Can you share some tricks? Pedagogical impacts that go beyond seeking behavioural compliance

Can you share some tricks? Pedagogical impacts that go beyond seeking behavioural compliance

Creating supportive environments to manage positive behaviours for learning can be a challenging and overwhelming aspect of teaching. I acknowledge that reducing disruptive behaviours in the classroom has a positive effect on learning (Hattie, 2009). However, when behaviour management is working well, it appears to the outsider to be silent (Freiberg & Driscoll, 2005). For this reason, preservice teachers, during their professional experience in schools, often wonder why the students don’t behave in the same way for them, as they do for other teachers. They ask anxiously, 'Can you share some tricks?' Be warned! A pedagogical trap, for even experienced teachers, is to execute control over the students’ behaviours that is aimed at achieving their behavioural compliance. When students are compliant they are behaving in a way favourable to the teacher (Fogelgarn & Lewis, 2015) but not necessarily in a way that will enhance and sustain their learning. The underlying message for all teachers is that no one has control over a student’s learning success more than the student does.
The focus of my recent case study research, conducted with teachers in Australian primary and secondary schools, was to propose a pedagogical framework that guides teachers to optimise students’ opportunities to be resourceful learners. Qualitative data were gathered through interviews and classroom observations. Themes distilled from the data analysis shaped a framework to inform teachers of pedagogical practices that provide opportunities for students to regulate their learning. Significantly, the findings from this study hold implications for Teacher Education, as classroom management has been identified as a priority area. How do we prepare preservice teachers to avoid the pedagogical trap? I propose we turn the focus of classroom management towards the pedagogical practices that impact on students’ learning beyond seeking their behavioural compliance.
Fogelgarn, R. K., & Lewis, R. (2015). ‘Are you being your best?’ Why students behave responsibly. Australian Journal of Education, 59(3), 278-292. doi:10.1177/0004944115602974
Freiberg, H. J., & Driscoll, A. (2005). Universal teaching strategies. Boston: MA: Pearson.
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London: Routedge.