The project is part of Centre for the Study of Professions's project "Novice teachers and how they cope (NYMY). This presentation will discuss the tension between classroom management in terms of techniques and methods and leadership in terms of values and attitudes. The research question is: How do practice teachers and practice schools facilitate students training and mastering of classroom management? The purpose of the study is to explore what is functioning well in the practice teaching when it comes to this subject. In what ways are skills in focus, and how is the personal element addressed? What about the combination or relation between the techniques and the contextual and personal dimension. By examining the ways of working I have discovered different valuable situations that could be developed further on in the teacher education. I have combined the material from my research with Jacob Kounin’s dimensions in what teachers should master(Kounin 1970), and have tried to suggest skills to develop, thinking of teacher practice as a craft that should be mastered. In thinking of the teacher practice as a craft, I am influenced by the concept of “practical knowledge” (Mæløe, Lindseth) and by the ideas of learning as situated (Lave & Wenger 1991) Another frame of reference for understanding classroom management and how to master it comes from communication theory. With Gregory Bateson as a main reference (Bateson 1972, Bateson 1979, Ulleberg 2004) I use his concepts to analyze my material within a relational framework.

This is a qualitative study, and draws upon different methods such as text analysis, interviewing and observation. In my methodology I have wanted to hear different voices, explore the understanding from the different persons involved in the situations in the classroom. I have studied what the 2.year practice teachers focus on when it comes to what students should learn about classroom management in their assessments reports. I have observed practice teachers in the classroom with the students and in supervision sessions. I have also made in depth interviews with the practice teachers I have observed, designing the interview guide with the observations as a point of departure. I made short individual interviews with the students, and also made in depth group interviews building on my observations. I will try to get the pupils’ ideas about class management and the difference between the students and the teachers. By the triangulation of methods and the exploration of the different voices, we will develop a "thicker" understanding of the field of classrom management, and how to lern to master it.

To become a teacher you have to learn strategies and methods of dealing with groups of pupils; it is a craftsmanship. But being a teacher is not only a craft, it is closely linked to values and ideas and to the ambiguity of communication. With analyzing the material within a communicational frame of reference we can develop training strategies that combine the methodical with developing sensitivity for the personal and situational. Bateson’s communication theory comprises ideas and concepts that can contribute to the understanding of the communication between teacher and class. Hopefully his concepts combined with Kounin’s dimensions of classroom management can be used in analyzing the learning of classroom management, and contribute to develop programs in teacher training that we can try out with the practice teachers in the practice schools.