Children are getting rougher, the teachers say. And new research supports it

An Ontario teacher says “manners have gone out the door” in classrooms since the pandemic, and new research agrees that kids have become more rude to both teachers and each other.

“There are a lot more outbreaks,” said Marylinda Lamarra, a high school teacher with the York Catholic District School Board in Ontario.

“Students feel empowered to just speak up when they have a question on their mind … or they ask to go to the bathroom, mid-sentence, while I’m teaching,” she shared The current.

Lamarra said students struggle to pay attention throughout an entire lesson and can’t seem to control their own disruptive behavior. They are also rude to each other and often cannot resolve conflicts without resorting to yelling.

“It’s just become more and more noticeable after COVID,” she said.

They were at home behind a screen… They could do whatever they wanted– Marylinda Lamarra

ONE recent study from Brock University found a marked increase in classroom incivility since the pandemic. Researchers asked 308 Ontario children aged nine to 14 to fill out a survey that asked if they had ever engaged in rude or disruptive behaviour.

This includes things like texting in class, interrupting or talking over a teacher, or packing up before the lesson is even over. The Brock team also spoke to 101 primary educators about their experiences in the classroom.

This data was collected in the fall of 2022 and compared to surveys previously conducted in the fall of 2019. The results showed a significant increase in classroom incivility, although other questions raised in the survey — such as bullying and emotional well-being — showed little change.

Natalie Spadafora, who led the study, said that while some of the behaviors may just seem like minor annoyances, they shouldn’t be dismissed.

“Overall, we know from teachers, students and our research that it can have negative effects,” said Spadafora, a post-doctoral fellow and adjunct professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Studies at Brock University.

“We know that if left unchecked it can escalate to higher levels of anti-social behaviour.”

‘At home behind a screen’

Lamarra believes that pandemic shutdowns and distance learning played a role in this increase in incivility, especially for younger children who lost out on learning how to behave in a classroom.

“They were at home behind a screen with no classroom instruction or decorum… They could do whatever they wanted and they seem to have brought that into the classroom,” she said.

Lamarra said educators expected them to play catch-up to get the kids “back on track,” but it hasn’t been easy.

“There are students who have switched back, it’s just been slower than expected,” she said.

Spadafora believes the pandemic had an impact, but pointed out that generational and technological factors may also play a role.

“Ten years ago … texting during class wasn’t something on our scale, but now it definitely is,” she said.

“I’d say behavior changes over time, right?”

She added that many of these problems are not children deliberately trying to cause harm. She gave the example of packing up books before a lesson is over and while a teacher is still teaching because a child is anxious to get to recess or home at the end of the day.

These children think “about themselves or their social life” but “forget about group dynamics and what that might imply on a wider scale,” she said.

Here’s how to get back to basics

Lamarra said dealing with these disruptions can be frustrating, but she has to stay calm as a teacher and help her students improve their behavior.

“I think we just need to get back to the basics where we teach the civility, we teach proper manners,” she said.

She added that “parents have a role to play in teaching their children how to do in the classroom, how to do in society. We have to give them those skills.”

She worries that if children don’t learn to behave politely in the classroom, the bad behavior will show up in the wider community as they get older.

Spadafora agrees that it is important to promote civility at a young age.

“Civilian children mean civilian adults, and that’s what we all want,” she said.