Listening to the Experts: A Needs Assessment of ASSIST for Disruptive Classroom Behaviour an eLearning Professional Development Program for Classroom Teachers

Abstract

Teachers have limited access to training in in-class interventions for disruptive classroom behaviour (DCB). The goal of the current study was to understand the needs of end-users and stakeholders for teacher-implemented in-class interventions for DCB and their perspectives on eLearning about behaviour management. The needs assessment involved a mixed methods design using a structured interview and an online survey. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize survey responses, with open-ended data used for contextualization. The results revealed: (a) end-users and stakeholders were aware of and reported using many of the interventions that have been assessed in the literature, (b) more frequently used interventions were perceived as more effective, (c) interventions were inconsistently implemented and inconsistently effective, and (d) the implementation of interventions was influenced by student-teacher relationships. Results also indicated that while the participants perceived many positives of using eLearning, there were also some perceived barriers.