Student Misbehavior: An Exploratory Study Based on Sri Lankan Secondary School Teachers’ Perceptions

PurposeDrawing on Bandura's social cognitive theory, the present study examines the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and student misbehaviour, while exploring the moderating effects of teacher gender using gender schema theory.Design/methodology/approachThe structural equation modelling examined the study model. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires from 464 teachers in secondary schools in Sri Lanka.FindingsThe results revealed that teachers' self-efficacy in overall teaching negatively correlated with student misbehaviour. Teacher gender had no moderating effects, implying an indistinct patriarchal influence on which the hypothesis was based.Practical implicationsThe present study offers suggestions and practical recommendations in the areas of classroom management, school leadership, teacher education, and education administration on ways to enhance teachers' self-efficacy, particularly their self-efficacy in managing students' problematic behaviours. The findings of the study may also imply that the patriarchal dominance in Sri Lankan households may be waning.Originality/valueThis research is the first ever to apply gender schema theory to explore the moderating effects of gender in the self-efficacy–student misbehaviour relationship.

Misbehaviour in the classroom disrupts students' attention and negatively affects the teaching-learning process. Every learner has certain needs, and when these needs are not met at a critical moment, students start acting up in class. The best way to deal with a disruptive student is to take preventative measures. A causal comparative research design was used to examine the effect of teaching strategies on students’ classroom misbehaviour and find out the difference between male and female students’ perception about the classroom misbehaviors at secondary school level. The sample of the study was 408 students, selected by randomly from 34 public secondary schools in district Lahore. A self-developed instrument was used for data collection. The findings of the study show that students engage in misbehaviour i.e. skipping class, sleeping in the classroom, blaming the teaching method and cheating in tests/examinations.Teachers used strategies to deal with student misbehavior, including hand slapping, hitting with sticks, bending and slapping, and calling students names. There is a significant difference between male and female students’ perception about misbehaviors. Punitive strategies have a significant effect on students’ misbehaviours. Instructional and advisory committees should be established in schools to advise teachers on the psychological needs of students. Teachers should be introduced to innovative teaching strategies to deal with student misbehaviour. Different new courses may be included in the curriculum of pre- service teacher training programs.

Uspostavljanje modela filmske edukacije u srednjoj školi

Abstract: Background: Teaching has been considered a very demanding job and high-stress occupation. Moroccan teachers face several constraints and demands (e.g., overcrowded classrooms, work overload, lack of pedagogical resources, student misbehaviors) that impact their motivation and engagement. In this context, this study aims to identify the factors of well-being and psychological distress at work among primary and secondary school teachers in Morocco. Method: Data were collected by semi-structured interviews among 60 public teachers: 19 teachers in primary school, 16 teachers in middle school, and 25 teachers in high school. Results: The thematic analysis shows that teachers highlighted many harmful aspects of their job, namely: low-level students, lack of support from hierarchy, workload and overcrowded classrooms, emotional demands and student misbehaviors, poor working conditions, and low pay. It indicates that there are several sources of well-being at work among Moroccan teachers, such as a positive organizational climate, achieving objectives at work, motivation, seriousness, and desire to learn among students, having free time for itself, autonomy at work, and utility of the profession. Conclusion: The findings are in line with previous work and add some enrichment to the Job Demands-Resources theory.

Among 574 Western Australian secondary teachers the level of psychological distress was found to be twice that expected in the general population. Eight school‐related factors were found to be statistically related to stress as measured by the General Health Questionnaire, with relationships being stronger for female than for male teachers. Factors correlated with psychological distress were: perceived lack of efficacy/achievement, inadequate access to facilities, lack of collegial support, excessive societal expectations, lack of influence/autonomy, student misbehaviour and lack of praise/recognition. Differences between male and female teachers in both the pattern and the strength of the relationships suggest that teachers' responses to their working environment are sex‐related.

Research in astronomy education has uncovered that many learners possess limited and fragmented understanding of stars. The corresponding misconceptions manifest in various areas such as star formation, size, the relationship between stars and planets, and their position in space and have been shown to persist across different age groups and educational settings, highlighting the need for further investigation. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study that examines secondary students’ views of stars and their evolution throughout their secondary school education. We designed and evaluated an instrument for assessing students’ views of stars in five domains (stars and the solar system, formation and evolution of stars, general properties and motion of stars, (sub-)stellar objects, as well as color and brightness). The instrument creation process involved several steps, including literature-based item development, an expert survey with faculty members, and a quantitative pilot study with a sample of N=390 secondary school and college students. This process led to a final version of the instrument that exhibits good psychometric properties. We used this new instrument in a cross-age study to investigate the alignment of secondary students’ ideas about stars with scientific views across different stages of secondary education. The sample of this main study comprised a total of N=366 learners, including 148 lower (aged 13–14 years), 151 middle (aged 15–16 years), and 67 upper (aged 17–18 years) secondary school students. Our study findings reveal a progressive development of students’ perspectives on star-related topics throughout their school education: Using analyses of variance and conducting pairwise post hoc comparisons, we observed a statistically significant increase in the proportion of responses aligning with scientific views across all aspects of stars examined in this study, as students progressed from lower secondary to upper secondary levels. We further report on widely held views of stars among our study participants that do not align with the scientific views and discuss the implications of our findings for both educational research and practice.

