Success and near misses: Pre-service teachers’ use, confidence and success in various classroom management strategies. Teacher and Teacher Education. 42, (6), pp. 1261 - 1268

This article shows that Teachers (particularly student teachers and NQTs) are aware of which behaviour management strategies work best (Preventative: Establish routines, initial correcting: Increase physical proximity). However, Teachers will use the behaviour management strategy that they are most comfortable with and have most experience in regardless of effectiveness. 

The use of positive praise is an aspect of my teaching I would like to increase my confidence in to help improve the self-esteem of pupils in the classroom but also as a method of helping to reduce low level behavioural disruption. This article looks at the impact of positive praise and opportunities to respond in the classroom. They found that the use of these two strategies decreased the number of inappropriate behaviours shown in class and increase the number of appropriate behaviours shown. It is also important for teachers to frequently reflect and evaluate their use of these in the classroom.

Emily Sparkes

This article argues that resilience is essential to enable children to be successful at school. Their research suggests that when children are told that intelligence can be developed (i.e. it is not fixed and can be changed), they perform better academically. This knowledge can also help children to become less aggressive and can lower stress levels. The study concludes by explaining how interventions targeted at building resilience can support educators and help to change children’s mindsets.

Marie Davies

This article discusses the range of barriers that children from less affluent areas may experience in their education and how the categories used for school data are inefficient when considering children with multiple vulnerabilities. The article also challenges the view of Ofsted that schools must train children to be ‘school ready’ and argues that it is the schools that must be ready for the children by deploying strategies to engage children from all socio-economic backgrounds.

Dale Munn

Rothman-Press, M. (2006) Use Music in the Classroom. Intervention in School and Clinic. 41(5) pp.307-309.

 

The research is over ten years old so could be outdated. The context of the research is based on academic literature sources rather than the author’s own research methods such as interviews and studies. The researcher’s personal position is that music helps special needs children to participate in learning, as music provides a sense of community. However, this purpose is not clear because the author also talks about how music is fun and has links to mathematical thinking. It may have been better for the researcher to just choose one area to study in greater depth as this would have been more clear, relevant and less of a generalisation.  Furthermore, the researcher could have made it more explicit how the data changed into a credible account of the research and any reasonable suggestions about the applicability of the research. The examples of putting the research into practice, such as combining audio songs with printed songs for reading time, is beneficial in relation to showing how the research can be taken forward.