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Understanding classroom behaviour

For a book which provides many insights on classroom management, and which has become a classic, see:

  • Kounin, J.S. (1970) Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms, New York: Holt Rhinehart & Winston. (Reading 7.5)

For more overviews of the factors which impinge on issues of classroom management, see:

  • Weistein, R. (2004) Strategies That Work, London: Paul Chapman Publishers.
  • Hayden, T. (2003) Class, Management and Learning, London: Routledge Falmer.

Teachers work to cope with the demands of the classroom by maintaining order and by teaching effectively, while pupils cope by trying to achieve what they see as an appropriate balance between maintaining their peer status and satisfying school goals through learning. For a sociological analysis of how teachers and pupils establish a working consensus in the classroom and fascinating insights into the coping strategies which teachers and pupils might adopt, see:

  • Pollard, A. and Filer, A. (1999) The Social World of Pupil Career: Strategic Biographies through Primary School, London: Cassell.
  • Pollard, A. (1985) The Social World of the Primary School, London: Cassell. (Reading 6.3)

For the original use of the concept of working consensus, see:

  • Hargreaves, D. H. (1972) Interpersonal Relationships and Education, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

It is crucial to hold on to management issues in the context of broader educational objectives. On this, see:

  • Putnam, J. and Burke, J. B. (1992) Organising and Managing Classroom Learning Communities, New York: McGraw Hill.

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