Managing and handling indiscipline
in schools
(GERLINDES) – a research project
Isabel Freire (Universidade de Lisboa) João Amado (Universidade de Coimbra)
Isabel Freire & João Amado
4th World Conference of Violence in School 23-25 June 2008
Team Project:
João Amado (Universidade de Coimbra) (scientific coordinator),
Isabel Freire Universidade de Lisboa (project manager),
Ana Sousa Ferreira(Universidade de Lisboa)(statistics consultant)
Teachers/researchers: Ana Luciano, Carla Santos, Elisabete Ferreira, Emília Silva, Maria da Conceição Prata, Natividade Rodrigues, Sónia Gonçalves and Sibila Henriques.
Dates: Out./2007 – Out./2009
Financed by: FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology)
Indiscipline – multifaced phenomenon
Three degrees of indiscipline (Amado, 2001):
First degree: those incidents to which a “disruptive” nature is assigned, in virtue of the “disturbance” that they cause in the “good functioning of the class”
Second degree: “conflicts” between peers
Third degree: “conflicts” in the teacher-student relationship
These last situations and behaviours present a smaller frequency than the former , but they are so much troublesome; they are violent indiscipline and sometimes become delinquency and even crime (Amado and Freire, 2002).
Indiscipline – multifactorial phenomenon
Concerning the causes, among others, those which are
related to the students idiosyncrasies, social and family
context, externally influenced and of social, economic,
cultural, generational nature, etc., those which are related
to the personality and professionalism of teachers, and
those which are associated with the school as an
organisation or the educational system as a whole.
Isabel Freire & João Amado
A pedagogical and organizational approach
Without neglecting the pedagogical dimension of this issue, we
intend to display un approach considering the school as a whole (Rutter et al., 1979, Reynolds et al. , 1989, Mortimore , 1992, Gilborn et al. , 1993)
In the present project, we intend to highlight, above all, the
factors connected with the organisation and relational climate inside the schools, which is a matter still scarcely studied in Portugal (Freire, 2001, Estrela, 2002).
We will also be attentive to the fact that, presently, schools are
organised in groups, which adds a greater degree of complexity to the functioning of school organisations and the interpersonal relationships that are developed inside them. This is an aspect that offers a new field of study, which is still unexplored.
School ethos
Ethos of a school is the translation of the way culture or
the crossing of cultures is lived within a complex
organization such as a school; it translates the tone, the
character, the mood, the quality of life of a group or an
organization (Amado, 1998).
As Rutter et al. emphasize (1979, p. 179), "individual
actions may combine to create a particular ethos, that is,
a set of values, attitudes and behaviours which become
characteristic of the school as a whole”.
Isabel Freire & João Amado
4th World Conference of Violence in School 23-25 June 2008
School Concept
Schools are perceived as “complex, formal organisations that, as such, include the
behaviours of a great set of actors, organised in groups that are interconnected by a structure of authority and a network of relationships that allows that partially finished information, resources and products go from one group to another" (Bates and Murray, 1982, 58).
According to these authors, school is structurally organised from two kinds of groups – the
"elementary groups" and the "interstitial groups”,
the former constitute the “base structural elements” or “social units” (for example, the class,
the group of teachers of a certain subject , etc.),
the latter, formed by the representatives of the elementary groups, are “connexion groups”
that give rise to a network of links in the system’s structure (for example, the pedagogical council, the school and/or school group assembly, the class councils, the board of the parents’ association).
It is inside these interstitial groups that the contact between the members of the isolated
Design and Methodology
The case study was the chosen research strategy for the
development of the project, the school being the centre of analysis.
The first step consisted of selecting eight case study schools
situated in Central Portugal (Leiria, Caldas da Rainha, Pombal, Soure, Vieira de Leiria and Ourém counties).
Five of these schools are primary schools, one is a primary
and middle school, another a middle and secondary school and another a middle and secondary school.
For conducting these case-studies we have selected a mixed
methodology, using different techniques of gathering and analysing data.
