Developing and Applying Classroom Rules: Foundation Phase Teachers' Perspectives

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© JSSA 2021                                                                      J Sociology Soc Anth, 12(1-2): 1-11 (2021)
PRINT: ISSN 0976-6634 ONLINE: ISSN 2456-6764                                      DOI: 10.31901/24566764.2021/12.1-2.360

                     Developing and Applying Classroom Rules:
                      Foundation Phase Teachers’ Perspectives
                                               N. Duku and K. O. Adu

          Faculty of Education, University of Fort Hare, East London, 5201 South Africa
                           E-mail: nduku@ufh.ac.za, kadu@ufh.ac.za
KEYWORDS Challenging Behaviour. Classroom Management. Classroom Rules. Disciplinary Procedures. Disruptive Behavior
ABSTRACT The Foundation Phase is a transitional stage from pre-school to formal schooling, especially Grade 1. The
learners are often less familiar with the formal schooling space, making mistakes that teachers often regard as challenging
and destructive behaviours. Therefore, this paper discusses in depth how the chosen Grade 1 educators create the rules in their
classrooms and apply them. The research uses a qualitative approach to consider the experiences of teachers on creating and
applying the learners’ rules. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with three teachers from Grade 1 who
agreed to participate in the study. Thematic data analysis was used to analyze the data. The study found that there is often a
disparity between the learners’ identities and the expectations of the teacher. This includes teachers treating young children
as a homogeneous group who need to adjust to formal school programmes and not vice versa.

                   INTRODUCTION                                   2008). These are the changes generated in the
                                                                  sense of formal education (Vogler et al. 2008).
     The start of formal schooling is the Foundation                  Horizontal transformations, on the other hand,
Phase, particularly Grade 1 (Marais and Meier                     are less characteristic than vertical transitions and
2012). A significant period of change for children,               take place on an everyday basis. They apply to
families, neighborhoods, and educators is the first               the movement’s children (or indeed any human
year of school. Transition defines the time before,               being) constantly make in their lives between dif-
during, and after the transition of a child from                  ferent spheres or domains (for example, everyday
home or from an early childhood program to pri-                   movements between home and school or from one
mary school. This is the process when children try                caretaking setting to another). These structure the
to adjust to changes in their roles in a new school               movement of children that cuts through space and
structure. Vogler et al. (2008) warn that this change             over time, and into and out of institutions that influ-
should not be regarded as an event that takes place               ence their well-being. In several cases, a ‘bridge’
at the beginning of formal schooling only. Depend-                linking the learning of children before school to a
ing on the context and the individual child, the                  more structured learning background in schools is
transition may be a whole year process. Vrinioti et               seen in the first year of school. Hence at this stage
al. (2008:2) note that children’s educational transi-             teachers should positively impact learners’ physi-
tion can be a critical factor in determining children’s           cal, social, emotional, and cognitive development
future progress and development. Such a transition                and promoting excitement about schooling (Broad-
may be an academic transition and social transition,              head et al. 2010). This stage is intended to substitute
which literature refers to as vertical and horizontal             a newly defined, coherent and consistent approach
transition (Vrinioti et al. 2008).                                to the care and education of children for the bewil-
     Vertical transitions can be regarded as crucial              dering variety of pre-school experiences. Broad-
changes from one state or status to another, often                head et al. (2010) underline the value of a healthy
correlated with ‘upward’ shifts (for example, from                change in both social and academic areas during
pre-school to primary school; from primary to sec-                the early years of schooling because a positive
ondary school, etc.). This concept focuses on how                 start to education, in both academic achievement
the responsibilities, personalities, and aspirations of           and social competence, is related to positive school
children change when contemplating the transition                 trajectories, Children’s images of themselves as
to school. It is also a period of shifts in others’               learners are profoundly informed by their expe-
attitudes, interaction patterns, and relationships                riences in school. Their success encounters, or
around and including children (Vogler et al.                      otherwise, have a significant influence on their
2                                                                                     N. DUKU AND K. O. ADU

