CAUSES AND INTERVENTIONS OF PUPILS MISBEHAVIOR.docx

INTERVENTION STRATEGIES OF PUPILS MISBEHAVIOR

An Undergraduate Thesis Presented to the College of Education COTABATO FOUNDATION COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Doroluman, Arakan, Cotabato

In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree BACHELOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

SHALEMAR F. AMBALGAN 2016

Chapter 1 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

Introduction Misbehavior of pupils is a serious problem, especially in public schools. Almost a third of public school teachers have considered leaving teaching because of pupil’s misbehavior. (Moles and Oliver, 1990). Clearly, misbehavior of pupils is a worthwhile problem to study because those working with children want to understand the issues behind causes and what interventions can eliminate this behavior. Pupil’s misbehavior has been a highly debated topic. What is misbehavior? What are the intervention strategies of teachers? These are eternal issues that have always been a matter of open controversy. According to Watson & Swin (2011), the behaviors that are visibly harmful to human or the environment are coined as misbehavior. Generally misbehavior is described as “an action of the child which interferes with his or her learning of either academic material or appropriate social behavior.” (Hummel & Deitz, 1978: p.8) Positive behavioral interventions and supports are proactive and culturally sensitive in nature and seek to prevent students from engaging in problem behaviors by changing the environment in which the behaviors occur and teaching prosocial behaviors (Duda & Utley, 2005). Positive behavioral interventions and supports also are employed to help students acquire the behavioral and social skills that they will need to succeed in inclusive classrooms (Choutka,Doloughty,& Zirkel,2004;Lane,Pierson,&

Givner, 2004; Lane et al., 2006). Sobel et al. (2006) present schoolwide and classroom based positive behavioral strategies and supports for use with a wide range of students. The aim of this study was to learn about the pupils mishacvioer intervention of misbehavior of pupils. As we understand its causes, I believe that possible interventions will helped us to understand in depth the misbehaviors of pupils.

Statement of the Problem This study was focused on causes and interventions of pupil’s misbehavior. It aimed to answer the following questions: 1. What are the misbehaviors of the pupils? 2. What are the causes and intervention of these misbehaviors? 3. Is there any significance relationship between causes and intervention to their misbehaviors?

Significance of the Study The purpose of this study is to determine the causes and intervention of pupil’s misbehavior. The parents and teachers will have the opportunity in instructing pupils. Therefore, the result of this study may be useful to parents, teachers and schools that are facing similar pupil’s misbehavior. In pursue of possible solutions, it hoped that the recommendations suggested in this research will come handy for parents and teachers in understanding and overcoming misbehaviors of pupils. Also, this study is for schools that have the responsibility to promote and pursue discipline and obedience in the pupils.

Scope and Limitations of the Study The findings of this study are delimited to the Grade 6 pupils only. Selection of pupils will be randomly done by the researcher. There are ___ respondents from Doroluman Elementary School are required to answer the questionnaire. Therefore, the findings of this study should not be generalized to all Grade 6 pupils because pupil’s misbehaviors may vary to one another.

Conceptual Framework This figure shows the relationship between the Independent Variables and Dependent Variables. The misbehaviors are the independent variables while the causes and interventions are the dependent variables.

Research Paradigm Independent Variable

Misbehavior

Dependent Variable

Causes and Intervention

Null Hypothesis There no significant relationship between the causes and intervention to the pupils misbehaviors.

Definition of Terms Misbehavior- is any behavior which is socially unacceptable and inappropriate to teacher. Interventions- are the term in connection to when a behavior needs correction, in order to sustain a balanced classroom.

