Teachers’ Experience and Management of Young Children Treated Because of Home Conduct Problems: A qualitative study.

The purpose of this study is to descriptively examine how teachers and child carers handle children with behavioural problems at schools and daycare centres. Specifically, the study examines how behavioural problems are expressed at school and how teachers and child carers deal with these problems as well as the cooperation with parents, other teachers and other professionals.

The majority of the children displayed a wide spectrum of behavioural problems. Child carers and teachers stated that the source of the problems was in the children themselves or that the problems had something to do with the family situation of the parents or the children, or both. As regards the management of the group of children, child carers/teachers reported that they had to look for solutions that worked for the individual child. It was necessary to follow each child very closely, and they were therefore forced to choose between whether they would provide support for the child with behavioural problems or for the other children in the class. The majority of the child carers and teachers were quite satisfied with how they handled behavioural problems. The majority of teachers and child carers described their relationship with parents as being positive. Only a few stated that they had difficulties with this relationship. The cooperation with parents is regarded as important. However, it was only realised to a limited extent.
Most of the teachers and child carers considered that they were supported well by colleagues. However, they were not satisfied with the level of cooperation with other professionals such as doctors and psychologists. Teachers and child carers were very enthusiastic about their work with children with behavioural problems. Therefore, they based their work with these children on subjective and individual perspectives and preferences, rather than on professional evaluations. The work of teachers and child carers was not deeply rooted in evidence-based knowledge, but rather in  knowledge rooted in practice.

The study has been conducted as an interview study which includes the view points of all parties.
The sample comprised 127 children aged four to eight, who participated in a controlled intervention study.
Qualitative interviews were conducted with teachers of 27 of these children to obtain descriptions of behavioural problems as they are manifested at daycare centres and schools.

Drugli, M.B.; Clifford, G.; Larsson, B. (2008). Teachers’ Experience and Management of Young Children Treated Because of Home Conduct Problems: A qualitative study. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 52 (3) S. 279-291.