Silva 2017

Source:   RESEARCH ARTICLE

APA Citation:

Silva, A. M. P. M., Negreiros, F., & Albano, R. M. (2017). Indiscipline at public school: Teachers’ conceptions on causes and intervention. International Journal of Research in Education and Science, 3(1), p. 1-10.

Author bio:

Silva – Federal University of Piaui and University of Barcelona

Negreiros – Federal University of Piaui

Albano – Open University of Piaui

Purpose: to verify conceptions that public-school teachers have on indiscipline and to investigate behavior and/or events that occur in the classroom that are considered to be indiscipline, their possible causes and ways of dealing with the problem 1

Results: teachers (48 public school teacher-participants; questionnaires) understand indiscipline as aggressiveness, restlessness, inattentiveness, talking, disrespect to peers and teachers, lack of zeal with material, degradation of the heritage school, emotional problems, etc.

Family problems

Personal problems

Social problems

Difficulties in school-family relationships

Didactic and pedagogical questions

Absence of religiousness

Family problems and individual problems together corresponded to 66% of teachers’ conceptions of indiscipline problems 6

In response, teachers reported that 42% of them ‘talk about it with students,’ and 24% ‘talk about it with the family’

We assume that the teachers’ conceptions tend to blame the student, the family, and their social environment for the manifestation of inappropriate classroom behaviors and, because of this, are considered indiscipline 7

If the teacher thinks that the causes are essentially situated outside of the school, rooted in the environment and institutions over which the teacher has no control, we think it is reasonable to understand that, in general terms, the teachers consider indiscipline in the classroom to depend very little on their intervention 7

The majority [of teachers] confront the problem by talking with the students and communiques to the family, trying to improve the methodology of the lessons, and just a few teachers share the situation with a director [administrator] 1

ODR = office discipline referral

Causes of indiscipline at school

Family difficulties, 39%

Lack of guidance from the family

Bad attitudes and behaviors learned at home

Absence of clear and stable rules

Conflict of roles between parents and children

Meddling grandparents

Domestic violence

Individual problems, 27%

Emotional and affective difficulties presented by the students

Lack of attention, concentration, disinterest, laziness, not understanding the curricular content, personality characteristics, developmental stage, innate impulse and necessity to defend themselves 5

Social problems, 17%

Social economic problems

Conceptions that attributed causes of indiscipline to aspects such as media influence and laws that protect children 5

Teachers point to media as a cause of indiscipline at school, and they mention that, for teachers, participation in access to TV, magazines and other resources influences student behavior and, therefore, the occurrence of indiscipline at school 5

This data is interesting because it puts into evidence the difficulties of parents and schools in adopting educational practices that are more democratic and less coercive to discipline children and young people

Didactic and pedagogical problems

Loss of control of the teacher with the students, not having a structured routine in the classroom, students that finish their tasks before the time allotted is up and the distance between the curricular content and the students’ reality 5

Absence of religiousness

Mystic causes of learner indiscipline such as a lack of a god, little spirituality

We remember that the mystic explications of the behavior of people who deviate from social rules and cultural patterns have always followed the history of humanity, mainly before the development of psychology as a science and profession 5-6

The results show the relationship among teachers’ conceptions on the different aspects of indiscipline at school, both inside and outside the classroom, taking into account that they consider indiscipline mainly as an expression of individual characteristics and family factors, as well as attributing individual and family causes to indiscipline and, effectively, they manage the situations of indiscipline principally with actions involving the students with their families 7

We think that it is very important to develop actions of intervention addressed to teachers with goals to expand their vision on the situations that can generate indiscipline at school, especially those that refer to school rules construction, as these are required in relationships between students and teachers 7-8