potential school success and their sense of self.             Young learners sometimes struggle to pay at-
In their school lives, and even throughout their          tention to routine and instructions and show less
adult life, children who encounter academic and           interest in a task. Hence it is important for teach-
social difficulties in the early school years are         ers of young learners, to devise attention-getting
likely to continue having issues.                         techniques (Dunbar 2014). These involve using
     As the discussion above indicates, Founda-           a simple technique of clapping patterns. To keep
tion Phase, especially Grade 1, may bring about           things interesting, Koomler notes that any time the
significant changes and potential challenges in the       class gets too loud to get their attention, she uses
way that learners experience schooling which may          distinct clapping patterns. As a class, Koomler re-
be qualitatively different from the pre-schooling         ports, learners will be expected to start listening and
class. The new experience may sometimes be                repeat the pattern back to me. To repeat the pattern
frustrating and traumatic (Vrinioti et al. 2008:          correctly, this technique involves active listening.
3). When children transition from pre-school to           Teachers of the Foundation Process plan this and
primary school, they undergo a change in identity         other techniques to eliminate destructive learner
from being a pre-school child to a school student,        activities in their classrooms.
which indicates that they are supposed to act in a            Marais and Meier (2012: 3) understand disrup-
certain way and understand the rules of the class-        tive behaviour as merely inappropriate behaviour,
room, learn the vocabulary of the classroom, and          improper or wrong behaviour for the classroom.
“read” the teacher. They also experience a larger         It is attributable to disciplinary problems in
physical setting when children start school, and          schools that affect the fundamental rights of the
it can be hard to find their way.                         learner to feel safe and be treated with respect in
     This is especially frustrating and confusing to      the learning environment. Disruptive behaviours
learners who do not possess the cultural capital          are behaviours that fail to comply with educa-
from the pre-schooling class environment. This            tors’ expectations (Jacobsen 2013: 9). These are
is more so as learners at this stage are largely          furthermore regarded by educators as challenging.
operating from within an egocentric world-view,           These may manifest themselves in “destructive
and trying to develop a sense of community that           and aggressive behaviour, defiance, temper tan-
extends beyond their immediate family to class or         trums, impulsive and hyperactive behaviours”.
social groups. As a result, learners, in their varied     Meany-Walen (2010: 1) also considers disruptive
ways, may experience a challenge in understanding         behaviours to include those behaviours in the
the dominant culture of formal schooling.                 classroom that interfere with the teacher’s ability
     According to Jacobsen (2013: 56), younger            to teach and children’s ability to learn. They may
children may experience challenges with regards to        include such behaviours as noncompliance, rule-
adjusting to learning the formal school procedures        breaking, aggression, and destruction of property.
and how to get along with other children. This is         Jacobsen (2013) surmises that disruptive behav-
linked to challenges of vertical and horizontal tran-     iours are actions that disrupt, hurt, destroy, defy
sition as noted by Jacobsen (2013). With regards to       or infringe others. Consequently, such behaviours
challenges related to vertical transition, learners get   are more likely to lead to negative relationships
overwhelmed by rigid routines and procedures pre-         with teachers and other students, including nega-
scribed by Grade 1 formal curriculum. They may            tive interactions despite receiving more attention
also get frustrated by the change in social identities    from the teacher (Jacobsen 2013: 9).
and expectations as now prescribed by their new               The United Kingdom Department of Educa-
identities as school-going learners. Hence it was         tion (2012: 21) classifies inappropriate student
noted that whilst transition to school may highlight      behavior into five categories:
discontinuities (physical, social, and philosophical)        • Offensive behavior (for example, punch-
and these may not necessarily be negative, constant              ing, hair pulling, kicking, pushing, deroga-
discontinuities may harm the transition to school.               tory language);
In trying to make sense of their new environment,            • Physically destructive behaviour (for ex-
they may behave in ways that are not regarded as                 ample, objects breaking, destroying, or defac-
obedient, and not express feelings regarded as ap-               ing, object throwing, other pupils physically
propriate by adults.                                             annoying);

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DEVELOPING AND APPLYING CLASSROOM RULES                                                                  3