Chapter II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a contextual background for the research by reviewing the relevant literature on pupils’ misbehavior in schools. After having dealt with issues of definition, the review pays particular attention to causes and interventions in pupil’s misbehavior, as this constituted my initial focus of interest. Misbehavior in school is a cause of great concern within the international teaching community and seems to have experienced a dramatic increase over the past 30 years in most Western countries (e.g. Bru, 2009; Oplatka and Atias, 2007). Yet whether such a growth is true or is just a perception is difficult to establish given the lack of statistics. “The question of incidence is beset with problems mainly because our identification of indiscipline as a major concern for research is recent so we lack hard data that will present a baseline for comparative purposes” (Tattum, 1989, p.64). For example in England the first systematic national survey was carried out by Sheffield University for the Elton Report (DES, 1989) and concluded that despite the fact that the majority of teachers’ professional association members believed, at the time, that indiscipline was on the increase, “in the absence of national statistics the problem itself could not be directly measured. Any estimate would have to be based mainly on teachers' perceptions” (DES, 1989, Chapter 2). Twenty years later, this is still the case. Although the general feeling is that misbehaviour in school is getting worse, it cannot really be proved.

Official British papers – DES, 1989; DfES, 2005, 2009; Ofsted 2001; Ofsted, 2005b – constitute a third cluster of documents where a definition of misbehaviour is provided. “Evidence from inspections confirms that the most common form of poor behaviour in schools continues to be that identified by the Elton report: lowlevel disruption of lessons. The Elton report detailed what are in themselves minor discipline problems that involve pupils talking out of turn, avoiding work themselves and hindering the work of others, being rowdy and making inappropriate remarks” (Ofsted, 2005b p. 6). The Steer Report (DfES, 2005, 2009) – considered to be the most important British public document on behaviour in school to date – confirms the trivial nature of the problem in question and states: “The most common forms of misbehaviour are incessant chatter, calling out, inattention and other forms of nuisance that irritate staff and interrupt learning” (DfES, 2005, p. 6). CAUSES OF MISBEHAVIORS In order to solve the student behavioral problems in the classroom, it is essential to discuss the causes first— just where does it come from? Some social scientists argue that student is behavior has less to do with the characteristics of students and more to do with the behavior of teachers (Stephens and Crawley, 1994). It is true that students’ behavior can be provoked by teachers’ actions, but it is not the whole reason. Most of the causes of student disciplinary problems in the classroom can be described as caused by the student the teacher and the society. Each Cause explains as follow: Students Related Causes Attention Seeking Fontana (1993), stated the need to gain and hold the attention of others appears to be a general human characteristic. Some children try to gain the attention of others,

such as parents, teachers, 10 by being natural and friendly when they grow up in positive environments; on the other hand, some children find they can gain the attention of others by anti-social behavior (e.g. being impatient or angry) rather than by social behavior. For example, a little girl is very good to help her mother to make some pancakes, but she cannot understand why her naughty younger brother who is always a “trouble-maker” gains the privilege of being given the first pancake by her mother, while she doesn’t receive any praise. In this case, when she finds the “bad” behavior does work to gain the attention of others, and will possibly try to behave not as well as before. Attention-seeking behavior and disruptive behavior The most common behavior problems encountered in the classroom. Fontana (1993) indicated that the making of unacceptable noises, laziness and unpunctuality are among the most common forms of disciplinary problems and found that 62% of the teachers felt that they spend more time in dealing with problems of order. Fontana (1993) states that as a child grows older and starts school, the situation is made worse by the fact that he or she may have anti-social behavior patterns further reinforced rather than discouraged. Aggressive behavior Aggressive behavior is a means of outward reaction or the acting-out of an inward emotional state Langa (1999) states Aggressive behavior manifests in bullying, vandalism, and assaulting others. According to Langa(1999), children acquire an attitude of aggression in order to express their deep-seated feelings of dissatisfaction. Parents are usually upset when they discover that their child has stolen something. Often they need guidance or the help of a counselor on how to handle the matter objectively and effectively.

