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

participants believed respect needs to be initiated and experienced by both 
teachers and students. Literature indicates that students and teachers will develop 
effective relationships when the respect is mutual 
28
and that the behavior of the 
students is more positively influenced by whether they liked and respected the 
teacher rather than by the effect of consequences forced upon them if they stepped 
over the boundaries.
29
In conclusion, findings indicate that positive relationships 
are crucial to both teacher and student working in the classroom, and are governed 
by the mutual respect that the two parties have for each other. Teachers reported 
that consistency in managing challenging behavior’s and in setting boundaries, 
along with reward and praise are important factors in successful management of 
challenging behavior’s. Praise and reward Token economies Teacher participants 
talked about the role of praise and rewarding students to manage challenging 
28
Alton Lee and Hawk. Quality teaching for diverse students in schools: Best evidence synthesis, 2002, pp 49-
51. 

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25 
behavior’s and minimizing the chances of challenging behavior’s from occurring. 
Six out of eight teacher participants spoke about 90 rewarding through either 
praise or stickers and group awards. Five teacher participants out of the eight 
mentioned that from their experience they felt and have seen that students felt that 
they would rather receive rewards for good efforts than face consequences or be 
punished for poor effort. These comments relate to literature which suggests that 
students respond more favorably to praise rather than punishment 
30
and by 
achieving such rewards assists in maintaining a student- teacher relationship.
31
Russet suggests using praise helps build self-worth in students and it is important 
that they “receive messages that they are loved, valued, and unique and 
fundamentally okay. It also helps in minimizing the incidences of challenging 
behavior’s from occurring. Token economy reward system is seen as a great 
strategy to manage challenging behavior’s by six teacher participants as four of 
them spoke about its value. One teacher indicated that having this praise and 
reward system running in the classrooms does help a lot in decreasing student 
frustration and manage challenging behavior’s as it is based on goal setting – 
teacher participants who employed this strategy said that this strategy keeps both 
teacher and student motivated as the student wants to work towards their goal 
which could be anything from staying on their seat for 10 minutes without moving 
to another place in the classroom or not talking to their friends during completing 
a task. The students want to be able to achieve their goal as they want to be 
rewarded by extra time on the computer or extra time on the activity table. Token 
economy is also considered of great value by Biosolid & Matso as they are of the 
opinion that one of the most positive aspects of token economies is that they are 
set up to reinforce appropriate behavior 91 and prevent inappropriate behavior, 
thereby minimizing the need to use reactive strategies in dealing with 
inappropriate behavior. In conclusion, teacher participants spoke of motivation 
30
Doidge, Kohn, Robertson. When rewards don't reward. - Education Horizons., 1996, pp 7-8. 
31
Arthur. Classroom management: Creating positive learning environments. (2nd ed.). - Southbank, 
Victoria,Australia: Nelson Australia. 

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26 
and relationships between themselves and students as being essential ingredients 
for successful management of challenging behavior’s. Respect for the students 
and their home (family) backgrounds are regarded as important for developing 
and maintain good relationships. Hema suggests that students respond positively 
and better to teachers who relate to them using effective communication and 
caring for them.