ABSTRACT
The discussion in the previous chapter shows the lack of consensus about terms and definitions used to refer to children’s behaviour problems. However, in educational settings, according to Galloway et al. (1982:xii-xiii), ‘Most teachers have a fairly welldefined idea of what constitutes disruptive behaviour…they can identify the disruptive pupils in their classes without much difficulty.’ The issue is that different teachers have different ideas as to what constitutes problem behaviour and tend to identify different pupils. What is seen as disruptive or problem behaviour by one teacher may be welcomed by another one and for both the same behaviour may change its significance depending on the time or the day of the week (Lawrence et al. 1984; Galloway et al. 1982).
