Teachers’ Perceptions on Social Skills and Problematic Behavior

Marta Bej

doi:10.5901/jesr.2016.v6n2p125

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the teachers’ perceptions of social skills, problematic behavior and discipline in the school environment. It describes the teachers’ perceptions on positive and negative behavior, and management intervention strategies with the use of rewards, praise, implementation of specific techniques and sometimes punitive methods. Themost unique contribution of this study is the in-depth data that provide specific descriptions of the teachers’perceptions. Findings indicated that the teachers in this study tend to perceive themselves as strong influences in students’ behavior at school. They also perceived problematic behavior through disrespectful actions during the lesson. As for a positive discipline used school wide, teachers reported not having one, and the only way of discipline was individual inside the classroom and dependable on the situation, which sometimes was managed with punitive interventions. In addition, teachers were unfamiliar with education programs that provide training on positive interventions to change problematic behaviors. Lastly, meeting teachers’ training needs for implementation of Positive Discipline and use of positive strategies of interventions recommended. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2016.v6n2p125

Highlights

Our social skills are critical to successful functioning in life
Grubrium & Buckholdt (1997)see schools as a place for socialization and a place to prepare students for life, classes help students broaden their academic horizons while friends and peer groups help students develop important social skills.The development of a student’s social skills transpires through interactions with parents, sibling, relatives, and peers (Powless & Elliot, 1993).Teachers and parents can work in collaboration to encourage and nurture the development of social skills in children, and by doing so they can stimulate the growth of effective skills, by providing the student with a range of learning experiences inside and outside the classroom (Bhargava,2010)
The teachers’ perceptions of behaviour were described in terms of positive and negative behaviour, problematic behaviour, and strategies used as interventions to class management

Summary

Introduction

Our social skills are critical to successful functioning in life. Managing to have good ones, is way more beneficial, because they enable us to know what to say, how and when to say it, and how to behave in different social situations. One of the best environments where children can learn how to possess good social skills is the school environment, and especially one that provides quality and safety. The greater benefits of social skills instruction is that it can improve both the academic and social functioning of individual students and improve the interpersonal climate of the classroom for all the students (Siperstein & Rickards, 2004).Problems such as violence, vandalism, bullying, antisocial behaviour , poor development of pro social skills, create an unsafe learning environment, and it may predict later maladjustment in children’s life (Hawkins, Catalano &Miller 1992), as studies have demonstrated, young children with untreated behaviour problems often might experience significant adjustment problems and psychopathology(Sprague & Walker, 2000; Tobin &Sugai, 1999)

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