Pedagogy for Positive Learning Environments Spring 2019

Why do young people misbehave in school?

Many people often assume that students misbehaving in the classroom are simply due

to disengagement and attention seeking. Although this may have some merit, there are

many factors which may affect students behaviour which include, developmental

determinants, psychological determinants as well as environmental. “Student

misbehaviour can impede on classroom life thus reducing a students’ potential

academic achievement and create an environments that may reduce the participation

of some students” [CITATION Sup03 \p 329 \l 1033 ]. This report will go on to

deduce the many aspects that play a part in adolescents misbehaving in school. The

following report implemented several interviews with six participants (see appendix).

These participants consist of a parent, teacher, pre-service teacher and non-teaching

backgrounds. This large scope of backgrounds allows me to compare their responses

with confidence together with literature to explain young peoples misbehaviour in

school.

Section one

In various research papers concerning why young people misbehave in school, many

point at developmental determinants. An adolescent’s stage of development

significantly impacts the behaviours and the cognitive state of the student. The

research into the cognitive ability of young people conducted by Burgaleta, suggests

that different children “develop earlier or later compared to their peers, causing their

age-related rank orders in cognitive ability to shift upward or downward. Such shifts

could be transitory or, instead, have long-lasting effects and persist in adulthood”

[CITATION Bur13 \p 816 \l 1033 ]. Hence it is important to not overlook a young

persons cognitive psychology when exploring the reasons why they misbehave.

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Williams and Dunlop conducting research into the connections between the timing of

puberty and level of delinquency among adolescents. They deduced that “The results

showed that off-time maturers (those early or late) reported a wider range of

delinquency, including higher levels of crime and school opposition

behaviours”[CITATION Wil99 \p 157 \l 1033 ]. The defining delinquent acts in this

research, included, but not limited to, violent quarrels with the teacher, use of drugs,

cheating in a school test as well as bullying. The difference in students’ stage of

development causes them to react differently to different situations. Off-time

maturation in girls correlates with negative body image, conflict with peers, extreme

confidence causing them to be attention seekers. Similarly off-time maturation in boys

correlates with negative substance use, low grades in school and deviant behaviour. .It

is evident here that the underlying factor of misbehaving was either their late

maturation or early maturation. Hence, biological development of a young person

affects the level of misbehaviour. Students misbehave due to their desire to belong

and have a sense of affiliation with their peers. When young people cognitively

develop at different stages, “A feeling of diverging from the norm may reflect a

general feeling of being different or less accepted by peers” [ CITATION Als92 \l

1033 ].

As suggested by Bronfenbrenner, “human development is influenced by the dynamic

interaction between multiple level of a person’s environment”[CITATION Wat09 \p

519 \l 1033 ]. This is true as a young person’s environment plays a significant role in

the attitudes of the student. Environmental factors affecting young people include,

their home environment, relationships within the school and their familial

circumstances. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, sees a child’s

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environment as a eco system; all aspects of their surrounding environment closely

interrelate with each other. Hence, a young person’s home environment may impact

on their relationships within the school. The research conducted supports the

reasoning behind misbehaving young people is due to “more than simply the extent

to which a student feels like he or she belongs and is indeed a function of a responsive

and developmentally appropriate school ecology” [CITATION Wat09 \p 522 \l 1033

]. The central idea is, that a young person’s misbehaviour is a cultivation of all

aspects of a student’s environment rather than understanding a young person’s

misbehaviour as a result of one reason. Being considerate of a student’s

environmental factors allows for deeper knowledge on young people’s

disengagement.

Students tend to misbehave when the relationship between themselves and the teacher

is not the best. Students may feel that the teachers attitude and enthusiasm in regards

to teaching method is uninteresting and boring. Demanet and Houtte examine this in

the article Teachers' attitudes and students' opposition. School misconduct as a

reaction to teachers' diminished effort and affect’. The studies researched in this

article show that when teachers make sure that students feel supported, and, more

generally, feel at home in school, students are less likely to break the school rules

[ CITATION Dem12 \l 1033 ]. Thus, a teacher shifting their pedagogy approach to

incorporate differentiation allows for students to feel supported and feel a sense of

belonging in the classroom. Differentiation entails adjusting tasks to meet each

student’s personal learning capability. In doing this, student’s will less likely

misbehave.

