Methods used by teachers in the State of Kuwait to change unacceptable behavior among primary school students: Comparative descriptive study

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify the type of methods primary school teachers in Kuwait use to reduce unacceptable behaviors. The researchers used descriptive - difference research to define the type of methods the teachers used to change unaccepted behaviors of gifted students in comparison with non-gifted students. The study also aimed to determine the most common behavioral change methods used by the teachers in the two students’ categories according to some variables: academic qualification, years of experience, specialization, the nationality of the teachers, and the gender of the students. The sample consisted of 152 primary school teachers. The researchers verified the tool’s validity and reliability and also the suitability of the tool to answer the proposed research questions. Initially, they conducted the tool in a prospective sample of 37 teachers to test the stability of the scale that was measured by Cronbach’s alpha )0.906(. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between different methods of teachers used to reduce the unacceptable behavior among gifted and non-gifted students according to the most of the interest. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the method used by teachers with low qualification for non-gifted students. in favor of the method used by the highly qualified teachers. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between genders. The methods used by teachers also differed between gifted and non-gifted girls. Furthermore, there were statically significant differences in the methods used with boys students.