Length of Time in Student Teaching: Effects on Classroom Control Orientation and Self-Efficacy Beliefs

Classroom management has long been an area of concern for new teachers. Based on a framework developed by Wolfgang and Glickman (1980, 1986) there are three approaches to classroom management interaction-non-interventionist, interventionist, and interactionalist. Non-interventionist classroom management is the least directive and controlling, and the non-interventionist style teacher believes the child has intrinsic motivation and needs to be expressive. On the other hand, the interventionist is most controlling and emphasizes more behavior modification practices. Mid-way between these two extremes is the interactionalist who strives to resolve issues in a way that is satisfactory to both teacher and students. Bush and Achilles (1986) found that humanistic-authoritarianism personality characteristics are closely related to attitudes toward discipline. Their research indicated that humanistic methods of classroom management and discipline were more successful than authoritarian ones whose style of classroom control is a more harsh and ineffective approach. They found that when control was only suppressive and not corrective, it does not have educational value, and as a result, "violates principles of democracy, and has negative long-range effects both for the classroom learning environment and for the student personally" (13). Teacher education programs introduce many effective management strategies to prospective teachers (Emmer, 1986). Identification of classroom management style is important in order to promote humanistic, positive styles among those with interventionist orientations. Teacher self-efficacy refers to a specific self-referent belief in a teacher's ability to organize and execute the actions necessary to reach certain attainments. Teacher self-efficacy has been found to be an important link with effective classroom management, teaching and learning (Gibson & Dembo, 1984; Henson, in press; Podell & Soodak, 1993; Tschannen-Moran, WoolfolkHoy, & Hoy, 1998). Students of efficacious teachers have outperformed students of other teachers on a variety of achievement tests (Andersen, Greene, & Loewen, 1998; Moore & Esselman. 1992; Ross, 1992). Watson (1991) observed greater achievement in rural, urban, majority Black, and majority White schools for students of efficacious teachers. Regarding classroom management behaviors, efficacious teachers persist with struggling students and criticize less after incorrect student answers (Gibson & Dembo, 1984). They are also more likely to agree that a low SLS student should be placed in a regular education setting and less likely to refer students for special education (Meijer & Foster. 1998; Podell & Soodak, 1993; Soodak APodell, 1993). Teachers with high efficacy tend to experiment with methods of instruction, seek improved teaching methods and experiment with instructional materials(Allinder, 1994;Guskey, 1988; Stein & Wang, 1988). The idea that teacher's self-beliefs are determinants of teaching behavior is valuable information for educator programs. Woolfolk and Hoy (1990) examined the relationship between pre-service teachers' sense of efficacy and their beliefs of pupil control. Using the Teacher Efficacy Scale (Gibson & Dembo, 1984) and the Pupil Control Ideology form (Willower, Eidell,& Hoy, 1967), they reported that Prospective teachers with high teaching efficacy are more humanistic in their pupil control ideology than those with low teaching efficacy; however, the relationship exists only among prospective teachers who believe that they have the ability to make a difference in student achievement-thai is, only among those who also have high personal efficacy, (p 88) It is possible, then, those pre-service teachers who are confident in their capabilities display more humanistic, less interventionist classroom management strategies. Due to the recent lack of qualified teachers to fill classrooms, quicker routes to teacher certification have emerged through alternative and emergency education programs; the question arises whether the length of time for student teaching makes a difference in teacher self-efficacy and classroom control issues? …