Becoming a problem: How and why children acquire a reputation as 'Naughty' in the earliest years at school

This classroom-focused study will trace the emergence of challenging behaviour amongst children in their earliest years at school. Based in four mainstream schools in Greater Manchester, it will investigate the ways in which some children come to be seen as 'naughty' or difficult in the reception year of the Foundation stage, and seek to develop insights that teachers and children might draw upon to pre-empt the development of a long-term identity and 'career' as a problem in school. The primary focus of the research will be on classroom cultures and the dynamics of interactions involving teachers and children. Using qualitative methods, the research will ask how problematic behaviour manifests itself in the mainstream classroom and other school locations, how it is dealt with by children and adults, and how positive and negative student identities develop. Working in close collaboration with teachers and children, the project will look for ways of improving the quality of interactions so that behaviour 'flash-points' and problem identities might be avoided. A key starting question for the research is: what makes it difficult for some children to be, and to be recognised as, 'good students'?