I introduction classroom management is the process of forming a learning environment that is conducive for students

I. INTRODUCTION Classroom management is the process of forming a learning environment that is conducive for students. A good learning plan cannot run smoothly when the classroom atmosphere is noisy, there is a lot distraction for students' attention, and the classroom atmosphere is physically and socially uncomfortable. The main purpose of classroom management is to create an environment that is conducive to the learning process. More specifically, classroom management aims to reduce the students' disruptive behavior, create effective and productive social interactions in the classroom, and organize a comfortable and healthy classroom physical environment for learning. Classroom management activities are generally classified into 3 major groups of activities that are controlling student behavior, creating effective and productive social interactions, and structuring the physical classroom environment [1]. Simonsen, et al., [2] recommend 20 good practices that are supported by the research results in classroom management. The 20 good practices are classified into five main characteristics, namely maximization of class structure, expression and realization of teacher expectations, actively involving students in the observed behavior, the use of strategies that accommodate appropriate student behavior, and the use of strategies to respond to unwanted behavior. In its implementation, classroom management strategies can be manipulated and combined according to the context in which the teacher teaches. The fact of classroom management as found by the previous studies shows that the classroom environment is not conducive enough as a place of learning. This can be seen from the monotonous room setting where students sit or line up and it is not adapted to the teaching and learning needs. At the same time, students’ interaction patterns are very limited as students only spend most of their learning hours by listening and taking notes on the teacher's explanation. As a result, disturbances in the form of noise, boredom, constrained feelings in expressing themselves make students' attention split and ultimately disrupt the learning activities. Many studies have proven the urgency of classroom management in supporting the convenience of students in learning. The meta-analysis conducted by the experts found that the effect size of classroom management on learning involvement was +0.617 and +on student achievement was 0.512 [3]. Good classroom management has been found to reduce student disruptive behavior, increase motivation, interest, and student learning satisfaction [4]. Furthermore, Marzano and Pickering [3] concluded that classes managed with effective disciplinary procedures have fewer deviant behaviors than classes that are managed without good disciplinary mechanisms. The lack of deviant behavior in the classroom fosters a comfortable social-emotional atmosphere. The comfort classroom atmosphere is an important factor in student learning achievement [5]. Although research on classroom management and its effects on the process and learning outcomes have been done many times, there are still problems dealing with bad classroom management systems. This means that research findings dealing with classroom management need to be continuously transferred into learning practices [2]. The transfer of research findings classroom management requires adaptation according to the context in which problems occur. The relationship between context and class management is often overlooked by the previous studies [4]. Class is a complex environment hence the efforts to understand its dynamics are not enough just to rely on one method or source of information [6]. For this reason, there is a need for Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 465 Proceedings of the 1st Annual Conference on Education and Social Sciences (ACCESS 2019) Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 263 a research that is able to produce a detailed, contextual, and comprehensive picture of the real problems faced by teachers in classroom management. This narrative research aims to provide a comprehensive and detailed picture of the challenges and strategies of teachers in conducting classroom management at primary schools in Mataram. II. METHOD This is a qualitative research with a phenomenological narrative design, in which researchers examined the perspectives diversity of teachers and students in interpreting the classroom environment and in how to manage it. This study is said to be phenomenological because the researchers mostly use native perspectives in understanding the phenomena and behavior of research subjects [7]. In this case, researchers recorded and described the way teachers and students interpreted the meaning for the phenomena of teacher-student interaction, disciplining student behavior and structuring classrooms. The data in this study were obtained from the informants who were selected based on their activeness in the research field, their availability of time, and the originality of their information [8]. Based on these criteria, the researcher chose the teacher and students as the main informants and also the principal and parents as additional informants. This research was conducted at SDN 30 Mataram which is located in the center of Mataram City. Most of the teachers in this school are civil servant who have bachelor degree and educator certificate Data in this study were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation. Interviews were conducted to collect data about considerations, values, beliefs, teachers’ knowledge about classroom management, and challenges faced by teachers in conducting the classroom management. The interview format used was in-depth interviews with the interview general compiled guidelines. Observation was used to record the class atmosphere when the teacher is managing the class, such as teacher’s behavior in the classroom, students’ behavior, and the atmosphere during the teaching and learning process. In making observations, researchers recorded the detailed events during the learning process. Moreover, observations were conducted to observe the patterns of communication between a teacher and the other teacher in discussing the classroom management