Teachers’ and Students’ Attitudes Toward Disruptive Behaviour and Disciplinary Styles: A Comparative Analysis of England and Nigeria

The issue of disruptive behaviour in schools has become a major stress and concern to teachers. However, in order to minimize these behaviours, teachers are utilizing various disciplinary strategies. The aim of this study was to examine students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward disruptive behaviour and disciplinary styles and to compare the views of the participants from Nigeria and England. 285 students and 41 teachers from high school completed the disruptive behaviour and disciplinary styles questionnaires which contain behaviours and intervention methods commonly reported in high schools. These questionnaires measure individual’s attitudes toward behaviour problems and the strategies used to regulate such behaviour. The results depict that there is a relationship between disruptive behaviour and disciplinary styles. Significant difference was found among nationality, gender, student and teacher toward disruptive behaviour and disciplinary styles. Nationality also significantly predicted disruptive behaviour, while aggressive style and relationship based style of discipline predicted juvenile delinquency and school misconduct respectively. In conclusion, the style of discipline adopted in school is associated with students’ judgement of behaviour. The implications of the findings to disciplinary styles that may be most effective at regulating disruptive behaviour are discussed. Keywords: Disruptive behaviour, disciplinary styles, attitudes, student, teacher.

Gender differences in risky behaviour, learned helplessness and school connectedness among undergraduates in Osun State

The study examined gender differences in risky behaviour, learned helplessness and school connectedness among students of Redeemer’s University and Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, Nigeria. The study was conducted using quantitative method, which is the use of questionnaires to collect data. The Beck’s Hopelessness Scale, Risky Behaviour Scale and Measurement of School Connectedness (MOSC) questionnaire were administered to participants. The participants were selected using purposive sampling and consisted of 278 university students studying at Redeemer’s University and Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun state Nigeria. Independent sample t test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation, were used to analyzed the data. The result of this study indicated that there was a significant difference between male and female on risky behaviour. There was no significant difference between male and female on learned helplessness. In addition, no significant difference was found between male and female on school connectedness. Finally, there was no relationship between learned helplessness and school connectedness. Implications for educators and further research are discussed.Keywords: Gender, risky behaviour, learned helplessness, student, school connectedness