Teacher's Differential Behaviour towards High and Low- Achieving Children: A Qualitative Approach

Abstract

This study is part of a larger project that examined the perceptions of children with learning difficulties (LD) and high-achieving (HA) children regarding their teacher's treatment towards high and low-achieving children.The results reported in this study are based on the interviews of 18 children of ages between 7 to 14 years old from Grade 3,4 and 5 in two Primary schools in Brunei. The children were interviewed twice during the year,at the beginning and towards the end of the year. The results show that equal numbers of LD and HA children perceived that teachers treated the high and low-achieving children differently at both times and their perceptions did not change with time. The high achievers were recipients of the kind treatment and good teaching whilst the low-achievers were recipients of negative treatment such as being ignored and scolded. The children also offered several suggestions as to the kind of help that teachers could do to help children with learning difficulties. This study is the first of its kind in Brunei that examined the perceptions of the two groups in students, namely LD and HA children,longitudinally regarding their perceptions of teacher's differential behaviour.