PPLE – Assignment 1 Report

Section 1:
Since the start of education, classroom management has always been a struggle for
teachers to maintain. This critical teaching skill is a key concern for educators and is why
there is a great focus on investigating this area (Lewis, 1999. & McCormack, 1997). To
minimise bad behaviour and maximise learning time, teachers are to find ways to combat
misbehaviour in a positive and effect way. In this report, we are to look at the reasons why
students misbehave from existing research. Investigating further why young people
misbehave, 6 people from diverse age groups and backgrounds are to be interviewed on the
topic. We are then to compare the interviewees responses with the literature review and
find implications of strategies to manage misbehaving students through personal awareness
and teaching practice.

A study done by Cothran, D, Kulinna, P.H & Garrahy, D. (2009), investigates the issue on the
causes of student misbehaviour from both teacher’s and student’s beliefs. In the study,
they interviewed 23 physical education teachers and 182 high school students from years 6-
12. Results suggested that both groups had similar perspectives on what may cause
students to misbehave. Both groups agreed on the negative consequences of decreased
class time, changed content, and attitude in student misbehaviour. Results also found that
teachers and students both agreed that more appealing subjects like physical education,
students are less likely to act up. This is because students are not bored and are taking
interest in the subject as they can relate to the content. This is similar to De Jong (2005),
expressing how effective pedagogy is important for student engagement. A difference
between the groups is the mention of home life as an attribution to why students
misbehave. Teacher’s suggest that poor living conditions and having to take care of oneself,
is where it all starts as the students haven’t had someone to guide them on how to behave.
Not one student mentioned or explained in much detail that home life is a contributing
factor. However, results of finding both groups not owning up to these causes implicates
that nor teacher or student can overcome bad behaviour. There were no parents involved in
the study having lack of an incite at home.
Perlmutter (2004) wrote an article on his experience of student and teacher misbehaviour.
Although this study is based on college students, it has provided valuable insight on a
teacher’s perspective in owning up to their misbehaviour but not the students. Through his
experience of teaching, he noticed that misbehaved students are on the rise because of
technology. Most students have some sort of device with them at all times such as a phone,
an iPad, laptop, etc. He describes students nowadays that in lectures students see it as a
television show which they should be able to remote control. This suggests students are
bored or are not interested in the content, having to ignore and concentrate on something
else like their phones or their peers. Although written in a different context, it suggests
similar views to the previous study on why students misbehave. Again, this study had no
parent participation but not much student participation as this article was more or less a
personal reflection on their experiences of the topic.

As schools investigate in implementing ways to promote positive behaviour and managing

it, School-wide positive behaviour inventions and supports (SWPBIS) may be the answer.
SWPBIS is a multi-tiered framework that guides the organisation of behaviour support
within a school. An interesting point was mentioned in the article that states how high
school students are likely to be more motivated by peer acceptance (Freeman et al.. 2016).
This relates to Cothran, D, Kulinna, P.H & Garrahy, D. (2009), on their research that some
students misbehave as their way of gaining acceptance and popularity within their class to
show how cool they are. The results of the research suggested that there was an increase in
attendance rates and improvement in behaviour within high schools, although since the
study was conducted over a 2-year period, it’s not enough time to see major results.

As explained, there are many reasons as to why student misbehave and how systems are
used to help support behaviour management within schools. Although these studies have
provided an insight on the subject, investigating in a different approach may find new
evidence.
Section 2:
As mentioned before, 6 people from diverse age groups and backgrounds are to be
interviewed on the topic. The interviewees range from high school student, pre-service
teacher, teacher, parent or non-teaching friend. In the table below, provides a brief
description of the interviewees and the themes that occurred in the interviews.

