Classroom Behaviours which First and Middle School Teachers in St Helena Find Troublesome

Summary

This paper discusses the findings of an enquiry into teachers’ perceptions of troublesome behaviour. A questionnaire was distributed to 54 first and middle school teachers on the island of St Helena, in the South Atlantic. The enquiry forms one part of a broader study which is monitoring the effects of the introduction of broadcast television upon preschool and school‐aged children's social and academic behaviour and leisure habits, in St Helena. A total of 50 teachers returned completed questionnaires, resulting in a return rate of 93%. Only 28% of teachers considered that they were spending more time than they ought on problems of order and control. Out of the total sample, 42% of teachers considered ‘talking out of turn’ to be the most disruptive behaviour. ‘Facing away from work’ was the next most disruptive behaviour (identified by 25% of teachers). ‘Talking out of turn’ and facing away from work’ were also identified as the most commonly occurring behaviours (by 43% and 16% of respondents, respectively). ‘Talking out of turn’ was also identified as the most disruptive and most frequently occurring behaviour of particularly troublesome children. The survey also examined the perceived frequency of occurrence of particular behaviours ‘around the school’, the most commonly occurring of which was ‘unruliness whilst waiting’. The paper concludes with discussion of the kinds of proactive and reactive responses which teachers can make to the above mentioned misbehaviours.