Teachers' and principals' views on addressing youth behavior at the school-wide level

Students’ challenging behavior is of significant concern to teachers and principals in Finland. Youth’s challenging behavior at school has negative effects on teachers’ classroom management, classroom climate and other students. To manage behavioral challenges at school, different school-wide approaches are used. The Multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) is one of these school-wide approaches. With three tiers, this model focused on the early detection of learning issues, early intervention and collaboration between school personnel. This thesis explores tier one (Universal behavioral support). This research provides a national picture of primary schools’ teachers’ and principals’ views in Finland with regards to addressing students’ behavior. This study answers three research questions: (1) How do teachers and principals compare with regards to their views on using school-wide components to address students’ behavior, (2) how do teachers and principals compare in their views of teachers’ responsibility to promote appropriate youth behavior and (3) how do teachers and principals compare with regards to their views on identifying and supporting students that are not responding to universal behavioral support. A sample of 88 teachers and 101 principals from comprehensive primary schools in Finland participated in this study. A series of independent t-test, ANOVA and Chi-square were utilized to determine if any statistically significant difference existed between teachers’ and principals’ views. It was discovered that no statistically significant difference existed between teachers’ and principals’ views except in two items of the survey: participants’ views differed about teachers’ responsibility to encourage students to behave as expected and about using Interventions as a behavioral support approach for students that are not responding to universal behavioral support.

Access the thesis here: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:hulib-202207053243