Classroom Management in Vocational Schools - a context-oriented analysis
Final Report Abstract
Numerous studies demonstrate the importance of classroom management to the success of "good" teaching and student learning. In addition to teacher communication and leadership, effective classroom management strategies involve the interplay of preventive, proactive, and reactive measures to establish order in the classroom and maximize active learning time. Although these measures are considered equally valid for all learning groups, the question arises as to the importance of the classroom context and composition on the effectiveness of classroom management. At the beginning of the project, it was also unclear to what extent classroom management could actually be generalized across contexts. The person-centered approach would suggest this, and research supports the context independence of classroom management. The classroom contexts in vocational schools are very heterogeneous and teachers are sometimes faced with very different class compositions from hour to hour. This is where the Classroom Management in Vocational Schools (Klako) project comes in. It added teacher leadership behavior to an already established model of classroom management and operationalized the extended model from the perspectives of teachers and students. Based on a sample of 156 teachers with 344 classes and 4425 students in vocational schools, the project examined characteristics of effective and less effective classroom management in vocational schools and the importance of contextual conditions such as educational program and class composition, taking into account the process quality of classroom management. The results show that freedom from disruptions and partly active learning time in the classroom decrease as the number of male and immigrant students increases. Contextual effects of the educational program attended are also visible. For example, classes in pre-vocational programs in the transition segment of vocational education are more difficult to manage than others, while classes in continuing education schools are easier to manage. The analyses also show that the perceived process quality of classroom management and teachers' communication and leadership behaviors are more important for the effectiveness of classroom management than contextual factors. In this context, ensuring freedom from disruptions and maximizing learning time sometimes require different measures. Finally, a specially calculated generalization study shows that the effectiveness of teachers' classroom management cannot be generalized to different classes. Nevertheless, the project was able to identify a few experts at vocational schools whose classroom management was perceived by students as particularly effective, both in terms of the target criteria and across classes.
Publications
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The perception of teacher interactional behavior: Do students’ ethnicity and immigrant generation matter? Vortrag auf der 4. Cultural Diversity, Migration, and Education Conference, 21. bis 23. August, Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale).
Shevchuk, A., Rahn, S., Allkemper, I., Fuhrmann, C. & Glock, S.
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What makes a VET classroom difficult to manage? A multi-level-analysis of class-context and class-composition as determinants for classroom management. Vortrag auf der European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), 22. bis 25. August, Glasgow, Großbritannien.
Rahn, S. Fuhrmann, C., Allkemper, I., Shevchuk, A. & Glock, S.
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Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen? Klassenkontext, Klassenkomposition und Klassenführung an berufsbildenden Schulen – eine kontextorientierte Mehrebenenanalyse. Vortrag im Rahmen des Kongresses der GEBF am 02. März 2023 in Duisburg / Essen
Rahn, S. Fuhrmann, C., Allkemper, I., Shevchuk, A. & Glock, S.
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Role of gender match between students and teachers and students’ ethnicity in teacher–student relationships. Learning Environments Research, 27(3), 745-760.
Glock, Sabine; Shevchuk, Anna; Fuhrmann, Christoph & Rahn, Sylvia
