Professional teachers' strategies for promoting positive behaviour in schools

Abstract

This study aims to obtain descriptive information on strategies used to promote positive behaviour in the school context from professional teachers' perspectives based on background information. The professional teachers, who play important roles in schools, include principals, class teachers, physical education teachers, discipline teachers, and counselors. The study design employed the survey approach using questionnaire with close-ended questions involving 319 respondents who were selected randomly from 15 urban national secondary schools in Malaysia. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage. Results indicated that the majority of professional teachers used five positive behaviour enhancement strategies, namely treating pupils with respect, co-operating with the government agencies, encouraging pupils to actively participate in school activities, using more praise than criticism in schools and guiding pupils to find a solution to modify their behavioural problems. The data analysis shows that there is a difference in terms of the frequency of strategy use from professional teachers' perspectives based on background information. It is recommended that designing teacher training curriculum and in-service training in relation to positive behaviour enhancement strategies should be updated and appropriate with the professional teachers' needs, and also be congruent with their background information. © the author(s).