Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Section One:
essay proposes concepts to greater understand adolescent student misbehaviour, and further
provide foci on strategies for development and management. Literature denotes vastly
research in the field of secondary student misbehaviour will then be utilised to formulate
Alter, Walker and Landers (2013) considered the predominant challenging behaviour
was student’s being ‘off-task.’ Contrastingly, the least problematical behaviour was ‘isolation
and/or no social interaction.’ This indication is compartmentalised within the teaching strata.
recurrent talking out of turn was the most consistent discernment. These studies however,
educative practices and apathetic implementation of instructional approaches (Sueb & Izam,
2016). Demanet and Van Houtte (2012) evaluated whether student outcomes corresponded
with teacher expectations. The research identified there was a perceived parallel between
student deviancy and teacher expectations. Students’ cognitive outcomes are adversely
affected as teacher associations coincide with student feelings of perceived support and
futility. Subsequently supporting Demanet and Van Houtte (2012), research by McGrath and
Van Bergen (2015) indicated the importance of the teacher-student relationship on aspects of
Bou Ovington, 17383497 2
Cangelosi (2013) made the distinction that the “misbehaviour, not the student, is the
“behaviour problem” will characteristically protect their self-efficacy with this label.
student misbehaviour.
Section Two:
All interviewee’s were willing participants. To allow for informed consent, respondents
were not expected to sign the participant consent form until they had read and considered the
potential implications before data collection could begin. Participant anonymity will be
maintained throughout, with pseudonyms for analysis reference and utilisation of private
B Male 34 Parent
C Male 46 Teacher
E Female 29 Physiotherapist
The prevalent themes of the interviews were: attention seeking, disengagement and
teaching factors.
Aspects of attention seeking were dominant in five out of six interviews (A; B; C; D; F).
“C,” a teacher, implied attention seeking can causally be related to avoidance of work. This
refusal was also inferred as a link to cognitive ability: “some kids just can’t be bothered doing
their work, [so they] then carry on disrupting others. It’s more of an excuse than actually
admitting they need assistance.” Participant “F,” a learning support officer, supported this
claim: “… often students will act out if the work load becomes too intense … it’s basically a
defence mechanism to admitting they can’t handle the work.” The suggestion of a lack of
Within four out of six interviews (A; C; E; F), the concept of disengagement was
practice in a secondary high school: “… it was difficult to understand why the teacher had
one activity planned for the lesson, students were misbehaving halfway through, and
unfortunately, it was the students who were reprimanded, not the teacher’s failure to
prepare.”
Bou Ovington, 17383497 4
factor in student behaviour management. Participant “F” stated: “… students misbehave, but
they can be redirected… Particular students will only respond [change negative behaviour] to
certain teachers purely because they like them.” This was further reiterated by participant “C”
as students with negative relationships with him, were often the ones who misbehaved. This
connotation came with numerous examples: “… [I] built a rapport with a group of year nine
boys, they were good kids… they weren’t performing in assessments, so it [schooling policy]
meant I couldn’t take them to football carnivals, they didn’t want much to do with me after
that.”
Section Three:
The predominant theme was ‘attention seeking.’ Most participants, either directly, or
presented (Demanet & Van Houtte, 2012; McGrath & Van Bergen, 2015) has tended to
recognising this as a façade for an underlying issue relevant to potential cognitional inability.
Insisting Alter, Walker and Landers’ (2013) findings of students becoming “off task” was
Justifiably, the onus of dual-responsibility by both the teacher and student is paramount to
student management (Cothran, Kulinna & Garrahy, 2009; Sullivan, Johnson, Owens &
Conway, 2014). In this context, students must attempt to administer forms of assistance
Bou Ovington, 17383497 5
before going “off task,” whilst connotatively, teachers must aim to manage student
interaction with the curriculum. Student engagement is largely dependent on task difficulty
and appropriateness of skill level (Shernoff, Csikszentmihalyi, Schneider, & Shernoff, 2014).
Critically however, the research denotes that the teacher must determine the appropriateness;
facet of Deluzian/Spinozistic view of force and capacity. Within education, this pedagogical
concept explores Spinoza’s (Jonas, 1965; 1986) psychophysical parallelism and Vygotsky’s
‘zone of proximal development’ (Wass & Golding, 2014; Velasquez, West, Graham &
development’ additionally concurs within affective education as it posits what a learner can
do without assistance, contrasting with what a learner cannot do. Participant “A’s” personal
account of working in school’s: “There was one fella [boy] who would just talk non-stop in
class … and he was struggling with the classwork , but because of his behaviour the teacher
almost refused to help him … counterproductive to what the misbehaviour was for…”
Disengagement and its effects on behaviour was the second key theme retrieved from
the interviews. Montuoro and Lewis (2017) identified the malleable nature of student
behavioural disconnection. Haydn (2012) identified boredom as the major contributing factor
diverse learning needs. Participant “E,” a physiotherapist, noted boredom in the statement:
“[maybe] they’re just bored? … They’re not doing what they find fun, so they find something
Bou Ovington, 17383497 6
different to do.” This expression identified the concept of applicability within disengagement.