problems. The type of observation used in this study was direct observation by chronological recording and detail of the target of observation. Documentation is a technique of collecting data through written notes owned by research informants. Documentation was conducted to dig up data about the lesson plans made by the teacher, teacher’s notes related to the events and students’ behavior in the classroom, and also the teacher and student attendance at school. The target documentation in this study is a document in the form of a teacher's lesson plan, a teacher's diary, also teacher and student attendance list. Data analysis in this study began from data collection to the data were considered sufficient to answer the research questions. The data analysis aims to find out themes from the scattered information obtained through interviews, observations, and documentation. To find the theme of the information obtained, the researchers conducted data reduction, data display, and data verification and conclusion. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In general, classroom management challenges faced by teachers can be classified into challenges that come from the teacher and students. The internal challenges related to the teacher ability is a challenge that manifested in the form of assumptions, knowledge, and teacher skills. Meanwhile, external challenges arise from the conditions in which the teacher is on duty, namely the classroom and the students. Within the internal challenges, teacher has a limited understanding on classroom management in which the teacher interprets classroom management as a series of activities that focus on physical aspects of the class such as the arrangement of seating and class facilities. It is known from the teachers’ statement who considers that “the class management is an activity of organizing all the objects in the class such as student’s seats, teacher’s desks and chairs, whiteboards, and bookcases”. The limited understanding toward the focus of classroom management can also be seen from the description for the ideal class. In this case, the teacher describes the ideal class as a place where students freely look at the teacher and the blackboard, thus, placing items in the classroom neatly will not prevent students from seeing the teachers in explaining the lesson. Besides the knowledge of classroom management, another challenge identified was the teacher's understanding the rule applied in the classroom. In this case, teachers tend to equate the rule for school with that for classroom. For teachers, school rules are guide for the behavior of students. The teacher considers the classroom rule as the order of behavior that students must obey. This kind of rule has already been there since the teacher first entered the class. The rule is posted on the classroom wall and it contains the codes of conduct such as the way of dressing and the procedure for maintaining the class cleanliness. The way teachers ensure that student behavior is in accordance with the rules cannot be separated from their assumptions about good students. For teachers, good students are students who are academically motivated and socially skilled. "Good students are diligent students who want to do and finish the assignment on time. When they are given the opportunity to ask questions, they use it to ask questions that they do not understand". On another occasion, the teacher stated that good students were "students who are obedient, respect the teachers, and do not like to disturb their friends". In addition to internal challenges, external challenges in classroom management for teachers are related to student behavior. For teachers, student behavior is one of the biggest challenges in conducting the classroom management. Even though most students behaved well based on the rules, there are still a number of students who disobey the rules especially those behaviors dealing with respectability. One of the teachers states that “it sometimes difficult to educate nowadays children to be respectful. There were some students who repeatedly bothered their friends, and some of them lacked the enthusiasm for learning, this may be caused by the their internal family factors, such as lack of attention from their parents, divorce between their father and mother, and their parents become migrant workers". Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 465 264 To overcome these challenges, teachers should organize the physical environment of the classroom so that students feel comfortable in learning and they can discipline students by socializing rules of the school and imposing sanctions on students who break the rules. Organizing classroom's physical environment is to create the comfort learning environment – a classroom atmosphere that makes students feels like at home. Therefore, the class should be managed with the principles of neatness, cleanliness, and beauty of the classroom environment. Teacher says that in managing the classroom, things that need to be considered are the class neatness and cleanliness. Neatness needs to be created in order to make a comfortable class in the teaching and learning process. Beauty can be created by putting flowers in the classroom. Based on these ideas, we can conclude that the way the teacher manages the classroom physical environment is by placing objects and items based on its function to create convenience for teacher and students during the learning process. In terms of student behavior, teacher can discipline the students gradually by socializing the classroom orders and imposing sanctions on students who break the orders. On an interview, teacher tells that to ensure the students understand the classroom rules, he explains the contents of the class orders in detail. Socialization of classroom rules is usually carried out at the beginning of the semester by using pamphlets attached on the classroom wall. As the whole students are assumed to have understood the classroom rules, teacher can discipline the students by imposing sanctions for each violation. A teacher who teaches in grade four states: "... I initially watched students in order to make sure they behaved in accordance with the orders. When I encountered students who break the orders, I gave them a warning so they do not do the same mistakes again. If they still do the mistake – breaking