ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns disruptive behaviour in schools. In school, disruptive behaviour is generally identified in a non-quantitative manner by teachers and its measurement is thus random and subject to bias. Behaviour scales can be useful, but they have two major disadvantages. First, like the child-focused definitions, they treat misbehaviour as if it were the sole responsibility of the pupil. Second, behaviour scales on individual pupils can take no account of the relationship between pupil and teacher. Changes in the attitudes of pupils, their parents and in society in general, are likely to affect views on how pupils should behave in schools. Schools are social institutions and, as such, operate on a basis of rules being accepted by pupils and teachers. For schools to be successful some balance has to be found between the needs and rights of pupils and those of their teachers.
