Abstract
Many primary school teachers experience disruptive behaviour from their pupils. This can lead teachers to feel intense unpleasant emotions and affect teacher effectiveness, motivation and job satisfaction. This in turn impacts on quality of teaching and can have a negative impact on the child’s social and academic development. In the present study, ten primary school teachers were interviewed about their experiences and understanding of disruptive behaviour. These were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Five superordinate themes were identified, one of which is reported in this paper. This theme, "The Personal Impact of the Behaviour and its Perceived Effect on the Relationship" encompasses five subthemes: Emotional Impact and Perception of Behaviour; Perceived Control and Self-Efficacy; Competency and Experience; The Effect of Emotion, and Seeing an Improvement, on the Teacher-Child Relationship and Relationship between Child and Teacher Behaviour. These themes indicate the reciprocal nature of the teacher and child behaviour, the importance of understanding the emotions evoked by disruptive behaviours and how these affect teachers’ perceptions of the behaviour. The findings suggest teachers may benefit from opportunities to reflect on their emotional experience, which could facilitate greater understanding and more positive interactions with these children.