Children's Services

Hampshire Educational Psychology Service (HEPS)

Research on Behavioural Issues By Educational Psychologists In Training

As part of their course requirements, the University of Southampton students who are taking the MSc training in Educational Psychology carry out research into aspects of education that are relevant to their work in schools. Some of them chose to look at behavioural issues and below are examples of recent research carried out by some Educational Psychologists in Training:

DODD, Emma (1998): What Children Think of Ritalin? How Much Information Do They and Their Parents Have About Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Ritalin?

Background: In order to examine the amount of information that families had received about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Ritalin, a questionnaire was given to 19 boys who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and their parents. This was also given to a control group of 18 boys who did not have a diagnosis and 11 of their mothers. Each group was given a questionnaire and the boys with ADHD and their parents were also asked about their attitude towards ADHD and Ritalin.

Findings. The boys with ADHD and their families were very positive about the benefits of their taking Ritalin in spite of some side effects as this led to an improvement in family life.Neither the boys nor their parents had been provided with much information about Ritalin but the parents knew more about it than the parents of the control group, having found out mainly via television and the press. (Keywords: ADHD; Ritalin).

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GILLILAND, Caroline (2001): The Effectiveness of a Reward System for Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties.

Background: This study involved 52 secondary pupils (47 male and 5 female) at a school for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties where points were allocated for 6 target behaviours: arriving at class on time and staying in the lesson, completing classwork, showing effort, showing no disruptive behaviour, using no abusive language and working towards specific targets from their Individual Education Plans. Additional points were given for good behaviour during the lunch break and at the class tutor’s discretion. A draw was held for students who obtained over 190 points out of a maximum 225 points and two students could win a free meal at a nearby fast-food outlet. If a student was in the draw on 14 occasions but unsuccessful, this also earned a free meal.

Findings: When 25 students and 12 members of staff completed questionnaires, the results indicated that the pupils understood the points reward system and valued gaining the points themselves rather than just being the winner of a draw prize. Staff reported that a majority of pupils were able to obtain the required number of points and that the points system empowered staff to deal with disruptive behaviour in spite of the time and resources required to operate it. The commitment to the points system did not decline over the 10-week intervention period but there was an increased level of absenteeism among some of the pupils. (Key words: Rewards; Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties; Secondary).

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De SOUSA, IVOR (2000): A Study on the Effect of Instructional Style of Hyperactive Children.

Background: 38 children (19 hyperactive subjects and 17 controls) carried out Kagan’s Matching Familiar Figures Task under 4 separate presentation conditions, 2 of which involved instruction: prior instruction and concurrent instruction (i.e. either before or while doing the activity).

Findings: Both groups benefited from instruction. The hyperactive subjects benefited most from prior instruction and gained little benefit from concurrent instruction, perhaps because the latter involved a delay. The control group showed a slight benefit from concurrent instruction. Therefore for the hyperactive children there was a greater benefit when given instruction before the task. (Key words: Hyperactivity; Instruction).

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TEARNEY, PLAXY (1998): An Investigation into Bullying Levels and Classroom Environment in a Junior School.

Background: All children in a Junior School involved in the Hampshire Anti-Bullying Initiative completed questionnaires anonymously to establish bullying levels within the school before and after the introduction of the initiative (i.e. Sharp et al. Bullying in Your School - with a 3-point scale for particular incidents: not at all, once, more than once - and the My Class Inventory and Life in School Checklist). Semi-structured interviews were also held with randomly selected pupils in Year 6 (3 boys and 2 girls) and Year 6 (3 boys and 3 girls).

Findings: Of the seven classes in the school, 6 reported that the level of bullying had dropped and one had a slight increase. Classrooms with a high level of perceived competition had higher levels of bullying so it appears that classroom ethos and bullying levels may be related. (Key words: Bullying; Anti-bullying; Key Stage 2).

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WOOLLER, GABRIELLE (2001): The Role of Playgrounds in Reducing Stress Felt by Key Stage 2 Children.

Background: Structured interviews were held with 48 children in Key Stage 2 from six schools using both open-ended questions and simple rating scales to look at knowledge of stress (e.g. what it feels like and what in school causes it) and what opportunities there are in the playground to reduce this (e.g. running around, making new friends when lonely).

Findings: Most of the children had a simplistic understanding of the concept of stress and could identify talking to friends as the best method of reducing stress. Boys rated playgrounds as the best method for reducing stress and those children who rated the playground highly were more likely to value them highly as a means of reducing stress. (Key words: Stress; Playgrounds; Key Stage 2)

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APPLETON, SUSANNA (2000): The Effects of Information and Feedback Upon Pupil Engagement, Teacher-Pupil Interaction and Classroom Atmosphere.

Background: Three classes in a junior school (two Year 5 classes and one Year 4 class) and their class teachers were videoed during the initial whole-class section of Literacy Hour over three phases of the study. Each class teacher had previously nominated 4 boys and 4 girls in their class whom they considered to be most frequently off task. All of the 91 pupils completed a “My Class Inventory” (short-form) before phase 1 (when baseline data was collected) and after phase 2. The three class teachers were given information on previous research before the study and in phases 1 and 2. One class teacher received no feedback while two of the class teachers were given feedback on their target pupils’ level of engagement during phase 2. The videos were analysed with a pre-determined coding system using an observation schedule and a momentary time sampling technique to determine the level of pupil engagement.

