Success and near misses: Pre-service teachers’ use, confidence and success in various classroom management strategies

While the importance of effective classroom management is repeatedly made, there is little comprehensive research identifying the management strategies pre-service teachers employ, nor how successful or confident they find various strategies. Accordingly, 336 Canadian pre-service teachers were surveyed. It was found that pre-service teachers report most frequently employing initial corrective strategies (for example, physical proximity), even though preventative strategies (such as establishing regular routines) were reported to be as successful as these initial corrective strategies. The strategies pre-service teachers report most frequently employing were also those they felt the most confident in. Recommendations for teaching programs conclude the paper.