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DIDACTIC ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

In Paradigmatic Changes in Instruction and Education, coordonated by Miron Ionescu, Eikon Publisher, Cluj Napoca, 2006 Asist. Univ. PhD. ALINA BOJA North University of Baia Mare, Romania 1. Terminological considerations The attempt of establishing the essence of the term classroom management proved to be a difficult one for diverse reasons, among witch more important would be: the lack of published romanian works on this matter (we notice thought, almost a pioneer in the field, the paper of R.B. Iucu that establishes the grounds of this new topic in the romanian scientific space, recently published, in the year 2000); in the same time the abundance of foreign sources, especially american ones, the Internet registering over 15000 of sites dedicated to this field; and not at last the contradictions appeard between different theoreticians refering to the essence and meaning of the term, the deffinitions offered being either restrictive or very ample. The registration of some of the deffinitions of the term may represent an edyfying demarche. Thus, classroom management is apprehended as: - research field in the educational sciences that studies both the perspectives of approaching of the classroom (didactic and psycho-social) and the its dimensional structures (ergonomical, psychologycal, psycho-social, relational, operational and creative) in order to facilitate the didactic interventions in themicro-educational crysis situations (lack of discipline, violence, disinteres) and to avoiding the negative consequences of these situations, with the help of educational microdecisions. (R.B.Iucu, 2000, p.43, Paloma Petrescu, Lucreia irinian, 2003, p.129) - the process of ensuring a learning favourable climate. (Ctlin Glava, 2000, p.150) - the ability to organize and planify the classroom activities as to ensure a pozitive climate for learning, through preventing the behavior problems and/or solving them efficiently when the preventive actions have failled.(Cristina Neamu, 2003, p.343); - discipline in the system of educational sciences; is focusing on an eesential aspect of the teachers work: the efficient management, under the patronage of civic-democratic values, of the specific classroom activities. Ensemble of strategies and techniques of administrating the teacherstudent relationship in given conditions; (Emil Stan, 2003, p.3); - the set of activities through which the teacher is promoting students adecvate behavior and eliminates the inadecvate one, develops good interpersonal relations and a pozitive emotional climate in the classroom, establishees and mentains an efficient and productive organisation of the classroom. (W. Weber, 1977) - the complete set of plans and actions used by the teacher in order to ensure an effective learning. Management also involves teaching students how to control their own behavior in the classroom, by involving them in as much learning situation as possible, that would allow the student to practise these behaviours. (Savage, 1991); - encouraging of behavioral control among students, by promoting positive schoolar results and behaviors. (L.A.Froyen, A.M.Iverson,1999). The above authors consider school and classroom management as direct conditions for top school performances, studentss behavior, didactic efficiency.

From the above deffinitions we can emphasize some primar conclusions: the teacher is the creator of managerial plans and the initiator of effective management actions in the classroom; accordingly, his role of educator is doubled by that of classroom activity manager; the object and subject of management actions of the teacher is the classroom of students. The didactic perspective over classroom (perceived, in the traditional didactic, as merely a space designed to realize the instructive-educative process, having as a goal the development of intelectual processes and of motivation towards study) is being replaced with a more human approach: the psycho-social perspective. In classroom management, the students are perceived as an educational group, every relational contact between its members having educational role. According to this approach, the class-group has great influence in the evolution of every members future development, personality and school performances. through his activity of classroom manager, the teacher ensures a favourable climate for learning; The enumeration of the deffinitions given to classroom management, as well as the study of the related literature relieve serious confusions and unclaryfied asspects, usual for a new research field, on which we will try to bring some light. We have grouped the missunderstandings into two categories: confusions meaning the epistemologic status of classroom management and its content area. 1.1 Classroom management science or corpora of pedagogycal advice? There are serious dissacords in establishing the epistemologycal status of classroom management, seen either as a distinct science in the filed of educational sciences, either as a set of activities initialized by the teacher or even as an ability of the teacher to organize and planify these activities. In our attempt to firmly establish the status of classroom management - as science or merely classroom activity non-guvernated by the scientific demands, but only by the teachers personality we find another set of inadvertences, which we will analyse forward. 1.1.1 Classroom management field of education management or self-supported discipline? Management, in the actual manner of approach finds its sphere of aplication in the field of education leading, as a complex action of directing, projecting and evaluating of the development of each individual, according to well-established purposes. (Elena Joia, 1995, p.17). we find it necessary to realize a distinction between educational management and school management. In order to do that, well observe that the scientific literature on the matter is stating obvious borders: educational management (widely known as pedagogycal management) referes itself to controling the educationa at macro-level (of educational politics); it involves strategical elements that apply even to the nonformal and informal levels. School management involves the management realised at each school unity, beeing localised at the level of formal education. Traditionally, educational management involves the next levels: a.) superior management (top management) refering to the mission and managerial strategies through educational politices (represented by the Education Department of the Guvernment); b.) intermediate management (middle management) involved in translating the educational politics in the field (represented in our country by the School Inspectorates); c.) technic/executive management (tehnical management) at the scool units level.

