Analyzing the Experiences of Elementary School Teachers from Disciplined Students: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this Husserlian phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of Shiraz primary school teachers of disciplined students. Participants in the study were 12 teachers with teaching experience in the central and suburbs of Shiraz, who were selected from the first and sixth grades via purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were used as the qualitative data collection instrument. The acceptability and reliability criteria for qualitative data were used to determine the initial validity of the collected data. Given the qualitative approach in this research, thematic analysis was conducted to develop a network of themes signifying the disciplined students’ characteristics. To this end, the data was codified; the codes were compared and similar codes were combined, resulting in a total of two basic (positive and negative) and four organizing themes, pertaining to the students’ personality, studying habits, interaction with other students, and interactions with the teachers. All these themes together were the constituents of a global theme called the characteristics of disciplined students. The model designed in this study provides a framework for school principals to identify disciplined students and can help teachers identify weaknesses and shortcomings in their teaching. The proposed model can thereby pave the way for the school staff to provide an educational environment that can foster the students’ innovation and improve their performance at school.