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The challenging pupil in the classroom: the effect of the child on the teacher.

ABSTRACT: Teaching children requires effort, and some children naturally require more effort than others. In this study, we tested whether teacher effort devoted to individual children varies as a function of each child's personal characteristics. In a nationwide longitudinal study of 1,102 pairs of twins followed for 7 years, between the ages of 5 and 12 years, we asked teachers about the effort they invested in each child in our study. We found that teacher effort was a function of heritable child characteristics, that a child's challenging behavior assessed at 5 years of age predicted teacher effort toward the same child at 12 years of age, and that challenging child behavior and teacher effort share a common etiology with respect to children's genes. We found that child effects accounted for a significant proportion of variance in teacher effort, but also observed variation in effort exerted by teachers that could not be attributed to children's behavior. Treating children who exhibit challenging behavior and enhancing teachers' skills in managing such behavior could increase the time and energy teachers have to deliver their curriculum in class.

SUBMITTER: Houts RM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3542966 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The challenging pupil in the classroom: the effect of the child on the teacher.

Houts Renate M RM Caspi Avshalom A Pianta Robert C RC Arseneault Louise L Moffitt Terrie E TE

Psychological science 20101115 12

Teaching children requires effort, and some children naturally require more effort than others. In this study, we tested whether teacher effort devoted to individual children varies as a function of each child's personal characteristics. In a nationwide longitudinal study of 1,102 pairs of twins followed for 7 years, between the ages of 5 and 12 years, we asked teachers about the effort they invested in each child in our study. We found that teacher effort was a function of heritable child chara ...[more]

PMID: 21078897

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Project description:Fostering students' classroom engagement is a research hotspot in classroom teaching management. Enhancing classroom engagement requires consideration of the interactive effects of physical and interpersonal environments. Considering the characteristics of physical space, the teacher gives feedback on student engagement in terms of different seating positions. Further, near-seated peer group engagement has an impact, though previous research has found this to be inconsistent. The teacher and near-seated peer groups have different paths of influence on classroom engagement, and there is interplay between them. However, based on realistic classroom scenarios, it is difficult for traditional research methods to reveal how spatially heterogeneous and non-linear micro-interactions among teachers, students, and near-seated peer groups evolve into dynamic changes in macro-classroom engagement. Hence, this study utilized agent-based simulation to explore the non-linear dynamic mechanism underlying how teacher-student proximity, teacher feedback, and near-seated peer groups affect classroom engagement, thereby shedding light on the evolutionary features of classroom engagement. According to the results, the teacher's positive feedback promoted an S-shaped increase in classroom engagement, and the closer a student sat to the teacher, the greater the increase was. The level and homogeneity of near-seated peer group engagement were predictors of changes in classroom engagement. Moreover, the proximity of students to the teacher, teacher feedback, and near-seated peer groups had a joint effect on student engagement. The compensation effect of the teacher's positive feedback on the impact of low-engagement, near-seated peer groups was weaker than that of highly engaged, near-seated peer groups on the effects of the teacher's negative feedback. This suggests that the model of teacher-student proximity and teacher feedback effects differed from that of near-seated peer group influence, and the two interacted and showed asymmetry.

Project description:BackgroundTeacher self-efficacy and emotional stability are considered crucial resources for coping with classroom demands. We examined how class and subject teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and emotional stability are related to teachers' and students' perceptions of the teacher-student relationship, classroom management, and classroom disruptions.MethodsIn a sample of eighty-two swiss german 5th and 6th grade classes, 1290 students, their class teacher (N = 82), and a selected subject teacher (N = 82) filled out a questionnaire assessing classroom disruptions, teacher-student relationships, and classroom management. In a first step, we conducted t-tests on whether class teachers and subject teachers differ in their self-efficacy beliefs and emotional stability. In a second step, we explored by correlation analyses the relations between teacher self-efficacy in classroom management and emotional stability and the teachers' and students' perceptions of classroom disruptions, teacher-student relationships, and classroom management. In a third step, we examined by stepwise multiple regression analyses to what extent psychological variables predict teacher perceptions after controlling for students' ratings, representing rather "objective" classroom features.ResultsIn class teachers, high self-rated emotional stability and self-efficacy are associated with a more positive appraisal of teacher-student relationships and classroom management skills (compared with student ratings). By contrast, in subject teachers, high self-efficacy beliefs are associated with a more favorable perception of classroom disruptions, teacher-student relationships, and classroom management, from both the teachers' and students' perspectives.ConclusionsThe results of the present study show a distinctive pattern for class teachers and subject teachers. In class teachers, high self-rated emotional stability and self-efficacy are associated with a more positive evaluation (compared to student ratings) of the teacher-student relationship and classroom management skills but not teacher perceptions of student misbehavior. On the contrary, subject teachers' firm self-efficacy beliefs are associated with more favorable perceptions of classroom characteristics, both from the teachers' and students' perspectives.

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The challenging pupil in the classroom: the effect of the child on the teacher.

Publications

The challenging pupil in the classroom: the effect of the child on the teacher.

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