Findings: Changes in teacher-pupil interaction were observed for the 2 teachers who received feedback as well as information on previous research and there were significant changes in pupil ratings in their classes, indicating more satisfaction and less friction. It appeared that giving the teachers feedback as well as information may have enhanced pupil engagement, although the evidence obtained from the observations was by no means conclusive. (Key words: Pupil Engagement; Feedback; Classroom Atmosphere; Key Stage 2).

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SHEPPARD, SUSAN (2002): An Evaluation of the “Circle of Friends” Intervention.

Background: “Circles of Friends” is an intervention aimed at increasing the self-esteem of pupils who are socially isolated by giving them sessions with supportive peers led by an adult who is the circle leader. For this study 6 schools in the south of England requested this intervention for a student aged between 8 and 15 years who had special educational needs, such as emotional and behavioural difficulties, physical disability and autism and they were matched with a control group of children on the waiting list, who did not receive the intervention. Both before and after the intervention form tutors of the intervention and control children completed the Behavioural Indicators of Self-Esteem questionnaire and also each teacher who taught them completed the Pupil Behaviour Assessment System. The pupils themselves completed the Burnett Self Scale Self-Esteem questionnaire.

Findings: No significant increases in self-esteem were found as a result of the intervention. It was not possible to attribute the positive changes found in both teacher perceptions of student behaviour and self-esteem to the “circle of friends” process because the control children also showed significant positive changes. However, in interviews with focus children and circle leaders increases in social inclusion and positive affective changes were found for 5 of the 6 focus children. (Key Words: Circle of Friends; Self-esteem).

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KAREN CHALK (2002): The Role of Specific Praise in Promoting On-Task Behaviour, Numeracy Enjoyment and Academic Self-Concept in Year 4 Pupils.

Background:  109 children from 4 classes of Year 4 children in a primary and junior school in Hampshire completed the “Myself as a Learner” Scale and rated their enjoyment of numeracy lessons on a scale of 1 to 10 both at the baseline stage and at the final observation. In order to measure the teachers’ academic and social responses to their pupils these were measured at baseline and during the final stage using OPTIC, a classroom observation schedule designed by Merrett and Wheldall (1986). The initial observations took place at phase 1. At phase 2 the baseline measures of on-task behaviour, numeracy enjoyment, academic self-concept and teacher observation of use of praise were carried out before the teachers received input for 45 minutes from the researcher on how to deliver either specific or positive praise. Teachers used tally sheets to monitor their own delivery of praise over an average of 5 numeracy lessons. At phase 3 two weeks later the measures were repeated after the teachers had practised using praise.

Findings: Specific praise was found to be more effective than positive praise in promoting on-task behaviour. Specific praise also led to a significant increase in pupils’ academic self-concepts, leading to more positive views of themselves as learners. The teachers also felt that their behaviour had changed and they were using more praise in other lessons too. (Key Words: Praise; Numeracy enjoyment; Academic self-concept; Key Stage 2).

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LEE, Judith (2003): The effectiveness of nurture groups: Does the effectiveness continue?

Background: There has been a renewed interest in Nurture Groups due in part to a rise in the number of children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties as well as a push for inclusion and early intervention. This study examined the effectiveness of Nurture Groups over time for 23 children from four different schools. They were assessed at time of entry to the Nurture Group (T1), at the time of re-integration (T2) and then again at least two terms later (T3).

Findings: the children who attended the Nurture Groups made significant progress from T1 to T2 in 11 out of 20 sub-strands compared with a control group. From T1 to T3, those in the Nurture Group had significantly improved in 13 sub-strands and the control group in 6. The Nurture Groups also had a positive effect on school ethos.

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MATTHEWS, Joanna (2004) The effectiveness of the ‘Classroom Observation Code (COC)’ as a measure of hyperactivity and the influence of lesson structure on behaviour.

Background: 20 hyperactive children (determined by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) and 20 non-hyperactive children from Reception and Year 5 were observed using the COC. 28 observations took place over six weeks. Observations took place in both structured and unstructured lessons.

Findings: The behaviour categories of interference, off-task, minor motor movement and absence of behaviour were all found to discriminate between hyperactive and non-hyperactive children. Except for interference and minor motor movement, no significant effects were found to indicate that the level of lesson structure affects behaviour of ADHD children. The results for interference and minor motor behaviour were not in the direction expected as behaviour was more severe during highly structured sessions.

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SMITH, Catherine (2004): Zippy’s Friends: Exploring Children’s Perceptions on Coping.

Background: Zippy’s Friends is a whole class intervention programme for five to seven year olds which aims to help children learn different strategies for coping; help them in their relationships with other children; and to deal with difficulties. Four schools took part – three that were already running the programme, and one that was the control school. Measures were taken to examine how well the children coped with a range of situations; and how many solutions they were able to generate when given a range of scenarios.

Findings: One of the schools scored significantly higher on a range of measures than the other three schools, including the control. This school had used a much more flexible and creative approach to the programme, whereas the other two schools had used it in a prescriptive way. The results are encouraging but not conclusive, particularly as there were no pre-tests taken as the schools had already been trained and were running the project before the research started.

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