Disruptive Behavior Disruptive behavior includes any behavior or conduct that interferes with or disrupts the learning process in the class (Long, 2000). This form of behavior includes noise-making, the refusal to cooperate, showing off, uncontrolled behavior, storming out of the classroom, taking alcohol school, calling-out while the teacher is speaking, abusive language, and making improper noises. He also stated that the learners who demonstrate disruptive behavior make it impossible for the teachers to teach properly or to pay the necessary attention to learners, and it affects the entire environment in the classroom. Learning Difficulties It cannot be denied that there is a strong association between learning difficulties and behavior problems. Kyriacou (1997) argues that “the most common trigger for student misbehavior seems to be encountering learning difficulties which threaten the student’s self-esteem ”It is not difficult to find that children who have some behavior problems often have low levels of basic academic skills. Teachers Related Causes There is some truth in the assertion that children’s misbehavior in the classroom is a reaction to the teachers’ behavior towards them, which is “unacceptable” to the students; in another words, 12 teachers’ actions can provoke students’ disciplinary problems. Kyriacou (1997) highlighted four types of teacher behavior which student’s particularly felt “provoked” them into disciplinary problems. These are teachers who are boring to teach, who could not teach, whose discipline was weak and teachers who made unfair comparisons.

Society/Community Related Causes It is impossible, of course, to entirely separate out personal problems from social ones. Student’s problem behavior in the classroom cannot be isolated from the factors that originate from society. Children who have not formed a proper judgment about right behavior because of their age and social experience normally tend to imitate the behavior around them, which can be explained as social learning theory. Social learning theory proposes that many behaviors develop as a result of our observing what other people do, which is a key concept in understanding how children develop their knowledge of social role and their sense of identity in school (Long, 2000). Factors which cause students disciplinary problems The Classroom Behavior problems stem from a variety of causative factors, which may include the environment and family background (Gerdes, 1998) there is a great deal of speculation about which factors cause learner misconduct. According to Gerdes (1998:9), the environment and family background are the primary causes of learner misconduct. For example, environmental factors such as the family as a system may cause delinquency. According to Carson and Murray (1998), child abuse within the family may also cause learner misconduct. INTERVENTIONS Interventions are used when a behavior is in need of change. In this paper, we use the term intervention in connection to when a behavior needs correction, in order to sustain a balanced classroom. There is a great number of interventions a teacher could use, and they should be adapted to specific students’ age, ethnicity and gender

(Grossman, 2004, p. 101). Below, you find some examples and misconceptions of interventions, as well as some students’ perceptions of them. Examples of interventions According to Brophy (2008, pp. 43-4), teachers should use disciplinary interventions in the classroom, on account of them being used to change the behavior of a student who fails to adapt to expectations. This form of intervention is needed when the (mis)behavior is disrupting the classroom system. Even though interventions are a helpful aid, regulations of classroom behavior should exist to prevent disruptive behavior. They ought to be created by students and teachers, and finally approved by the school principal (Sveriges Riksdag, 2010:800, §5). Turco and Elliott (1986, p. 279) have created a list of eight different intervention techniques, which will follow together with our own examples of these techniques; the interventions used for inappropriate behavior are negative and the ones used for appropriate behavior are positive:  

Public praise for appropriate behavior (the teacher tells the student well. Students’ acceptance of interventions 14 done”, in front of the whole class). Private praise for appropriate behavior (the teacher tells the student in privatethat

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s/he did something good/well/appropriate). Self-monitored praise for appropriate behavior (a chart or checklist is used to

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track the proper behavior). Home-based praise for appropriate behavior (student gets praised at home instead of in school). Public reprimand for inappropriate behavior (the teacher

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tells the misbehaving student to stop, in front of the whole class). Private reprimand for inappropriate behavior (the teacher tells the student off in private).

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Self-monitored reprimand for inappropriate behavior (a chart or checklist is used

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to track the misbehavior). Home-based reprimand for inappropriate behavior (consequences of the student’s misbehavior take place at home).

Students’ acceptance of interventions Children should take part in the decision-making of their own misbehavior as they are qualified to assess the treatment being used. Also, students are more likely to be dedicated to decisions made if they become involved in the decision-making process (Scott, 2012, p. 204). Moreover, children’s participation increases the efficacy of a treatment (Elliott, Galvin, Moe & Witt, 1986, p. 236), and interventions are usually more successful when accepted by students. Also, if students find the teacher using the treatment with good intentions, it may change students’ misbehavior(s) (Elliott, 1986, p. 25). Elliott wrote (Ibid, p. 23) that when students are involved in decision making, their academic achievement is usually increased, and there are fewer dropouts. Charles (1984, pp. 285-6) mentioned eight intervention methods for teachers to decrease disruptive behavior in the classroom: Sending signals to the student who is in need of support.  (If failing the first intervention) getting close to the student and show one’s presence. Showing interest in the student’s work and being encouraging.  Using humor to let go of possible tension.  Helping students if they get stuck during a task.  Restructuring a sequence.