Isabel Freire & João Amado
Design and Methodology
1st stage: all of the case studies followed a common research
direction in preparation for the following stage, that of multiple case studies. These eight case studies aimed to be Master's
theses, that are concluded (Ferreira, 2007; Gonçalves, 2008; Henriques, 2007; Luciano, 2007; Prata, 2006; Rodrigues, 2007; Santos, 2007; Silva, 2007).
2nd stage: the goal is to carry out a ramified multiple case study
(Yin, 1989), taking into consideration the different dimensions under analysis, and also a unique case study, taking into account the nuclear aspects of the research, which are the connections between the relational climate in schools, indiscipline and school achievement.
Gathering Data
Semi directed interviews
64 interviews (around 8 in each case-school: president of school clusters, school principal, president of the school group assembly and the pedagogical council, PTA president, representatives of class coordinators, representatives of school janitors in the school group assembly, etc.)
Ethnographic observation (
inside the classrooms, playgrounds,canteen, etc.
)
Questionnaire
540 pupils of the primary schools
Documentation
Isabel Freire & João Amado
Qualitative data analysis
The interviews' content analysis involves both a deductive
(a priori categories, based on the Freire, 2001
categorization system) and inductive (a posteriori
categories) categorization process.
This process was held in a seminar (with the collaboration
of all researchers) and through the confrontation of data
from each case; this not only conferred greater
“credibility” to the process as well as enabled, at the
second stage, the possibility of a transversal interpretation
of the data collected.
School ethos – building a data analysis
system
The enormous amount of data collected from
the semi directed interviews led to the
grouping of information into themes or axis of analysis which translate different dimensions of the ethos of each case study school.
Axis of analysis
Interpersonal relationships
Disciplinary School-family- community environement relationships
Isabel Freire & João Amado
Interpersonal relationships
The analysis of data related to this dimension of the schools'
ethos was intended to ascertain the relational climate felt in
each school at the level of the different vectors involved.
So, we have identified a set of categories, in an attempt to
ascertain the quality of that climate: relationship between teachers; relationship between pupils; relationship between teachers and pupils; relationship between school janitors and pupils, etc.
Some aspects of the treatment of information concerning the
category “relationship between teachers” are exemplified below:
Relationships between teachers
Positive opinions Negative opinions Conditional opinions
Personal relationships
Personal contact/good
relationships Distant relationships/indifference Depending on the teachers
Close/friendly relationships
Lack of contact between teachers working in the morning and in the afternoon
Depending on school years
Interaction Lack of interaction Depending on the
subject No barriers between older/younger teachers Lack of transparence in personal relationships Abscense of
problems/conflicts Bad relationships
Isabel Freire & João Amado
Relationships between teachers
Positive opinions Negative opinions Conditional
opinions
Professional relationships
Cooperation/colaboration Lack of
cooperation/individualism Depending on the subject
Older teachers support younger
teachers Lack of transparence
Interdisciplinary work Difficult in taking part in
interdisciplinary work
Occasional dialogue about work Bad environment in work
groups
Teachers’ meetings Lack of commitement/routine
Pupil questionnaire – some results of a previous
analysis
The preliminary data point to some relevant differences
between the schools that are the object of this study.
For example, regarding the indicator not happy when pupils
coming to school, there is an important difference between schools: the highest relative frequency is 22% of pupils and the lowest 7%.
There are also some noticeable differences about indiscipline.
Most pupils say there is indiscipline in their classroom, despite an important difference between a maximum of 78,7% in one school and a minimum of 60% in another.
The cafeteria seems to be the environment where more
differences can be observed between schools at this level.
Isabel Freire & João Amado
Research guiding lines and progressive hypothesis
The study of multiple cases we developing and the cross-sectional analysis of the different variables studied will surely point out the connexions between the school ethos and the behaviour and attitude of pupils towards school.
The results of the case studies already concluded (1st stage of the project) offer some guiding
lines for the current stage of the research:
there is likely to be a link between a cohesive school ethos and more adequate behaviours
and attitudes in pupils;
there is likely to be a link between a proactive and preventive disciplinary environment
and the less frequent occurrence of misbehaviour;
there is likely to be a link between inconsistent disciplinary action and/or disciplinary
action based on punishment and control and the more frequent occurrence of misbehaviour in pupils.
