Student Responsibility and Classroom Management
JLTAV conference
Teachers’ developmental stages (Berliner model)
1. Labour; Doing one’s best
2. Technician; Doing things skilfully
3. Professional; Able to explain why things work
4. Artist; Capable of mixing, matching, adapting to needs of
the students
During this session it is unlikely that you will do
everything you might feel like doing.
For example, you may choose not to
• Put your head down and go to sleep
• Disagree aggressively with the lecturer or
another student
• Answer a phone call
• Read a newspaper
• Leave
• Pass wind
When you choose to constrain yourself; Why do you?
Why do students behave responsibly?
125 Student Interviews (10 schools)
Do you act anyway you want in this class. Are there
some things you feel like doing that you don’t do? For example, moving around, talking to your friends,
swearing, hitting kids, jumping from desk to desk?
Why don’t you do those things?
How would you behave if the school got rid of all
punishments, rewards, reports to parents and teachers
didn’t say anything the way kids were behaving? Would you behave the same or differently?
Probing
I’d totally change. I’d swear and run in the library and yell and pull all the books on the floor.
But isn’t running a bit dangerous? .... Yeah...........
and yelling is distracting ....Uh ...Yeah.....
and the swearing may make some kids uncomfortable.........
.... Yeah, I guess......
and without books kids would have trouble learning.
........Yeah
so would you still do it? ..........
Yeah (3-4)
•I’d be good because you’d get into trouble.
(But what if there were no punishments?)
You’d get into trouble.
(But ....what if there were no punishments?)
You’d get into trouble. (But what if there’s no more punishments, no more trouble!!)
........... I’d say ‘Can you please get the trouble back’. (5)
•There’ll have to be punishments and there’ll have to be a boss (4)
(What if no punishments, etc...)
Just muck around(9)
(But what if kid next to you wanted to learn)
Then I guess I couldn’t. He (teacher) thinks we are interrupting him. Two thirds of the class don’t care about the learning of other people.....We’re never actually put in a group to talk about this kind of stuff.... that’s why most students find bad behaviour amusing (9)
A. Because of Rewards
When I’m good, I get a sticker from the teacher
B. Because of Self acceptance
If I hurt someone I wouldn’t feel comfortable
C. Because it’s wrong
It’s wrong, it’s not fair
D. Because of Social Acceptance
No one would like you
E. Because of Punishments
You’ll get into really big trouble and get a detention
F. Because of Rules/Expectations
It’s against the rules
G. Because of Own Learning
Bad behaviour distracts us from our learning
H. Because of Learning/Safety of others
There’s other grades, sometimes they’re trying to work
Which of the following reasons or behaving ‘well’ are best?
Which are worst?
A. Because of Rewards
When I’m good, I get a sticker from the teacher
B. Because of Self acceptance
If I hurt someone I wouldn’t feel comfortable
C. Because it’s wrong
It’s wrong, it’s not fair
D. Because of Social Acceptance
No one would like you
E. Because of Punishments
You’ll get into really big trouble and get a detention
F. Because of Rules/Expectations
It’s against the rules
G. Because of Own Learning
Bad behaviour distracts us from our learning
H. Because of Learning/Safety of others
There’s other grades, sometimes they’re trying to work
Least internalised:Because of Rewards,
Punishments, Social acceptance, own learning
Because of Rules/Expectations
Most Internalised: Because of Learning/Safety
of others, Wrong, Self acceptance
Assertion1: Schooling should ideally foster Responsibility internalisation of moral values.
What proportion of students who misbehave “only a little” or “never”
encourage their classmates to act responsibly?
China
Israel
Australia
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Exactly Like Me Very Much Like Me
Mostly Like Me
A Little Like Me
Mostly Not Like Me Not At All Like Me
Assertion 2: Very few children feel responsible for the
behaviour of their classmates.
Problem 1.
Why might most students be obedient rather than responsible?
Compared to way you described your behaviour in the previous 17 questions
how well do you think you would behave in class –
(Better
About the same
A little Worse
Worse
if the school got rid of
punishments.
At least Worse
Prim
Sec
N=1884 N=2309
30%
32%
and all rewards
40%
38%
And reports to parents.
46%
43%
and the teachers, students and other
students didn’t care how you behaved.
55%
48%
Much Worse)
Assertion 3: Most students are obedient rather than responsible
Problem 2
Why might most Australian students be unwilling to encourage
their classmates to act responsibly?
How powerful are you?
How powerful are you?
What proportion of the variation in students’ learning (on average) is caused by
The student’s personal characteristics (e.g. personality, drive etc)
The student’s home situation (e.g. books in the home, parents’ aspirations, etc)
School characteristics (e.g. School-wide
policies, resources)
What happens in the classroom (e.g teacherstudent and student-student interaction)
100%
Recent research shows that, on average,
regardless of a student’s home background and the school’s resources,
Approximately 40% of the variation in
an individual student’s in school learning
relates to what goes on in individual
classrooms.
