Correlates of teacher appraisals of student behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess whether burnout and personality were linked to the perceived severity of 24 undesirable student behaviors among experienced and trainee teachers. Results indicated that teaching experience, student gender, and type of behavior were important determinants of their perceptions. Burnout had a significant effect on the severity ratings of antisocial and oppositional/defiant behaviors, suggesting that the more stressed teachers are, the less tolerant they become of such challenging and aversive behaviors. With regard to personality, severity ratings of students' undesirable behaviors were associated with high levels of conscientiousness and neuroticism. Findings indicate that burnout and personality provide a lens through which teachers appraise the severity of students' behaviors. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Teachers are a primary mental health referral source for children with behavior problems. As a consequence, their attitudes and decision-making processes regarding children's behavior may have important implications for parents' and schools' decisions to seek professional help for behaviorally disturbed children. Recent research has indicated that teachers' attitudes about students' behavior problems affect their decision making in classroom behavior management (Prawat, 1992;Westerman, 1991). Among both expert and novice teachers, cognitions are assumed to drive behavior, which is in turn affected by prior knowledge and skills (Clark & Peterson, 1986). Kagan (1992) demonstrated that teachers' cognitions affect not only their own behavior but also students' actions and academic performance. In turn, undesirable student behaviors are more likely to evoke unfavorable impressions of the student and yield negative attitudes on the teacher's part. As teachers accumulate experience they may become better judges of the severity of students' problem behavior, but as they also become increasingly stressed by their job demands, they may be hindered in making accurate appraisals.A multitude of factors have been found to affect teacher perceptions of students' undesirable behaviors. First, student characteristics such as gender, race, age, and economic background influence teacher views (Dulin, 2001;Hindmand, 1999;Neese, 1998). For example, Borg (1998), Falzon (1993), andLangfeldt (1992) found that gender stereotypes were evident for disruptive and withdrawn behavior patterns. Second, characteristics of the behaviors themselves influence the way they are perceived. Molins (1999) found that teachers are primarily concerned by the behavior of children who demonstrate externalizing problems, particularly boys, and require to be sensitized with information before they notice internalizing behaviors as significant. In the United Kingdom, the Elton Report (DES and Welsh Office, 1989) suggested that teachers generally identify misbehavior in terms of outward active manifestations such as verbal interruption, distracting other students, inappropriate moving about, and physical aggression. Pa...

Síndrome de Burnout: estudo comparativo entre professores do ensino especial e do ensino regular

“…Os resultados não confirmam a hipótese da pesquisa, uma vez que os professores do Ensino Especial apresentam índices mais elevados da dimensão de Ilusão pelo trabalho e menores nos perfis 1 e 2 de Burnout. Este resultado está em desacordo com a maior parte dos estudos internacionais (Kokkinos & Panayiotou, 2005;Lavian, 2012;Qutaiba, 2011;Roach, 2009) Pode-se entender este resultado a partir de questões culturais, pois crescem na literatura pesquisas atinentes à concepção de que estresse e Burnout podem ter diferentes configurações, a depender do contexto cultural, social e político da população em estudo (Etzion & Pines, 1986;Reichel & Neumann, 1993). Certos aspectos da manifestação de Burnout estão presentes em qualquer contexto sociocultural, embora, juntamente com as semelhanças, por vezes as manifestações assumam contornos específicos, determinados pelas particularidades do ambiente de trabalho, da organização e dos aspectos socioculturais mais amplos presentes nas diferentes sociedades (Moura, 1997;Vanheule, Rosseel, & Vlerick, 2007).…”

“…Pesquisas desenvolvidas com o objetivo de comparar Burnout em professores do Ensino Especial e do ensino regular têm identificado maiores níveis de Burnout no Ensino Especial (Beck & Gargiulo, 1983;Kokkinos & Panayiotou, 2005;Lavian, 2012;Qutaiba, 2011;Roach, 2009). Em consonância com o exposto, o presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar se existem diferenças entres os índices das dimensões da SB e os dos perfis 1 e 2 em professores do Ensino Especial e do ensino regular.…”

Mind the Teachers! The Impact of Mindfulness Training on Self-Regulation and Classroom Performance in a Sample of German School Teachers

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Teacher Wellbeing: The Importance of Teacher–Student Relationships

“…Lazarus and Folkman (1987) also emphasize circularity and explain that, although the cognitive-affective process of stress implies a temporal sequence, variables can be both antecedents and outcomes. For instance, burnout among teachers has been found to inflate perceptions of antisocial and oppositional behaviors (Kokkinos et al 2005).…”