| dc.description.abstract | Teaching can be an emotionally exhausting profession, with student behaviour frequently cited as a significant source of stress that can negatively impact teacher wellbeing and lead to burnout (Chang, 2009). Government data indicates that approximately 32% of teachers in England leave the profession within their first five years of teaching (DfE, 2020b). To address teacher retention and wellbeing, it is important to consider effective ways in which teachers, particularly those early in their careers, can be supported with classroom behaviour that they perceive as challenging.
This study comprises of two distinct phases. The first phase consists of a systematic literature review of effective CPD approaches and models for supporting teachers with classroom behaviour. Sixteen primary studies were selected for review and the findings were synthesised using a narrative synthesis approach (Popay et al., 2006). The second phase of this study examines how early career teachers (ECTs) describe their perceptions of, attitudes towards, and responses to behaviour that they perceive as challenging. It also explores ECTs’ experiences of CPD and considers their views on effective support in regard to classroom behaviour. Teachers in their first, second or third year of teaching (N = 10) participated in semi-structured interviews and findings were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019, 2020).
The findings of the systematic literature review indicate that effective interventions tend to target either teacher behaviour or teacher cognition, or both, as a means to change. Effective interventions typically use a combination of traditional and transmissive CPD models (Kennedy, 2005) and include active-based learning methods, goal setting or needs assessment, and opportunities to develop relationships with peers or receive personalised feedback from a coach or mentor.
The results of the thematic analysis demonstrate how the overarching theme of professional values and beliefs informs how ECTs talk about and respond to challenging behaviour. Four additional themes were identified. The first indicates that ECTs’ perceptions of and attitudes toward particular behaviours point to their views about what a teacher is and does; the second theme explores the tensions experienced by ECTs when determining how to manage classroom behaviour while also meeting the needs of all the children in their class; the third considers that while ECTs generally attribute behaviour that they find challenging to causes outside of their control, this does not prevent them from seeing themselves as impacting classroom behaviour and contributing positively to the solution; and the fourth theme demonstrates that ECTs value support from their colleagues, as well as CPD training activities that are relevant to their circumstances and delivered by those who understand their schools’ context.
The study concludes by exploring implications for educational psychologists. It considers future directions for their role in the development, delivery, and facilitation of CPD that supports teachers, particularly those in the early stages of their career, with classroom behaviour that they find challenging. | en_GB |
