PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS ON THE USE OF REINFORCEMENT IN MANAGING STUDENTS’ INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOURS: IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELLING

Bolu-Steve, F. N, Ph.D & Babatunde, A.N

Abstract

The study investigated the perception of teachers in Ilorin Metropolis on the use of reinforcement in managing students’ inappropriate behaviour. The researchers designed a questionnaire items tittle Use of Reinforcement on Behaviour (URB). The simple random sampling procedure was used to select 240 teachers from the three Local Government Areas (East, West and South) in Ilorin Metropolis. The respondents were stratified based on the four study variables.  A reliability index of 0.70 was obtained using Person Product Moment Correlation statistical method. Descriptive analysis was used for the demographic data of the respondents, t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics were used at 0.05 alpha level. The results revealed that reinforcement technique can be used to manage inappropariate behaviour like disobidence to school authority and indecent dressing among students. Respondents were not different in their perception on the usage of reinforcement technique in managing students’ inappropriate behaviour on the basis of gender, school type and teaching experience. However the respondents differ on the basis of educational qualification of the respondents. It was  thereforere commended thatteachers should be trained and re-trained through capacity building workshops and seminars on different use of reinforcement strategies