Australian Teacher Magazine - No.1 national education sector publication

Sometimes it can be useful for teachers to consider the process of student behaviour, rather than any specific act when deciding what should be done in a given situation.

A person who has an inability to behave in certain ways will require a very different remedial program than a person who has the necessary ability, but is applying the behaviour inappropriately.

Rule following is a good example. It is more than a little interesting to me that young people who frequently get into trouble at school for not following rules often gravitate towards gangs. The reason I find this fascinating is because gangs have some of the toughest rules of any group I know.

The penalties for breaking a gang rule can be a lot more severe than a lunch time detention or a parent meeting imposed by the teacher.

There are no doubt many different discussions that could occur over the pros and cons of the formation and maintenance of gangs, but the point I’m highlighting here concerns the ability to behave in a particular way.

Young people who remain part of a gang for more than a couple of minutes clearly have the ability to follow strict rules. If they’re currently not following school rules it’s not because of an inability to do so. From this perspective it can be useful to consider what it is about the different environments that results in those students following rules in one place and yet breaking them in the other.

This type of analysis can occur with any sort of behaviour. In certain circumstances disobedience and noncompliance can be functional, even desirable, forms of conduct.

Given the temptations and perils that confront many young people on their path to adulthood, having the ability to say “no” and to swim against the stream can be essential survival skills.

There’s no doubt that disobedience and noncompliance are disruptive behaviours in a classroom, but there are other situations where it might be highly desirable for an adolescent to have the strength of character to refuse to follow an adult’s direction.

Disobedience and noncompliance could, in some instances, protect youth from becoming involved in criminal activity. There is a place for both obedience and disobedience.

Teachers can play a crucial role in helping students understand what those places are.

Dr Tim Carey is an associate professor at Flinders University and Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs.

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Princpal Advisor Schoolwide Positive Behaviour Support, Student Services Directorate, Education Queensland
written by Warren Dawson, August 07, 2010

Tim thanks for your insightful comments. There are many teachers who feel confronted and confused by these behavioural performance deficits and often incorrectly attribute them to intrapersonal attributes of their students at the expense of seeking an explanation within a matrix of broader environmental variables. We do this because it has become our learned behaviour, reinforced by the individualist theoretical assumptions that inform our practice; by the dominant cultural bias toward blame, punishment and redemption (or restoration); the systemic naturalisation of school and classroom environments; and the basic and necessary belief that we have to at least do something! Research strongly supports your ecological insights, i.e. that behaviour is functionally related to the environment(s) in which it occurs. This is why teachers and schools too often experience disruptive, disrespectful and disobedient behaviours not experienced in the general community or in student peer groupings. Well done

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