Browsing by Author "Kuljukka, Emma"

The purpose of this master's thesis is to find out what kind of experiences classroom teachers who have graduated from the University of Helsinki have about their efficacy in classroom management situations. I also try to find out what classroom management tools class teachers use to build and maintain peaceful work conditions. As classroom management and maintaining peaceful working conditions are an important part of a teacher's daily work, I would like to increase both my own and the reader's knowledge related to classroom management throughout this thesis. This thesis was carried out as a mixed methods research. The quantitative data used in the thesis was obtained through a questionnaire as part of the OVET project. The questionnaire was responded by 59 classroom teachers who have graduated from the University of Helsinki. I analysed quantitative data statistically using IBM SPSS version 27. The analytical methods I used were exploratory factor analysis, mean analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal Wallis test. I collected qualitative data with a semi-structured theme interview. I interviewed three teachers who had responded to the questionnaire, and I analysed the data by means of content analysis. Based on the quantitative analysis, it can be said that the class teachers experienced a fairly high self-efficacy in classroom management. There were no significant differences in the self-efficacy of the respondents to perform. Classroom teachers experienced the highest self-efficacy on influencing student behavior. No statistically significant differences in efficacy experiences were found between the genders and the work experience groups. Teachers with more than 7 years of work experience experienced the highest self-efficacy in classroom management. Teachers used both proactive and reactive classroom management methods. Proactive classroom management methods included creating structure and common rules for classroom, and reactive classroom management tools such as a non-verbal silence sign, verbal requests or recall of rules. Various sanctions were also used by teachers. Teachers' classroom management activities were influenced for example by the situation, the quality of the student's activities or the student's age.