Failed Connections between Psychological Principles and Use of Classroom Management Strategies

Previous research shows that classroom management is a major concern of pre-service and novice teachers. This study examined the management strategies pre-service teachers suggested across a variety of classroom situations and their rationales. Findings shows that preservice teachers are most comfortable addressing management scenarios with attention seeking problems and least comfortable with out-of-classroom settings. Unfortunately, they frequently use type 2 punishment strategies across most classroom situations and use negative reinforcement least often. In addition, most approaches to managing a situation did not involve restating behavioral rules and expectations. The disconnections between classroom management training and suggested applications are discussed.