Student responsibility and classroom discipline in Australia, China, and Israel

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers' classroom discipline techniques and students' individual and communal responsibility in Australian, Chinese, and Israeli classrooms. The sample comprised 5521 students in grades 7–12 and 748 teachers. The participating Australian, Chinese, and Israeli schools included both larger and smaller schools, situated in a range of socioeconomic and geographic areas. Results showed that teachers who utilize more inclusive disciplinary techniques have students who take more responsiblity for their own behavior and for the behavior of their peers. In general students appeared to act responsibly in class in all three settings, and their self‐reported levels of responsibility were generally validated by their teachers' perceptions. Implications for educators and further research are discussed.

Keywords:

• student values
• responsibility
• teacher–student interaction
• classroom management

Acknowledgement

The research project reported in this paper was sponsored by the Institute for Community Education and Research, School of Education, Bar‐Ilan University, Israel. The authors wish to thank Professor Xing Qui of the Department of Psychology, Sichuan College of Education, Sichuan Province, Chengdu, PRC, for his help in carrying out this research.