This can be clearly identified through research at Brock University, pointing to rising numbers of disturbances during and even before classes started at Ontarian schools, caused by post COVID-19 pandemic breakout. Such growing levels of incivility comprise phenomena like texting while attending lecture hours, disrupting colleagues, or showing tardiness in joining lectures.
This work was conducted by Brock University Postdoctoral Fellow Natalie Spadafora, and her team compared pre-pandemic-related school closing data. According to a paper titled “Are Child and Adolescent Students More Uncivil After COVID-19?” classroom incivility grows at an increased rate within both elementary and high schools.
Data were obtained from 308 nine to 14-year-old adolescents and 101 educators who taught Grades 1-3. Teachers indicated that disruptive behaviors skyrocketed during the year; in fact, 42% of teachers stated that classroom incivility happened daily, while just 6% of them before March 2020 had made that statement. Also, 68% of educators believed that classroom incivility was “moderately” or “very” serious in the 2021-22 school year.
According to Spadafora, a lot of students cannot cope with these very basic expectations of behavior in the classroom due to having lost their traditional setting of learning. “These children have missed those early days in the classroom where you learn how to be in school,” she said. Exposure to these early days led to increased instances of behaviors usually not seen until much later grades.
The study emphasizes the need for intervention to be made at an early stage since elevated levels of incivility may be an antecedent to bullying. Spadafora suggests parents discuss the importance of manners and respect with their children, which, she feels, gives a strong foundation for better classroom behavior.
The future research by Spadafora’s team would further explore whether this trend of incivility continues with the passage of time or if it remained only for the immediate aftermath of the pandemic.
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