Teachers’ Perceptions towards Disruptive Behaviours among Students in Public Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Abstract

Disruptive behaviours among secondary school students adversely affect students, teachers, parents and community members. This study explores teachers’ perceptions towards disruptive behaviours among students in public secondary schools in Tanzania. This qualitative study involved 50 teachers selected from four public secondary schools from two councils, namely Mwanza City and Ukerewe District, both found in Mwanza Region, Tanzania. Data collection was done through interviews, focus group discussions, and document reviews. The analysis was thematic and MAXQDA. The findings showed that teachers perceived students’ disruptive behaviours as problematic to the teachers, peers, school administrators, parents, and the community at large. This is because they were experienced with various forms of students’ disruptive behaviours ranging from less severe problems such as noise making and truancy to severe ones such as delinquency and aggressive behaviours. The conclusions are that teachers and students in public secondary schools are not physically and psychologically safe because, apart from interfering with teachers’ activities and properties, some of the students’ disruptive behaviours are threats to students’ and teachers’ lives, particularly by being attacked, humiliated, abused, injured and even sometimes killed.