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1 June 2009
NO 1443
Encouragement
Feeling encouraged at school has a lot to do with having connections to peers at school. It is closely tied to experiencing a sense of belonging and competence. Some students spoke about ways in which teachers help to encourage them at school, but most students held their peers primarily responsible for whether they felt they belonged at school.
If you don't have friends at school you're not going to feel like you belong. [Teachers] really don't pay attention, they just want us to get good grades and stuff. They say, 'You can come to us when you have problems' but they won't do anything, they won't help you at all, they just tell the principal (female "non-hitter")
[Belonging means] having friends...if I don't have friends, I'll try to be small and insignificant so people don't notice me. But If l have friends I'll stand out because they're there. (female "non-hitter")
Students stated that they felt liked by teachers who encouraged them even when they weren't getting good marks, teachers who took a personal interest in their lives, and said that teachers demonstrated that they trusted students by asking them to help out in the classroom. With respect to feeling liked by peers, students reporting the importance of being evaluated favorably by others and having the sense that others wanted to be like you.
Interestingly, students' references to "participating in school" were restricted to classroom activities. Not one interviewee mentioned extra-curricular participation or the potential for students to participate in the school as a community beyond participating in structured activities such as the student council. A couple of students reported feeling satisfied with their ability to make suggestions for implementation in school, however, they noted that there were appropriate channels for sharing input; input was likely to be more effective if it was proposed by student council members or parents than if it was offered by individual students.
Several students reported feeling particularly discouraged by not having a say in decision-making, seeing teachers yell at students, not being encouraged to ask questions, and the frustration that arises because of overcrowding in the school.
Nobody listens, like the principals and stuff [If we want something changed] they'd say 'there's nothing we can do about it, you can leave now. ' You have no privileges in school you can't do anything. ... Like there was this kid standing in the hallway drinking and the principal tells him to go sit down and there's nowhere to sit down because we don't have benches, you're not allowed to sit on the floor. (female "non-hitter")
l don't like the new school system. ... [You get] half an hour [to eat] and then half an hour to hang out with your friends. You used to be able to eat right at lunch, ...get your friends, hang out, eat wherever, outside, inside. [The change was Intended] to get rid of the garbage that's outside, like in the halls and stuff ... Teachers had a meeting, decided to change it and the kids just had to suck it up. (male "non-hitter")
People try and go to the vice principal but he will say like, 'You have an attitude and l don't like it...and he won't change it. ... Half the rules that they set up for us don't apply to them [adults]. (female "non-hitter")
Teachers' yelling at students was the primary example given when students were asked how they could tell if a teacher didn't like a student.
Students' references to being able to ask questions were also restricted to the classroom. Many of the interviewees did not seem to comprehend the potential to ask questions beyond not understanding curriculum content in the classroom. Students reported feeling like they had little "voice" at school.
l don't really like to talk In class. None of my friends are in my class this year. .. . l think it is [easier when your friends are with you] because if your friends are there you can have people that will back you up, but if you don't have your friends there, you can just have people that will laugh at you and say that your opinion sucks. (female "non-hitter")
Usually l'll ask [questions] but if I think it's a dumb question that the teacher has already explained it, like sometimes they rub it in like, 'Well l explained It twice, why don't you get it? Were you listening!' (male "hitter")
Additionally, students spoke at length about the role that overcrowding1 in the school plays in facilitating aggressive behaviour among students. Many students reported feeling frustrated when they can't move through the hallways between classes and often tempers flare; students resort to pushing and shoving and swearing at one another.
DIANA NICHOLSON
Nicholson, D. (2006). Taking a second look at
aggression. Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies,7, 1. pp.
42-45.
NOTE
1. This school was built to accommodate 500 students and currently had a student body of 700 students in grades 7-9.