  •   Socially destructive behavior (for example,       behaviour strategies (Bechuke and Debeila 2012).
      yelling, running away, showing temper             The Teaching and Learning International Survey
      tantrums);                                        (TALIS) also shows globally that 25 percent of
   • Authority-challenging behavior (for ex-            teachers in most of the 23 countries surveyed, at
      ample, failure to meet demands, show of           least 30 percent of their lesson time for interrup-
      defiant verbal and non-verbal conduct, use        tions or administrative activities, spent teacher
      of pejorative language);                          time maintaining order in the classroom (Depart-
   • Self-disruptive behavior (for example,             ment for Education 2012: 5). Nevertheless, there
      daydreaming, reading under the desk).             are generally some underlying explanations for
    Marais and Meier (2012: 44) classify disrup-        such behavior. It involves:
tive behaviour into four basic categories:                 • A feeling of understanding. Many students
   • Conduct that interferes with the act of teach-           may not have a robust base on which to
      ing and learning (for example, a student                create school success. They may not have
      who distracts other students during the pre-            the opportunity to prosper, including atten-
      sentation of the lesson, who refuses to obey            dance at pre-school and general exposure
      directions or exhibits offensive behavior);             to opportunities that prepare them for
      behavior that interferes with other students’           formal education. According to Jacobsen
      rights to learn (for example, a learner who             (2013: 28), Only a small number of emo-
      continually calls out while the teacher is              tions can completely understand children
      explaining content). It was recommended                 at risk, and the most common emotion is
      that children should be engaged in learning             rage and fear;
      at this point without pressure to engage in          • A feeling of relation. Most students feel
      structured learning or training with respect to         isolated and have no sense of belonging to
      Grade 1 learners. Instead, educators should             their neighbourhood, culture, or school. To
      opt to encourage the importance of learning             be successful in school, according to Jacob-
      for children through play, engagement, and              sen, students must feel that they “belong”
      developmentally suitable practice.                      and consider the school’s work as having
   • Psychologically or physically dangerous be-              great importance. Related also implies that,
      haviour (for example, sitting on a chair’s back         among other things, positive relationships
      legs, unsafe use of instruments or laboratory           with teachers, parents, and fellow students
      equipment, threats to other students, and               stress the importance of a positive relation-
      excessive bullying and abuse of classmates);            ship between teachers and students;
   • Behaviour that destroys property (for ex-             • A feeling of health. Poverty, worries
      ample, vandalism in the classroom). These               about one’s mental and psychological
      have the potential of creating a sense of               well-being, and concerns about what the
      instability and insecurity. In an attempt to            future holds are creating a negative sense
      manage such unwanted behaviours and                     of well-being for many students. As a
      creating a safe environment, teachers draw              consequence, combined with low levels
      class rules. These are important to keep                of self-confidence and self-respect, many
      young children safe. And as such Founda-                have no sense of hope.
      tion Phase learners develop resilience when
      their physical and psychological well-being       Literature Review
      is protected by adults (Department for Chil-
      dren, Schools, and Families 2010). They              This section looks at the various definitions
      appreciate the need for rules to facilitate       of classroom rules, how classroom rules are
      operation and to create a safe environment.       developed, strategies to ensure adherence.
    Literature notes that teachers generally experi-
ence challenges with regards to learner behaviour.      Conceptualizing Classroom Rules
For instance, in South Africa, ever since the abol-
ishment of corporal punishment, educators seem             Bechuke and Debeila (2012) note that rules
to be at a loss with regards to effective learner       are a prescription that can be followed and

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4                                                                               N. DUKU AND K. O. ADU

