It was an unusual occurrence, certainly one I’d never seen before. The room was full of excited chatter, the air tense with anticipation. I struggled to find a seat. What amazing spectacle was about to be performed? What long-awaited extravaganza had motivated these bleary-eyed students to awaken from their Monday morning slumber and trundle through the snow? There was silence as the visiting speaker rose from his seat and addressed his captivated audience: ‘Welcome to my lecture which will give you the knowledge and skills to deal with challenging behaviour in your classroom!’ So, whereas lectures on improving boys’ writing skills or improving numeracy had barely filled the front row, this one, all about ensuring good discipline, was playing to a full house.
Is behaviour on a steady decline?
Maybe it’s the inherent fear of losing control that makes children’s behaviour such a notorious issue in the classroom. Certainly, it has always been an area that has been subject to much debate and controversy. As long ago as 1843 there was concern about the declining behaviour and morality of youth (Matthews, 2009). Yet today, teachers’ unions such as the ATL report that 53% of teachers they surveyed state that behaviour has deteriorated in the last two years. However, this bleak picture is not substantiated by Ofsted’s findings in their ‘Pupil behaviour in schools in England’ (2012) report that ‘the majority of schools have Good or Outstanding levels of behaviour. As at December 2011, 92.3% of all schools in England were judged Good or Outstanding for standards of behaviour’. However this is probably not so reassuring if you happen to teach in one of the 7.5% of schools judged Satisfactory for behaviour and even less reassuring if y...
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...d and ask children in the plenary how they felt they’d developed their skill. Each class performed their own assembly to the rest of the school, explaining how the skill had helped them to improve.
Outcomes
It’s too early to say whether Ofsted would judge the children’s behaviour to have improved but to the teachers and the children there appears to be a marked difference in the children’s engagement with their learning. I remember finding Chatty Charlie in the library engrossed in a book before school had even started: ‘I’m using my Independent Enquiry skills to find out more about Tudors, Miss!’ he said with considerable enthusiasm.
Works Cited
Matthews, D. (2009). Youth culture and crime: what can we learn from history? Available: http://www.historyextra.com/feature/youth-culture-and-crime-what-can-we-learn-history. Last accessed 23rd Nov 2013.
Youth crime has been a topic of major debate dating back to the 19th century. Laws have been continuously written to fit what society feels is th best way to handle youth in conflict with the law. What people sometimes fail to see is the true cause of there delinquent actions these teens commit these crimesthe focus of this essay is to relate the story of two Ottawa valley teens in conflict with the law to different sociological theories. First I will give a brief summary of the article and then connect it with theories such as cultural conflict, control theory, strain and labelling theory.
The youth justice system’s functions are to not only regulate the laws and ramifications of crime in the youth population, but to rehabilitate and reintroduce these juveniles into society. Of the three criminological explanations that can shape a juvenile justice system; individual, situational and social structural, social structural implications is by far the most effective ideology in shaping a modern youth justice system. Shaw and McKay (1942) emphasize in their studies that youth deviance is strongly linked to the social structure they belong to. In support of this theory, Cunneen and White (2011) state that crime is a social phenomenon that can not be directly connected to a person’s individual or personal biology. With that being said, there are a number of theories that can be best used to construct a youth justice system from a social structural angle, including; social strain or social disorganization, social bonds and differential association theories. Each of these theories, from their own theoretical angle, can provide framework and ideologies on how to better the youth justice system in a number of facets in order to target modern youths’ social structural and delinquency struggles.
From 1990 to to the present there has been a sharp increase in juvenile crime across the United States. From 1996 to the present there has been a slight decline from the statistics in 1995(OJJDP). What was the cause for this uprise in juvenile delinquincy? I will discuss 2 different theories to why there was such an increase in juvenile crime rates. I will analyze the rise of the "Gangsta-Rap" culture in the early 1990's and how it may have affected teenagers that are in lower-income families. Many people believe that the increase in real life violence on television is a cause for violence in juveniles. I will discuss the evidence for this theory. It seems to me that the best theory to explain the rise in juvenile crime is the social constructionist theory. Different sub-cultures of teens have higher crime rates than others because of their interests, whether it be the music that they listen to or the types of television programs that they watched as child.
In a modern age where the media retains a strong influence on the general population, many youths across the globe are feeling the effects of being misrepresented by media. The characteristics often forwarded by media frequently links youths with that of criminals and gangs. Similarly, depictions of teenagers being ignorant and haughty is now a widespread stereotype. These inaccurate depictions, which are sometimes taken for granted, are causing detrimental damages to the lives of youths and their futures as members of society. Despite the media’s likelihood to portray modern youths negatively, evidence suggests the opposite; that modern youths are in fact responsible,
There are many crimes committed by teenagers every year. Crimes that are committed by teens each year are mainly assault, bullying, gang violence, and physical fights. According to National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, about 1 and 9 murders are from kids that are under 18 (Center, 2001). In 1998, there were approximately 2,570 among youth aged 10-19. Every day there are at least 7 children murdered in the United States (Center, 2001). Statistics say that between 16%-32% female teenagers have committed a crime before the age of 17. Also 30%-40% male teenagers have committed a violent crime before they turned 17 (Center, 2001). Teenagers that commit crimes are the ones who were abused or bullied as a...
