Research Into Student Aggression (Year 11)
In the research I decided to look into acts of aggression this lead to interesting findings. It showed that although boys were more likely to be physically aggressive, it was girls that were more likely to use relational aggression. This relational aggression is show either by social hierarchies within girls; some will be bystanders and mostly conspire or acquiesce the main bullies actions. This also showed me that girls were more likely to provide social or emotional bullying and so the culprit of the nasty comments and words said and written would need to come predominantly from a girl or a group of girls. The information in full can be found at:http://vivo.cornell.edu/individual/vivo/individual31226
I then decided to look at the triggers for aggression.
“Possible reasons for aggressive behaviour include situations in which the person:
• feels frustrated, pressurised or humiliated because they are no longer able to cope with everyday demand
• feels their independence and privacy are threatened because they are forced to accept help with intimate functions such as washing, dressing or going to the toilet
• feels they are being judged or criticised perhaps because they have forgotten something or made a mistake
• feels bewildered or frightened because there is too much noise or too many people or there has been a change in routine, for instance, and they cannot cope.
• feels anxious or threatened because they no longer recognise certain places or people. They may be convinced they are in the wrong place or that a relative is a stranger who has broken into their home
• feels frightened because of a sudden noise, sharp voices, abrupt movements or someone approaching them without warning from behind.
feels discomfort, pain, boredom or thirst.”
Further research showed me that there are many different ways to react aggressively sometimes immediate physical reaction is triggered, whereas as sometimes verbal reaction is more likely to arise. However the type of trigger is endemic to the reaction. A feud over a long period of time may result in verbal reaction whereas a highly offensive or threatening trigger may result in a physical reaction. It could be said that generally physical action is more impulsive and instinctive whereas verbal action is more considered and manipulated.
Research Into Teachers
This article is very informative and it talks about the extreme difficulties in teaching students of more mature ages as they are more sexually aware and can cause awkward situations for teachers. Young teachers are the most vulnerable as the ages gap between a sixth former and a NQT could be as little as 5 years, which allows both parties to see each other as adults and therefore can spark sexual relationships.
The media is very quick to label teachers perverts or paedophiles when in fact it is often the pupil would targets the teacher.
This very dangerous line between professional teaching with emotional support and a deep emotional or sexual relationship is very easy to cross over into.
Amy Gehring is a famous example of the implications for teachers crossing the often invisible line.
