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Managing behaviour is a complex component of the teaching process and one that teachers consistently identify as an area of great concern. This study aimed to examine teachers' perceptions regarding their competence for managing the challenging behaviour of young children and to identify the factors that affect these beliefs. A total of 204 preschool teachers working in Kindergarten Rijeka, Croatia participated. Teachers completed an exploratory survey of self-perceptions of competence in managing the challenging behaviours encountered in their classrooms. Factor analysis revealed a one-factor structure for self-perceived competence, and all scales showed good psychometric properties. Preschool teachers' assessment of their own competence in managing challenging behaviour was explained by the level of support they received from other professionals when faced with children's challenging behaviour and prior coursework in classroom management. Participants with higher levels of professional support and more coursework in classroom management estimated themselves to be more competent in managing challenging behaviour. The results suggest that Croatian preschool teachers need training in classroom management and greater access to professional support personnel when working with students with challenging behaviours.

The purpose of this study was to examine the occurrence of problem behaviors in primary classrooms in the Republic of Croatia and to investigate teachers' level of concern and the support needed to address these behaviors. Approximately 8% of primary school teachers across Croatia completed a 20-item survey to indicate the occurrence of types of problem behaviors (i.e., distractibility, disobedience, aggression, delinquency) in their classrooms, separately for boys and girls. Level of concern for the problem behavior (1 = not at all to 4 = extremely) and need for support to address the misbehavior (1 = not at all to 4 = a lot of support) were also rated separately by student gender. Results indicated that teachers rated the occurrence of problem behaviors more frequently for boys than girls across all dimensions of problem behavior, with distractibility reported as the most frequently occurring problem both for boys and for girls. Teachers also reported significantly higher levels of concern and greater need of support for the behavior of boys in comparison to girls across the dimensions of distractibility, disobedience and aggression. Teachers reported significantly higher levels of concern than their need for support to address behaviors of distractibility and disobedience. Larger class size was associated with heightened levels of concern and support for a number of the problem behavior dimensions. Implications for future practice are recommended.