the rules, I gave them sanctions like standing in front of the class, getting additional homework, or even being expelled from the classroom". The description of the challenges and strategies for classroom management above indicates that classroom management did by teachers was not comprehensive. Ideally, classroom management is not only dealing with organizing the physical environment of the classroom, but also creating a productive socio-emotional atmosphere through disciplinary mechanisms that are integrated with the learning activities. Organizing the physical environment is only intended to facilitate students to access learning resources, mobility in completing assignments, and good interaction in collaborative work in the classroom. Moreover, classroom management activities also include controlling student behavior and creating effective and productive social interactions [1]. Controlling student behavior refers to a series of teacher activities in ensuring students’ behavior that is oriented towards completing tasks in achieving predetermined learning outcomes. Effective and productive social interactions are reflected by the freedom of expression and giving opinions, acceptance of diversity, and the development of harmonious cooperative patterns in achieving the learning goals. Focusing on the physical environment of the class only will certainly distort the meaning of real class management. Even though dirty classroom environment will trigger unexpected actions and create a non-conducive classroom atmosphere, other aspects of classroom management must be considered by the teacher. In relation to disciplining student behavior, teachers use a more behavioristic approach which some experts criticized as it considers students as passive and non-initiative individuals. In general, the behavioristic approach emphasizes more on the teacher's efforts to eliminate disruptive behavior and encourage the expected behavior. Expected behavior is behavior that students must have in accordance with the classroom orders. Conversely, disruptive behavior is behavior against class norms and order that students should not have. Eliminating disruptive behavior and fostering expected behavior can be carried out with a mechanism of reward and punishment, where disturbing behavior will be given punishment, while the expected behavior will be given a reward [4]. Behavioristic approach that is not based on the core issues dealing with deviant behavior will certainly trigger the emergence of new problems related to student behavior. In this case, the teacher must understand the mechanism of disciplining behavior that should be from preparing the classroom order. Classroom order consists of two major parts; the rules and procedures. Rules are principles of general behavior, while procedures are rules of specific behavior [3]. If teacher considers that the classroom rules are only limited on principles, then the rules of more specific behavior in accordance with the context of the teaching methods and media are ignored. As a consequence, the students will only become listeners and wait for the teacher's commands without the initiative to be creative in learning. IV. CONCLUSION The challenges faced by teachers in managing classrooms in primary schools come from the capacity of teachers and students in the classroom. In relation to teachers’ capacity, the challenges deal with the teacher's understanding of classroom management and assumptions about good students. Teachers’ understanding becoming a challenge because teachers only understand class management based on the physical aspects of the class. This is inseparable from their assumption that good students are students who have motivation to learn and are socially obedient, respect teachers, and do not like to behave disruptively. To overcome these challenges, teachers implement strategies that tend to be reactive in which they used series of actions in managing the classroom, especially in disciplining students when the undesirable behaviors happen. Thus, in order to expand the teachers’ understanding, teachers need to be given wider access to classroom management theory and studies through more comprehensive and interactive research, socialization, workshops and research activities. In addition, this study suggests that further researches should identify the factors that cause the challenges of classroom management for teachers, and they also should be directed to help teachers create classroom management strategies that are integrated with a series of learning management, such as the preparation of learning plans, the selection of teaching method and media as a preventive measure to avoid the unexpected behavior and comprehensive evaluation mechanisms in order to make Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 465 265 classroom management as an inseparable part of the teaching and learning system
INTRODUCTION Primary education is the education received by children from age 6-11 and before secondary education (Federal Ministry of Education 2014). Primary education is very vital because it is the foundation of education at all levels. Ajayi and Adeosun (2004) affirmed that education cannot be an instrument per excellence for achieving national development where primary education is not effectively managed to accomplish its aims and objectives. Objectives or goal of primary education are to: a) Include permanent literacy and numeracy and ability to communicate effectively. b) Lay a sound basis for scientific and reflective thinking. c) Give citizenship education as a basis for effective participation in and contribute to the life of the society. d) Mould the character and develop sound attitude and morals in the child. e) Develop in the child the ability to adapt the child’s changing environment. f) Give the child opportunities for developing manipulative skills that will enable the child function effectively in the society. g) Provide the child with basic tools for further educational advancement (Federal ministry of Education 2014). To achieve these stated goals by federal government, adequate facilities must be put in place. Facilities are very important factor at all levels of education most especially, primary level. Ehinola (2012) identified facilities as classrooms, hostel accommodation, laboratories, furniture, recreational equipment and others. Also Ogundipe (2003) opined that infrastructural facilities in terms of classrooms, libraries, laboratories, play field, school farm garden, have to be of appropriate in quality and quantity. In Nigeria today and especially in Ondo State due to community and individual involvement in education population of pupils in primary schools have increased at high rate. Raheem (2003) reported that admission into primary school gallop annually in spite of the shortage of needed infrastructure in the school. Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.6, No.22, 2015 5 Also Philips (2011) reported that the number of overcrowded classes in New york was the largest in the last ten years. He said, overcrowded classroom is not only the problem of Pakistan but it has now become universal problem. According to him, Government Girls Secondary Schools in the district of pescharrar Khyber Pukhitulehua have Pakistan, average number of students in most of the classrooms range from 70-120. Olaleye (2006) also expressed that additional classrooms are needed in most secondary schools of Oyo State. He said, 50-80 students were packed in one classroom. Shah and InamuIlah (2012) found from their studies that overcrowded classes could have a direct impact on student learning. A classroom is said to be overcrowded when the number of pupils or students exceed the optimum level. For example in Nigeria primary schools, when pupils in classroom exceed ratio of 30 pupils, there is overcrowded. Abiodun (2012) said that the astronomical increase in the pupil enrolment seems to have led to congestion in many state of the federation. He said further, that Ekiti State appeared not to be left out of this problem. It could be therefore, that the falling standard of education in public schools today was a result of overcrowded classrooms. Adesina (1977) opined that one of the factors responsible for falling in quality of education in Nigeria is the prominence of overcrowded classes in many schools. In Nigeria and particularly in Ondo State, numbers of factors could have been responsible for the enrolment increase in primary schools. These include health programme known or as Abiye Health Programme, the programme has nearly reduced child and mortality during birth to zero level. The introduction of MEGA schools in the state and emphasized laid through radio and television jingles on the importance of Basic Education. Management of overcrowded classrooms should be taken into consideration by school heads. Management involves planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, staffing and budgeting. In primary schools, head teachers should think on how to combine all these management elements so as to solve overcrowded problem in his schools. Head teacher has two major roles to perform; Administrative role and Academic role. One of the major administrative role of the head teacher is to provide conducive environment for teaching and learning, therefore, he is at cross road of providing quality education to the large population with limited number of classes. Hence this study want to examine enrolment trends, class-size and management strategies used by head teachers in solving problems of recommended classroom. The Purpose of theStudy a) To examine the current enrolment trend in public primary schools in North Senatorial district of Ondo State. b) To know the class-ratio of primary school pupils in North Senatorial district of Ondo State. c) To know the management strategies adopted by the head teachers in solving overcrowded classrooms problems in the District. Research questions 1. What is the current enrolment trend of primary schools’ pupils in Northern Senatorial district of Ondo State? 2. What is the current class ratio of primary schools’ pupils in the District? 3. What are management strategies used by the head teachers in the solving overcrowded classrooms problems in the District? Research methodology This study adopted a descriptive research of the survey type. It was an attempt to investigate the current enrolment trend, current class ratio and management strategies used in solving overcrowded classrooms problems. Population of this study consisted of all primary schools head teachers and pupils in Northern Senatorial District of Ondo State. There are 250 public primary schools which spread across the six local governments of the northern senatorial districts. The local governments include: 1. Akoko North East Local Government 2. Akoko North West Local Government 3. Akoko South East Local Government 4. Akoko South West Local Government 5. Owo Local Government 6. Ose Local Government Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.6, No.22, 2015 6 Sample and Sampling Techniques simple random sampling technique was used to select 3 local Governments area out of the six local governments in the District. Local Government selected are Akoko North East, Akoko South East, and Akoko South West. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select 50 public primary schools out of 250primary schools representing 25% primary schools in the district. 20 primary schools were selected from Akoko North East, 10 primary schools from Akoko South East and 20 primary Schools from Akoko South West. Instrument A research instrument titled Enrolment, Class Ratio and Management strategies Questionnaire (ECRMSQ) developed by the researcher. The questionnaire has two parts: part one is to elicit information from the head teachers, the current enrolment and information of the class ratio in their schools. Part two was open ended questionnaire item designed to elicit information on the head teachers in tackling overcrowded classrooms crisis. Method of data analysis Frequency counts and means scores were used to analyse all these research questions. Results Research Question 1 What is the current enrolment trend of primary schools pupils in North Senatorial Districtof Ondo State? Table 1a (Akoko North East Enrolment Trend 2013-2014 Academic session) School E AA NN A 169 5 2 B 712 17 7 C 172 4 2 D 185 8 - E 175 14 - F 291 10 - G 445 12 8 H 365 4 8 I 356 16 - J 442 12 3 K 485 14 2 L 188 7 - M 156 10 - N 629 18 3 O 301 8 2 P 105 6 - Q 298 9 1 R 101 10 - S 155 6 - T 100 4 - TOTAL 5817 198 33 Source: Field work. Table 1b (Akoko South East Enrolment Trend 2013-2014 Academic Session) Schools E AA NN A 180 4 2 B 510 14 3 C 141 3 2 D 163 4 1 E 669 15 7 F 239 6 2 G 207 5 1 H 116 3 1 I 349 6 6 J 260 7 2 TOTAL 2834 67 27 Source: Field work. Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.6, No.22, 2015 7 Table 1c (Akoko South west enrolment trend 2013-2014 Academic Session) Schools E AA MN A 334 8 3 B 398 10 3 C 772 17 9 D 446 13 2 E 642 17 4 F 700 20 3 G 500 10 3 H 310 8 2 I 383 8 5 J 493 12 4 K 349 10 2 L 758 21 4 M 603 17 3 N 591 16 4 O 315 9 1 P 287 7 3 Q 673 20 2 R 617 19 2 S 223 5 2 T 266 7 2 TOTAL 9669 258 63 Source: field work Key: E=Enrolment, AA= Actual Number of Classrooms, NN=Actual number of classrooms needed. Table 1a-c Shown that Akoko South West has the highest enrolment of 9669 pupils, followed by Akoko North East with 5817 pupils. However, only ten public primary schools were sampled from the local government. Also table 1a showed that 198 classroom were available for use why 33 additional classroom are needed. Also in table 1b, it revealed that Akoko South East primary schools are in needed of additional 27 classroom with the present 67 available classrooms and lastly in table 1c, it was shown that Akoko South West have a total number of 258 classroom and additional 63 classrooms are still needed. Research question 2 What is the current class-ratio of primary schools pupils in Northern Senatorial District of Ondo State? Table 2a (Class Ratio in Akoko North East in 2013-2014 Academic Session) School E AA CR A 169 5 34 B 712 17 42 C 172 4 43 D 185 8 26 E 175 14 15 F 291 10 29 G 445 12 37 H 363 4 90 I 356 16 22 J 442 12 37 K 485 14 35 L 188 7 27 M 156 10 16 N 629 18 35 O 301 8 38 P 105 6 18 Q 298 9 33 R 101 10 10 S 155 6 25 T 100 4 25 Source: Field work Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.6, No.22, 2015 8 Table 2b (Class Ratio in Akoko South East in 2013-2014 Academic Session) Schools E AA CR A 180 4 45 B 510 14 36 C 141 3 47 D 163 4 41 E 669 15 45 F 239 6 40 G 207 5 41 H 116 3 39 I 239 6 40 J 265 7 37 Source: Field work Table 2c (Class Ratio in Akoko South West in 2013-2014 Academic Session) Schools E AA CR A 334 8 42 B 398 10 40 C 772 17 45 D 446 13 34 E 642 17 38 F 700 20 35 G 510 14 36 H 310 8 39 I 383 8 48 J 493 12 41 K 349 10 35 L 758 21 36 M 603 17 35 N 591 16 36 O 315 09 35 P 287 07 41 Q 673 20 34 R 617 19 32 S 223 5 47 T 266 7 38 Source: Field work Key:E=Enrolment; AA=Actual number of classrooms available; CR=Class-Ratio Table 2a-c shown the class-ratio in all the 50 primary schools. In table 2a, 10 out of 20 schools sampled class-ratio ranged between 33-90 pupils while the remaining 10 schools operate normal class-ratio. Also in table 2b, all schools sampled class-ratio ranged between 39-47 pupils and in table 2c all the sampled schools class-ratio ranged between 32-48 pupils. Research Question3 What are the management strategies used by the head teachers in solving overcrowded classrooms problem in Northern Senatorial District in Ondo State? From the finding, the result shown that 45 head teachers out of the 50 head teachers given open ended questionnaire, that is 90% used negotiation strategy. Reduction strategy was also used by 60% of them. That is, embargo on new pupils admission into the school through transfer from other schools. Discussion From the result on table 1a-c it was revealed that Akoko South West primary schools have the highest enrolment of 9669 pupils, Akoko North west pupils enrolment is 5817 pupils and Akoko South East have enrolment of 2834 pupils. However, only ten schools were sampled from the local government. The result also revealed that the actual number of classrooms available in the Northern Senatorial District for primary school pupils were insufficient. It was found out that 127 additional classrooms were urgently needed in the district so as to move the system forward. This is in consonance with Ogundipe (2003) that infrastructural facilities in terms of classrooms, laboratories, playground among other school be appropriate in quality and quantity. Overcrowded classrooms resulted to poor performance. Shortage of classrooms occurred as a result of increase in pupils enrolment. This problem of classroomsshortage is well pronounced in public primary school as result of nonchallant attitude of some stakeholders to education in terms of facilities provision. Government might not be able Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.6, No.22, 2015 9 to provide all the needed facilities in the schools. It might also be that some of the buildings built in some public primary schools might be of low quality in terms of material used. Also in research question 2, table 2a-c revealed that out of the 50 schools sampled, one has class ratio of 90 pupils, while 17 of the schools class ratio ranged between 40-47, also 23 of the schools class-ratio ranged between 31-39 and 9 of the schools sampled did not exceed the class ratio. This implies that 41 primary schools out of 50 operate above normal class ratio of 25-30 pupils as recommended by UNESCO. This is in agreement with Abiodun (2012) that the astronomical increase in pupils’ population seems to have led to congestion in primary schools in many state of the federation. He said the falling standard experienced today in public schools could have been because of overcrowded classes. One of the sampled schools has class-ratio of 90 pupils. This is in agreement with Philip (2011) that government girls secondary in the District of Pesiharra Khyber Pukhitukhua, Pakistan, average number of students in most of classrooms ranged between 70-120. This also collaborate Olaleye (2006) that 50-80 students were found in one classroom in secondary schools in Oyo State. In this study, most of the schools with class-ratio of 40 and above were schools whose population were above 200 pupils. A situation where more than 40 pupils packed in one class, effective teaching and learning cannot take place. Many factors might be responsible for the increase in pupils enrolment. It might be that many parents were not economically buoyant to send their children to good private schools where facilities are sufficient. The successful health programme put in place by Ondo state government which has reduced child death at birth to zero level. Hence, increase in school aged children. This is in consonance with Raheem (2003) that admission into primary schools gallops annually inspite of the shortage of needed infrastructure in the system.
