Student Misbehavior: An Exploratory Study Based on Sri Lankan Secondary School Teachers’ Perceptions

Student misbehavior is one of the most common problems affecting schools around the world. The main objectives of this study were to identify common and unacceptable misbehaviors of secondary school students and the reasons behind student misbehaviors from Sri Lankan teachers’ point of view. A qualitative research study was conducted with twelve Sri Lankan secondary school teachers. The findings of the research study revealed that current secondary school students do not respect teachers, show more self-centered behaviors and engage in more problematic behaviors in school which are harmful for themselves as well as for the others, compared to the students that the teachers have taught and been with 10-15 years ago. A list of 17 student classroom misbehaviors and a list of 07 school based student misbehaviors were generated. The highly reported student classroom misbehaviors were disrespecting teachers, engaging in irrelevant tasks during lessons and verbal aggression. The highly reported school based misbehaviors were disrespecting school authority figures, unnecessary involvement with dangerous drugs and developing and supporting inappropriate and harmful relationships. The participants’ responses on the reasons behind student misbehavior were simplified into five main sources: family, education system, teachers, students and society. The findings of the study will be useful to improve the Sri Lankan education system to create well behaving individuals to the society, as so far there has not been sufficient studies addressing this issue. The research study reveals that there is a great need for making some changes in the current education system to change the stressful atmosphere in schools and successfully promote students’ physical, cognitive, personal, social, emotional, moral and spiritual development to reduce and prevent negative behavioral issues of students. Keywords: student misbehavior, secondary school teachers, secondary school students, Sri Lanka DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-17-12 Publication date:June 30th 202