Analysing the above considerents, we find a clear conclusion: school managemet is a department (branch) of educational management, involving the intermediate and technical levels of the above. If we accept the point of wiev that classroom management is e well-defined discipline in the educational sciences field, where does it stays in this ierarhy? V. V. Popescu (1973, p.199) offers a possible answer, naming classroom management: educational process management: education management defines itself as a distinct discipline in the field of Pedagogy, builted at the border between the general science of management and education studies, from which we can detach numerous branches, as the educational process management in which the leading role is that of the manager-teacher. We submit to this point of wiev, but we consider innapropiate the termynology, as the term educational process management is restrictive. Therefore we prefer the term classroom management because is in accordance to the international terminology and reinforces the sociorelational character of the term. As a conclusion: Classroom management is a branch of educational management, refering to the executive level of the last-mentioned. Another widely spread confusion in the romanian scientific literature : the one between the terms educational management and education management. Most of the scientist accept that education management involves the management activity at macro- level, of the whole education in a distinct country; while the educational management implies the action of managing the education of students by the teachers, in the class. Actually this aproach states confusion between classroom management and educational management, our position being that the terms educational management and education management are synonimes. After all these theoretical considerations, we may attempt to answer our first question: whether or not classroom management is a distinct science. Actually the answer self-revealed itself especially if we look at the multiple misunderstandings and confusions made in the attempt of defining this term. So, classroom management isnt for now (at least in the Romanian scientific space) a well-defined science , it only aspires to this status. At the classroom practice level it is in the emphirical state, the problems being solved in an attempt and error or seeing and doing manner. Or, this manner of approaching the classroom, in which all the management is left at the good intentions and previous experience of the teacher cant be as effective as a scientific grounded management. In fact, all we wish with this article is to be a pleading for a scientific classroom management. 1.2 The content field of classroom management Some authors state that classroom management refers to behavioral control of the students (in most papers as well as in the common sense classroom management is synonim with discipline). Actually the term is much more wide, involving creating and meintanance of a safe, challengeng learning environment in the classroom. Another terminologycal confusion is that between the classroom management activity and form master classes. The form master is of course a classroom manager, through his activities of controling and educating the students. Many of his tasks are classroom management ones: organising the classroom in the first day of school, desk arranging, studentss behavioral control, influenting the relations between students, so on), but if other tasks considered (curriculum management, stating discipline in class, teacher-student relation) every teacher is a class manager no matter of the discipline he/she teaches.

