The interactive development of teachers’ disciplinary practice and pupils’ deviant behaviour in primary schools: results from classroom observations

The aims of the present study are to analyse whether the disciplinary practice of teachers has an impact on the deviant behaviour of first-year primary school pupils and whether this process is influenced by exposure to deviant groups. A distinction is made between no reactions to deviant behaviour, mild teacher reactions and “harsh” sanctions such as separating deviant pupils from each other. The hypotheses are tested using a longitudinal data set based on observations of 26 classes and 564 pupils throughout the first school year. Findings show that harsh teacher reactions are related to a subsequent increase in deviant behaviour, while mild and no reactions are associated with no change or even a reduction in subsequent deviant behaviour. However, our findings do not indicate that the effect of reactions depends on the extent of exposure to deviant groups.