suggested behaviours that are obligated preferred        Multi-method – recognises the different
or prohibited in particular contexts such as the     ‘voices’ and skills of children;
classroom. For rules to be effective they need to        Participatory – considers children to be com-
be respected and followed. With regards to the       petent and experts on their own lives; respects
classroom context, teachers regard rules as one      children’s views and also their silences;
of the effective management plans. Classroom             Reflexive – includes children and adults in
management and organization are associated           a joint effort of interpretation; views listening
to influence the delivery of effective teaching      as a process;
and learning in the classroom, teachers’ main            Adaptive – can be applied in a variety of
business. When there are classroom harmony           early childhood settings; methods will depend
and well-behaved learners, teachers carry on with    on the characteristics of the group, such as
their curriculum activities, with less unnecessary   gender, cultural backgrounds, skills of staff or
disruption (Bechuke and Debeila 2012). In most       researchers, etc;
cases teachers, as the authority figure, drawing         Focused on children’s lived experiences –
up classroom rules.                                  moves away from a view of children as consumers
    Literature notes the importance of learner       of services.
participation in the creation of guidelines for          What these researchers emphasise is the
classroom behaviour and rules (Iqbal et al. 2012).   importance of learner participation and involve-
And as such this process develops a sense of         ment to discourage the construction of young
cooperation among the student, and is likely to      children as only consumers of learning. It is also
increase their commitment to rules (Iqbal et al.     worth noting that not only is learner participation
2012). Similarly, when educators involve their       in rule development that is of great importance
learners in the formulating of classroom rules,      but also the nature of the rules is an essential
learners will consider them to be fair. Further-     factor in their effectiveness.
more, Grade 1 learner involvement in classroom           Bechuke and Debeila (2012: 242) assert
rules development allows them to make their          that disciplinary strategies, including classroom
own choices, and by so doing promotes their          rules, should be non-coercive, yet assertive and
moral intelligence.                                  non-confrontational. When crafting the class-
    Learner participation in rules development       room rules, teachers should keep in mind three
is particularly important for Grade 1 learners       general guidelines:
as their moral development and reasoning take            -Phrase your rules in the form of a positive
shape and evolving at this stage (Dancey and         statement.
Vokes 2012). Hence it is important to allow              -Establish and state your rules clearly.
them to examine questions of right and wrong             -Minimize your list of rules (most teachers
themselves to become autonomous in follow-           have 3-5 rules)
ing class rules (Ibid). Dancey and Vokes (2012)          Also, the rules are considered more effective
warn teachers against undermining young              if they are devised in a positive frame so they
children’s agency and emphasize the young            tell learners what they should be doing. This
children as social agents in their learning space.   is in contrast to giving learners a list of things
This strategy will lead students to work towards     they are not allowed to do. This is referred to as
decreasing misbehaviour and therefore deem the       positive discipline. According to Maphosa and
classroom rules effective (Ibid). Bechuke and        Shumba (2010), since the child has high self-
Debeila (2012: 243) refer to such a philosophy       esteem, positive discipline creates an atmosphere
as Choice Theory. They go on to suggest that         that encourages self-discipline and is thus more
Choice Theory helps learners to have ownership       able to maintain self-control. Whenever possible,
of their learning, have pride in their participa-    children should be active in deciding or changing
tion, and will have exhibit greater levels of        rules and encouraged to speak about how rules
self-confidence and higher levels of cognition.      apply to such circumstances (Department of
Likewise, Vogler et al. (2008: 41) note the fol-     Children, Schools and Families 2010).
lowing aspects about young children participate          When practitioners provide children with op-
in their learning environment:                       portunities to engage in the collection of activities

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DEVELOPING AND APPLYING CLASSROOM RULES                                                                 5

