AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
DEVALUATION ACTS OF LEARNERS AGAINST TEACHERS AT SLOVAK SCHOOLS
a
BELLOVÁ SLAVOMÍRA,
b
SIVÁKOVÁ GABRIELA,
c
TIŠŤANOVÁ KATARÍNA
Catholic University in Ružomberok, Faculty of Education,
Hrabovská cesta 1, 034 01 Ružomberok, Slovakia
email:
a
slavomira.bellova@ku.sk,
b
gabriela.sivakova@ku.sk
c
katarina.tistanova@ku.sk
The paper is a partial result of the project KEGA no. 007KU-4/2017 entitled
„Devaluation acts of learners against teachers – manifestations, reasons, prevention”.
Abstract: The contribution deals with the issue of devaluation behaviour of pupils
towards teachers. It maps the factors stimulating the onset of bullying teachers by
pupils, manifestations of bullying and of aggressive behaviour and it introduces
individual selected researches that were implemented within the field of bullying,
aggression, undesirable behaviour of pupils towards teachers.
Keywords: Teacher. Pupil. Devaluation of a Teacher. Bullying.
1 Introduction
Nowadays many acts of disrespect against teachers are visible at
schools as well as undesirable behaviour of learners not only to
their fellows, but also to teachers. This has become an everyday
reality and part of dealing with pedagogical situations.
The most
frequently occurring phenomena are bullying and cyberbullying,
aggressiveness, drug addiction, verbal and non-verbal attacks
(psychical and physical) on both sides of pedagogical
communication. There may be several reasons for this,
connected, for example, with the authority of the teacher,
unsuitable interaction relations between teachers and learners
which may even result into devaluation acts of learners against
teachers, etc. As G. Siváková (2016, p. 9) has it, the loosening of
school discipline that has occurred in recent years has also
contributed to the increase of violence among learners,
aggressivity and bullying, which often target teachers as well.
1.1 Devaluation as a social pathological phenomena in
schools
As teachers, we may describe such acts, or can characterise
them, but it must be clearly said that they are not systematically
elaborated. The fact is that educators and psychologists have
begun to pay a more systematic attention to this area only in
recent years. The impulses for the elaboration of the area in our
country can be found in the work of such authors as, for
example, J. Hroncová (2016), I. Emmerová (2011, 2016), C.
Határ (2007), in the Czech Republic Z. Martínek (2015).
It is the so-called devaluation actions from the side of learners,
under which one may understand, for example, the disruption of
educational process by various undesirable activities of the
learners, including the devaluation attitudes and acts towards the
teacher.
The concept of devaluation means, in a wider sense of the word,
the depreciation. In educational reality it is more suitable to think
about the concept of social devaluation, pedagogical devaluation,
school devaluation, depreciation, expressing disrespect towards
the participant of the educational process. The devaluation is the
decreasing of self-confidence, a measure of disrespect towards a
human being, humiliation. It affects the core of our personality
and, therefore, it is perceived more painfully than whatever else.
Its opposite is evaluation, which is announcing to oneself that
one has certain measure, level of respect and reputability, or
respectability.
Under the concept of devaluation at school may fall any
undesirable behaviour which in any way depreciates pedagogical
reality. The devaluation issues will therefore include any risky
behaviour of an individual, various manifestations of unfriendly
behaviour, psychical torture, interfering with an activity,
offending, humiliating, failing to observe required rules, anger,
aggressiveness, aggression, bullying, cyberbullying, a whole set
of various social-pathological phenomena, etc. As devaluation
acts may be considered any acts related to the devaluation of a
personality. If such, or similar acts occur in educational process,
they may have extremely negative impact on its performance and
results. Practically, it happens that teachers, especially women,
often leave teaching profession especially because of such and
similar undesirable acts of pupils.
1.2 Research of bullying, aggression, undesirable behaviour
of pupils towards teachers
In 2018, the Department of Education and Special Pedagogy,
Faculty of Education of the Catholic University in Ružomberok
conducted a research focused on the devaluation behaviour of
learners towards teachers in the Slovak Republic. The research
sample was made up by 401 teachers, of which 82.78 % were
women and 17.2 % men. Relatively balanced was the
representation of teachers regarding the type of school they work
at. 50.4 % respondents taught at elementary schools and 49.6 %
at secondary schools. The research sample of teachers came
from all regions of the Slovak Republic. Of the respondents who
taught at elementary schools, 50.5 % were from the elementary
schools, 49.5 % from the secondary schools. Of the secondary
school teachers, 27.2 % taught at secondary grammar schools,
39.0 % at secondary vocational schools – study fields. At
secondary vocational schools – study fields 6.7 % and 27.2 % at
music conservatory. The respondents filled in a questionnaire
with 22 examples of improper behaviour, having the Likert Scale
with the following options: never, rarely, at times, often, very
often. Table no. 1 “The most frequent acts of aggressive
behaviour of learners toward teachers” shows the rotated factor
matrix consisting of individual items related to improper
behaviour. The KMO test result was 0.845 and the Barlett´s
Sphericity test was statistically significant (χ2=3628.312,
p<0.000).
Three relevant factors were identified: factor 1 which was
because of the nature of the associated items named verbal
aggression, such as improper loud comments, ignoring, making
fun, threatening, etc., factor 2 which was called social aggression
(cyberbullying), as, for example, spreading humiliating,
ridiculing or embarrassing videos, photos, sound recordings,
blackmailing through the internet, etc., and factor 3 which was
named physical aggression, as physical assaults, threatening by
physical assault or an attempt for a physical assault. Together all
the factors explain 45.076% of the whole variants.
Tab. no. 1 The most frequent acts of aggressive behaviour of
learners toward teachers
Factors aggression:
Verbal
Social
Physical
Improper comments
towards myself
.805
Ignoring
.774
Humiliating
.768
Ridiculing
.764
Verbal abuses, invectives or
vulgarisms
.747
Demonstrative rejection of an
answer or a set task (writing,
reading, and so on.)
.724
Slandering
.682
Threatening to destroy personal
property
.536
Threatening to use influential
acquaintances
.462
Spreading humiliating,
ridiculing or embarrassing videos
.790
Spreading humiliating,
ridiculing or embarrassing photos
.787
Spreading humiliating, ridiculing
or embarrassing sound recordings
.730
Verbal assaults through
.635
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