120 hr. TEFL Course Module 9-Classroom Management (Pt.6 Accountability)

Module 9: Classroom management

9.3 Accountability

While most discussions of classroom management focus on managing classroom behavior, accountability is an important aspect that you can control in many other areas of your class. It is a pretty simple idea: set expectations for your students and then hold them to those expectations. Why is it, then, that so many teachers have problems holding their students accountable? Here are some possible reasons:

9.3.1 Why is accountability so hard?

Why is it hard for teachers to sometimes hold students accountable? If we all admit it is important, why isn’t it just second nature?

Holding students accountable requires a confrontation. While teachers know that student behavior will be better if they hold the students accountable, that does not make putting their foot down any easier. While instinct tells you that the right thing to do when a student acts inappropriately is to punish him or her accordingly, it can be hard to actually do it because you know it will often end in an argument.


When you are trying to build an atmosphere of mutual respect, it can be difficult to know when you are overreacting and when you just aren’t being strict enough. If a student clearly acts inappropriately, then it may be easy to punish him or her immediately. What happens, though, when the student toes the line of inappropriate behavior? At what point do you act, and at what point do you let it go? This can be a very difficult decision.

If you come down too hard on students, it could encourage more inappropriate behavior rather than appropriate behavior. If students feel they are being punished unfairly, they are more likely to act out in defiance.


Some students are terrible at dealing with confrontation, and it can just be easier to ignore their behavior. While this might be a good strategy with some students as long as they are not being disrespectful and are doing their work, it could have a negative effect on the class environment. Students do not like it when they are held to stricter standards than their classmates, so if you make too many concessions, you end up either making concessions for the entire class or upsetting the students who are acting appropriately.

Confrontations are stressful, and it is easier to just let something go or pretend you didn’t see or hear it rather than make an issue of it.

Every student has a different story, and when you know that one of your students is going through a tough time or has a less than satisfactory home life, you feel compassion towards him or her and want to cut him or her some slack.

No one strives to be the mean teacher, and as much as you want to believe that you don’t care what your students think about you, you will care.