Another restrictive point of wiev associates classroom management with managing the learing situations. These theories state that, through classroom management, the teacher actually only ensures a favourable learning climate. On the other side, there are the theories that use the term in a wide sense, that of new didactic, a more democratic way of perceiveing the education process. For example, Iverson and Froyen equal didactics with classroom management, the latest having three essential components: o curriculum management (coordonating the soace, materials, equipments, student movements, the learning material and resources); o disciplinary problem management; o interpersonal relations management. Further well try to establish the relation between didactics and classroom management. We observe that the two fields analyse, from different perspectives, the same process: teaching and learning. We can refer in order to do that to the work of Prof. Miron Ionescu (2001, p.28-30). Between the action and study dirrections in the modern didactics, the proffesor includes some that are involved in classroom management activities: - finding new ways, work-strategies and organising forms of involving the student in his own development and education process; - ensuring a better degree of succes in organising the education process; - a better organisation of the learning process, so that, in a relative short time the student to learn more and especially to get mintal instruments of work; - ensuring a teacher-student relation based on cooperation and co-learning; - transforming the organisation in classes and lessons into one of groups and microgroups. It is obvious the orientation of contemporany didactics towards improving classroom activity, using new types of student-teacher relations, more effective ways of organysing class, by enssuring an educational climate able to generate efficient and fast learning. The need of efficiency claims the firm intervention of all the practical elements stated by classroom management theories, as management is seen as realysing the best performances with minimum material costs and intelectual efforts. So, classroom management theories, represent a succes agent, that can help practicians get better results in their educational activity. Therefore didactics and classroom management appear as complementary fields of studying the education process, their union generating a more complex and generous approach on this process. In the ending of our considerations relating didactic, education sciences and management we will bring an outstanding text from V.V. Pavelcu, whom, a long time ago, in 1973 was brilliantly predicting that: management science (we includ here education management with all its levels) in its relation with the realitys of educational phenomena, doesnt have but the borders that are stated by the pedagogs that study it. It is into Pedagogy and its branches as the educativ act reveals itself as a management act; management problems are many and sometimes difficult, but they are always a part of the educational practice, and serve to a better understanding of several branches of Pedagogy . As a conclusion to all of the above, we will define classroom management as a level of education management, whisch involves the ensemble of theories and effective practical strategies used by the teacher in order to improve his organysing and leading the student classes.

2. Arguments in favour of classroom management In order to sustain the integration of classroom management as an active component of contemporany Pedagogy, R.B. Iucu (2000, p.18-36) brings solid arguments: - organizational arguments that state that classroom should be perceived not only as a simple gethering of individuals, but an organisation: voluntary association, spontaneously or directed, of a great number of individuals with well-stated rols and status, in order to accomplish a target and some objectives; - epistemical arguments, through which is stated the necessity of enlarging the field of sociohumanistic sciences, including the educational ones, with new contents, in order to bring a new spirit in scientific knowledge; - historical arguments. The author brings example from the Pedagogy History in sustaining the ideea that Pedagogy has been from the begginin a science of leading the class with the goal to achieve an optimate education and instruction for its students. as C. Freinet so correctly affirmed; - sociologycal arguments: the author proves that learning eas always a social process; - psychologycal arguments , as classroom management offers the posibility to put the students in a total learning experience, involving: comunication, relationship, evaluation.; - managerial arguments. Starting from the etymology and definition of economical management, educational management, school management and classroom management , the author proves that the last one should be one of the main educational sciences; 2.1 Didactic arguments in favor of classroom management I shall add to these list of arguments magestrially presented by R.B.Iucu, some of our own, more practical ones. In essence their refere to the necessity of preparing the teacher (also) as a class manager. I decided to name these arguments didactic arguments (starting with the Comenian sense of Didactic as universal art of teaching everyone everything omnes omnia docendi artificium), in fact arguments involving the role that classrtoom management has in improving the teachers actyvity. According to Liviu Antonesei (2002, p.116-117) the educator may re-become a model if we are willing to accept that his job supposes having five types of competences (capacityes): - cultural competence his specialyty studies and general culture: - psycho-pedagogycal competence through is enssured his quality of good message-sender to the benefficiars of education: - psycho-afective and comunicational competence that help him relate to students and involves structural characteristics of his personality: - moral (ethical) competence; - managerial competence - in order to enssure the organization and leading the actyvities, processes, classes. The author states that the managerial; competence of the teacher has been compleetly neglected in the last decades, but starts to become a vital resurse for attending educational succes. Another well known work: Education in changing process, by Andr de Peretti (1996, p.142) proposes new approaches over the teachers role nowadays, finding ten functions more or less aknowledged by them. The roles of modern educator are grouped into five categories:

