Classroom management : effective strategies and interventions

Grappling with challenging student behaviour is common even for the most experienced teachers. For beginning teachers research consistently shows that behaviour management is rated as one of the most difficult elements of the job. The challenges of delivering engaging learning activities while simultaneously orchestrating appropriate student behaviour requires the coordination of complex skills, and at times this can be overwhelming. When teachers feel under pressure they have a tendency to be reactive and rely on punishment to address the misbehaviour. In some cases these reactive responses can serve to exacerbate the situation rather then defuse or illuminate it.