Teachers’ Attributions and Intervention Strategies for Students’ Classroom Misbehaviours: Evidence from Senior High Schools in Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipality
Victoria Aba Mensah *
Department of Education, Komenda College of Education, Ghana.
Mark, Owusu Amponsah
Department of Educational and Psychology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
Bakari Yusif Dramanu
Department of Educational and Psychology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The study explored teachers’ attributions in addressing misbehaviour of students in the classroom. To achieve this, a descriptive survey was adopted through the use of quantitative approach. A sample size of 140 teachers was selected for the study using cluster sampling technique. Questionnaires were used to elicit responses from the selected teachers. Inferential statistics and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the research questions. The findings from the study revealed that generally, teachers in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem Municipality attribute students’ disruptive behaviours to blame and intentionality of the students. Again, in the quest for managing these attributed behaviours, supportive measures were identified by the teachers to be very effective. It was recommended that teachers’ beliefs about causality with reference to student misbehaviour be improved by training teachers to embrace controllable as opposed to non-controllable attributions. Teachers who might otherwise embrace unsupportive interventions may be more open to implementing research-based interventions for students who exhibit problem behaviour.
Keywords: Teachers, attributions, students, classroom, misbehaviours, intervention strategies.