Video · Teachers Media
Classroom Management 2
Classroom management is one of the most researched and most argued-about areas of teaching. The evidence supports a fairly narrow set of things — clear routines, consistent expectations, strong relationships, positive framing — but the way those principles are enacted varies hugely by phase, subject, school culture, and the teacher's own personality. There's no single script.
About this video
The distinction that most helps early-career teachers is between controlling behaviour in the moment (which usually looks like sanctions, escalations, and confrontation) and designing lessons and routines so that misbehaviour is less likely to happen in the first place. Teachers with strong classroom management typically spend most of their energy on the second, and only a small fraction on the first.
The evidence base — from Kounin's classic work on lesson smoothness through to more recent syntheses like Bennett's "Running the Room" — points consistently to a set of practical moves: crystal-clear routines for arrival, transitions and materials; explicit teaching of what good behaviour looks like (not assumed); a "silent signal" system so instructions don't require raised voices; and consistent, calm follow-through when boundaries are tested. None of this is glamorous, but it works.
What doesn't work well is inconsistency. A teacher who applies the same rule differently on different days — or who backs down under pressure from a persistent challenge — is teaching pupils that the rules are negotiable. That's the classroom-management failure mode almost all experienced teachers recognise from their own early years.
A short list of practical moves that reliably help
- Meet pupils at the door. A named greeting and a moment of eye contact sets a different tone than pupils drifting into a room where you're already at the board.
- Teach routines explicitly. Don't assume pupils know how to enter, get materials out, or start a task. Show them, practise it, praise the ones who model it.
- Positive framing. "I need you to stop talking" is a demand. "Thanks to those already ready to listen" is a nudge, and often more effective.
- Consistent follow-through. Whatever consequence you promised, deliver it, quietly. Empty threats train pupils to ignore you.
- Repair after conflict. When you've had a hard moment with a pupil, find a quiet moment later to reset. Don't let the relationship rot.
Discussion prompts
- Which routine in your classroom is genuinely well-established, and which one still isn't? What would it take to fix the second one?
- When was the last time a pupil's misbehaviour was really a symptom of a lesson-design problem — pace, task match, unclear instructions?
- What behaviour-management move do you make that you learned from a colleague? Whose classroom would benefit if you shared it?
Try this in your classroom
- For a week, meet every class at the door and greet each pupil by name. Note what changes in the opening minute of each lesson.
- Pick one routine that's inconsistent (entering the room, packing away, transitioning between tasks) and teach it explicitly next week. Practise. Reinforce.
- Ask a trusted colleague to observe your classroom management specifically. Where do they see friction you're not aware of?