Teachers' strategies for helping shy students: findings from a national survey in Norway

Nyborg, Geir, Mjelve, Liv Heidi, Ray Crozier, W., Arnesen, Anne, Coplan, Robert J. and Edwards, Anne 2023. Teachers' strategies for helping shy students: findings from a national survey in Norway. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 10.1080/00313831.2023.2196534

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Abstract

The goals of this study were to investigate strategies that teachers may use to help students with their shyness at school and to explore potential effects of demographic variables (i.e., teacher experience, class size, grade level) on teachers’ strategies. Participants were a national sample of N = 275 teachers (from 230 elementary schools) in Norway, who reported their frequency of use of different strategies and rated their perceived effectiveness for helping shy students across four domains: (1) encouraging oral participation; (2) promoting social relationships; (3) reducing anxiety; and (4) whole-class strategies. Across domains, common themes included teachers’ sensitivity to individual shy students, reduction of stress associated with novel situations, involving peers, focus on social skills, and building trusting relationships with shy students. Demographic variables had only limited effects on strategy use/effectiveness. Findings are discussed in relation to previous theory and research related to teachers’ strategies for assisting shy students at school.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
ISSN:	0031-3831
Funders:	The Research Council of Norway, (Norges forskningsråd), grant number 254982
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 April 2023
Date of Acceptance:	20 March 2023
Last Modified:	04 May 2023 12:35
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/158855

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