Interventions to Address Students' Misbehavior in Puro National High School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Students misbehavior as defined by Reed & Kirkpatrick (1998) as disruptive talking, chronic avoidance of work, clowning, interfering with teaching activities, harassing classmates, verbal insults, rudeness to teacher, defiance, and hostility. Furthermore, misbehavior was also related to high school grades, test scores, and graduation and dropout rates (Finn, Fish & Scott,2010). Drop out is one of the school's problems that cannot be avoided. Thus, it triggered them to identify the misbehavior of students inside the classroom and the intervention to address the problem.

METHODS

This descriptive-qualitative action research aimed to produce interventions to address the problem of misbehavior among Grade 7 to 10 students of Puro National High School. The respondents to this study were students, teachers, and school head, parents, and other community members. Survey questionnaires and interview guide were the research instrument used in gathering the data.

RESULTS

The study found that fighting, bullying, cutting class, disrespect to teachers, and disturbing other classmates and verbal abuse are the most common student misbehavior. Peer pressure (influence from "barkada"), exposure to violence (parents quarrel/argue often and habitual involvement in fighting), poor role models (parent/guardian with vices), and poor diet/nutrition (did not eat breakfast), respectively, are considered topmost in rank as causes of bad behavior. To address these concerns, the usual interventions made by teachers and school administrator are behavior conference, informing the parents, and reminder, and guidance counseling among others, respectively. Parents also intervene through reprimand and one-on-one talk.

DISCUSSIONS

Reconsidering these interventions, the study concludes that immediate interventions are necessary, such as supervising of "barkada" relations, counseling of parents who often quarrel and parents with vices and encouraging students to eat breakfast. More importantly, this research stated that a procedural and reasonable intervention involves the revision of school rules and regulations, crafting of a step-by-step intervention process, and creation of a committee on guidance and counseling with a document on the roles and responsibilities of the members. Lastly, recommendations were given such as information dissemination regarding school rules and regulations, strict observance to the intervention process, and continuous annual research by the committee on guidance and counseling members.