Incidence of NSSI rises during adolescence and peaks in young adulthood. Secondary school and university students, representing these age groups, have been the focus of research on how emotion regulation strategies impact NSSI. However, a comprehensive study of the interrelations among different symptoms is needed. Research based on network analysis, a questionnaire survey on emotion regulation strategies and NSSI was conducted with 378 secondary school students and 593 first-year university students, all of whom reported a history of engagement in NSSI. The results indicated that Cognitive reappraisal symptoms showed a positive or no correlation with NSSI, while expressive suppression symptoms demonstrated a negative or no correlation. Secondary school and university students using cognitive reappraisal or expressive suppression also tended to use the other type of emotion regulation strategy simultaneously. In secondary school NSSI groups, core symptoms were linked to cognitive reappraisal, while in university groups, they were linked to expressive suppression. Intervention targets for NSSI in secondary school students included “I keep my emotions to myself”, and for university students, “I control my emotions by not expressing them.” Research reveals a complex mechanism underlying the link between NSSI and emotion regulation strategies in university and secondary school students, offering valuable insights for promoting the psychological health of adolescents and youths.

The use of school security measures has increased over the last two decades. Yet prior research suggests school security measures have a deterrent effect on student misbehavior. Existing studies often focus on school-level comparisons in security as opposed to examining how students within a given school differ in their interaction with security measures (i.e., within-school differences). To address this gap in the literature, the current study estimates the association between individual students' engagement with security and multiple forms of maladaptive student behavior in school. In particular, this study is guided by two research questions: 1) What is the relationship between students' engagement with school security measures and their engagement in problem behaviors; and, 2) To what extent do the relationships between engagement with security and student behavior problems differ by student race and ethnicity? Longitudinal data were collected from students at two separate time points in one academic year (N=359) across eight schools in one urban school district. Using a series of models to examine how students' engagement with school security measures is related to their perpetration of student behavior, findings highlight negative associations between engagement with school security and non-serious violent and weapons-related crime. While the school security change score and students' engagement in problem behaviors was no different for Black students than it was for students who were non-Black or non-Hispanic, the negative association between engagement with security and behavior indicated a stronger deterrent effect for Hispanic students. Findings suggest that engagement with school security should be examined at the within-school level and with consideration that racial and ethnic differences might vary from student to student within any given school. Moreover, long-term programming goals should be established when developing process for securing schools with emphasis on how security measures might influence individual students differently within the school setting.

Provision of healthcare to secondary school students is paramount. However, in Kenya, this undertaking is often curtailed by inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, food insecurity, high poverty levels, and unemployment challenges. These challenges complicate the choice of a service model for managing healthcare of students in public secondary schools in Meru County -Kenya. The purpose of this study was to analyze personal medical insurance as an approach for managing students' healthcare in public secondary schools in Meru County. This study is systematic review paper where secondary sources of information were analyzed and synthesized as guided by the main theme. Documentary analysis coupled with systematic review of existing literature from reports, past studies and conference proceedings were central in forming the theoretical foundation and systematic argument developed in this paper. The study established that the adoption of personal medical insurance in secondary schools does not only affect the education outcomes, but it also enhances equity of secondary school education and leads to improved retention and completion rates of students in schools. However, its adoption in public secondary school is not widespread in Meru County, Kenya. This is attributed to shortages of infrastructures, resources, weak structures and mechanisms on health provision, and absence of policy on personal medical health insurance for students in public secondary school in Kenya. These findings raise questions on policies by Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health on provision of healthcare to students in secondary schools. Medical health insurance companies are called upon to remodel and customize their personal health insurance products to fit students in public secondary schools

Risk researchers have asserted that risk education in secondary schools is minimal, if it exists at all. This study shows that some aspects of risk are taught as part of the National Curriculum in England. As risk science has developed, many of its proponents have recognised the importance of ensuring that all students in secondary schools are exposed to risk concepts and thinking. In the education field, risk education is seen as important but in competition with many other subject areas in the curriculum. This study uses text analysis and semi-structured expert interviews with a sample of teachers and teacher-educators, and other experts in education to contrast official education policies with their experiences in the field. It identifies how risk education is conceptualised by this sample of educators and where in the curriculum risk concepts are principally taught. Assessment, legitimacy, and resources are barriers to wider adoption of risk education in secondary schools in England. It is essential that risk experts and education experts work together to further integrate risk education into the curriculum and teaching practice.

