Classroom Management: What Does Research Tell Us?

Abstract

The article reviews studies that focus on classroom management. The aim of classroom management is twofold. The first is to establish a quiet and calm environment in the classroom so that the pupils can take part in meaningful learning in a subject. The second aim is that classroom management contributes to the pupils' social and moral development. During an early phase, classroom management focused on pupil behaviour and discipline, and was rooted in a behaviourist understanding. This article shows that classroom management is now more about understanding the class as a social system. The findings show that several factors and conditions influence classroom management: the self-understanding of teachers and their mindfulness, the multicultural classroom, behaviour management, lack of knowledge on classroom management, knowledge of physical and social context, rules, relations and commitment, person-centred versus teacher-centred classroom management, an ecological perspective on classroom management and classroom management in connection with motivation and learning. The review article states that classroom management is just as much about managing learning processes when an activity is taking place as it is about creating peace and quiet so pupils can get down to work.

Teacher’s Classroom Management Behavior and Students’ Classroom Misbehavior: A Study with 5th through 9th-Grade Students

“…Disrespect for rules and procedures, wandering around the room, talking out of turn, passive engagement in the classroom, disruption of classmates' work and moving the furniture in the classroom, are just some of a wide range of behaviors referred by teachers as classroom misbehavior (Briesch, Briesch, & Chafouleas, 2015;Postholm, 2013;Sun & Shek, 2012). Often teachers attribute these classroom misbehaviors to students' lack of interest in school contents, to wrong educational politics, to school and society permissiveness about misbehavior and violence, and most of all to poor parenting (Ding, Li, Li, & Kulm, 2010;Lopes & Santos, 2013;Riley, Lewis, & Wang, 2012).…”

Impact of school locality on teaching and learning: A qualitative inquiry

“…Due to urban shift in Fiji, city schools with larger class sizes experienced more management issues such as space, time and activities as well as negative student behaviour. Hence, urban teachers face more classroom management issues, namely the application of strategies focused on minimising disruption and increasing student cooperation (Postholm, 2013), as an urban HOD commented, Since we are a city school, we are challenged with large class size. We have classes with more than 40 students, so it becomes a challenge to manage the class, especially for our new teachers.…”

Untitled

“…According to Postholm (2013), when students are involved in classroom activities and decisions, there is a possibility for them to achieve more in learning even if there are some physical challenges. Barr (2016) mentions seven elements for a positive classroom as follows:…”