The Nature and Functions of Classroom Rules

ABSTRACT

This article looks at classroom rules—what they are and how they work. It begins by proposing that classroom rules are not the merely instrumental tools of management they are often taken to be, but rather that they are structures of meaning used by teachers and students to make sense of the world. Two functions of classroom rules are examined: how they embody a way of life and how they shape instruction and subject matter. As students embrace rules (or reject them, for that matter), they engage not only in short-term behaviors but also in far-reaching ways of thinking about themselves and the world. The article also examines how teachers' beliefs about the nature and functions of rules bear on the quality of classroom life. The belief that rules are merely instrumental separates them from the “real” business of the classroom and undercuts the teacher's ability to reflect on practice. A vision of rules that separates them, as mere means, from ends separates them also from meaning. Students can do (or not do) their work without ever seeing how it touches them. An alternative is to seek out the meaning of rules and to rely on, rather than mistrust them.