Not only do students need to acquire knowledge about subjects, they also need to feel motivated and inspired. This provides the confidence to tackle subjects head on. In response to a concerning decline in interest from young people in the natural and physical sciences, Associate Professor Tomotaka Kozuki wants to spark enthusiasm for science and technology among children. He aims to do this by appealing to their curious nature and encouraging interest in learning and excitement of the unknown. He is working closely with collaborators Associate Professor Yutaka Kobayashi and Professor Takashi Terashige to overcome challenges associated with visualising electricity. The researchers are developing novel ammeters and voltmeters that visualise currents and voltages, making them accessible and understandable to primary and secondary school teachers and students alike. Using the ammeters and voltmeters they developed, teachers and students can observe the Joule heat generated in the resistor with a thermography camera. This helps them to see and understand the relationship between current and voltage. Having presented his findings so far at conferences, Kozuki is already garnering interest from fellow researchers. He and the team are also conducting mock lectures for primary and secondary school teachers, providing educational support. He conducted a survey and found that 57 per cent of teachers believe they are not good at teaching electricity, which confirms a lack of confidence with this field that needs to be rectified.

Primary and secondary school teachers play an important role in promoting the cultivation of students’ moral qualities and the formation of good behavioral habits, as well as helping students establish correct worldviews, outlooks on life and values. Cultivating good professional ethics among primary and secondary school teachers will be beneficial to the healthy physical and mental growth of primary and secondary school students and promote the healthy development of the education cause. During the period of social transformation, in the field of education, there are occasional phenomena of teachers in primary and secondary schools violating professional ethics. Therefore, it is extremely urgent to construct a good path for the construction of professional ethics. On this basis, the spirit of educators has emerged as the times require. Based on the “Code of Professional Ethics for Primary and Secondary School Teachers”, this study, under the guidance of the spirit of educators, analyzes the existing problems in the professional ethics of current primary and secondary school teachers and explores the paths for the construction of professional ethics from two perspectives, namely, the teachers themselves in primary and secondary schools and the external factors related to primary and secondary school teachers.

This study was conducted in secondary schools in Uyo Educational zone. The aim was to investigate the effects of field trip on secondary school students' motivation and achievement in civic education in Uyo educational zone, Nigeria. It was a quasi-experimental design involving 80 JSS3 students. Using cluster sampling method, two junior secondary schools were drawn from 125 junior secondary schools in the educational zone. In both schools, the children were taken on field trips to have firsthand experience on the various topics and concept of Civic Education. The instruments for data collection consisted of researcher-made “Rule of Law, Human Right, Citizenship, Civic Responsibility and Democracy Achievement Test” (RHCCDAT). It also consists of the “Students Motivation Inventory” (SMI). The instruments were vetted by experienced Civic Education teachers in secondary schools as well as the experts in the field of Measurement and Evaluation. The reliabilities of the instruments as determined using 20 JSS3 students with a test-retest sub-sectional reliability coefficient of 0.75, 0.82, 0.66, 0.75 and 0.81. Then the students were given a follow-up test after a period of two weeks. Data collected using the instruments were subjected to analysis using independent t-test as well as paired sample t-test. Result indicated that there was no significant effect of field trip on students’ motivation (p=0.091>0.05). Field trip also had significant effect on students’ achievement in Civic Education (p-0.021<0.05). Finally, there was a significant retention effect of field trip as there was no significant difference between the posttest and follow up test scores. Based on this, it was recommended among others that educational implementers like teachers, governments as well as the school should re-evaluate field trip objectives and design to focus on motivation.

This study examined the impact of teachers’ time management on secondary school students’ academic performance in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The sample for the study was 500 secondary school teachers and 50 school registrars who were selected using simple random sampling technique. An instrument tagged ‘Questionnaire on Secondary School Teachers’ Time Management in Ekiti State, Nigeria’ (QSSTTM) was used to interview the teachers and the second instrument is an Inventory on Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination results obtained from the registrars. Face and content validity were used to ascertain the validity of the instruments. The Split half method was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument and found to be 0.82 for QSSTTM. The data collected were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson’s Product Correlation Analysis. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between teachers’ time management and students’ academic performance. The level of teachers’ time management and academic performance was moderate. It was therefore recommended that teachers should improve upon their time management, especially by being more conscious about how to control their time.

Teachers’ effectiveness has proven to be the most influential school-related factors in students’ academic achievement, if a teachers’ quality is one of the pillars of success in education, it follows then that a serious teacher-evaluation system should be put in place mainly because the purpose of evaluation is to recognize, cultivate and develop good teaching process. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. The population of this study comprised of seven thousand, eight hundred and eighy-nine (7,889) secondary school teachers and students. However, Cohen’s t-test formula was used to determine a sample size of one hundred and twenty-six (126) respondents. The obtained data were analyzed using simple percentage (%) and Likert rating scale while the stated hypothesis was tested using Chi-square statistic. The findings of this study revealed that the different teaching methods used by the teachers of secondary schools in Awka North, Anambra State include students-centered method, discussion method and demonstration method of teaching with mean numbers above 3.0. It was also revealed that students-centered method of teaching can influence the academic achievement of the secondary school students by developing their autonomy, stimulating their thinking and learning abilities through asking questions, making them to participate fully in the learning process and as well by making students with prior knowledge on the topic to contribute among secondary school teachers and students in Awka North, Anambra State. Also, the result of the tested hypothesis showed that there is a significant relationship between teaching methods and academic achievement of secondary school students in Awka North, Anambra State. It was recommended in this study that the training of teachers on different methods of teaching for effectiveness of the content delivery; this will help the students to improve in performance.