High School Students’ Perceptions of and Attitudes towards Teacher Power in the Classroom

Abstract

The present study examines Greek High School students' perceptions of and attitudes towards their teachers' power, from findings produced during a questionnaire-based study conducted in the period 2010-2011, with the participation of 1076 students attending 68 schools across Greece. Greek students provided information on how their teachers exert didactic and legitimate power in the classroom and on how students themselves react whenever their teachers abuse power. Data elaboration, statistical and factor analysis showed that, according to students, teachers exert didactic power mainly by exhibiting profound knowledge and applying effective teaching and assessment methods, while they exert legitimate power through implementing rules, inflicting punishment and controlling students' behaviour. The study also showed that students react passively to power abuse due to fear of possible consequences, aggressively when a teacher's power is regarded as excessively unfair, or positively when relations of trust and acceptance have been established between the teacher and the student.

Teacher power and children's loneliness: Moderating effects of teacher‐child relationships and peer relationships

“…Despite these limitations, our study provides implications. Teachers inevitably and frequently use power in the teaching processes to help children attain good learning outcomes (Koutrouba et al, ; McCroskey & Richmond, ). However, the exertion of more power by teachers is not beneficial for students’ development (Reeve, ), as the autonomy of students is of great importance in classrooms (Drexler, ).…”

Understanding legitimate teacher authority in a cross-cultural teaching context: pre-service Chinese language teachers undertaking teaching practicum in international schools in Hong Kong

“…The view of establishing legitimate teacher authority through creating pedagogical communities that take into consideration students' psychosocial needs is echoed 20 among different scholars (Koutrouba, Baxevanou, and Koutroumpas 2012;Nathan 2012). Smith and Matusov (2011) referred to this as 'relational pedagogy based on mutuality and reciprocity', whereby genuine dialogues between teacher and students are created and students' interests are reflected and respected in the dialogues.…”

“…In the classroom context, this communicative relationship, authoritarian or friendly, is aimed at exerting influence over students' thoughts and actions (Elliott 2009; 30 Pellegrino 2010). Teacher authority is important in maintaining a functional class that enhances students' learning outcomes (Koutrouba, Baxevanou, and Koutroumpas 2012;Richmond and McCroskey 1984) and is fundamental to effective teaching (Pellegrino 2010;Roberson 2014). Current literature on teacher authority has reached the following understandings: 35 (1) Teacher authority is a multidimensional concept and can be asserted in various forms (Elliott and Stemler 2008;Macleod, MacAllister, and Pirrie 2012).…”

Closing seminars and lectures: The work that lecturers and students do

“…In these and other studies in the field of sociology of education power and authority have been conceptualized as a mechanism of reproduction of unequal social and cultural relations through the educational system (e.g., Young, 1971;Bernstein, 1975;Apple, 1995;Luke, 1995Luke, -1996. The social organization of classrooms has been analyzed in terms of institutional rules and roles, status and expectations, teachers' professional competence and classroom styles (e.g., Hargreaves et al, 1975;McNeil, 1982;Koutrouba et al, 2012). As a result, such analyses in formal-analytic terms often "lose and even misread" (Macbeth, 2003: 254) the phenomena under consideration.…”