INTRODUCTION This last decade has brought positive, as well as negative changes in many aspects of human life. The question of improving everyday life has thus become crucial. With the so called phenomenon of democratization, the individual searches for solutions of improving his own life. A good analysis is needed in order for this to become possible, an analysis not only of society as a whole, but of human resources who’d have the capacity to manage it as well. We live in a world of constant change. If we want to be in step with the needs of the XXI century, we need to apply changes to the education system as well. Therefore, the subject of this paper would be answering the questions of organizing the teaching process, and the teachers’ ability for different kinds of organization. We are inevitably faced with the question of renovating schools. This is а recurring question because it is essential for public education. “In this country, there are thousands of buildings where people have no phone and no cable TV. We call them schools.” (Dryden, G., and Vos, J. 2001: 24). The goal of every school is to be the best, to be failure-free and to make possible that every child learn it is own talents and capabilities. The new generations of children grow up surrounded with digital media. That is why constantly updating teaching programs is essential for students to obtain different kinds of knowledge. They should be in the focus of attention: there should be changes in the way we grade students, education should be computerized, but most importantly changes should be applied in the classroom itself, in they way we manage it and in the way we organize classes. Learning is in essence, the most inter- esting game in life. All children believe this before we convince them otherwise - that it’s very difficult! But if we want to implement this in education, we have to modernize teaching methods. In order for a teacher to be successful, he has to bear in mind that every child is a person, an individual with it is own learning method. Every learning method should be respected, because there is no such thing as a bad learn- ing method. Recognizing one’s own method of learning is the key to successful education and work. Besides that, the teacher should provide every student with the possibility of choice and the responsibility for his own education. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Dr. Jasmina Delceva – Dizdarevik, Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Philosophy Ss. Cyril and Methodius University-Skopje, Macedonia E-mail : [e-mail] Received: February, 20.2014. Accepted: April, 04.2014. Original Research UDK 371.12:005.32(497.7) Corresponding Author Jasmina Delceva – Dizdarevik, Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University-Skopje, Macedonia E-mail : [e-mail] (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. www.ijcrsee.com 52 The teacher, being the key for the teaching process, should be able to establish a positive school atmosphere. Such an atmosphere is described as purposeful, active, relaxed and motivational. With a positive educational atmosphere and a mutual trust between teachers and students all problems and difficulties are easily surmounted. Additionally, the teacher is responsible for setting the expectation rate of student success. A positive school atmosphere has the following characteristics: - Openness, which implies encouragement of all independent, creative but also skeptical thought. - Support, friendship, cohesion and closeness between all the active participants in the educational process. - Equality, which implies the division of responsibility between teacher and student. Hence the big part that management plays in education - in it we find both the guidance and the solutions contemporary education systems need. Before we jump to analysis and organization of the teaching process, we will try to define management as a scientific discipline: “Management stands for a set of activities (including planning, deciding, organizing, leading and controlling) that focus on the use of resources (human, financial, informational) for the achievement of goals in an efficient and effective way” (Gocevski, T. 2010: 5). This paper is about managing the class- room, so a more particular definition of school management is required: The management of a classroom is a process that includes different activities done by teacher and student alike, but also teach- ing subjects that have to be aligned with both the needs and abilities of the students, and the previously established teaching goals. With this kind of organization, students will be able to achieve results, individually and in groups. The right kind of management allows for a rational use of time and resources, for activities that complement teaching subjects, and for efficiency in reaching the set goals. (Trajkov. B. 2007: 1-6). The advantages of teachers who manage their teaching process and the classroom (Kelly, L. 1982: 167): 1. Students are deeply involved in their activities and they do them with utmost care. 2. Students know what’s expected of them and they are generally pleased with it. 3. A relatively small amount of time is lost to confusion. The atmosphere in the classroom is work oriented, but also relaxing and pleasant (Jankovski, D. 2002: 49). In theory, school management is comprised of time for (Morgenstern, J. 2000: 41): - Planning; - Studying; - Theory; - Development of the teaching program; - Decision making; - Use of appropriate techniques; - Evaluation models. 1. The management of a classroom is in essence, about being capable of putting time to good use. To implement this in the lessons is very important. Wasting the time of the student usually results in lack of respect (Petkovski, K., and Aleksova, N. 2004: 73). 2. The development of concepts in the theory of studying is of vital importance for the effective planning in school management. For example, if the class has not been appropriately planned, (if the concept has been too advanced or too simple) there is a higher probability that students will behave improperly. 3. How to behave with problematic students, when and how to praise students in the classroom, how to establish a system of rewarding students is usually picked up through personal experience. Sometimes the situation is parallel or directly connected to school management planning. 4. The development of the teaching pro- gram is still an important segment in class- room management. It is necessary for every teacher to know how to outline his lessons according to the goals of the school teaching program. Many school systems don’t have clear and defined teaching goals. It is essen- tial for every new teacher in the system to establish his work philosophy in the frame of the teaching program, regardless of previous experience. 5. Classroom management is easy if one is familiar with making decisions and sticking to them. Many teachers can’t manage continuity in their work, although work principles are the most important for students. 