Review of Research in Education.Vol.32.2008:328-369.
Assertion 4:What teachers say and do in class
strongly affects students’ learning and values.
Types of Power
Different types of Power
COERCIVE
LEGITIMATE
REFERENT
Power teacher has over a student that comes from the student’s desire to avoid punishment (Either you….. or you will have to
Power due to position and role (Do what you are told!)
Power that students give to teachers whose relationship they
value. Stems from trust of, respect for, and liking of the
teacher. (Do you have to? Can’t you do me a favour and …)
REWARD
Power related to a desire to gain something desired. Teachers
who provide desired recognition and reward for appropriate
behaviour have this kind of power (Thanks, that was very
helpful)
EXPERT
Power which stems from a student’s belief that the teacher has the ability to pass on important knowledge and skills, and they
will gain something valuable if they cooperate (Trust me, I
know)
INFORMATIONAL Power related to the quality of ideas and argument, and its
acceptability (This is of value to you because......)
Assertion 5:Referent, Reward,
Informational (and Expert) powers- have
the greatest potential to influence the
behaviour of challenging students.
Without Referent power, even rewards and
logic won’t work.
Problem 3
What might teachers realistically do to encourage their
students to become more Responsible in school?
Samples in 2010/11
Northern Metropolitan Region
• 4 Primary and 5 Secondary schools
Western Region
• 10 Primary and 5 Secondary schools
1830 Primary students (year 4-6)
1731 Secondary students (year 7-10)
Summary
Assertion 6: When teachers use ‘coercive’ management techniques (Punishment [without a
working relationship] & Aggression) students act
less responsibly and are more distracted when
management occurs.
Assertion 7: When teachers use more ‘inclusive’ techniques (Discussion, Recognition, Punishment
[with a working relationship] Involvement &
Hinting) students act more responsibly and are
less distracted when management occurs.
Summary
Assertion 8: When there are more
misbehaving students in the class, teachers
tend to increase their use of Coercive
management
Assertion 9: When there are more
misbehaving students in the class, teachers
tend to rely less on Relationship based
management.
Problem 4.
Why would teachers choose to use forms of Power they
know don’t work productively? (Legitimate, Coercive)
Why would teachers choose not to use forms of Power
they know are effective? (Referent, Reward, Informational)
Fuller: Level of Concern
• Level 1: Self (physical & emotional wellbeing)
• Level 2: Task (skills & techniques)
• Level 3: Impact (effect on student)
When a teacher perceives threat, he or she is
likely to regress to level 1 and ignore the
needs of the student
Attribution Theory
Some characteristic of the child is responsible for
my reaction. It’s inevitable.
Efficacy Theory
Low: It’s because I don’t know what else to do.
High: It’s an efficient way of keeping things under
control.
Attachment Theory
The child is unreasonable and rejecting, and it
makes me upset.
Developmental Management Approach (DMA)
Based on - Four Patterns of Student Behaviour
A. Managed by normal curriculum
These students manage themselves in order to learn what is
contained in the curriculum
B. Managed within the class
These students are occasionally distracted or disruptive, but do
not have to be isolated or referred to others
C. Managed out of class
These students cannot be managed as part of a group and
need to be isolated, sent out or referred to others
D. Not managed These students generally seem unmanageable no
matter what is tried
Developmental Classroom Management (DMA).
Keeping students adult and rational
Main assumptions
All students want to be accepted by their peer group.
Most students, when in their rational ‘adult’ state, have
goodwill towards others and make rational decisions.
What teachers say and do will make a difference to
whether or not the student stay in their ‘adult’. If teachers don’t “explain themselves”, challenging children
generally assume the worst.
http://www.aiz.vic.edu.au/Resources/?cid=44
DMA Techniques
• A behaviour students – Visual and verbal hints
• B behaviour students– Calm assertive control
via systematic use of Rewards for effort, and
logical consequences for lack of effort - to act
responsibly
• C behaviour students– One on one, adult
discussions to reorient values
• D behaviour students– Rebuilding student’s self concept via a focus on their feelings of
Competence, Usefulness and Belonging
Lewis, R. (2008). The developmental management approach to
classroom behaviour: Responding to individual needs. Melbourne:
ACER Press. (Republished by Routledge. USA as Understanding
Pupil Behaviour, 2009)
Broadmeadows Primary School
Number of times students exited from Learning Spaces by term
Exit
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Term 3 Term 4 Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4
2008
2008
2009
2009
2009
2009
The school now performed well above the average of all Australian schools in
numeracy and above the national average in reading and spelling.
Broadmeadows Primary School
Number of times students exited from Learning Spaces by term
Exit
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
In 2012 - 40 new students & 5 new staff – 16 ‘exits’. 2012
Two major research findings related to
teachers’ interactions with more challenging students
Teachers, when dealing with more
challenging students appear to be Increasing
their use of Coercive and Legitimate Power
Teachers, when dealing with more
challenging students, appear to be
decreasing slightly their use of Referent
and Reward Power