A Comparative Study of Disruptive Behavior between Schools in Norway and the United States. A conceptual and empirical exploration of disruptive behavior in schools

Abstract

This dissertation is concerned with how disruptive behavior appears in school. The study emphasizes the kinds of disruptive behavior that occur during class, and how it manifests itself in the classroom. The study is mainly concerned with issues inside the classrooms, but also moves outside the classroom by addressing everyday disruptions in the lives of students. The focus is not on causal relationships, but on existential incentives for how students cope with everyday disruptions and disruptive behavior in schools. The dissertation consists of two parts, one extended abstract and four articles. Two of the articles are conceptual explorations and two articles introduce empirical data to the equation. The theoretical articles, written by myself and the following articles are authored together with Professor Liv Duesund. The methodology used to collect the quantitative data is a mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Within the project, there are several master’s theses conducted prior to the work within this dissertation. These consist of observational studies of disruptive behavior in schools, which laid part of the foundation for the development of the quantitative questionnaire conducted on students in Norwegian and American schools. There is a small research community applying existential philosophy in relation to disruptive behavior in school. This dissertation could serve as a contribution to the field of education due to applying existential philosophy to a familiar phenomenon of students, teachers and researchers within education. The main empirical contribution of this thesis is an utilization of the student perspective to a much larger degree than many other studies of disruptive behavior as well as comparing findings in two countries. The findings document that disruptive behavior is not just an occasional occurrence, but also an everyday phenomenon. Also, such behavior is not only a local issue, but could be an aspect in modern society. The work with this dissertation was conducted at the University of Oslo and at the University of California, Berkeley.