and the creation of decision-making abilities,        in the classroom about the following instructions,
children become more self-reliant and take            according to Wong (2011), that student should
responsibility for their learning (Estyn 2011).       obtain the result of practicing following them
Yet, more often teachers use negative strategies      during free time. As also noted in the protocols,
that include corporal punishment, which may be        the essence of the misbehaviour will be noted by
indicative of anger and frustration. Some teach-      students immediately afterwards, and this will
ers use forbidding statements in their classroom      take place as the repercussions are determined.
rules such as do not run, do not talk out of turn,        Under such circumstances, both teachers
do not come in late after recess, etc. These are      and students should be able to interact with each
in most cases regarded by young learners as a         other easily under the established rules, proce-
punishment. Instead, the rules should indicate        dures, and regulations (Iqbal et al. 2012). It is
“Walk in the classroom, if you run you might trip     also important that the rules be simple, and be
over a chair and hurt yourself; then you might        displayed in the classroom (Dunbar 2014). For
have to go to the doctor” (Estyn 2011). This is       Grade 1 learners such rules must be displayed on
indicative of the purpose of the rules being to       a bright large poster at the front of the room, per-
empower students to learn and behave by making        haps with pictorial clues for non-readers (Ibid).
the right decisions daily (Dunbar 2014).              This assists the teacher to remind the learners of
    The purpose of effective classroom rules is       the rules on an ongoing basis.
to promote discipline and good behaviour rather
than punishment. According to Bechuke and             Application of and Adherence to Classroom
Debeila (2012: 242), discipline is an all-encom-      Rules
passing concept that refers to strategies used to
coordinate, regulate and organize individuals and          Teachers use different strategies to imple-
their activities in the school. This is contrary to   ment and enforce classroom rules. These include
punishment. As noted by Bear (2010: 3) some of        teaching young learners the rules and conse-
the limitations of punishment include:                quences like any other curriculum content. It is
    (a) Teaches students what not to do and does      possible to teach and practice rules as role-plays,
not teach desired behavior or alternative behav-      and to reinforce them with praise or reward. For
ior; (b) Its impacts are always short-term; (c)       kids who keep the rules, there must be positive
Teaching students to threaten or punish others;       results. For those that do not, there must also be
(d) Fails to address multiple factors typically       implications. Both children respond to attention
                                                      and, thus, positive behavior would be reinforced
contributing to the behavior of a student; (e)
                                                      by an emphasis on positive behavior. Often edu-
Unintended side effects are likely to occur (for
                                                      cators tend to catch kids who are successful and
example, frustration, retaliation and dislike to-     praise or reward them for this, putting the focus
wards the teacher or school, social withdrawal);      of emphasis in the classroom on the majority of
(f) creates a negative environment in the class-      kids who act properly. The most important in all
room and school; and (g) it can be improved           is teacher modeling the rules during teaching and
(that is, negative reinforcement) by encouraging      learning (Iqbal et al. 2012). Dancey and Vokes
students to avoid or prevent conditions they find     (2012: 8-10) say that the behavior of teachers,
aversive, such as time-out and suspension (for        whether unconscious or conscious, influences the
example, academic work, peer rejection, a harsh       behavior of learners. Students need role models,
and uncaring teacher).                                especially at a young age, someone to look up
    For the effectiveness of classroom rules,         to who could affect their lives. The people with
teachers should explain to the learners the con-      whom children spend the most time and/or who
sequences and outline what would happen if            have been modelled as their ‘role models’ may
students chose to break the rules. Dunbar (2014)      have a greater effect on the orientations and
states that, as well as negative sanctions directly   transitions of children.
related to that misconduct, students should receive        Dunbar (2014) states that the guidelines for
constructive reinforcement outcomes for enforce-      young learners in the classroom must be supple-
ment. For example, if a student violates the rule     mented by a disciplinary plan that is designed to

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6                                                                                N. DUKU AND K. O. ADU

discourage wrongdoing before it even happens.          and how others have been affected, and therefore
For example, her plan is centered around a set         fixing the situation.
of cards coloured green, yellow, red, and black.
Any student will have a green start to the week.                       METHODOLOGY
The corrective action of flipping a card, order-
ing from green to yellow to red, and ending in         Research Approach/Sample
black after three misbehaviours each week would
result in a breach of the rules or a disrespectful         A qualitative research approach was consid-
action. The student would need to write what           ered suitable because this project is an explorato-
they did wrong on a scrap piece of paper after         ry study aimed at gaining the selected educators’
flipping the card at a class meeting on Fridays,       perspectives on the development and application
they reflect on what went well and on what can         of classroom rules. Three Grade 1 educators (all
be changed. Students in green or yellow often          female) from the different schools that include
receive a small reward at this meeting, in the         Township, Village, and Former Model C schools
form of a snack, a no-homework pass, and other         participated in the study. All the educators gave
separate incentives. Red students will have a          permission to be interviewed and the interviews
written home note reminding the parents of the         to be recorded. Furthermore, documentary
actions of the learner during the week. Dancey         analysis, which is comprised of Classroom Rules
and Vokes (2012: 16) note that it is important to      were used as another data collection instrument.
have regular contact with parents as well. When        The use of the classroom rules in the study was
the children are brought into school, the teachers     also negotiated with the participants. Ethical
need to have regular contact with the parents. A       procedures that included seeking permission,
regular letter of reflection is also sent home to      confidentiality, and anonymity were adhered
the parents, letting the parents know what was         to. Schools were allocated Code Names such as
going on during that day.                              School A (Village School); School B (Township
    Teachers use multiple methods to ensure            School) and School C (Former Model C school).
the obedience of learners to the laws of the           Participants were also assigned pseudonyms
classroom. Some teachers respond positively            such as Respondent 1; Respondent 2 and Re-
to anger and frustration when students violate         spondent 3. The research questions the data was
the rules. Some teachers say to their students,        responding to are:
“I need a moment to calm down; right now, I’m            • What are the Foundation Phase teachers’
very upset.” Others calm down by counting to 10              conceptions of classroom rules?
or leaving the room for a few minutes. To help           • How were classroom rules drawn and ap-
them understand what annoys them, some teach-                plied in the selected classrooms?
ers explain their feelings to their students. Then
the kids are learning what not to do and why. For      Instrumentation
elementary-age children who reflect on the extent
of the issue and have a solution, the ‘I message’ is       For this research two data generating strate-
used (Dancey and Vokes 2012: 24). It encourages        gies were used. Firstly, the interviews whereby
children to appreciate the meaning of social and       the researcher orally communicated with the
emotional growth as they learn to become ‘good’        selected Grade 1 educators on how they draw
friends with others. Levin and Nolan (2012)            classroom rules and how these were applied.
say that the ‘I message’ is a three-part message       Secondly, the researcher requested to read and
aimed at encouraging the disruptive student to         look at the evidence of classroom rules that were
understand the negative effect on the teacher and      used by the different educators (documents).
other peers of his behaviour. An explanation of
the action, how it impacts the rest of the class       Data Analysis
or person, and how the teacher feels about this
will be included in the note. This method offers           After the completion of data generation through
students an opportunity to take responsibility for     interviews and document analysis, the next stage
their actions by recognizing what they have done       was data analysis. This involved breaking up data

