The Guardian reports that in a recent poll of 1500 teachers by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), more than half reported experiencing aggression from pupils and a quarter from parents and carers. In addition to verbal insults, threats and intimidation, the aggression often takes the form of pushing, shoving, kicking punching or even attacking with furniture.
Despite the Department for Education and Ofsted reports that behaviour is at least satisfactory in 99.7% of English schools, ATL general secretary, Mary Bousted, admits that . . .
“Poor behaviour is now a daily reality for most staff.”
Whilst some feel that the problem stems from poor teaching and inadequate discipline, the causes are actually far more complex and deep rooted.
Bousted said:
“Many students have chaotic home lives that would cause most adults to lose their temper occasionally. As well as having to be experts in their own subject, teachers also need to be psychologists and behavioural experts.”
In addition 80% of teachers taking part in the survey felt that:
“Pupil’s behaviour had also been influenced negatively because ‘society has become less respectful to people in front-line jobs”.
(Ward L 2014)
The role of society in reducing child aggression
So how we as parents, or even as anonymous adults interact with others, sets an example or role model that in turn is moulding the way children and young people view those responsible for educating them. A sobering thought which should modify our interactions.
Research conducted in the U.S. following levels of aggression in 4,179 children aged between 5 and 8 revealed 2 more factors which interact and interrelate with each other:,2. the ‘quality of classroom climate’ specifically influenced by the teacher-pupil interactions.
1. Combined level of aggression of classroom peers. It was found that being in a class with a large number of aggressive peers promotes aggression by presenting it as a social norm – in this atmosphere, aggressive children are more likely to be accepted than rejected and actually model ‘aggressive responding’ therefore reinforcing this behaviour.
2. The ‘quality of classroom climate’ specifically influenced by the teacher-pupil interactions. Teachers who worked hard to be sensitive and respond to pupil’s needs and were ‘positive and supportive in their interactions’ helped to reduce pupil aggression by modelling self-regulation and conflict management.
Sadly the research revealed that positive classroom management was not enough to ‘completely counteract the negative effects of a class containing many aggressive’ pupils as the stronger factor amongst the children was the peer influence or ‘contagion’. (Thomas, D et al 2011)
This research’ supports psychologist Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. That is:
Children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observation learning – through watching the behaviour of another person.’
He demonstrated this by his famous Bobo doll experiment in 1961:
The Bobo Doll experiment
Three sets of 24 children were shown individually into 1 of 3 different rooms with similar toys.
- One room contained an adult (model) who exhibited aggressive behaviour towards a Bobo doll (5ft doll which bounces up after being pushed down), attacking it with a hammer or throwing it about.
- One room contained an adult who modelled non-aggressive behaviour, ignoring the Bobo doll and playing with other toys.
- The third room was used for a control group and had toys only, no model.
- The children were then shown into a room with very attractive toys but told that these were reserved for other children to play with – this had the effect of raising their level of frustration.
Afterwards, the children were shown into a room with different toys, some non-aggressive, some aggressive including a toy mallet and peg board, dart board and Bobo doll.
The Bobo Doll experiment – Conclusions
The children who had been exposed to the aggressive model were far more aggressive in their behaviour towards the Bobo doll than those who had been in the non-aggressive or control groups directly imitating the actions that they had witnessed the adult demonstrating. (Mcleoud, S 2011) Boys were found to be nearly 3 times more likely to replicate violent behaviour than girls. (Shuttleworth, M 2008)
Footage of this fascinating experiment can be viewed on the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr0OTCVtHbU
These findings place a responsibility on those working with children in several ways:
1. To foster positive relationships with emphasis on responsive interactions and avoidance of criticism and over-controlling – to role model self-controlled, non-aggressive behaviour.
2. It’s also vital to take into account that children in our care may be exposed to high levels of violence, either first-hand in their own home, or by what they watch on TV and participate in when playing violent electronic games.
3. Most importantly, as individuals we need to start setting children an example in our daily encounters by according others respect and dignity so that children can imitate this and grow into valuable, well-adjusted members of society.
Over to You!
Do you encounter aggression in your role as a teaching assistant? Do you feel that levels of aggression in the classroom have risen and, if so what do you feel are the contributing factors? Feel free to share your views and experiences – we’d love to hear from you!
You may also be interested in: 11 Strategies To Use With Aggressive Children In The Classroom
References
Ward, L. (2014). Support for parents is the key to tackling pupil aggression in schools. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/sep/10/support-parents-pupil-agression-schools-teachers .
Thomas,B Bierman,K Powers,CJ. (2011). The Influence of Classroom Aggression and Classroom Climate on Aggressive Disruptive Behaviour. Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3089701/
Mcleod, S. (2011). Bobo Doll Experiment. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html
Shuttleworth,M. (2008). Bobo Doll Experiment. Available: https://explorable.com/bobo-doll-experiment
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