resurse person expert and methodologist (the one who has the necessary knowledge in his field and knows the correct methods to teach his knowledge to others); - person in charge with the relations organiser and animator of the interpersonal relations in the class; - tehnician person that realises and uses practical strategies, material resources; - evaluating person consultant and controler of the way actyvity and students attends the proposed goals; - researcher expert and experementalist From only rewieving all this roles, we can affirm that the teacher cant and shouldnt be only a source of knowledge for the students and controlor of the degree in what the knowledge was learned by them. The complexyty of his proffesion is we want it or not a growing one, according to the world we live in. The teacher must face up (also) to the role of classroom manager: coordoner, organizer, planifyer, evaluator of the classrooom resources (material, didactic, human) necesarry in attending the educative goals. A strong argument is represented by the need of managerial preparation that the teachers feel. The results of researches on this matter are relevant: a macro-research realised in the early Ninetees on European teachers emphasises tat the majority of teachers declared themselves disarmed in front of deviation, failure, violence in schools, in front of the eterogenyty of student collectives, accusing in the same time the lack from their preparation of instruments to solve these problems (quoted from Cristina Neamu, 2003, p.358). This study claims the need of adapting the teachers studies to the real problems in school and the need to give up the old approach that had seen school as an ideal space of giving didactic informations. Other studies present the difficulties that teachers especially young, unexperienced ones have in their class work, such as: the imposibylity to meintain discipline, lack of authority over students, difficulties in organising the activities (especially the ones with small groups and independent work tasks), wrong time management, all these problems beeing related to unefficient classroom management techniques. 3. Does the teacher accept the new role? - investigative approach We decided to find out the teacherss opinions on this new topic, as well as the necesity or usability of their training in the field of classroom management. We used an interview technique, named focus-group, considering this is the proper one by the fact it emphasises the opinions on one subject, through an interactive discussion, which offers different informations on the discussed subject. We organised two discussion groups, including secondary and lyceum teachers. The group of gymnasium teacher had 10 members, the lyceum one, 13. The 23 investigated teachers, have the following specialisations: Romanian Languale and Literature 5 teachers; Mathematics 3 teachers; Foreign Languages (English, French) 4 teachers; Biology 2 teachers; Chemistry 2 teachers; Physycs 2 teachers; Hystory 2 teachers; Geography 2 teachers; Technology 1 teacher.

Note: all these teachers are also form masters. The way these teachers group, considering their experience in education is presented in fig. 1
Fig. 1.
20 15 10 5 0 2 4 10 7 no degre e def second degre e first degree

