Learning to navigate classroom dynamics

Summary

This research focused on mapping the focus on classroom management (CM) in the teacher education internship part of the curriculum, and on investigating the relation between CM learning processes and outcomes of student teachers during their internship. Although CM in general was approached broadly in the investigated program(s), the present study showed that ‘developing interpersonal relationships’ was the most vital component in student teachers’ learning. Concerning student teachers’ CM learning processes, four patterns were found: ‘Knowledge driven’, ‘Feedback driven’, ‘Inspiration driven’ and ‘Practice driven’. These profiles differed in terms of student teachers’ use of theory, the roles played by their teacher educators and student teachers’ self-regulated learning. Based on these results, an intervention was designed to improve student teachers’ CM learning, which appeared effective according to perceptions of student teachers, but also indicated that providing focus and structure to student teachers’ CM learning processes leads student teachers to gaining a large variation of knowledge and insights.