Participant: Age: Status: Themes:

Female 1 16 High School Student - Teacher
- Subject
Male 1 22 Non-Teaching Friend - Teacher
- Social Media
Female 2 24 Pre-Service Teacher - Subject
- Attention
- Teacher
Female 3 34 Teacher (Primary) - Home Life
- Subject
Male 2 56 Parent - Home Life
- Subject
- Attention
- Teacher
Female 4 21 Non-Teaching Friend - Teacher
- Social Media

The five common themes which were mentioned in the table were Teacher, Subject, Social
Media, Attention and Home Life. Some of these themes do go hand-in-hand in terms of why
young people misbehave, however some opinions made in the interviews were to be
isolated. In the theme teacher there are three sub-themes associated within this group;
appearance, how they teach, and personality/body language. The theme subject, logically
relates to the subject itself. Social media was another theme mentioned that can cause
disruption in the classroom because of its accessibility. Attention relates to peer acceptance
to gain popularity and the last theme mentioned is home life which conveys to family.
Section 3:
Although most of the participants opinions of ‘why young people misbehave’ related to the
teacher, there were all for slightly different reasons. According to male 1 (non-teaching
friend) and male 2 (parent) both state that appearance of a teacher can affect student’s
behaviour.
Male 2: “I think appearance is important as looking professional shows you take
pride in your work,”
The statement suggests that if teachers present themselves well shows that they care about
their job of teaching students. Male 1 mentioned in the interview how teachers have no
authority or respect from students because of the way they present themselves. Relating to
the similar theme, Female 1 (student) discusses how appearance doesn’t necessarily alters
student behaviour but of ‘the vibe’ of the teacher. This opens up the idea that teacher’s
body language and personality may come into effect with student behaviour. Female 2
mentions this, however explains that a teacher’s lack of confidence in what they are
teaching can provide a ‘vibe’ or environemnt of anxiety or confusion, making the class feel
the need to take advantage and gain control of the classroom De Nobile, J, Lyons, G &
Arthur-Kelly, M (2017).

In contrast, Female 3 (teacher) suggests nothing towards the teacher category but
elaborates on home life being a contributing factor in why young people misbehave.
Female 3: “It’s the parents who don’t discipline their children enough…it makes it
hard when one student thinks hitting someone is considered bad and another thinks
its ok.”
She also discusses how some parents don’t discipline their child enough because they have
no control of their child.
Female 3: “Some parents give their kid’s everything they want to make them happy
or to shut them up when they are upset. While some parents don’t actually care
about what their child wants or does and let them do whatever they want.
She describes that students who are supposedly spoilt can affect bad behaviour in the
classroom. Since parents haven’t guided their children properly, they are unaware of what is
classified as the right thing to do or the wrong thing. This relates to the study Cothran, D,
Kulinna, P.H & Garrahy, D. (2009), in where a teacher expresses her opinion on home life
being a contributing factor to student misbehaviour. For the students who don’t get enough
attention from home seek and find attention to their peers (Freeman et al.. 2016). This
related to the theme attention.

Subject was another theme that was mentioned in the interviews. Most participants
mentioned how depending on the subject can be the difference in bad behaviour and good.
In terms of the content, boredom is the main factor in this theme. This is because students
feel that with certain subjects such as music and physical education, they can connect to
them on a more personal level. Mimicking Cothran, D, Kulinna, P.H & Garrahy, D. (2009),
students show more interest in certain subjects because they are more engaged with the
work. Relating back to the theme teacher, the way teachers present the subject’s content
may have students disengaged with the work (De Jong, 2005). According to Female 4, she
discusses how teachers don’t explain themselves properly or present the information
clearly.
Female 4: “Every time my math teacher would explain something about the work, I
could never understand what they were talking about…. it’s like they’ll go from one
point, remember something important later and add it in. There was not much
flow.”

Those who are not interested or engaged in the subject then fall back into using social
media.
Female 1: “When a teacher would explain big chunks of information and explain
clearly, I shut off and go on instagram.”

