Acta Iadertina, Vol. 20 No. 2, 2023.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15291/ai.4387
Teachers’ Strategies for Addressing Student Misbehaviour in Primary School
Kristina POLJAK
; Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Tomislava VIDIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0003-2040-2667
; Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Misbehaviour entails any student behaviour that diminishes the teacher’s
ability to achieve and maintain efficient learning in the classroom.
In order to secure efficient teaching and student learning, teachers
apply various strategies and procedures whereby they react to student
misbehaviour and prevent its reoccurrence. The goal of this research
was to examine the strategies and procedures primary school teachers
use and whether class and subject teachers differ in their implementation.
The research included 230 primary school teachers who assessed
the frequency of applying 30 procedures in dealing with three different
forms of student misbehaviour. The results show that most teachers
encounter mild and moderate forms of misbehaviour on a daily basis,
whereas they are rarely faced with severe forms of misbehaviour. The
most frequently used strategies for amending mild student misbehaviour
are agreements with students, positive actions and reprimand,
while in cases of moderate and severe student misbehaviour, most
common strategies entail agreement, reprimand and expert counselling.
The least frequently used strategies for coping with all three forms
of student misbehaviour are punishment and excluding students from
class. Statistically significant differences were found in the application
of the strategies between class and subject teachers. Class teachers more
often use strategies of agreement, positive action, engaging students in
other activities and involving peers, whereas subject teachers use the
strategy of expert counselling more frequently. Although excluding students
from class is rarely applied, it was still found that this strategy is
more often used by subject teachers.
Keywords
student misbehaviour; primary school; teacher’s actions; classroom management
Hrčak ID:
313993
URI
Publication date:
7.2.2024.
Visits: 237 *