Children called Aaron, Callum, Abbie and Courtney strike fear into the nation’s teachers, it has been revealed. Researchers found kids bearing these monikers are thought to be the naughtiest in class by over 1,000 British tutors.
In fact, one in five teachers polled claim they think they can tell how a child will behave just by looking at the new class register in September. And if names such as Connor, Aimee, Brandon and Chloe are on the list, school teachers think they are in for a difficult year.
Lisa Penney, spokesmum for www.bounty.com who compiled the report said: “Rightly or wrongly, it’s only natural to make some assumptions about what children may be like from hearing their names – whether you mean to or not – and teachers aren’t any different.
Whether it’s from previous experience with pupils, or people they’ve known from their own past, certain names seem to strike a nerve with teachers – although I’m sure they are all more than happy to be proved wrong!”
Other boys who are likely to be troublesome in the classroom are called Adam, Aiden and Jack.
Lads with the names Joshua, Kyle and Reece also command more of their teacher’s attention, as they fail to abide by the rules.
While lasses called Abigail, Bethany and Amy have been identified as some of the hardest to manage by tutors. And Alice, Amber and Charlotte are amongst other names which teachers dread seeing on the class register.
But as the survey suggests, the class register isn’t the only way teachers judge how a child is likely to behave. A third of those polled admitted they often form an opinion on which children will be more difficult when meeting their parents.
And once the school year has started teachers go on to judge their pupils behaviour by how rude they are to both them and other children. More than half of those questioned can’t stand it if a child bullies their peers, while 36 per cent reprimand children who shout in class.
Teachers are also more likely to label a child as naughty if they refuse to do what they are asked, ignore requests to sit down quietly, and fail to listen.
And when asked why they think their more troublesome pupils play up in class, two out of three teachers said they’re looking for attention and three out of five believe it’s because they aren’t disciplined at home.
Making naughty children sit separately from others to think about what they’ve done was found to be the most effective method used to deal with naughty children.
But incredibly, more than a third of teachers say that it is often the naughty children who have the most friends at school. And two thirds say that while a child might appear naughty, they are just behaving that way to get attention from their peers.
Lisa Penney from Bounty continues: “We were really interested to find that some of the children who have been labelled as the naughtiest in the class have also been identified as the brightest in our poll – with Aaron, Adam, Abigail and Charlotte appearing on both lists.
These names also appear on the list of the most popular children in school, suggesting that whilst they’re disruptive in class the ‘naughtier’ children are actually better at learning with other members of the class looking up to them.”
Students named Jack, Ben, Emma and Emily are also highlighted as the children everyone wants to play with.
TOP 10 NAUGHTY BOYS
1. Aaron
2. Callum
3. Connor
4. Brandon
5. Adam
6. Aidan
7. Jack
8. Joshua
9. Kyle
10. Reece
TOP 10 NAUGHTY GIRLS
1. Abbie
2. Courtney
3. Aimee
4. Chloe
5. Abigail
6. Bethany
7. Amy
8. Alice
9. Amber
10. Charlotte
TOP 10 BRIGHTEST BOYS
1. Aaron
2. Adam
3. Alexander
4. William
5. Christopher
6. Thomas
7. Matthew
8. Ben
9. Alex
10. Edward
TOP 10 BRIGHTEST GIRLS
1. Abigail
2. Charlotte
3. Alice
4. Elizabeth
5. Abbie
6. Hannah
7. Amelia
8. Grace
9. Emily
10. Bethany
TOP 10 MOST POPULAR BOYS
1. Jack
2. Ben
3. Aaron
4. Adam
5. Alex
6. Callum
7. Daniel
8. Thomas
9. Alfie
10. Sam
TOP 10 MOST POPULAR GIRLS
1. Abbie
2. Charlotte
3. Alice
4. Aimee
5. Amy
6. Abigail
7. Chloe
8. Emily
9. Sophie
10. Emma