The social media theme relates to the use of technology. A few of the interviews mentioned
how social media can link to misbehaviour because, as said before, they are not engaged
and tend to their phones to avoid boredom (Perlmutter, 2004). Because social media is so
accessible, teachers need to create engaging activities that can avoid using social media or
technology.
Section 4:
Reviewing these interviews again, there are many contributing factors that may encourage
students to misbehave. I can see how the subthemes for teacher such as appearance, and
personality have affected students to misbehave because of the way they feel. The
interviewees expressed that teacher dresses sloppy or act nervous, tend to provide a
negative environment, encouraging the students to act up and try and make the classroom
feel more positive. Teachers should be following the dress code presented in NSW
Department of Education (2014) to ensure professionalism is shown. It can be hard for early
career teachers to be confident in their teaching implicating that early career teachers need
to work on building confidence or to just pretend they are confident. Personality is difficult
to change as it’s what differentiates people, however body language can be improved. It can
be as easy as facing the students when they speak.

Home life is targeted towards parents and family. There some parents who have trouble
controlling their child or make them upset and so they spoil them. While sometimes the
parents aren’t home enough to actually care for their child and aren’t able to guide their
child through discipline. Its good point that parents who care and parents who care but
don’t have time too, can impose on students to misbehave. Home life connects with the
theme attention as students who get more attention at home and get what they want,
expect that from school. They feel that since they aren’t getting what they want enough will
start to act up and do what they feel is best for them. While students who don’t get enough
attention want to have peer acceptance and show off. This can be very difficult for teachers
to handle and have to find a way to ensure in my teaching practice I provide strategies to
provide enough attention for each student. It could be allowing students to read out a
passage to the class. Or for a whole school approach, have students present their work like
an open day.

Keeping in mind, it is inevitable for students to take interest in every subject they are to
attend too. It can be that students don’t see the importance of the subject making it hard
for teachers to teach as they are disengaged, falling back on to social media. Explaining to
students the importance of the subject is the first step in having students be engaged.
Relating the content to students on a personal level can improve student’s. Such as for
music class, choosing popular music to learn about the concepts of music can improve
engagement and behaviour. As most schools, blocking these social media sites on the wi-fi,
can be a way of stopping students look at social media.

In conclusion, there are many reasons to why young people misbehave. Due to the
research, there was little of new evidence on this topic but more reassurance of the
evidence presented in the literature review. Contributing factors such as the teacher’s
appearance, personality and their confidence can affect students to take advantage of the
teacher. Depending on the subject, students might find them boring or unnecessary,
choosing to then go on social media. Home life and attention are themes that suggest
students may be not getting enough attention at home which they then try and find it at
school with their peers. This is why it is important to find solutions to managing student
behaviour to promote positive learning.
References:

Cothran, D, Kulinna, P.H & Garrahy, D. 2009. Attributions for and consequences of
student misbehavior. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. 14(2), pp. 155-167.

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), pp. 353-370.

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

Creating and Maintaining Productive Classrooms. (1st ed.). Australia: Cengage
Learning Australia Pty Limited.

Freeman et al.. 2016. Relationship Between School-Wide Positive Behavior

Interventions and Supports and Academic, Attendance, and Behavior Outcomes in
High Schools. Journal of Positive Behaviour Interventions. 18(1), pp. 41-51.

Lewis, R. 1999. Teachers Coping with the Stress of Classroom Discipline. Social
Psychology of Education. 3, pp. 155-171

McCormack, A. 1997. Classroom Management Problems, Strategies and Influences

in Physical Education. European Physical Education Review 3, pp. 102-115.

Nsw department of education. 2014. The Code of Conduct. [Online]. [3 September

2018]. Available from: https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/associated-
documents/The-2014-Code-of-Conduct-approved-by-Minister-1-July-2014-updated-
Dec-2016-not-tracked.pdf

Perlmutter, D. 2004. What Works When Students and Teachers BOTH Misbehave.
The Education Digest. 70(1), pp. 48-52.