Aotearoa New Zealand is experiencing a rise in challenging student behaviour in classrooms. Managing such behaviour has become one of the most demanding aspects of teachers’ work, and is frequently associated with increased stress and workload.
2024 NZCER survey findings showed that 82% of teachers had experienced disruptive student behaviour that caused serious disruption to their teaching, up from 68% in 2019. That same survey shows that over half of new teachers (0-5 years experience) identified “classroom management and behaviour approaches” as a priority for future professional learning and development (M. Li et al., 2025).
This research brief expands on these findings to explore factors that improve teachers’ experiences with student behaviour. It examines how school conditions (an inclusive school culture and training to support student wellbeing) influence teachers’ experiences through the mediating role of teachers’ confidence. Our research suggests that:
- When schools foster an inclusive culture (e.g., diversity is valued and teachers feel supported) and when teachers receive Professional Learning and Development (PLD) that helps them understand and respond to students’ wellbeing needs, teachers are more likely to develop confidence in teaching about diversity in their classrooms.
- This confidence then appears to shape both teachers’ experiences with student behaviour and their own wellbeing.
The findings are consistent with previous research showing that confident teachers are more likely to interpret behavioural challenges as manageable, and respond effectively in complex situations. As a result, they are less likely to experience severe disruptions to their teaching and less likely to feel unsafe in their work, which in turn enhances their own wellbeing.
These findings tell an important story about how schools can better support teachers in the face of increasing behavioural challenges. Rather than focusing solely on reducing student misbehaviour, the findings highlight a clear, proactive pathway for schools to enable teachers to feel confident and supported in responding to such behaviour themselves.