The discutions began with finding out their theoretical preparation in the classroom management field. To our great surprise, only one person is familiared to this concept, and the source of his information is represented by individual study, generated by the need to solve some discipline problems in the classroom. At the methodycal-meetings or perfectionating ones has been spoken only of educational management seen as the actyvity of leading and managing a school (it involved the preparation of school headmasters)- emphasysing the theoretical matters, not the practical ones. Only two of the teachers have attended these activities. Further more, we observed that, in the lack of theoretical preparation on the matter, the interviewed teachers associate classroom management with the form masters work. One of the most serious problems that teachers have is the lack of tehnical and material support. From the classroom management point of view, essential is the way classroom is organized, but neither this goal isnt realised in classes. Not even the organization of desks so as every student can see the teacher and work in a safe, correct way isnt accomplished, as the desks are very old. Only a few new labolatories have modular furniture facilitating work in class. The teachers weve spoken with declare themselves not capable in changing the material environment of the class, some of them because dont consider it is their duty, others (the majority) because the lack of funds (money). Between the methods used by teachers to avoid tiredness and lack of studentss attention: - many and long breaks the clef to great succes, as I take breaks, tell a joke; - I try to merge theory with practice, alocating the same time to everyone; - if any of my students is unattentive, I call his name; - I work especially with the students that tend to escapefrom the lesson; There are a few teachers not interested with their students attending the lesson: I am not a clovn to entretain them. My lessons are difficult and therefore boring to them. I only teach them and from that forward is their job...one of the Physycs professor said. Because the discipline problems in the classroom and outside it are many , wel try to divide them into categories, and mention the most often encontered:. 1 runing from school, unmotivated absence; 2. copying; 3. aggresive behaviour, especially from the boys: anger acceses, violence, inadequate language (oriented to the teachers and colegues). Often their anger is oriented on the objects from school, classroom, generating material damage. 4. noisy students that often find discussion subjects other than the lesson ones; 5. lack of preparing for the classes (students dont learn, dont read, dont do their homeworks);

6.especially at lyceum classes, one of the biggest problem is represented by the use of alchool, tabaco, even more powerfull drugs. The inadequate behaviors are even more, starting with unnapropiate verbal behavior, lack of respect towards teachers, school, to behavior against law as: stoling, sexual abusment, use of forbidden substances. The intervention ways teachers use to correct or prevent the behavior problems are different, according to their previous experience and personalyty, their psycho-pedagogycal trainning. Most of the interviewed teachers state they give a lot of meaning to enssuring a pozitive climate for learning, using different methods. Intervention is different according to concret data. Very often it is usied a reward/punishment politics. The less used tactic is by corporal punishment, wish is forbidden in our educational system. If we would use the termynology introduced by the psychologist Emil Paun (1999), on managerial style in education, considering our teachers behavior in classroom and in the indiscipline cases, we would get to the following classifications of these teachers: - autorytary style represented by 4 of the teachers, 3 of them with great teaching experience; - the participative / consultative style represented by the majoryty of teachers (11); - the autocratic / dictatorial style represented by only one teacher, the oldest one and specialised on an exact matter: - the laisser-faire style: 3 teachers; - a chaotic style, a delaying style at two of the very young teachers without many didactic experience. From the same cathegory, of teachers without many experience there ere two more teachers oscilating between the autocratic and democratic style, according to their state at the moment. All the teachers we have spoken with accept embrace the ideea that teachers can influence the students behavior and their interpersonal relationships: its related cu their quality of educator / formators. Among the positive expereinces in that matter: using the way students are arranged in desks, we can create friendsips among them; for creating a positive school climate different extraschool actyvities have been initialised; teachers mediated conflicts between students, an so on. 4. Conclusions The Education Department from The Romanian Govern (M.E.C.) has established that classroom management study should be on the list of mandatory curriculum of C.C.D (Didactic Corpus House) for the continuous teachers training. Still, from our disscutions with teachers we understand that they dont feel yet prepared for this role, of manager of the activities in the classroom. Among the causes that generated this situation: - causes of subjective nature, which are related to the teachers: their ressistance to change, classroom management doesnt represent for them an interest field; fatigue; the great amounth of inormation they have to learn, etc; - causes of organozatoric nature, especially generated by the lack of interest of those called to present classroom management to teachers: - scientific causes: the much too theoretical approach ofered when presenting classroom management ; the lack of related works, researches. We propose, as possible solutions: - introducing changes in education and management in a leveled way, so it wont generate ressistance, misunderstanding;

motivating the teachers, by presenting different ways classroom management can make their work easier and more productive; initial preparance and perfectioning of teachers in new educational fields; encouraging them to realize managerial inovations in classroom; the accent should be put on the practical problems, rather that theory, in order to offer real support in the teachers every day work; making classroom management materials (courses, books) easy to understand, accesible; offering teachers the posibility to exchange experience, comunicate (for example a forum on the internet, a site on Practical classroom management techniques); teaching young teachers to make managerial classroom plans; help given for these teachers by the more experienced ones (through mentorate, team-teaching).