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DEVELOPING AND APPLYING CLASSROOM RULES                                                                 7

into manageable themes, patterns, trends, and          instruments or laboratory equipment, threats to
relationships. Analysis aimed to understand the        other students, and excessive bullying and abuse
various constituting elements of the data. A quali-    of classmates); Conduct which destroys property
tative thematic approach was used to analyse           (for example, vandalism in the classroom).
the data. The interviews were transcribed and              Some respondents also identified what may
coded. Thereafter it was categorized and put into      be linked with Jacobsen (2013: 25)’s vertical and
themes. The documentary analysis (Classroom            horizontal transition challenges. Such challenges
Rules) hung on the walls of the Grade 1 classes        not only include cognitive adaptation but also
visited were also analysed.                            social adaptation problems as well. For instance,
                                                       Respondent 1 links a particular learner with im-
          RESULTS AND DISCUSSION                       maturity which may be linked to school readiness
                                                       (Jacobsen 2013). However, she does not specify
                                                       how the school gets ready for such children.
Teachers’ Perspectives Regarding Disruptive            Schools also need to be ready for children and
Behaviours                                             not always the other way round.
                                                            Respondent 1, from School A, (rural school)
     All the participants explained disruptive be-     also identifies a learner who is disruptive as the
haviours as “those unwanted actions and activities     one who leaves the classroom, whether going
by learners that disturb teachers and learners”.       to the toilet without seeking teacher permission.
   (a) A learner who is talkative and speaking         She explains such behavior as not only being dis-
       when the teacher is teaching/talking.           respectful but also disturbing to the teacher. This
   (b) A learner fighting with others: Learners        explanation links with the view that classroom
       who fight. Respondent 1 (from School A)         rules being the major classroom management
       felt learners who fight compromise teach-       strategy to ensure the smooth running of teach-
       ing and learning in the classroom. “Fights      ing and learning (Bechuke and Debeila 2012).
       make teachers waste time instead of com-            All the respondents reported that they have
       pleting the syllabus”. While Respondent         always drawn rules to minimize learner chal-
       3, from School C, felt that learners who        lenging behaviours. All the rules were displayed
       fought at school “don’t make other children     and hung on the walls. When asked as to when
       happy at school”                                the rules were developed, they all responded
   (c) Two participants also reported that some-       that they developed the rules when they first
       times learners would just cry without any       taught their current Grade 1 class. For instance,
       provocation. They said this was common          the teaching experience each respondent had in
       especially during reading periods.              their respective schools, reportedly represented
     Respondent 1 also suspected that such was         the year the respondents developed their rules.
just attention-seeking young children. She was,        For instance, Respondents 1 and 3 reportedly had
however “sympathetic as these were sometimes           a five-year experience in their schools teaching
younger and less matured than the majority of          Grade 1 whilst Respondent 2 had a ten-year
the class”.                                            teaching experience teaching in her current
     The above data is in line with Marais and         school. However, during this study, she had a
Meir (2012: 43)’s conceptualization of disruptive      three-year experience teaching Grade 1. In other
behavior as behaviour that: Interferes with the act    words, Respondent, 2’s classroom rules were
of teaching and learning (for example, a student       developed in 2011. The discourse in all three
who distracts other students during the presentation   schools is that learners are consumers of rules
of the lesson, who refuses to obey directions          than social agents in the school context. Because
or exhibits offensive behavior); Conduct that          adults consider them immature, their voices
interferes with other learners’ rights to learn (for   are silenced and their agency is not respected
example, a student who continuously calls as the       (Jacobsen 2013).
instructor discusses the content); Psychologically         With regards to the languages through which
or physically dangerous behaviour (for example,        the classroom rules were written, for Schools
sitting on a chair’s back legs, unsafe use of          A and School B (rural and township schools