Few social issues get as much media attention as youth crime. Statistics Canada reported a 3% increase in crimes committed by 12- to 17-yearolds between 2005 and 2006. In the last 15 years, the rate of violent crimes among young people has increased by 30% (Youth crime, 2008). From gangland-style killings in Vancouver to the senseless beating of an elderly woman in Hali-fax, Canadian cities are struggling with a wave of youth crime that was unimaginable a couple of decades ago. According to Statistics Canada, most Canadians believe that youth crime is on the rise and 77% believe that the sentencing of young offenders is too lenient (Youth crime, 2005). Many experts attribute the spike in youth crime to the increased number of street gangs - often the perpetrators of youth crime (Catalano and Hawkins, 1996). Research indicates that youth seek comfort from those who welcome them and reinforce their sense of belonging. Unfortunate-ly, some youth have no choice but to turn to street gangs in order to satisfy their need for approv-al, belonging and self-worth (Clark, 1992). Street gangs are not just issues in big cities. Over the last few decades, there has been an increase in the presence of street gangs in non-metropolitan and rural communities. For example, in 1960, there were 54 cities in the United States with a gang population. In 1995, there were street gangs in approximately 800 cities and towns across the United States (Swetnam and Pope, 2001). There is no consensus among experts on how to reduce youth crime. Criminal involvement usually starts before the age of 15, with first-time of-fences declining markedly once young people reach 20 years of age. Young people who become involved in criminal activities before the age of 14...
Hendrick, H. (2006) ‘Histories of Youth Crime and Justice’, In B. Goldson and J. Muncie (eds) Youth Crime and Justice. London: Sage
Jenson, Jeffrey and Howard, Matthew. "Youth Crime, Public Policy, and Practice in the Juvenile Justice System: Recent Trends and Needed Reforms." Social Work 43 (1998): 324-32
Anderson, E. (1998). The social ecology of youth violence. Crime and Justice, 24(Youth Violence), 65-104. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1147583
Taking on another approach to teaching boys and girls will be on the right track to improving behavior in children. According to The Goodman Research Group, “88% of students say they would repeat their experience, 83% say they are better prepared for college, and 13% intended t...
In England, conforming to the Civitas’s Crime report Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010) the youngest age that someone can be prosecuted is as young as ten years old. It is also mentioned that trailing, patrolling and applying penalties on young offenders costs almost four billion pounds annually. The numbers of first time offences committed by a young person has decrease over the years; according to the Youth Justice Statistics (2014) youth crime is down by 63% since 2002. In regards to the offences themselves, nearly every offence category has decreased in reoccurrence with exception to drug offences declares Civitas’s Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010). The same report states that theft and handling remains the highest volume category taking up 21% of all youth crime. It is shortly followed by violence against a person, 19.5%, and criminal damage, 11.9%. It can be concluded from both aforementioned reports that crime in the UK is decreasing. Contrariwise to this, youth reoffending rates are soaring concludes Civitas’s Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010).
Guiding children’s behaviour is an essential aspect of educating or caring for young children. The two biggest challenges that children normally experiences at their young age are ability to control their own behaviour and understanding acceptable behaviour (Australian Government, 2006). This paper describes about the case study of 4 years old girl Ashley’s inappropriate behaivour problems (e.g., getting disappointment, impatient and refusing to accept the failure), difficulties in following instruction, and physical aggression (e.g., kicking and punching other children) which are common in preschool (Conway, 2009). The below information portrays about the behvioural framework, effective strategies, plans, intervention and, theories to support
Youth crime is generally thought as being a very recent and modern day phenomenon, however this is widely untrue. Juvenile crime has been recorded ever since the early 17th Century and yet it has only been within the last 100 years that it has become such a significant issue with the general public (Goldson and Muncie, 2006). It is widely known that the present population are much more aware of youth crime and the implications it causes than ever before. There are endless theories as to why crime occurs and about the correct approach to combat it, the main conflict being over whether to treat young people as a threat or as a victim, which is a debate that still continues to this day (Omaji,
Behavior and social learning are two theories that are inherently intertwined. Behavior to some extent is taught for social reasons, and social learning can very much shape and create behaviors. While behavior is something intentionally taught, social learning can teach and reinforce many unintentional behaviors, such as dishonesty or aggression. In order to adequately discuss these two interrelated topics, theory exploration is in order.
As discussed throughout this paper we build our classroom management plans based on our past experiences, our knowledge, our professional learning and our very own personal reflection. The importance of our beliefs, values and our philosophy play a major role in our planning. I, personally have a strong desire to support students who are often labelled ‘troubled’ and ‘the naughty child’, I believe there are reasons behind why students misbehave and strive to do my best as an educator to engage students through positive reinforcements as discussed and continue to put in place preventive practices. Building our own positive learning framework is key to a successful classroom. Even throughout our ongoing experiences we may adapt to other methods, theories and even values according to our journey as a teacher. Even as teachers we will always be learning and continue to perfect our individual