Teachers’ Strategies for Helping Shy Students: Findings from a National Survey in Norway

Abstract

The goals of this study were to investigate strategies that teachers may use to help students with their shyness at school and to explore potential effects of demographic variables (i.e., teacher experience, class size, grade level) on teachers’ strategies. Participants were a national sample of N = 275 teachers (from 230 elementary schools) in Norway, who reported their frequency of use of different strategies and rated their perceived effectiveness for helping shy students across four domains: (1) encouraging oral participation; (2) promoting social relationships; (3) reducing anxiety; and (4) whole-class strategies. Across domains, common themes included teachers’ sensitivity to individual shy students, reduction of stress associated with novel situations, involving peers, focus on social skills, and building trusting relationships with shy students. Demographic variables had only limited effects on strategy use/effectiveness. Findings are discussed in relation to previous theory and research related to teachers’ strategies for assisting shy students at school.