Professional development in response to problem behaviours in primary and special schools in Singapore

Abstract

This article describes research undertaken by primary and special school teachers into their professional development needs, with a particular focus upon the management of problem behaviours in classrooms. The research was conducted by learning support co-ordinators (primary schools) and special school teachers, enrolled on courses at the National Institute of Education (Singapore), in association with their tutors and a collaborating researcher. The study, which is premised upon the belief that teachers should be actively involved in the appraisal of their own professional development needs, suggests that the relatively mild nature of problem behaviours which occur within primary and special school classrooms in Singapore are amenable to comparatively simple classroom management techniques, which teachers are able to devise through collaborative work with colleagues. The value of a simple ‘training’ approach, whereby certain management skills are transplanted from ‘experts’ to teachers, is questioned. The article concludes with a discussion of the kinds of activities which appear to help teachers to better respond to the particular misbehaviours which they identified as the most ‘commonly occurring’ and most ‘disruptive’, in their classrooms.