A Comparison of Elementary and High School Teacher Discipline Styles

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the dominant disciplinary styles of high school teachers versus elementary teachers. The sample consisted of 84 elementary teachers and 21 high school teachers from selected public schools in northeast Illinois. Data were collected using a questionnaire based upon a model consisting of five-discipline styles: Enforcing Abdicating, Supporting, Compromising, and Negotiating. Results indicated that high school teachers' dominant styles, in rank order, were enforcing, negotiating, and supporting, while elementary teachers dominant styles were negotiating, supporting, and enforcing. The use of appropriate styles in disciplining may be beneficial in managing discipline and may warrant further study. Discipline continues to be critical problem facing our schools today. Increasing violence, mass murders, student rights protests, lawsuits, and classroom disruption necessitates more effective discipline management. According to the Phi Delta Kappa/gallup Thirty First Annual Poll, the top two problems facing schools are lack of discipline/more control, and fighting/violence/gangs (Rose & Gallup, 1999). And, the problem may even be getting worse. According to Toby (1998), Violence and disorder in schools are most likely to increase since schools have to be more legally cautious in disciplining disruptive students (p.19). Developing the most effective means of maintaining acceptable student behavior continues to be struggle for teachers. While there have been a variety of models used by teachers to manage classroom discipline such as Discipline without Coercion, Discipline with Dignity, Discipline Through Self-Control, Assertive Discipline, and Discipline by Negotiations, teachers continue to search for more effective methods to manage student behavior (Gootman, 1998; Cangelosi, 1997; Charles, 1996; Harmin, 1995; Kohn, 1993). The use and application of teacher discipline styles can give insight into a teacher's effectiveness in managing student behavior. When teachers manage disciplinary problems in the classroom they tend to develop a dominant discipline style. Much like the administrator who develops a defined leadership and conflict management style (Blake & Mouton, 1969; Kilmann & Thomas, 1977), teachers handle student disciplinary problems with different styles (Tomal, 1999). These discipline styles can be considered to be based upon the degree of the teacher's enforcing of rules and supporting of (see Figure 1). The enforcing term can be defined as the degree of assertiveness a teacher uses in disciplining students. A teacher who has very high enforcing attributes places a high value on asserting his/her position. Likewise, a teacher who has a low concern for enforcing places little emphasis on asserting his/her own position. The supporting term can be defined as the degree to which a teacher accommodates students. A teacher who has very high supporting attributes places high value on accommodating students. The teacher with low supporting attributes places little value on accommodating the student. Based upon the combination of the enforcing and supporting attributes, five primary styles-the enforcer, supporter, abdicator, compromiser, and the negotiator were established for use in this study. Characteristics, Rank Order, and Means Comparison of these discipline styles are listed in Figure 2. If a teacher had a high degree of enforcing and low degree of supporting, the teacher's style was defined as the enforcer. These teachers tended to be dictatorial, controlling, intimidating, and demanded that their obey their rules. The abdicator style was defined as teachers who had low supporting and enforcing attributes. They tended to be apathetic toward handling disciplinary problems, avoided discipline problems, and had little interest in their students. Teachers with the style of the compromiser had a moderate degree of enforcing and supporting characteristics. …