The Nature and Basis of Teachers’ Concerns About Spanish Secondary-School Students

Abstract

This study explored the nature and basis of teachers’ concerns regarding several behavioural and social difficulties experienced by their secondary-school students. It was hypothesized that teachers would be most concerned about students presenting externalizing behavioural or academic difficulties but not those displaying internalizing problems. We also expected that pupils who were objects of teacher concern would be considered more maladjusted than random controls in terms of self- and peer-rated popularity and problem behaviours. Participants were 1384 secondary school pupils from Seville, Spain. The most common reasons indicated by teachers for their concerns about students were motivational and socialization-emotional concerns. There was some basis for these concerns: students who were objects of teacher concerns were significantly more likely to be perceived by their peers and by themselves as socially rejected, more aggressive/disruptive, more withdrawn and less cooperative than controls. Nevertheless, teachers expressed concern about only a minority of pupils who appear to be at risk according to other sources of information.