Perceived unfairness in teacher-student conflict situations: students’ point of view

Abstract

Student perceptions of injustice in the classroom can evoke destructive behavior, resistance, deception, aggression, and conflict escalation. Our study explores student experiences of unjust teacher behavior in educational settings. Students (N=99) were asked to remember a conflict they experienced during their studies. The conflict descriptions (N=78) were analysed and grouped according the type of perceived injustice (distributive, procedural, interactional) and 22 issues of unfair behaviour (Mikula et al., 1990). Our study revealed that perceived unfair grading, power demonstrations, and accusation were the most important predictors of teacher-student conflicts. Moreover students reported they experienced interactional injustice more frequently than they experienced distributive or procedural injustice.