We end our attempt to sustain classroom management as an important discipline, by some considerations of E. Mihuleac (1994, p.18) to which we submit: In the recent time the manager profession has two meanings: a wide one (of activity by which you earn your existance, a job) and a punctual one (to define the preparation of the specialised staff). Where is the teacher? He doesnt earn his living only through educational management, this isnt his main and permanent job like for formal managers. But educational management represents a part of hes preparation as educator: person that leads, influences, realizes actions through which coordonates the development of students. So, his managerial preparation enssures the higher level of his pedagogycal training, used in creating, realizing and improving the educational activity. 5. Bibliography Antonesei, Liviu, 2002, O introducere n pedagogie. Dimensiuni axiologice i transdisciplinare ale educaiei, Iai, Editura Polirom; Cerchez, M., Mateescu, E., 1995, Elemente de management colar, ghidul directorului de coal, Iai, Editura Spiru Haret; Cristea, Sorin, 1996, Managementul organizaiei colare, Bucureti, EDP; Glava, Ctlin, 2000, Proiectarea i conducerea activitii de nvare a elevilor. Prioriti didactice,n Studii de pedagogie aplicat, Cluj-Napoca, Editura Presa Universitar Clujean; Ionescu, Miron; Chi, Vasile, 1992, Strategii de predare i nvare, Bucureti, Editura tiinific; Ionescu, Miron; Radu, Ioan, 2001, Didactica modern, Cluj Napoca, editura Dacia; Iucu, Romi B., 2000, Managementul i gestiunea clasei de elevi. Fundamente teoretice i metodologice,Iai, Editura Polirom; Jinga, I., 1993, Conducerea nvmntului. Manual de management instrucional, Bucureti, E.D.P; Joia, Elena, 1995, Management colar. Elemente de tehnologie managerial, Craiova, Editura Gh. Cru Alexandru; Joia, Elena, 2000, Management educaional. Profesorul manager: roluri i metodologie, Iai, Editura Polirom; Mihuleac, E., 1999, tiina managementului. Teorie i practic,Bucureti, Editura Tempus; Neamu, Cristina, 2003, Deviana colar. Ghid de intervenie n cazul problemelor de comportament, ai, Editura Polirom;

de Perreti, A., 1996, Educaia n schimbare, Iai, Editura Spiru Haret; oca, Ioan, 2002, Management educaional, Bucureti, E.D.P. 6. ADDENDUM Interwiev guide (Focus group) Instruction: I invite you to participate to a discussion organized in a more different manner. I will put you some questions and you will answer presenting your opinion, telling what you think on the matter, how you feel about some questions and in certain more difficult moments of the teaching proffesion. (I answer all the questions related the interwiev will be realised). Statement Today________________ at the __________hour, we open this discussion on Classroom Management ways of leading and effectively organizing the classroom, group disscution attended by 23 teachers that work in the school__________ at classes_______. First everyone should present him/her-self, by stating the name, specialization and didactic experience. Questions 1. What do you understand by classroom management? Where and when have you encountered this concept? 2. Which are the conditions that classroom has to offer in order to work properly in class? How many of these condition are already accomplished? What can you do about it? 3. What ways of avoiding tiredness (lack of attention) from the students do you use during your classes? 4. Which are the most usuall discipline problems wich you meet during and outside classes? 5. Which ways do you use to correct misbehavior from students? 6. What is your attitude towards your students (What management style do you use)? 7. Do you think that teachers can have a positive influence on the inter-student relationships in a class or different ones? How? 8. If you have other suggestions, comments on todays disscution theme

Thank You for attending this meeting!

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