Insight into some of the underlying reasons why students

misbehave in schools.
By Paige Bishop

Introduction
Students misbehaving in schools appears to be a growing concern for teachers,
parents and society, but there is little evidence as to why there has been such an increase in
inappropriate behaviour within schools (Sullivan et al. 2014; De Jong, 2005). Inappropriate
behaviour is considered as attitudes and actions that are deemed unacceptable within
society (Nobile et.al, 2017). Inappropriate behaviour within education can be categorized as
passive, which generally only affects the student participating in that behaviour, as in
daydreaming or fiddling with objects, and active, which is more disruptive to other students,
such as swearing, bullying, or calling out (Nobile et.al, 2017). These types of inappropriate
behaviour can alter and impact the student’s academic success as well as their peer’s
(Sullivan et al. 2014). This report focusses on integrating multiple studies based on why
students misbehave in schools to analyse and evaluate the opinions provided by the six
individuals who were interviewed and responded to the same question. The findings from
both the literature and the interviews were combined to develop implementations to
improve teaching practice within schools in relation to student behaviours.

Section 1 Literature review

Many behavioural studies centred on what type of misbehaviour the students were
participating in, the frequency and the impact misbehaving had on their academic success
and their social relationships amongst teachers and peers, however, very little studies have
researched why these types of behaviours were occurring. Recent studies have
demonstrated that disengaged and disruptive behaviours were the most frequent forms of
misbehaviour that teachers observed within the classroom, while aggressive behaviours
were less common (Cothran et al., 2009; Sullivan et al., 2014; Parker et al., 2016). Teachers
claimed that students were disengaged from the classroom activities and disturbing other
students from completing their work, however, they were unclear as to why these

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behaviours were occurring with most teachers stating that the students misbehave because
they just want to or because of poor home life (Cothran et.al., 2009; Sullivan et al., 2014).
This may not be accurate as students throughout these studies claimed that they were
either seeking the attention of their teachers and peers or that the class activities were too
boring or too challenging for them to complete (Cothran et.al., 2009; McGrath & Van
Bergen, 2014) or because the students felt alienated by the teacher within the classroom
which resulted in negative student teacher relationships (Sullivan et al., 2014).

Alienation can be linked to student’s misbehaviour (Sullivan et al., 2014) as the

student’s may feel that their teachers do not care about them so they become uninterested
in participating in classroom activities thus being disruptive to the rest of the class or
truanting class resulting in low academic performance (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2014).
McGrath & Van Bergen’s (2014) research expressed the importance of positive student-
teacher relationships and how these relationships can improve the student’s behaviour. This
study found that younger students are less likely to misbehave as the teachers support and
encourage the students to achieve well unlike senior students who are given independence
as they are theoretically more mature (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2014).

Research does suggest that misbehaviour could be the result of an underlying

condition such as ADHD or autism, where student’s struggle to control their emotions and
find mainstream work difficult to complete (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2014; Parker et al,
2016). These psychological factors can be exaggerated through the dietary intake of these
students which was emphasised in Kleinman et al (2002) and McCann et al (2007) studies
which investigated the connection between dietary intake and behaviour and academic
performance of children by giving students either a healthy breakfast or an energy drink
then observed their behaviour. These studies found that there was a connection between
additives and preservatives within student’s diets and their behaviour as the students who
drank the energy drink had increased levels of hyperactivity and experienced boredom and
off task behaviour more frequently than the students who did not have the drink, if they
were not stimulated enough (McCann et al. 2007). Kleinman et al (2002) found throughout
their study that students who skipped breakfast tended to have poorer attendance,
punctuality, lower grades and overall more behavioural issues than students who ate
breakfast.

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 Effective pedagogical strategies, such as differentiated learning, are not only
essential for improving student’s academic performance and maintaining engagement
within the classroom, but for eliminating any disruptive behaviour that was influenced by
students not being stimulated by classroom activities (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2014;
Cothran et.al., 2009; De Jong, 2005).

Section 2 Interview findings

A qualitative survey was conducted to evaluate why people believe that students
misbehaved in schools. The interviewees were six individuals, four male and two females,
ranging from multiple occupations, ages and backgrounds. The six interviewees have been
deidentified and classified into either ‘M’ as male or as ‘F’ to represent female followed by a
number. M1 was 27 years old that was an electrical engineer, M2 was 25 years old that
worked as a mechanic, M3 was 30 years old that worked as a logistics manager, M4 was 35
years old who was a special education high school teacher, F1 who was 55 years old that
worked as a teacher’s aide within a high school and F2 was 32 years old who was a PDHPE
high school teacher. Each interview was conducted in an informal, relaxed conversational
environment, where further explanation of responses was prompted by the interviewer,
however, there were no set questions that were asked. The responses were sorted into
categories and over the six interviews there appeared to be four common themes. The most
prominent theme was parents and family followed by dietary habits, relationships with
teachers and peers and the teacher’s pedagogical strategies.

