A small‐scale study on student teachers' perceptions of classroom management and methods for dealing with misbehaviour

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify student teachers' perceptions of classroom management and methods for dealing with misbehaviour. In-depth interviews with nine student teachers at Ç ukurova University (Ç Ü ) in Turkey have been conducted twice, prior to and at the end of their teaching practice. Instructional management, behaviour management, communication, and physical organization of classrooms are the main components of classroom management for student teachers. Student teachers usually tend to use preventive, positive and less intrusive methods, such as non-verbal messages, warnings, and positive reinforcement involving students' instructional activities, to manage student behaviour. The results of the study reveal that although student teachers feel confident about starting a teaching career, they need improvement in understanding child psychology, in experiencing different teaching situations, and in becoming competent in contemporary teaching methods. Nonetheless, student teachers reported that their sense of efficacy increased from the beginning to the end of the course.

Using Online Blogs to Develop Student Teachers’ Behaviour Management Approaches

“…Merrett and Wheldall (1993) interviewed 176 teachers and found that while they considered classroom management skills important, approximately three-quarters were dissatisfied with the training they had received in this area, a finding confirmed in more recent studies (Atici, 2007;Giallo & Little, 2003). It is not only the student teachers who believe that they are inadequately trained in this area.…”

“…Notwithstanding the importance of effective behaviour management training, many student and beginning primary teachers report feeling inadequately trained to deal with student misbehaviour (Atici, 2007;Giallo & Little, 2003;Houston & Williamson, 1993). Merrett and Wheldall (1993) interviewed 176 teachers and found that while they considered classroom management skills important, approximately three-quarters were dissatisfied with the training they had received in this area, a finding confirmed in more recent studies (Atici, 2007;Giallo & Little, 2003).…”

Classroom behaviour management preparation in undergraduate primary teacher education in Australia : A web-based investigation.

“…As well as overviews of models of CBM, specific strategies arising from the effective teacher research (see, for example, Doyle, 1986) have been reported in teacher preparation programs (Kaufman & Moss, 2010). Specific skills such as rule development and reminders, praise, desists and redirections, ignoring, providing choices, and reinforcement of positive behaviours have been reported (Atici, 2007;Higgins & Moule, 2009;Morales, 2001;Sanderson, 2004).…”

“…Atici (2007) suggested that separate (stand-alone) classroom management units were offered in recent Turkish teacher preparation programs, but no specific institutions or courses were discussed. Others have reported on semester-long methods units in classroom management for undergraduate elementary teachers (Sanderson, 2004;Stough, Montague, Landmark, & Williams-Diehm, 2006) and education majors (Clement, 2002) in the US.…”

“…Blum's (1994) survey of teacher preparation programs in the US indicated a wide range of topics could be included in stand-alone and embedded CBM units, with behaviourist approaches reported to be imparted in over 95% of all units. Content may contain broad approaches such as humanistic models (Clement, 2002;Kaufman & Moss, 2010;Main & Hammond, 2008;Martin, 2004;Van Laarhoven et al, 2007), ecological models (Main & Hammond, 2008), and non-specific classroom management models (Atici, 2007;Higgins & Moule, 2009;Larson & Goebel, 2008;Putman, 2009;Sanderson, 2004). Knowledge about management styles (e.g.…”