PERSONALITY AND PUPIL CONTROL BEHAVIOUR
| Published date | 01 January 1976 |
| Date | 01 January 1976 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009745 |
| Pages | 79-86 |
| Author | A. RAY HELSEL |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XIV, No. 1 May, 1976
PERSONALITY AND PUPIL CONTROL BEHAVIOUR1
A. RAY HELSEL
Pupil control behaviour is conceptualized as a continuum ranging from "custodialism",
which views students as irresponsible and undisciplined needing strictness and punishment
to "Humanism", which emphasizes a democratic atmosphere in which students are capable
of self-discipline and are treated accordingly. The theoretical framework relates
dogmatism, pupil control ideology and pupil control behaviour. The general hypothesis is
that closed-mindedness will be positively related to custodialism in pupil control ideology,
which in turn manifests itself in custodial pupil control behaviour. The prediction was sup-
ported. The results of the investigation indicate that dogmatism and pupil control behaviour
are related; but more importantly, that the association is not direct. The analysis suggests
that dogmatism operates through ideology to structure behaviour.
INTRODUCTION
"Discipline" or pupil control has long persisted as a problem of the
public schools. Evidence from a recent national survey indicates that dis-
cipline leads the public's list of problems confronting schools in their com-
munity, as it has in four out of the last five years. Professional educators
view discipline as second only to lack of Financial support when asked to
name the crucial issues facing public education.2
Yet, it is only recently that there has been sustained, systematic research
that addresses the problem of pupil control in schools. A major stream of
inquiry began in the middle 1960s with the development of a conceptual
framework for the study of pupil control, which has since spawned more
than seventy investigations in this and other countries.3
The present study builds on this earlier work on pupil control. The
relationship between one aspect of personality, dogmatism, and its
relationship to pupil control behaviour is examined.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESIS
Much of the concern for pupil control in public schools can be at-
tributed to certain properties of schools as formal organizations. Schools
exhibit the characteristics of
a
general organizational type. Unlike produc-
tion organizations which deal with inanimate objects, the personnel in
"people-changing" organizations work with humans as raw material.4 The
desired end product is an altered person. Moreover, the organization-
A. RAY HELSEL is Associate Professor of Education at Southern Illinois University,
Edwardsville. Professor Helsel holds the degrees of B.S. (Indiana, Pa.), M.Ed. and D.Ed.
(Penn State). His main areas of research and publication are in pupil control, organizational
change and the social psychology of organization.
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