6. The use of the multitude of appro- priate techniques in the classroom creates an atmosphere stimulating to both teachers and students. Not all students learn the same way, some learn visually, others by hearing, some have difficulties reading, and some have weakened hearing. Some are highly motivated, some aren’t at all. Because of all this, there’s a need to present the same material in (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. www.ijcrsee.com 53 different ways, to make as many students as possible receptive to it. This way, all students have the opportunity to learn. The ability to use different teaching techniques make the lesson effective, and an effective lesson eliminates the need for discipline. 7. In order for teachers to be effective teaching managers, they should be capable of short-term and long-term planning. Long-term planning in this case would refer to a semester, or a student`s year, or any other period of time that is adequate. Short-term planning refers to the daily and weekly planning of lessons, most probably both. Good planning in a manager means that he’s easily adaptable and ready to embrace teaching activities spontaneously. 8. In the end, capable managers know how to evaluate the situation in class. Constant evaluation gives the possibility of analysis of information, and that makes for better management programs. All these ways offer reciprocity, which is what helps a teacher in his effectiveness. Graphicon 1. Management in education This table shows us that we need to dis- tinguish school management from the man- agement in the classroom itself. The next table shows the key educa- tional elements that XXI century students have a right to (Teaching and learning in the 21 - century 2009: 15): Table 1. Key educational elements A teacher who is capable of managing the curriculum should have skills. That means that every teacher who wants to be efficient in his work should know how to inspire students to study, which in turn would result in achieving the previously set goals. In order to be efficient, a teacher has to bear in mind that the following phases are essential to the teaching process: 1. Planning and preparing for the lesson; 2. Duration of the lesson itself, along with performance; 3. Establishing a positive climate in the classroom; 4. Establishing a working atmosphere and discipline; 5. Evaluation of progress and 6. Evaluation of one’s own work. For all this to be realized successfully, conditions should be met: 1. The teachers has to maintain a high level of attention in his students; 2. He should encourage them and motivate them during the entirety of the lesson; 3. Activities realized during the lesson should be in accordance with the type of studying we are trying to achieve. A lesson thus set and organized, improves the quality of the teaching, and motivates the students to study. 1. METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH Following this concept, we made a research in three elementary schools and two high schools in the Karpos municipality of the city of Skopje. Data will be interpreted separately for elementary schools and high schools. Analyz- ing part of the answers from the schools has led to some interesting conclusions. This anal- ysis will concern itself only with part of the answers of teachers, to confirm the thesis that contemporary teachers are not really capable of making a change in the organization and realization of lessons. 2. RESEARCH RESULTS These are the answers to the question of the significance of management in the classroom given by elementary school teachers. 53% of the teachers gave an affirmative answer, while the remaining 47% said they are not familiar with what it really stands for. To the question of how they plan the (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. www.ijcrsee.com 54 lesson and do they need to prepare for it, most of the teachers or 87% of them answered that they always plan, while the remaining 13% rely solely on the textbook. Concerning the classroom atmosphere and the engagement of students during the class, 84% say that they take care to interpret the material in interesting ways, so the students are able to understand it, while 16% say that they don’t pay attention to that, because the number of students in a class is too big, making it impossible to provide a good teaching atmosphere. High schools have brought the following results: To the question of classroom management, only 34% answered affirmatively, while 67% don’t know what classroom management actually means. To the question of how they plan the lesson and how much they prepare for it, the answers were almost identical with those given by the elementary teachers - 82% always plan, while the remaining 18% follow the textbook. 26% of the high school teachers take care to present the material in an interesting way so that it is easily absorbed by students, while the other 74% say that the number of students in a class makes it impossible to provide a good teaching atmosphere. We came across some interesting results both from the elementary and high school teachers concerning evaluation and self-eval- uation of students. The general impression that their answers give is that teachers evaluate iden- tically, through tests and exams, while not a single teacher makes use of self-evaluation as a method. This questions their objectivity, that is, the application of acquired knowledge from the side of the students. Self-evaluation is a notion that teach- ers grudgingly stay away from, because they think that it is unnecessary - almost all of them answered that in their opinion, they are doing a good job. These results show that elementary school teachers understand classroom management more than high school teachers. It is a condition that indicates a serious lack of pedagogic education in high school teachers. 3. RECOMMENDATION Thus, instead of a conclusion we would like to recommend the following: - The initial education of teachers should include further pedagogic education - Attention should be paid to self-evaluation, because it is clearly not used as a method in institutions, that is, it does not provide good results. How to improve this condition? The already familiar phrases such as “the institutions in question should provide training programs” result in nothing. So again, the question reasserts itself. Analyzing the conditions in schools, the general impression is that the teachers aren’t motivated due to many reasons (their administrative engagements, the pressure from possible penalties, etc.) so therefore, if a teacher enters a classroom unmotivated, how should we expect students to be motivated – the teacher has no zeal for his work, which reflects badly on the students and on the whole of the education process. Of course that they will gain knowledge to last them the week, the type of knowledge that doesn’t bring anything to anybody. The answer to this question should be sought for in how the state manages the affairs of education. We are only left to wait silently and see how and when the teaching process will be democratized, while generations and generations of students sink in the depths of ignorance.
