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Classroom management is a priority of initial teacher education in Australia. In the Bachelor of Education Primary program, pre-service educators are required to develop an understanding of the key ideas in relation to creating and maintaining supportive and safe learning environments in the primary school context. Positioned in the second year of the program, the learning in this course takes advantage of pre-service educators’ prior and current professional experience. The pre-service educator will engage in a range of learning experiences that build competencies in classroom management to enable the continuity of teaching and learning. This course builds on the foundation of previously studied courses in this program to develop informed practical teacher knowledge.

The aim of this pre-service course is to enhance teacher efficacy in the contemporary primary classroom. The course defines the classroom, as the environment that affords teaching and learning. The introduction focuses on the links among relevant classroom management theories to inform practice. Investigation of a teachers' effective relational skills and the significance of interrelationships in a school community are explored. Current practice advocates for the establishment of positive environments and proactive teaching and learning to promote learners' self-regulation and wellbeing. Attention is given to effective teacher practice and specifically to the key elements of behaviour management: clear expectations, timely acknowledgement and appropriate correction. The course provides practical approaches to responding to challenging behaviours by identifying the causes and developing behaviour plans to support learners. A clear understanding of the function of school behaviour plans and how they inform teachers is addressed.

The course objectives define the student learning outcomes for a course in accordance with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s (AITSL) Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST). On successful completion of this course pre-service educators should be able to:

1. investigate relevant classroom management theories and how they integrate to inform practice that supports participation and engagement for student wellbeing and safety (APST 4.1, 4.4);
2. identify the dispositions of relational teachers (teacher-student, teacher-parent, student-student) to reflect on personal strengths and weaknesses, inclusive of verbal and non-verbal communication that support students (APST 3.5, 3.7, 4.1);
3. design supportive learning environments for primary school learners to establish expectations through effective teaching and learning (APST 3.5, 4.1, 4.2);
4. acquire and apply a repertoire of strategies, including providing clear directions, for the acknowledgement and correction of learner behaviour including low level and challenging behaviour (APST 1.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5);
5. recognise the common components of whole school behaviour plans and describe how to align personal practice to manage and organise the classroom (APST 4.2, 4.3, 4.4).