 Making sure to have routines. Explaining the set routines if something out of the ordinary occurs. 

Removing possible items that can be tempting for students to use (such as notes, rubbers [and in todays’ world, cell phones]), in order to get discipline back on track.

According to Steinberg (1993, p. 25), several interventions can be used by teachers to improve students’ misbehavior, of which some are: Taking a deep breath before speaking (since this suggests that the teacher is in control of the situation). 

Approaching a student diagonally from behind (since this is less threatening than

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approaching from in front). Focusing the attention on what is supposed to be done (since the students’ need

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to know what the teacher expects). Speaking with a calm, clear and low voice (since this is a sign of control and less of a threat). Giving reasons for why students should do something (since this

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decreases the risk of students’ resistance). Using clear directions for appropriate behavior (since this increases the chances of the teacher being obeyed).

Less successful interventions It is not successful to use an intervention when a behavior is not disruptive for sure since the action could be unjust (Grossman, 2004, p. 275). Steinberg (1993, p. 25) provided a list of interventions that should not be used in the classroom: Shout out loud across the room (since this can create anxiety).

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Stare at a student without saying anything (since eyes represent power and

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body represents influence). Walk towards a student and tell her/him off in a loud voice (since this is

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threatening and discourages cooperation). Look and point at what a student is doing (since this focuses on what the student

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is not supposed to do). Talk faster, louder and/or with a higher pitch (since this suggests that the teacher is not in control of the situation). Stand close to a student (since this can make a student feel threatened). Further, Good and Brophy (1999, p. 103) presented three other prohibited

interventions. Firstly, one should not ask questions about misbehavior because it attacks the student. Secondly, teachers ought not to threaten a student or show who is in charge since this may lead to a power struggle between teacher and student; also, pupils may think that the teacher acts unfairly which can affect the teacher-student relationship negatively. Lastly, it is not recommended to nag about present or past misbehavior due to the fact that this increases the risk of conflicts with, and disrespect from, students.

Chapter III METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the research design, respondents, research instrument, sampling procedure, data gathering, statistical tool and data analysis used in this study.

Research Design This will study will used a descriptive survey research method Wiersma (1995). Descriptive survey method becomes useful when the purpose of the research is to picture the current situation. It also allows collection of the data using tools and documentary analysis describes and interprets what it is. In addition, it is concerned with conditions or relationships that exists, opinions that are held, processes that are going on, effects that are evident, or trends that are developing. Basically, survey method helps to obtain first-hand information from small samples representing large size population and also enables the researcher to have access to multiple methods of collecting of information. Research Locale This study will be conducted in Doroluman Elementary School, Doroluman, Arakan, Cotabato on school year 2016-2017. Research Respondents The respondents of the study will be the grade 6 pupils studying in Doroluman Elementary School, Doroluman, Arakan, Cotabato. Research Instrument

The pupils were asked to indicate ‘what are the causes and interventions and how they frequently acted as described in the statement when trying to deal with misbehavior’ on a 6-point Likert type scale. The response alternatives provided were

Nearly always (6), Most of the time (5), A lot of the time (4), Some of the time (3), Hardly ever (2) and Never (1). Data Gathering Procedure To facilitate the conduct of the study, administrative permission will be sought first from the principal and Grade 6 adviser of Doroluman Elementary School. A total of __ questionnaire will be distributed by the researcher to the respondents and they are given 30 minutes to answer the questions.

Statistical Treatment The data will be statistically analyzed using frequency count, percentage and simple mean.

CAUSES AND INTERVENTIONS OF PUPILS MISBEHAVIOR