Becoming a competent classroom manager: A case-study of a preservice teacher education course

Classroom management (CM) is one of the major challenges faced by novice teachers. We define CM as the set of actions that teachers undertake to build a classroom climate that promotes students' academic, and socioemotional competence (SEC). This study is an evaluative case study of an innovation in a CM course for students, in a teaching education undergraduate program at a private University in Colombia. Specifically, we examined the potential of a set of pedagogic strategies (i.e. active learning and reflective journals) to develop preservice teachers' SEC, CM self-efficacy and non-controlling discipline beliefs. Results from quantitative and qualitative analyses showed the potential that active learning and reflective journals have to prepare preservice teachers for the challenges of CM.