8. Do you behave differently with different people?
Most students (35) attested to changing their behaviour in order to adapt to changing
circumstances, eg. ‘You couldn’t talk the same to everyone, you have to adapt’.
Interestingly in one school no student said he or she would change behaviour, ‘I wouldn’t
change for anybody. No way’.
9. What sort of qualities/values would you say you have as a person?
This question aimed to elicit ideas about student self-image. Many qualities were given
but only closing house doors, academic cleverness, loss of control (lack of anger
management) and sarcasm occur twice or more. Students avoided this question. They
appeared to feel unable to be honest about having either positive or negative qualities.
The answers may be subject to the unreliability of self-report and the reluctance to self-
present.
10. Can you think of moments when you feel that you should behave in a certain
way but you behave in another way?
The question was asked in order to uncover possible inhibitors to good behaviour.
Participants regularly cited peer pressure, fear of rejection of offers to help, a feeling that
old people dislike youth, the intervention of others, that people should look after
themselves. There were also those who adduced fear of arrest and implication in an
incident ‘cos they might make a fingerprint of you touching her and the police will then
arrest you’, ‘yeah, you’ll become number one suspect’. The responses appeared to be
thoughtful, uncomplicated and genuine in nature.
11. If you do a good act what do you think are the main reasons for it?
We wanted to find out the motivations for good behaviour, whether it was because of
reward, an inculcated automatic response or a felt impulse to assist others. Students said
that the main reasons for doing a good act were it was the right thing to do (17), empathy
with the person (14), sympathy for the helped (9), hope of reward (9), to feel a sense of
pride (8), to have good feelings (6), to be blessed by God (2), instinct (2).
12. What has been the most positive moment for you in this school?
This question was used as a gauge of positive feelings in an inner city school
environment. These were, in order of frequency, Academic Achievement, Awards and
Formal Recognition, Sports Achievement, Outward Bound Education and trips offsite.
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