Managing and Handling Indiscipline in Schools.
MANAGING AND HANDLING INDISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS
A RESEARCH PROJECT
ISABEL FREIRE, UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA JOÃO AMADO, UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA
ABSTRACT
The research project we present here in (entitled GERLINDES, in Portuguese) is set out with the assumption that there is a link among the representations and the actions within the members of the interstitial groups of schools, the practices in action and social and disciplinary environment at schools. This research project is focused on eight case studies held in schools of different grades, located in the centre of Portugal. Both qualitative (interviews and ethnographic observation) and quantitative methodologies (pupils’ questionnaires) have been used.
KEYWORDS
Indiscipline ; School ethos ; Violence ; Case studies
Managing and handling indiscipline in schools
85
INDISCIPLINE GLANCED THROUGH A PEDAGOGICAL
AND ORGANISATIONAL SCOPE
School indiscipline has been, over time, an issue of concern for educators and we can even state that it has become a huge concern among educators, policy-makers and the public opinion in general, owing to the outbreak of aggressiveness among peers, violence within teacher-student relationship and vandalism, as well. Indiscipline is a multifaceted phenomenon, regarding its displays and causes, as well as its “meanings” and “functions” in the social, psychosocial and pedagogical fields. Concerning the displays, we believe that major situations are framed in what Amado and Freire (2009) points out as the “first level of indiscipline”: those incidents of “disruptive” nature whose “disturbance” affects the “good classroom functioning”. The incidents that might be framed in the second and third levels, are “conflicts among peers” and “conflicts within teacher-student relationship”, which might be taken on proportions of violence and even delinquency, the latter presents a minor frequency than the former (Amado, 2005). Concerning the causes, we can distinguish, among others, those related to
A RESEARCH PROJECT
ISABEL FREIRE, UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA JOÃO AMADO, UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA
ABSTRACT
The research project we present here in (entitled GERLINDES, in Portuguese) is set out with the assumption that there is a link among the representations and the actions within the members of the interstitial groups of schools, the practices in action and social and disciplinary environment at schools. This research project is focused on eight case studies held in schools of different grades, located in the centre of Portugal. Both qualitative (interviews and ethnographic observation) and quantitative methodologies (pupils’ questionnaires) have been used.
KEYWORDS
Indiscipline ; School ethos ; Violence ; Case studies
Managing and handling indiscipline in schools
85
INDISCIPLINE GLANCED THROUGH A PEDAGOGICAL
AND ORGANISATIONAL SCOPE
School indiscipline has been, over time, an issue of concern for educators and we can even state that it has become a huge concern among educators, policy-makers and the public opinion in general, owing to the outbreak of aggressiveness among peers, violence within teacher-student relationship and vandalism, as well. Indiscipline is a multifaceted phenomenon, regarding its displays and causes, as well as its “meanings” and “functions” in the social, psychosocial and pedagogical fields. Concerning the displays, we believe that major situations are framed in what Amado and Freire (2009) points out as the “first level of indiscipline”: those incidents of “disruptive” nature whose “disturbance” affects the “good classroom functioning”. The incidents that might be framed in the second and third levels, are “conflicts among peers” and “conflicts within teacher-student relationship”, which might be taken on proportions of violence and even delinquency, the latter presents a minor frequency than the former (Amado, 2005). Concerning the causes, we can distinguish, among others, those related to
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