research on rural adolescent

students and found that students had many negative opinions to share about the teachers

within their school. “Furthermore some students indicated that schools would be better if

they had ‘more teachers that actually liked kids’ and ‘that it’s not good for kids to know that

the teachers are only there for the money” (Strikwerda-Brown et al., 2008). This teacher

behaviour and mentality creates an ineffective and worthless environment for students that

damper there learning experience and harm their personal development. Academic

performance can only drop in this type of circumstance. Students are concerned whether

educators take into consideration of how they learn, whether their teacher provides aid and

further assistance if need be when it comes to academic performance and progression

(Strikwerda-Brown et al., 2008). Within the study, students crave a teacher that set a
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positive, comfortable and respectful learning environment. “Teachers who trust you and

everything like that. Someone who is safe to be around and that we can talk to about

anything. Relaxed” (Strikwerda-Brown et al., 2008). Overall, we can see a pattern that both

teachers and students influence student misbehaviour within the classroom. Various

backgrounds impact teachers’ perspectives on what is and is not problematic within the

classroom. However, students have stressed the fact that engaging, warm and encouraging

learning environments is what would improve their performance in school.

Whilst conducting interviews based on the question of, ‘in your opinion, why do young

people misbehave in school?’, the interviewees described and explained there thought

process through their experiences and mentality of students. Interviews were held in a quiet

and isolated setting to ensure that the interviewees could express themselves fully and

maintain confidentiality. Consent forms were signed by each participant to in still ethical

protocol. Six interviewees participated and contributed, below lists contributors.

F1 Female: 46 years of age, Bachelor of Science, Quality and Assurance Manager

F2 Female: 16 years of age, Private High School Student

F3 Female: 44 years of age, Teacher

M1 Male: 24 years of age, Pre-service teacher, WSU

M2 Male: 54 years of age, migrated to Australia at 20 years of age, Supervisor of Demolition

Company

M3 Male: 32 years of age, Diploma in Construction, Bricklayer

Each participant expressed a unique, yet similar opinion of students’ misbehaviour in school.

Findings were sorted into major group themes; this was done by reading and highlighting
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notes taken down from each interview. Themes that were gathered were teacher

underappreciation, students’ fault, gender of teacher and attention-seeking. All

interviewees believe that students misbehave to attention-seek, however, reasoning behind

this were diverse. M3 shared that the content was ‘boring’ and did not see the point of why

they were learning skills or topics. Although, M2 states, “it does not matter whether you are

struggling with the subject, you should not misbehave and disrespect the teacher, ask for

help if you don’t understand.” Yet F3 and F1 view that students who attention-seek are

disrespectful and that the teacher is never a contributing factor as to why they may be

misbehaving. Teachers response and behaviour however; is a major factor for F2. This

individual explained that have a positive student teacher relationship is essential in order to

progress academically. “I think that if the teacher is good, I’m able to participate in class

discussions and understand the work more.” Teacher underappreciation strikes out from F2,

“teachers can make you feel like nothing, they have attitude and start the lesson off already

angry from their last class which is not our fault.” M1 and F2 explains that student

disengagement could be a result of teachers not working around students’ academic

abilities, and that students perform well when teachers care and push them academically, as

similarly answered by F2. Gender was also brought to attention. M1 and M3 shared the

same thoughts that female teachers would act on punishment regularly when problematic

behaviour arose, though male teachers would only act if their patience was worn out. M3

shares, “I had this one teacher for English, she would absolutely hammer me on my

behaviour every lesson, I hated English.” The theme ‘students’ fault’ are linked by F1 and

M2 as they think that teachers deserve automatic respect in the classroom. F1 expresses,

“it’s never the teachers’ fault, they prepare the lesson and work for those students.” These
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two individuals also think that punishment is the best approach to take towards problematic

behaviour.

Participants had different thoughts as to why young people misbehave, although various

themes were identified throughout the interview findings, attention-seeking was the focus

of the findings, however, diverse backgrounds, ages and school experiences highlighted

views on teachers’ attitudes, student responsibility and gender of the teacher. Though

subthemes of student responsibility of behaviour were only shown in a few of the

participants interviews. Sun and Shek (2012), evaluate that misbehaviour can be viewed and

come in many forms which can be identified through interview findings. The attitude on

teachers’ punishment from F1 and M2 meets with the approach that Iranian female

teachers took when dealing disruptive students (Aliakbari, Mirazee and Aliabadi, 2013). This

is due to cultural upbringing and the generational gap of these two participants and the

remaining. Student misbehaviour was an aspect of school that would disrupt teaching and

learning, and as a result, was not taken lightly. Generational gaps are evident as F2 discusses

the importance of positive learning relationships and environments, which highlights

teacher underappreciation for students. A modern-day approach that is embedded in

students learning and teachers practice. Negative teacher behaviour tends to contribute to

difficult behaviour. Each lesson could escalate to a poor attitude towards learning, as M3

has described, whilst also addressing the pattern of female teachers taking a stance and

punishing students’ behaviour.

As a pre-service teacher, relieving, reskilling, reconstructing, redressing and referring are

useful tools to ensure positive and effective growth when managing students’ attitude and

learning (Nobile, Lyons and Kelly, 2017, pp. 246). Student behaviour is a great hurdle to
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overcome, although as a teacher, it is crucial to self- reflect and find ways to improve

practice. Students engagement and repour are absolute key to prevent oncoming

problematic behaviour within the classroom. Knowing your students and how they learn will

benefit students’ academic performance and build on skills to assist further learning.

Holding interventions and collaborating with colleagues would be an effective strategy to

overcome or address issues with the student. “The teacher, as a helper and mentor, must

unconditionally value their students, be genuinely warm and honest, and accept the

students’ worldview” (Nobile, Lyons and Kelly, 2017, p.249). Teachers and students both

play a role within the classroom, however, as teachers, we have the most important role to

benefit student growth.

Young people misbehaving in the classroom will be an ongoing issue for teachers. This

report has discovered that teachers experience, gender and view of problematic behaviour

have an impact on their practice. Findings of literature and interviews have strengthened

the differences that everyone serves due to experience and age. Studies and interviews

have emphasized that young people misbehaving can be misunderstood. Both parties have

a role within the classroom, however, positive teaching practices enforce that students are

the main priority. Academic performance, teaching practice and attitudes can steer into an

optimistic direction for further growth and learning.

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References

Aliakbari, M., Mirzaee, A., & Aliabadi, H. T. (2013). On the secondary school teachers

‘perceptions of students’ misbehavior: The case of Iranian male and female teachers.

International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Research, 2, 240-249.

Alter, P., Walker, J. N., & Landers, E. (2013). Teachers' perceptions of students' challenging

behavior and the impact of teacher demographics. Education and Treatment of

Children, 51-69.

Cheon, S. H., & Reeve, J. (2015). A classroom-based intervention to help teachers decrease

students’ amotivation. Contemporary educational psychology, 40, 99-111.

De Nobile, J., Lyons, G., & Arthur-Kelly, M. (2017). Positive Learning Environments: Creating

and Maintaining Productive Classrooms. Cengage AU.

Sun, R. C., & Shek, D. T. (2012). Classroom misbehavior in the eyes of students: A qualitative

study. The scientific world journal, 2012.

Schussler, D. L. (2009). Beyond content: How teachers manage classrooms to facilitate

intellectual engagement for disengaged students. Theory into Practice, 48(2), 114-

121.
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Strikwerda-Brown, J., Oliver, R., Hodgson, D., Palmer, M., & Watts, L. (2008). Good

teachers/bad teachers: How rural adolescent students’ views of teachers impact on

their school experiences. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 33(6), 3.