Session Information
14 SES 07 B, Children's Behaviour and Social Skills: Teacher and Parent Perspectives
Paper Session
Contribution
Across European and other contexts, similarities between parents’ and teachers’ ratings of children’s behaviour have been noted, but discrepancies also appear common. These may arise because: (1) children’s behaviour truly differs between home and school contexts (e.g. the study of Zuddas et al. (2006) in Italy), or (2) teachers’ and parents’ interpretations of behaviour differ (e.g. Tarren-Sweeney, Hazell and Carr 2004). Expectancy biases are recognised as important to teachers’ interpretation of behaviour (Darley and Fazio 1980) (for example, through pupils’ attitudes, attainment, age, race, gender, and socioeconomic status). However, teachers’ professional experience and values, and the model(s) of behaviour they favour (e.g. behaviourist, humanist, etc.) will also affect how they interpret and respond to particular behaviours (Evans et al. 2003), and so may affect congruence between a teacher and parents’ ratings. Most research on construal of behaviour in European and other contexts has been undertaken on children with special educational or medical needs, and construal of “normal” children’s behaviour has received less attention. We used a generic questionnaire (Smith et al. forthcoming) to examine similarities and differences between teachers’ and parents’ ratings of 3–7 year old pupils’ behaviour, drawn from the general population. Using factor analysis, we examined (1) correspondence between parents’ and teachers’ ratings of behaviour, and (2) how teachers’ ratings change with increasing familiarity with pupils.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Darley, J.M., and R.H. Fazio. 1980. Expectancy confirmation process arising in the social interaction sequence. American Psychologist 35: 867–81. Evans, J., A. Harden, J. Thomas, and P. Benefield. 2003. Support for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) in mainstream primary school classrooms: A systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions. Report for EPPI-Centre and NFER. London: University of London Institute of Education, EPPI-Centre. Smith, S.C., S.E. Hind, E.E. Nicholls, and M.P. Haggard. Forthcoming. A new short generic instrument to assess mild-to-moderate behaviour difficulties (BAI). Tarren-Sweeney, M.J., P.L. Hazell, and V.J. Carr. 2004. Are foster parents reliable informants of children’s behaviour problems? Child Care Health and Development 30, no. 2: 167–75. Zuddas, A., G.M. Marzocchi, J. Oosterlaan, P. Cavolina, B. Ancilletta, and J. Sergeant. 2006. Factor structure and cultural factors of disruptive behaviour disorders symptoms in Italian children. European Psychiatry 21: 410–18.
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