Introduction
Teachers have a central role in advancing social interaction and a positive atmosphere in their classes. In particular, the emotional relationship between the teacher and the pupils, the teacher’s awareness of the pupils’ feelings and of the reasons for them, the teacher’s skill in evaluating the pupils’ feelings and responding accordingly, the teacher’s conception of the importance of different emotions in the learning process, and the teacher’s emotional interpersonal guidelines all affect a classroom’s emotional atmosphere (Evans, Harvey, Bucley & Yan, 2009). Harrison, Clarke and Ungerer (2007) summarized that a positive teacher-pupil relation advances both pupils’ social accommodation and their orientation to school. Positive friendships also seem to increase pupils’ school attendance. Several studies have found a close connection between the atmosphere in the classroom and emotional and social experiences (e.g. Frenzel, Pekrun & Goetz, 2007).
In the classroom, interaction occurs between the teacher and the pupils, and between the pupils themselves. In this interaction, the teacher is more central as s/he decides who is allowed to talk and what to talk about. The relations between the teacher and the pupils and between the pupils themselves, as well as the rules and the ways of working in the classroom, have an effect on this interaction and also on its openness (Newman, 2002). In this interaction, learning is important for the development of mathematical thinking, social skills, and positive self-efficacy (Blum-Kulka & Dvir-Gvirsman, 2010). The development of social skills will, for its part, advance the development of a positive emotional atmosphere (Humphrey, Lendrum & Wigelsworth, 2010). On the other hand, experiences that are related to social humiliation, for example, are particularly negative. Such cases are for example when a pupil tries to solve a mathematical problem in front of the class and fails (Ashcraft, Krause & Hopko, 2007) or when the pupil is criticized by the teacher (Uusimaki & Nason, 2004, p. 373).
Longitudinal research by the Finnish National Board of Education found that students’ mathematical self-efficacy and enjoyment of mathematics decreased over the course of comprehensive education (Metsämuuronen & Tuohilampi, 2014). Dahlgren and Sumpter (2010) compared Swedish second and fifth graders’ conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching via drawings with a written questionnaire. Most of the second graders were found to have a positive attitude toward mathematics whereas a larger portion of the fifth graders had a negative attitude. These results are in line with a number studies reporting similar results worldwide (see Lee, 2009; Sjøberg & Schreiner, 2010): pupils’ attitudes toward mathematics deteriorate during basic education.
In a three-year research project carried out by the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Helsinki in 2010–2013, primary school pupils’ drawings about mathematics lessons were collected in one of the background studies. As part of an analysis of pupils’ drawings, we have earlier looked at the kind of emotional atmosphere that dominated in these third and fifth graders’ mathematics lessons (Laine, Näveri, Ahtee, Hannula & Pehkonen, 2013; Laine, Ahtee, Näveri, Pehkonen, Portaankorva-Koivisto & Tuohilampi, 2015). In the third grade classrooms, the emotional atmosphere was mainly positive and in the fifth grade, the atmosphere was more negative, although there were large differences between classrooms. Therefore, we wanted in this research first to find out whether the emotional atmosphere had become more positive in any class and secondly to compare the teachers’ behavior in the classes where the emotional atmosphere had become more positive compared to the classes where it had become more negative. Therefore, our aim was to find out what factors in teachers’ and pupils’ behavior could explain the differences in the emotional atmosphere between different classes in the fifth grade. We hope that this study will add to the information on how pupils’ attitudes toward mathematics could remain positive throughout primary school.
Theoretical Background
Here, we deal with two items that are central for the following empirical study: collective emotional atmosphere and drawings as a research method. We examine the changes in the emotional atmosphere in mathematics lessons based on pupils’ drawings.
The Collective Emotional Atmosphere in a Classroom
Evans et al. (2009) divided the notion of classroom atmosphere into three complementary components: (1) academic, (2) management, and (3) emotional. In this study, we concentrate on the third component, i.e., emotional atmosphere, which refers to the affective interactions within the classroom.
The emotional atmosphere within the classroom can be regarded either from the viewpoint of individuals in the class or from the viewpoint of the classroom as a whole (Hannula, 2011). The individual level looks at the individual experiences that occur in the class, whereas the classroom level looks at the class in terms of social interaction, communication, and norms. Furthermore, a distinction can be made between two temporal aspects of “affect”: state and trait (Hannula, 2011, 2012; see also McLeod, 1992; Goldin, 2002). State refers to the emotional atmosphere at a specific moment in the class while trait refers to more long-term conditions. These form the matrix shown in Table 1.