Psychological Management of Inappropriate Classroom Behaviour of Pupils

For many years now, the management of students by their teachers for effective teaching and learning has been an uphill task. It has posed great challenges and worries to educational administrators and society at large. Teachers must resort to various ways to get the pupils positioned properly for effective learning. Different means and methods have been adopted to achieve the goals and objectives of educational planning and administration. There are various types of punishments which have long been in existence but have had limited success. In this paper, some behavioural principles of classical and operant conditioning as well as observational learning have been discussed as strategies to elicit, start or increase appropriate behaviours. Also, different ways to stop unwanted behaviours have been di scussed. It is therefore recommended that teachers should study the problems of their pupils individually and apply appropriate behaviour modification strategies.