Teachers’ changing practices for “disruption management” in the classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present the main aspects of teachers’ responses to students’ disruptive behaviours during lessons, analysed in the context of changes that are taking place in the approach to institutional practices in this area. In the modern school, effective “disruption management” is a considerable challenge for the teacher, but also a priority. Teachers are under tremendous pressure as their responses to student misbehaviour are evaluated and are a marker of their competence. Two different ways of conceptualizing practices to correct disruptive student behaviour are compared. The changes offered by the new approach to methods of reducing undesirable classroom disruptions seem very promising, but also impose new responsibilities on the teacher. The review of the literature presented in this article aims to prepare a solid ground for research in this area. Increased knowledge on how to respond to disruptive student behaviour in everyday teaching situations can also be valuable for teacher training institutions and thus contribute to improving the quality of education.