4 ways to tackle a rise in disrespectful behaviour in classrooms

Talking loudly to drown out another student, fooling around mid-lesson, mocking a classmate's incorrect answer — tales of disrespectful behaviour in today's classrooms abound.

And a recent study from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., found a significant increase in classroom incivility since the pandemic. 

"Incivility" sounds old-fashioned, but it can disrupt classrooms and student development — and it's something educators and experts focused on Canadian youth believe deserves attention and action.

The study noted that more students lacked self-regulation skills, compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, says Natalie Spadafora, its lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the university.

It makes sense, she said, with teachers finding that pandemic-related school disruptions have impacted the usual classroom routines, rules and expectations that kids typically learn.

For instance, when students were doing virtual school, they could put themselves on mute or turn their cameras off at home and easily leave the room, engage in side chats with friends or otherwise distract themselves. 

"Things that are deemed uncivil in the classroom, they were able to do," she said.

The study spoke with 101 primary teachers, and surveyed 585 students in November 2019 and 536 students in November 2022. About 300 kids participated both times.

1. Identify incivility, even when it seems small

Now with students back in person, some of these behaviours — like talking over a teacher, or packing up before a lesson's done — might not feel so dire, but should still be acknowledged, Spadafora said.

"Cumulatively, we know they're disrupting learning and we know that left unchecked it can escalate into higher level anti-social behaviour."

Educators start each school year setting expectations and routines, yet Spadafora says teachers have conveyed a feeling of still playing catch-up and constantly reviewing fundamentals.

Teaching manners and civility to students "takes time. It takes effort."

"In broader society, I think we'd all argue it is worth it long term," she noted. "We sometimes take it for granted that people should just know these things."

2. More face-to-face, less screen time

Kids need in-person interaction with friends and classmates to develop their social skills and empathy, says Dr. Michael Cheng, a child psychiatrist at CHEO, the children's hospital in Ottawa.

It's not the same when a screen is involved, he said: "Kids need to learn from doing. They need to learn in the 3D world, not the 2D world."

Today's kids may spend several hours every day in front of screens, when you count both school and recreational time, Cheng said.

He'd rather see young people spend more time with each other face to face, venture outdoors to natural spaces and physically doing activities versus being engaged digitally.

"We have to deliberately give [kids] the opportunities to learn those social skills and brain development that used to just be built into society."

3. School has different rules than home

The vast majority of Tasha Ausman's students easily accept classroom rules and routines, but the Gatineau, Que., math and science teacher has noticed a small minority engaging in more extreme uncivil behaviour.

She's encountered some students, for example, who simply don't understand that certain things that are OK at home — a casual cellphone chat with mom or leaving the room to grab a snack — aren't acceptable during class time. 

"Some students look utterly surprised about why I might be questioning that particular behaviour," she said, which suggests "a lack of attention toward what the norms of the classroom are and why they matter."

At-home schooling during the pandemic also blurred lines for some parents, who may insist their child doesn't have to go to detention, follow school rules or do homework, added Ausman, who is also a professor of education at the University of Ottawa. 

Parents "rule their own roosts, but they can't rule the institutional norms of a whole school system," she said.

Overall, however, she thinks setting clear expectations, having well-enforced boundaries and giving students some grace to grow will help most develop more civil behaviour.

"Students who might have been a bit rough around the edges in September are actually doing a lot better now that we're going into Christmas."

4. Collaboration between home and school 

Both a recent teachers' union poll and the Coalition Avenir Québec's youth wing have flagged growing incivility as an issue in Quebec's schools. 

Educators "demonstrate proper behaviour.... However, it needs to be repeated, reinforced, and we are overworked right now," said Christina Marchitello, who teaches English at different schools in the Montreal area. 

Teachers need more classroom support to address the increase in disruptive behaviour, she's found. Marchitello also feels the situation calls for everyone to collaborate: parents, educators and others dealing with children, like psychologists, for example.

In addition to that, "when misbehaviour occurs, then there needs to be clear consequences," Marchitello said.

LISTEN | Have Ontario students become more uncivil since the pandemic?: 

Morning North6:38Recent study shows that rude behavior spiked in Ontario classrooms following the pandemic

Have Ontario students become more uncivil since the pandemic? A new study out of Brock University says rude behaviour has spiked. We heard more from Natalie Spadafora, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University.

If unaddressed, Cheng is concerned classroom incivility could contribute to the meanness we're already seeing in society, cause more stress and anxiety, and worsen Canadians' mental health.

However, "the good news is the brain is plastic and can learn and adapt," he noted, adding that it's never too late to make change.

Students must learn so many things today, but civility deserves some space, notes Spadafora. 

"Civil kids means civil adolescents, which hopefully means civil adults."