Classroom Management Skills

Classroom management skills is a key element for being a good teacher. Wright (2005) explains the relationship between the teacher’s characteristics and classroom management skills as follows:

1) The aggressive teacher
The teacher uses punishment and very rarely teaches pupils how to behave. A
considerable amount of bellowing of orders, and anger and contempt are used.
The teacher believes he/she has the right to get what he/she wants but has little
understanding of the rights of the children. Belittling children is a common
characteristic of the teacher.

2) The passive teacher
The teacher understands the importance of being adult and a leader in the
classroom but confuses the various qualities that a good teacher needs to have. The teacher has a lack of self-belief that he/she can lead and manage the
pupils.

3) The proactive teacher
The teacher is assertive and able to get what he/she wants in the classroom.
He/she is confident of his/her ability to manage the children and committed to
creating an environment that will help them feel safe, secure and liked. The
teacher has effective classroom management skills.

This shows that the proactive teacher’s role is expected from a good teacher. Wright’s(2005) views are supported by Robertson’s (2006) study, which was a panel discussion about good teachers in the US. Pupils from grades 3 to 5 mentioned that ‘the teacher knows how to control students without screaming at them’. In the B.B.C – cbbc opinion



survey (2005), Jobhan defines ‘A good teacher has to be able to control the class and needs to make lessons fun’. Jamie says that ‘Basically, someone who can control the class and truly inspire young people to fulfil their true potential. It sounds really cheesy and everything but it's true’. Leelah, says that ‘A good teacher can control a class’.

These views are further supported by Kutnick’ and Jules’s (1993) study about pupils’ perceptions of good teacher in Trinidad and Tobago. They found that ‘mid-aged pupils (age from 12 to 13) valued the range of classroom control used by the teachers, actions involved in the teaching process and growing awareness of the individual needs of pupils’ as important for a good teacher. In addition, Robertson (2006) showed that ‘the good teacher knows how to control students without screaming at them’.

Jules and Kutnick (1997) study found that ‘boys showed greater concerns regarding teacher control and use of punishment’. Beishuizen et al.’s study (2001) indicated items with high loadings on the ability side of the dimension as ‘the teacher takes care of the classroom’.

Desai et al. (2001) found that ‘the teacher informs students and stresses attendance policy’ as important. However, pupils appreciated less that the teacher ‘be in the class before students and be last to leave’ and ‘teaches a full class period on the first day’.