If the student does not find the relevance in the learning intentions, they will thus become
disengaged (Montuoro & Lewis, 2017; Macklem, 2015). Montuoro and Lewis (2017) suggest
that student misbehaviour, linked to the attribution of boredom; aims to alleviate the tedium
by instigating the fun the curricular choices failed to provide. By extending this, the research
The third theme of teacher factors mainly surrounded the teacher-student relationship.
Rogers’ (2015) research highlighted student misbehaviour as being dependent upon the
extends this finding by correlating positive relationship between teachers and students
interviewee’s suggested any form of impact upon positive teacher and student interactions.
participants who intend, or currently work within the education system have been able to
Section Four:
The analysis identified three contributing factors to student misbehaviour. The themes
included: attention seeking, disengagement and teaching factors. All themes were broad
cognitive inability and social status. Alter, Walker and Landers’ (2013) definition of “off
task,” by means of attention seeking behaviours as a means to avoid classwork as this merely
identified the behaviour, and did not extend into an associative justification as to why; which
is inconsistent with Carr and Durand’s (1985), and Montuoro and Lewis’(2015) research in
the same area. Cangelosi (2013) extended this justification, by correlating choices to
unproductive behaviours.
cater to diversified learning needs can be implemented. For example, if task avoidance
persists, identify the students’ cognitive level. If the course work is too difficult, aim to
simplify, or modify the teaching strategy i.e.: create visual aids for visual learners, or,
A whole school approach embodies all facilitating aspects within the school. The
application of diversified learning strategies might have its complexities across the schools
population. Therefore, implementation of student support officers for students with task
(Montuoro & Lewis, 2017). The instigation of becoming disengaged as a way to alleviate
boredom among peers extrinsically motivates students. Berger and Palacios (2014) refer to
they will dissuade others in order to accomplish this objective. The intrinsic increase of self-
esteem further drives students to offset completing tasks and disrupting the classroom (Gest,
Madill, Zadzora, Miller & Rodkin, 2014; Berger & Palacios, 2014).
Subsequently, students who experience boredom are more likely to exhibit negative
behaviours. Boredom can be minimised if the student comprehends the learning intention.
Montuoro and Lewis (2017) and Macklem (2015) respectively identified misbehaviour as
To manage this explicitly, teachers must introduce the learning intention at the onset
Furthermore, teachers who experience “off task” as a result of boredom can implement task
Reflective practices are the onus of the educator, as reflecting upon positive and
negative lesson activities will ultimately quantify which activities to apply, and which to
intervention program for teachers who focus on analysis and problem solving during the
Bou Ovington, 17383497 9
initial stages of instruction, and the utilisation of diverse instructional learning formats in
order to increase student engagement and teacher professional development (Gregory, Allen,
process of external contact must be perceived as self-reinforcing and reciprocal. The two-way
interactive process influences student and teacher emotional, cognitive and behavioural
internally and externally from the classroom will amplify the teacher-student relationship
(Barnhart & van Es, 2015). If capable, a teacher will be able to accurately acknowledge
student ability and therefore cater the lesson appropriately (Mcgrath & Van Bergen, 2015).
As a whole school, adhering to the AITSL (Australian Institute for Teaching and
comprise of elements directly related to teacher interactions which are inclusive of, but not
limited to: knowing students and how they learn and knowing the content and how to teach it
academic outcomes.
Bou Ovington, 17383497 10
References
AITSL (2014). Learning from Practice: Working with the Standards. 1st ed. [ebook]
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Barnhart, T., & van Es, E. (2015). Studying teacher noticing: Examining the relationship
among pre-service science teachers' ability to attend, analyze and respond to student
machiavellianism, and social status: Effects of peer norms and classroom social
Carr, E. G., & Durand, V. M. (1985). Reducing behavior problems through functional
Cothran, D. J., Kulinna, P. H., & Garrahy, D. A. (2009). Attributions for and consequences of
59(3), 293-311.
Furrer, C., Skinner, E., & Pitzer, J. (2014). The influence of teacher and peer relationships on
Gest, S. D., Madill, R. A., Zadzora, K. M., Miller, A. M., & Rodkin, P. C. (2014). Teacher
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Jonas, H. (1965). Spinoza and the Theory of Organism. Journal of the History of Philosophy,
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and in the succession of Niels Bohr. Eds. Marjorie Grene and Deba Nails. Spinoza
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Exploring a basic but complicated concept. Teaching and Teacher Education, 40, 22
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Montuoro, P., & Lewis, R. (2017). Personal responsibility and behavioral disengagement in
Shernoff, D. J., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Schneider, B., & Shernoff, E. S. (2014). Student
engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory.
Bou Ovington, 17383497 12
Sullivan, A. M., Johnson, B., Owens, L., & Conway, R. (2014). Punish them or engage
Velasquez, A., West, R., Graham, C., & Osguthorpe, R. (2013). Developing caring
Wass, R., & Golding, C. (2014). Sharpening a tool for teaching: the zone of proximal
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