An international perspective on classroom management: what should prospective teachers learn?

Abstract

Drawing upon a review of relevant literature, this paper provides an overview of the treatment of classroom management in teacher education and teaching around the world. Six approaches to classroom management are distinguished: classroom management approaches that focus on external control of behaviour, on internal control, on classroom ecology, on discourse, on curriculum, and on interpersonal relationships. This paper then presents an analysis of the six approaches across countries and cultures. No clear picture of cross‐national differences in classroom management practices or pervasiveness of one of the approaches was found. The paper concludes with implications for the role of management in teacher education, particularly with regards to the relevance and appropriateness of the six models for classroom management.

Keywords:

• classroom management
• teacher education
• teacher competence
• teacher–student relationships