WASHINGTON - Being good or naughty in the classroom may not entirely be up to kids. Their poor overall reputations could come in the way of their being regarded as good, suggests a study.

Professor Maggie MacLure and Professor Liz Jones of Manchester Metropolitan University have found that once children’s reputations are formed among teachers and other school staff, classmates and parents, they are used to read their everyday behaviour.

“Once children’s reputations have started to circulate in the staffroom, dining hall and among parents, their behaviour easily becomes interpreted as a sign of particular character traits, ” said Professor MacLure.

“One of the main functions of the reception year is to form a crowd of individual children into a class and tolerance of diversity is generally low. Classroom discipline is a very public activity and children who do not conform to the rules will be publicly marked as different,” added Professor MacLure.

According to Professor Jones: “The research shows that classroom culture is an important factor in generating problematic reputations for some children. Disciplinary practices that produce social order and forge a collective identity may marginalise a minority. Some cherished principles of early years education may also have unintended consequences. The principle of strong home-school links, for instance, may contribute to certain families being identified as sources of their children’s problematic behaviour.”

The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. (ANI)