Students' perceptions of teachers' disciplinary actions

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine secondary school students' perceptions regarding misbehavior and teacher disciplinary actions. The subjects for this study were 11 students considered "at risk" by a school district. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each research subject. The major stimuli for interview questions were 12 vignettes describing different instances of problematic student behavior. The subjects were asked about what they would expect teachers to do in each situation as well as the extent of their agreement with predicted teacher actions. The subjects were also asked about factors they believed affect teacher actions when students misbehave and what they believed were the major problems existing in schools. Findings from the interviews indicated that the subjects in this study had well developed perceptions of how they would expect teachers to act in situations involving student problem behaviors. They seemed to have a concept of misbehavior that was similar to what many teachers would have. Furthermore, the subjects perceived that at least some teachers treat students differently, based solely on the ethnicity and cultural backgrounds of the students.