Majority of the participants believed that the parents played a vital role in the way
their children behaved at school, as stated by F1 that “parents are not pulling their weight
or doing their job properly”, this is in relation to parents or guardians being responsible for
raising and disciplining their children and the ones the children look up to as role models or
for support and the parents are simply not providing these basic needs for their children.
M1 and M2 both believed that “that there was no incentive to be good and they lacked
respect for adults” and that there was a lack of encouragement from the parents for the
children to achieve academic greatness, these statements reinforce the lack of parental
guidance that F1 was describing. Another focus throughout the interviews was the dietary

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habits of the students, as stated by F2 that “majority of children these days rely on junk
food or food loaded with additives and preservatives to sustain them throughout the day,
especially energy drinks, which contribute to student’s hyperactivity and aggression”.

Social requirements were also mentioned as a potential contributing factor

impacting student’s behaviour as the student may seek their teacher’s or peer’s attention.
Interestingly, F2 and M4, who were both teachers, were the only participants who
mentioned that the learning environment, the teacher’s pedagogical strategies within the
classroom and the level of difficulty of the activities set by the teacher can affect the
student’s behaviour.

Section 3 Compare Findings

Parker et al., (2016) and McGrath & Van Bergen (2014) claimed that poor
communication was a major contributor to student’s disengagement within schools,
especially communication between the parents and the school, which is consistent with
responses from the interview participants where they stated that the parent’s involvement
with their children’s lives and education can impact how well they participate and behave
within school. More involved parents will support and encourage their children to achieve
higher results and have higher expectations of themselves, thus the student’s, theoretically,
will value their education more, participating less in inappropriate behaviour (Cothran et al.,
2009; Parker et al., 2016; De Jong, 2005). However, students interviewed for research
claimed this was a minor contributing factor (Cothran et al., 2009).

Although there are minimal studies to support the argument that additives and
preservatives within food and drinks consumed by students contribute to their
misbehaviour, it does seem that there is some correlation between these factors as both
the interviewees and research state that there is a noticeable change in student’s behaviour
after consuming these products (Kleinman et al, 2002; McCann et al, 2007). This was evident
as the interviewees, who worked within the education system, experienced this behaviour
transformation during school camps where the food that students consumed was
monitored and their behaviour improved. Relevant studies also experienced the same

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behaviour improvement when they gave certain children sugary foods compared to children
who only ate healthy food products (Kleinman et al, 2002; McCann et al, 2007).

Student’s misbehaving to gain attention, whether it is positive or negative attention,

from their teachers and cohort is another common theory behind disruptive and bullying
behaviour within classrooms amongst recent research and from the interview participants.
The teachers from the interviews were the only ones to mention that pedagogical practices
influence student’s behaving inappropriately within the classroom which was surprising
because although studies did agree with these explanations, it was not the teachers from
these studies who thought it was their pedagogy that was the problem. Overall, the findings
from the interviews were heavily supported by the results from recent studies on the topic
of why students misbehave in schools.

Section 4 Implications for Teaching Practice

As stated above, student’s misbehaving is an ill-defined issue as there are multiple

factors, whether they are educational, social, cognitive or biological, that contribute to
student’s misbehaving within school (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2014). Teachers must
constantly be switched on and aware of their student’s family situation, their relationships,
whether the student has a disability including ADHD or autism, as this will provide teachers
with the background information to be able to make coherent decisions when around that
student to avoid sensitive information and causing an escalation of behaviour (McGrath &
Van Bergen, 2014). Teachers should also take cues from their students as soon as they enter
the classroom, if they are moody, hyperactive or whether they have had breakfast, to
ensure they control certain behaviours appropriately and once again avoid an escalation of
inappropriate behaviour. It is vital that there is continual communication between teachers
and parents to ensure the synchronicity with the student’s education and wellbeing and if
the student witnesses how involved their teachers and parents are, it may encourage them
to achieve higher grades and may respect their teachers, parents and peers more (Parker et
al., 2016; Crosnoe et al., 2004). Teachers should be differentiating the classroom activities
based on the students learning capabilities to promote engagement and overall educational
satisfaction (Sullivan et al., 2014) and teachers should also maintain positive relationships

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with their students and start every lesson as a fresh from incidents as this will also improve
the behaviour of the students (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2014).

Conclusion

Based on literature reviews and the responses from the interviews, it can be
concluded that there is always an explanation for student’s misbehaving in school and that
there may in fact be a combination of factors such as environmental, cognitive, social and
biological factors that are impacting on their behaviour. Overall teachers should have
positive relationships with their students and understand their student’s learning
capabilities and their wellbeing to prevent escalation of inappropriate behaviour.

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References

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De Jong, T. (2005). A framework of Principles and Best Practice for Managing Student Behaviour in
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Parker C., Paget, A., Ford, T. & Gwernan-Jones, R. (2016) ‘he was excluded for the kind of behaviour
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