New behaviour management
Professor Ramon Lewis, of La Trobe University, has specialised in classroom management for more than 25 years. He is now examining the effect of developmental classroom management on student engagement in more than 200 schools in Victoria.
Lewis says there is a natural and increasing tendency for current students to work co-operatively and collectively. He alludes to the argument in educational literature for a shift from authoritarian management towards inclusive and democratic forms of management, although “some teachers just want to tell kids what to do, they think they have the power to dictate without explanation”.