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8                                                                                 N. DUKU AND K. O. ADU

respectively), they were boldly written in isiX-            In the other two schools (School A and B) the
hosa. In both schools, isiXhosa is the medium of        rules were succinct about what the learners were
instruction. While in School C (Former Model            not allowed to do. These include “Sukungxola
C School) where the medium of instruction               (do not make noise); sukulwa (do not fight other
is English, the rules were written in English           learners, do not eat inside the classroom, etc.).
and were also shown in colourful pictures. In           The teacher explained that she “wanted peace”
responding to the choice of colours and font for        and “do not have time for fights”. This also in-
the classroom rules, Respondent 3, from School          dicated that the rules were meant to respond to
C said the learners were meant to understand            the teachers’ needs and expectations. The fact
the rules and the colours made that the learners        that only teachers reportedly participated in the
were attracted to the poster. This is in line with      development of the classroom rules may explain
Language in Education Policy, which prescribes          the biasness of the rules towards teacher author-
that Foundation Phase learners be taught in the         ity and power.
medium of their mother tongue.                              Even though the learners did not participate
                                                        in the development of the classroom rules,
The Process of Rules Development                        Respondent 2 (From School 2) reported that
and Communication                                       at the beginning of the new academic year, she
                                                        explained the meaning of each rule to the learn-
     All the participants reported that they have       ers. This is in line with Jacobsen (2013) who
developed the classroom rules without the learner       reports that teachers should explain the rules for
participation. They all believed that Grade 1 learn-    the learners to understand. Also, after the winter
ers were too young to participate in the develop-       and short summer school vacations, she reminds
ment of the rules. All the selected participants        the learners of the rules. She reported that she
had class rules hung on the classroom walls. The        reminded them because “young children forget
number of rules ranged between 8 (School A);            some school stuff after a long holiday”. Respon-
12 (School B) and 5 (School C). The majority of         dent 2 seemed to be sensitive to learner vertical
the rules were brief and commanding in nature.          and horizontal transition and are trying to bring
     The above state of affairs with regards to the     the learners to the new academic and social space.
number of rules the two schools have developed          Jacobsen (2013) warns that as much as students
seemed contradictory with literature that advises       need to respond to the school program the school
that teachers should minimize the number of             programme should also respond to the children.
rules. For instance, Estyn (2011) reports that              With regards to the adherence to the rules,
most teachers develop 3-5 rules, which are gen-         in School 1, the learners, especially after one or
eral guidelines that are structured. Estyn (2011)       two of them have transgressed a rule, the whole
also note that rules are considered more effective      class was made to recite the classroom rules. All
if they are devised in a positive frame so they         the schools also reported using the school rules
tell learners what they should be doing. This is in     “sometimes when teaching particular letters of
contrast to giving learners a list of things they are   the alphabet”. It is also worth noting that none of
not allowed to do. This is despite the discourse        the selected teachers reported involving learners
in the framing of the rules in two of the three         both in rule development and adherence. Litera-
selected schools in negative command discourse.         ture however links partnerships between schools,
     The dominant discourse in School A and             home, and society as key during the vertical and
School B was a negative command discourse.              horizontal transition. Vrinioti et al. (2008:4) put
For instance, in School A, two out of eight             it more succinctly when suggesting the appli-
were the negative commands, whilst in School            cation of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological
B respectively, seven out of twelve rules were          developmental model in children’s transition.
the negative commands, “do not…”. Whilst in             When the three environments or Microsystems,
School C, there was one rule out of five that had       which are made up of the children’s home world,
a negative command in it, it read “do not run,          the pre-school world, and the school World,
walk”. Whilst School C had a negative command           work together, they exchange information and
it also told learners what is expected of them.         empower the children.

