Effect of behaviour on academic achievement of secondary students in a selective school of Maldives / Mariyam Madhaniyyath

Abstract

This is a research into the effects of students' behaviour on academic achievement in a secondary school of Maldives. The aim of this research was to study teachers' perceptions of how and why the behaviour of students are affecting the academic achievement. The objectives of the study are to identify the most frequent and troublesome behaviours, determine the reasons for misbehaviour and to explore how these affect the students' academic achievement. The research design is a case study and has a qualitative paradigm design. The participants of the research are six teachers teaching in a secondary school and they were selected by purposive sampling method. The data collection was done by conducting semi-structured interview, and the data was analysed by thematic analysis. The major findings of the research were that students' behaviour affects the academic achievement of students by many factors such as wasting students and teacher's time in handling misbehaviours, which reduces the effective learning in the classroom. Also, teacher struggles in completing the syllabus and managing behaviour, making them less motivated. There are frequent and troublesome behavioural issues in the school, although they were not so aggressive, or violent, some of its effects are widespread and needs attention. The reasons for behavioural issues were mainly regarding biological and surrounding environment, among them the latter is more common. It was also found that disruptive behaviour management is of importance, and it needs the support from teachers, parents and the management.