Teachers reactions to children's misbehaviours in North Western Ethiopia: A ground theory based analysis

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate factors that enhance or hinder teachers reactions to children's misbehaviours. Twenty one semistructured individual interviews were carried out with teachers. Grounded theory method was employed to analyze the data. The analysis of teachers' voices revealed that all participants of the study perceived children's sneaking out from home or playing truant as morally wrong and labeled it as misbehaviour. The findings also demonstrated that most of the teachers did not want to intervene while fewer teachers intended to intervene in the situation of observing misbehaviours. Concerning the reasons for teacher's reactions to children's misbehavior, six set of themes emerged. These were: nature of the event, teacher–parent/child relationship, parenthood status, perceived consequences of the action, emotional feelings, and responsibility attribution. Intervention programs that enhance sense of responsibility, concern for the welfare of children, interpersonal relationship, and trust among neighbors have to be designed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.