Ecological Perspectives on Student Behaviour: Why Teachers in Training Need to See the Bigger Picture

Abstract

Reforms to teacher training in England, undertaken in the 1990s, significantly increased the proportion of time that student teachers spent in classrooms engaged in ‘on the job’ training. While this provides greater opportunity for students to develop practical knowledge, there is an inherent danger that an undue preoccupation with the development of ‘survival skills’ will reduce the fostering of broader and deeper understandings about the role of important historical, sociological and cultural factors upon children's motivation, behaviour and learning. This chapter draws upon a number of comparative international studies, particularly in Russia and the US, to illustrate the benefits of an ecosystemic analysis of human behaviour in which student behaviour is considered, not only in terms of everyday school-based practices, but also in relation to broader social, economic and historical factors.

Citation

Elliott, J.G. (2007), "Ecological Perspectives on Student Behaviour: Why Teachers in Training Need to See the Bigger Picture", Scruggs, T.E. and Mastropieri, M.A. (Ed.) International Perspectives (Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 57-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0735-004X(07)20003-5