Excluding students from classroom: Teacher techniques that promote student responsibility

Students who continuously misbehave are frequently excluded from class, allowing them time to reflect on their inappropriate behavior. This paper examines students’ perceptions of the teacher’s behavior toward them prior to, during, and after the exclusion, focusing on teachers’ explanations, punishments, and follow-up conversations. The results indicate that students who do not accept responsibility for being excluded think that their teachers’ are to blame. To convince students to accept responsibility for their acts, teachers must explain why the exclusion is necessary, warn and punish before excluding a student, and hold a follow-up conversation, highlighting the impact of the misbehavior on classmates.

► Misbehaving students’ perceptions of being excluded from class.
► Students’ reaction to exclusion: responsibility or blaming their teachers.
► To increase student responsibility teachers should explain and give prior punishment.
► Teachers should conduct follow-up conversations with excluded students.
► Follow-up conversations should focus on classmates’ rights to learn and to be safe.