Lastly, McGaha-Garnett’s report on The Effects of Violence on Academic Progress

and Classroom Behavior: From a Parent’s Perspective, indicates that environmental

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factors particularly violence in the home, significant impacts young people negatively.

Youth exposed to violence in the home tend to “exhibit increased rebellion and

defiant behaviors in the school environment” [CITATION McG13 \p 3 \l 1033 ].

Section two

The interview process began with finding six people (see appendix) with a diverse

range of backgrounds whom wanted to be interviewed. The participants included a

parent, teacher, pre-service teacher and other non-teaching backgrounds people. The

participants consisted of four females and two males. The participants were given

consent forms to which they all consented to proceed. The interviews lasted

approximately 15 minutes each, which consisted of a conversational based interview.

They were all asked the same question to start off the conversation; why do you think

young people misbehave in school? The conversation between the interviewee and

myself flowed as I showed genuine interest and adopted great listening skills. I also

refrained from making value judgements or giving my own opinions, which allowed

them to freely give their responses without being guided. The participants were asked

to elaborate on their reasoning’s to get further details.

The commons themes that surfaced compromised of boredom due to disinterest, peer

pressure; environmental determinants, familial and relationship issues and learning

capabilities.

A common theme with each of the six participants was “disengagement’ as a large

factor to misbehaviour in the classroom. Person B’s response mainly focused on the

fact that “ each and every student regardless of their capability has to be interested in

what they are learning. If they are not engaged in their task, they will play out and try

to engage themselves in something that may disrupt their class mates”. Person C,

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showed extreme passion towards “the teachers content and approach to teaching is a

huge factor in students misbehaving’, further cementing the idea that students must be

engaged to avoid misbehaviour.

Adding to this, developmental determinants were reinforced by Person D. “some

students grow up faster than others and even girls tend to mature way faster than boys.

Their brains and hormones are all developing at different times and everyone just

wants to fit in”.

Person A gave a more personal response, which correlated with the environmental

theme; that a students’ misbehaviours do not exist without reason. “These young all

have something going on in their life, whether it be parents arguing, or even abuse in

their home”. Thus, deep seating the idea that the environment around the students

impacts their behaviour either negatively or positively. Person A also stated that

“students never like what is being taught, they’re kids! They don’t like school, they’ll

always act up” Person E believed that some students need their tasks to be adjusted in

order for them to completely understand what and how to learn what is being taught.

“Misbehaviour often happens when the task at hand is hard”. This is particularly

important as Australian schools are becoming more and more culturally diverse and

some students do not have English as their first language. Finally Person F suggested

that misbehaviour occurs due to low self-esteem, bullying as well as not

understanding the content being taught. “ I was fat during high school, and I was

always bullied for that. I’d go into class and be shy to speak up or give any response”.

Section three

All of the participants mentioned that not being engaged in the learning is one of the

significant factors why students misbehaving in the school setting. This goes hand in

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hand with the literature and research. When comparing this with Demanet and

Houtte’s literature, it is evident that the way in which students are being taught

impacts their level of engagement. Students like to see a relationship between what

they are learning and the world surrounding them. Hence relevance is a great factor

which will influence their level of interest. “Through prepared task-based activities

using authentic materials. As students gained more confidence working directly with

authentic materials, they also reported an increased understanding of the practical

benefits of being able to use the language in real world scenarios.” [CITATION

Our011 \p 69 \l 1033 ]. Hence, understanding the language being used, allows for

students to remain on task and well behaved.

