Behaviour problems in a classroom increase the stress levels for both the

part in them forming their perceptions of challenging behavior’s and dealing with 
it. Finally, teacher participants believe that by working within “boundaries” a 
student would be motivated to learn and would conform to classroom rules and 
expectations. Two of the teachers expressed their views around this by saying that 
having no rules or routines in a class for the children to follow will just end up in 
a disaster as the children will have no idea about what to do and how to behave if 
there are no boundaries set out for them. Kroeger & Bauer suggest that behavior 
is governed by rules and expectations and that by not working within these 

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23 
boundaries of teachers expectations, students will not “fit in”.
25
This could also 
result in students being denied the “presence of access to learning” (Emerson, 
2001, p.18). When setting boundaries for students presenting challenging 
behavior’s, teachers also spoke of being firm but fair, they stressed on knowing 
about the home background of a student. Consistent with the literature presented 
in chapter 2 (Belson, 1992; Kauffman et al., 2002; Rogers, 1998; Watkins & 
Wagner, 2000) these results show that when setting boundaries for students, 
teachers need to be clear about their own understandings of acceptable behavior’s, 
in different contexts, and what they will tolerate around pushing the boundaries. 
Again stress is on teacher perceptions of what constitutes challenging behavior 
and how they manage it. Next strategy considered significant by all participating 
teachers was building good relationships with the students and the families. 
Relationship between teachers and students 88 A good relationship as one that is 
supportive and positive in nature is seen by almost all except one teacher 
participant to be of the utmost importance in ensuring that effective learning 
occurs and helps in managing challenging behavior’s successfully. Only one 
teacher participant out of the eight teachers interviewed believed with some 
children building good relationships with them and their family does not make 
much difference or any difference. Teacher participants spoke of the need to have 
knowledge of the family that the student comes from to build strong relationships. 
One teacher claimed that positive collaborative family relationships between 
home and school made them feel safe and secure. This claim is well supported in 
literature regarding preferred Maori teaching practices.
26
This claim is also 
supported in contemporary classroom teaching in bilingual classroom situations.
27
If a teacher has experienced family events that are the same or like those of their 
students, sharing these experiences will greatly assist in establishing effective 
25
Kroeger and Bauer. Exploring diversity: A video case approach. Upper Saddle River,- NJ: Pearson Prentice 
Hall. 
26
Bishop and Berryman. Culture speaks: Cultural relationships and classroom learning. - Wellington, New 
Zealand: Huia, 2006, P.79 
27
MacFarlane. Discipline, democracy, and diversity, working with students with behavioural difficulties. -
Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER Press, 2007. 

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24 
relationships (Gill, 2006). Four teacher participants assert that a teacher needs to 
genuinely appreciate the importance that families place on students well being. 
However this is not to suggest that teachers visit the families and homes of every 
student in their class to gather information but what the teacher participants 
expressed was that teachers need to ensure they build and maintain a positive open 
channel of communication with the students families. Involve the family members 
in their child’s school life. Let them know if they had a good day or a bad day. 
According to MacFarlane and Russe teachers who care about students will find 
that their students care 89 about them in turn, and will generally show enthusiasm 
in class towards learning and are less likely to not conform to classroom 
expectations. Hence, teachers will find it easy to manage challenging behavior’s 
as they would have built this relationship of mutual respect with their students. 
The issue of respect between teachers and students was mentioned by all teacher 
participants. All the teacher participants indicated that they gain respect by being 
kind, firm and fair and creating a safe environment with boundaries. Three teacher