Classroom management strategies and techniques: A perspective of English teacher trainees

Abstract

1 IntroductionThe ever changing landscape of education nowadays calls for a re-thinking of teaching profession itself, and therefore of teacher education and professional development. Teachers need to take on new roles and responsibilities in a mobile world, they need to teach multicultural classrooms, they need to integrate ICT 's in their instructional strategies, they have to integrate students with special needs, take active part in assessment and accountability processes, build a learning community together with students' families and social environments. All governments, especially in Europe, are making efforts, at least at policy-making level, to implement provisions of European Union with regard to modernising education. Expectations regarding teachers are changing too, so that teachers are nowadays required to teach besides content matter and traditional competences, transversal competences, i.e. ways of thinking (creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and learning); ways of working (communication and collaboration); tools for working (including information and communications technologies); and skills around citizenship, life and career and personal and social responsibility for success in modern democracies (Schleicher 2012).As concerns teacher education landscape in Romania, status quo is old system of a separate module, independent of and concurrent with curriculum of undergraduate and postgraduate degree studies; i.e. Module I for undergraduate students (30 ECTS), and Module II for postgraduate degree students (30 ECTS). Upon successful completion of first module, teacher trainees are entitled to teach at primary and secondary level (compulsory education, up to 10th grade), and upon successful completion of 2nd module, teacher trainees are entitled to teach at all levels of primary and secondary education (including upper secondary). Despite fact that new Law of Education, 1/2011, which provided for dissolution of concurrent teacher education modules, which were to be supplanted by a Master of Education programme, organised by nationally accredited universities and study programmes, this provision never materialised. The M.Ed. programme was to provide initial, theoretical training for duration of 2 years (4 semesters, 120 ECTS), followed by an induction (probationary) teaching period for duration of one school year, carried at in educational institution under supervision of a qualified mentor. We have yet to see if such a system could be more efficient than current one. At present, however, we need to make efforts in order to increase students' readiness and willingness to enter teaching profession, and moreover, to increase their motivation to remain in system (c.f. Serbanescu, & Popescu 2014).2 Literature ReviewOne of main goals of European Commission is to ensure, among others, adequate policies for providing new teachers with high quality initial teacher education, and encouraging current teachers to continue developing and extending their skills and competences throughout their careers. The Communication 'Rethinking Education' of The European Commission (EC 2012) brought forth recommendation that Member States:... revise and strengthen professional profile of all teaching professions (teachers at all levels, school leaders, teacher educators). Key actions are reviewing effectiveness as well as academic and pedagogical quality of initial teacher education, introducing coherent and adequately resourced systems for recruitment, selection, induction and professional development of teaching staff based on clearly defined competences needed at each stage of a teaching career, and increasing teacher digital competence.Much long same lines, Report to UNESCO of International Commission on Education for Twenty-first Century Learning: The treasure within stresses fact that the importance of role of teacher as an agent of change, promoting understanding and tolerance, has never been more obvious than today (Delors 2000:119), as teachers find themselves looking for new perspectives. …