Person A mentioned that, “students never like what is being taught, they’re kids! They

don’t like school, they’ll always act up”, this coincides with Walter Doyle’s

examinations of “a well-managed class would not necessarily be a high-achieving

class” [ CITATION Doy05 \l 1033 ]. Young people do not take liking into being

instructed to do things, students will use their personal judgement on the instructions

given to them. whilst having a behaved class is an important factor to achieving goals,

having a misbehaved class does not mean academic goals will not be reached. This

misbehaviour may also mean that the students already know what is being taught.

This extraneous load is called Advanced Learner Situation. This can cause confusion

and disengagement.

Person A and Person F, suggested the reasons why students misbehave include

environmental factors such as familial life, relationships in school and outside of

school. This corresponds with Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory stating

that a child’s life is compared to an ecosystem, all aspects of a child’s life impacts the

other as well as McGaha-Garenett’s report. My findings as well as the literature both

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support the notion that young people may have changing attitudes in the classroom

due to multiple aspects of their life. “Exposure to violent home and community

environments, as well as injury due to violence, contribute to both reduced academic

progress and increased disruptive or unfocused classroom behavior for children,

adolescents, and teenagers”[CITATION McG13 \p 1 \l 1033 ]. The misbehaviour of

young people in the classroom may also be means for the student to seek attention

due to not getting attention at home or in school.

Adding to that, students who have very low self-esteem and get bullied may also

misbehave in the classroom. Personal F and D also suggested that he was misbehaved

due to lack of attention and bullying and was seeking attention in class in order to fit

in. This correlates with Williams and Dunlop’s research. When students feel like they

od not fit in due to different cognitive stages, they tend to try and fit in by reporting a

wide range of delinquency. Late maturation correlates with increased body mass,

which in Person F’s case caused misbehaviour.

Person E suggested that students misbehave due to feeling that the task at hand is too

difficult or that they are unable to understand what is being taught. This is also

suggested in Demanet and Houtte’s research. The literature suggests that making sure

students feel supported in the classroom, the less likely they are to be delinquent.

Teachers who do not take on differentiation in the classroom may risk seeing a great

difference between and having “low-ability students less likely to participate and

more inclined to make topically irrelevant comments” [CITATION Doy05 \p 110 \l

1033 ].

Section 4

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Implementing personal awareness and adjust personal pedagogy based on the above

findings will decrease the level of misbehaviour and therefore create a better

environment in the classroom.

First and foremost teachers need to implement self-awareness in the classroom. In

order for teachers to do this they must understand their impact on students’ attitudes.

“Without such awareness, teachers may act intuitively, but can hardly be expected to

meaningfully and purposefully engage in shaping classroom peer relations or to

reflect on their teaching practices”[CITATION Tea17 \p 259 \l 1033 ]. Adding to

this, teachers can instil interest in their students by figuring out what their students

like and dislike. This can be done through building a relationship with the students,

for example instead of marking the roll by students replying ‘here’, they can respond

with a book that they like or simply asking what their preferred method of learning is.

In addition to this, in order to reduce misbehaviour due to environmental factors,

schools as a whole can adopt a Pastoral approach. This creates a caring, purposeful

environment which allows for “formal and informal opportunities for students to

connect with teaching staff should be implemented and supplemented by a wide

variety of extracurricular activities in which students are encouraged to

participate”[CITATION Wat09 \p 522 \l 1033 ]

To ensure all students understand what is being taught, teachers must adopt

differentiation in their classroom. The method of differentiating in lessons is an

“imperative teaching approach as it assists the students with different learning

capabilities to feel included throughout the lessons” [CITATION Row042 \p 18 \l

1033 ]. Adjusting pedagogy to meet learning style can include, using multimodal

approach, think, pair and share, teacher guided as well as independent modes,

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collaborative learning and setting different tasks for extension student or for

those who are at a different level of learning.

APPENDIX

Description Gender Background Age

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Person A Female Parent 56

Person B Female Teacher 30
Person C Female Pre-service 22

Teacher
Person D Female Radiologist 27
Person E Male Teacher 38
Person F Male Business Owner 40

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Demanet, J., & Houtte, M. (2012). Teachers' attitudes and students' opposition.

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