J Sociology Soc Anth, 12(1-2): 1-11 (2021)
DEVELOPING AND APPLYING CLASSROOM RULES                                                              9

Discourse in the Classroom Rules                     the learners were asked to walk and not to run
                                                     inside the classroom. During the interview,
    All the participants reported that the rules     Respondent 3, from School C explained that the
were written in order of importance. The first       rule was meant to ensure that learners are safe
rule that was indicated on the three walls was       inside the classroom as the physical space does
as follows:                                          not allow them to run as freely as they could
                                                     outside. In School 2, the inside versus outside
School A       School B         School C             discourse included “akutyiwa eklasini (you
Fika ngexesha Akungxolwa (do Walk- do not run        are not permitted to eat inside the classroom);
 (be punctual)  not make noise)
                                                     sukulahla izinto ezimdaka eklasini (don’t throw
    Respondent 1 reported that in her experience     dirty things in the classroom); akuliwa eklasini
as a Grade 1 teacher, some learners arrive at        (you are not allowed to get involved in a physi-
school very late, some thirty minutes after the      cal fight inside the classroom), and others. On
first lesson. She noted that sometimes, especially   the other hand, Respondent 2, from School B
at the beginning of the year she expects that        explained.
“learners are trying to adjust from pre-school           Furthermore, respondents from Schools A
culture”. Respondent B noted that she normally       and B (township and village schools) had also
has a Grade 1 class of no less than sixty (60)       included the following:
learners and they “can be very noisy”. With            • Punctuality
regards to Respondent C, whose class size was          • Mandatory by learners to come to school
reportedly between fifteen (15) and twenty-five            every day.
(25) learners, her learners do not differentiate         They both explained that punctuality and ab-
between outdoor activities and indoor activities.    senteeism were the major problems experienced.
This particular rule was meant to emphasise the      They further explained that most of their learners
difference.                                          had not attended Early Childhood Classes, and
   (a) Respect hierarchical (respect teachers)       were therefore not accustomed to the formal
    In Schools A and B, there were distinct rules    education routines.
that indicated a strong sense of respecting hier-
archy (the teacher) and nothing vice versa. In       How Do The Participants Ensure Adherence
school B for instance, Mamela xa kufundiswa          To The Rules?
(listen to the teacher), buza yonke into (Ask the
teacher everything); whilst in School referred to        Even though the rules were not aligned with
“Put your hand up”; Be polite to teacher”. And       any explicit sanctions. The rules were just out-
there was not much in reference that suggests        lined on the wall. Also, the participants reported
teachers respecting and loving children.             that no clear sanctions had been communicated
    (b) Students leaving classroom:                  to the learners.
    In-School B, the rules also indicated proce-        • Sanctions included: Shouting at the mis-
dures for leaving the room. They indicated that            behaving learners, asking the offender to
the learner requests the teacher permission to go          face the wall; one learner writing names
to the toilet. The teacher noted that sometimes            of the offending learners on the board. In
they admit learners who “needed more attention             most cases, the offending learners were
as most did not come through the ECD route”.               reported as the ones who make noise in the
This is the category of learners that ……refer to           classroom in the teacher’s absence.
as not possessing the cultural capital.                  Variety of strategies
    (c) The inside versus the outside classroom         • By a show of disapproving eye contact to
behaviour.                                                 the misbehaving learner
    In-School B and School C, there was a               • Clapping hands
discourse of inside versus outside behaviours.          • Remind the whole class of the rules
These included the use of voice (there was              • Punishment such as “come and sit in front
a classroom versus playground voice). Also,                of the classroom”; “face the wall”

J Sociology Soc Anth, 12(1-2): 1-11 (2021)
10                                                                                    N. DUKU AND K. O. ADU

                    CONCLUSION                        has unpacked the advantages of involving
                                                      learner participation in curriculum decisions
    This research studied teachers’ perspectives      and classroom rule development. These include
regarding the development of the classroom.           learners owning their learning which boosts their
Foundation Stage, and especially Grade 1 is one       self-esteem and cognition. More importantly,
of progression, presented in the form of a large      literature also warns educators of young children
number of so-called ‘Stepping Stones’. Also, it       to respect children’s agency and not treat them
is regarded as a potential break or make a stage      as consumers of knowledge.
to the child as the child is adjusting from pre-
schooling. It may even be worse if the child has                            REFERENCES
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