Themes: Behaviour, Inclusion
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Affective teaching: a method to enhance classroom management
Shechtman, Z. and Leichtentritt, J. (2004) University of Haifa, Israel
European Journal of Teacher Education, 27 (3) pp. 323-333
Does relating lessons to pupils’ personal interests and
experiences improve their behaviour?
Many teachers, especially teachers in special schools, but also mainstream teachers
faced with including pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties, find behaviour
management a challenge. This Israeli study investigated whether using a particular
teaching approach could improve pupil behaviour.
The researchers explored the impact of ‘affective teaching’ (which focused on valuing
student attitudes, feelings and beliefs and encouraged students to discuss their personal
interests and experiences) on pupil behaviour. They compared the approach with
‘cognitive teaching’ (which focused on providing information and explaining concepts).
Fifty-two student teachers taught special education classes in primary and secondary
schools (each containing around 8 pupils) three lessons using both teaching methods –
cognitive teaching for the first half of the lesson and affective teaching for the second half.
The researchers’ statistical analysis showed a decrease in misbehaviour and an increase
in positive behaviours during the affective teaching units compared with the cognitive
units. The different effects of the teaching approaches were found at both primary and
secondary level.
The researchers concluded that the affective teaching approach encouraged pupils’
personal growth, supported their mental health and promoted pro-social skills in a natural
way and recommended that teachers include elements of affective teaching into their
lessons to complement cognitive teaching.
Keywords:
Israel; Special schools; Primary schools; Secondary schools; Teachers; Student
teachers; Behaviour; History; Teaching and learning; Teaching methods; Initial Teacher
Training
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Contents
How did affective teaching differ from cognitive teaching?
What effect did affective teaching have on student behaviour?
How was the study designed?
What are the implications of the study for practitioners?
Where can I find out more?
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How did affective teaching differ from cognitive teaching?
Cognitive teaching involved regular and familiar methods, including individual planning,
grouping and games. The focus was on information and concepts. Affective teaching
also involved regular methods of discussion, grouping and individual work, but the focus
was on personal experiences – clarifying attitudes, preferences, aspirations, relationships
etc. The researchers gave an example of a history lesson about Independence Day
taught to pupils aged 11-12 years, which incorporated both approaches.
The cognitive unit
This part of the lesson included a short story on the War of Independence. The teachers
clarified key terms, explained the historical steps that led to the war and conceptualised
the meaning of independence for the country. The flag was introduced as a symbol of
the country’s independence and the children were asked to identify the Israeli flag from
other flags and create their own flag.
The affective unit
This part of the lesson focused on personal independence. The children were asked to
make up a list of functions in which they felt dependent and another list in which they felt
independent, based around a general list of tasks, such as getting up in the morning,
choosing clothes to wear, decision-making about free time and saying no to group
pressure. The pupils shared personal information with each other, compared their
responses and clarified issues. Finally, each pupil chose one behaviour that s/he would
like to change from dependence to independence. The group challenged each other
about the change they wanted to make, referring to perceptions, emotions and ways of
achieving the change.
The researchers also explained how other subjects might be transferred to a personal
level. For example, geography lessons could be used to investigate places the pupils
have been to and places they would like to go, with whom and why. In mathematics
lessons, pupils could explore ways of spending extra money or preferences for donating
money etc.
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What effect did affective teaching have on student behaviour?
The researchers’ statistical analysis revealed a significantly lower occurrence of
misbehaviours in the affective unit of the lessons compared with the cognitive unit. The
kind of misbehaviours that were reduced included:
 talking without permission (any verbal response, even a relevant one, without first
raising hand and getting teacher’s permission);
 off-task behaviour (day-dreaming, inattentiveness, playing with something);
 moving around or leaving the classroom without permission; and
 aggression (verbal and physical) towards children or the teacher.
The researchers also found a significantly higher occurrence of positive behaviours in the
affective units compared with the cognitive units, including increased:
 expression of personal thoughts, ideas and perceptions;
 expression of emotions and feelings;
 self-awareness, self understanding and insight; and
 expression of support, positive feedback, and encouragement of classmates.
The biggest difference in the positive behaviours was the expression of feelings. In the
cognitive lessons this hardly existed, while in the affective lessons they were very
frequent. The differences between the types of teaching were consistent across primary
and secondary classes.
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How was the study designed?
Fifty-two student teachers, all in their final year of a teacher-training programme,
conducted three ninety-minute lessons with pupils in special education classes. Twenty
of the classes were in elementary schools and thirty-two classes were in secondary
schools in Israel. The pupils (who ranged in age from six to fifteen years old) usually
demonstrated a variety of challenging behaviours, including attention problems,
disturbing and destructive behaviour and aggression.
Each lesson was divided into two forty-five minute units. The student teachers used the
cognitive teaching approach for the first unit and the affective approach for the second
unit. A bell signalled the end of the first unit. The class’s usual teacher completed
observation sheets for both parts of each lesson.
The observation sheet was divided into four negative and four positive behaviours. The
classes (which contained around eight pupils) were observed as a whole and scores
were given to each child for each of the behaviours observed during the lessons. An
average score on each of the behaviours was calculated for every pupil. The researchers
used statistical analysis to compare the effects of the two types of teaching.
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What are the implications of the study for practitioners?
In completing this digest, the authors began to ask questions about implications for
practitioners.
Teachers may wish to consider the following questions based on the messages of this
study:

would it help enhance your pupils’ on-task behaviour if you increased their
personal and emotional involvement in their learning by encouraging them to
share with the class personal information about themselves, such as their
aspirations, interests and anxieties during part of their lessons?

would you find it helpful to share ideas with colleagues for ways of incorporating
affective tasks into different topics and areas of the curriculum?
Leaders may like to consider the following questions:

could you give your colleagues more opportunities to discuss and reflect upon the
behaviour challenges they face and how they might respond to them?

would your colleagues find it helpful to be given time and support in designing and
carrying out small-scale research projects to help investigate ways of promoting
positive behaviour in your school?
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Where can I find out more?
Rompelman, L. (2002) Affective Teaching. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
The campaign for emotional literacy website: www.antidote.org.uk (Accessed 20 June
2005)
The behaviour for learning website: http://www.behaviour4learning.ac.uk/ (Accessed 20
June 2005)
The teaching citizenship website: http://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/ (Accessed 20
June 2005)
Evans, J. et al (2003) Support for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties in
mainstream primary classrooms: a review of the effectiveness of interventions EPPICentre and NFER. Summary available on the General Teaching Council’s Research of
the Month website at: http://www.gtce.org.uk/PolicyAndResearch/research/ROMtopics/
(Accessed 20 June 2005)
Wang, X. et al (2004) Engaging ADHD students in tasks with hand gestures: a
pedagogical possibility for teachers. Educational Studies 30 (3) pp.217 –229. Summary
available on the DfES website at:
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research/themes/inclusion/adhd/