Teaching and Teacher Education 25 (2009) 453460

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Teaching and Teacher Education

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate

Teachers practical knowledge about classroom management in

multicultural classrooms
Jan van Tartwijk a, *, Perry den Brok b,1, Ietje Veldman a, 2, Theo Wubbels c, 3
a

ICLON Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching, Leiden University, P.O. Box 905, 2300 AX Leiden, The Netherlands
Eindhoven School of Education, Technical University Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
c
Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
b

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 17 April 2007
Received in revised form 8 January 2008
Accepted 9 September 2008

Creating a positive working atmosphere in the classroom is the rst concern of many student and
beginning teachers in secondary education. Teaching in multicultural classrooms provides additional
challenges for these teachers. This study identied shared practical knowledge about classroom
management strategies of teachers who were successful in creating a positive working atmosphere in
their multicultural classrooms. Twelve teachers were selected who were regarded as successful classroom managers in Dutch multicultural classes by their principals and students. Video-stimulated
interviews were used to elicit data about the practical knowledge of these teachers. The teachers were
aware of the importance of providing clear rules and correcting student behaviour whenever necessary,
but they also wanted to reduce potential negative inuences of corrections on the classroom atmosphere.
They aimed at developing positive teacherstudent relationships and adjusted their teaching methods
anticipating students responses. Most teachers seemed reluctant to refer to the cultural and ethnic
background of their students.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Classroom management
Teacher Knowledge
Multicultural classroom

1. Introduction
Veenman (1984) reviewed the literature on beginning teachers
concerns. He concluded that creating a positive working atmosphere in the classroom is the rst concern of most student and
beginning teachers in secondary education. Today, research ndings consistently show that student and beginning teachers still
regard this as their most serious challenge (Evertson & Weinstein,
2006a). Teaching in multicultural classrooms provides an additional challenge for these teachers.
In the USA, Australia and Europe, society is becoming increasingly multicultural. Weinstein (2003) notes that the increase of the
percentage of people of colour in the USA, puts a topsy-turvy spin
on the meaning of majority and minority. In the Netherlands, of
the 16 million population in 2007, about three million were either
born outside the Netherlands or had parents born outside the
Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2007). About 1.7 of

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 31-71-527-3845.

E-mail addresses: jtartwijk@iclon.leidenuniv.nl (J. van Tartwijk), p.j.d.brok@
tue.nl (P. den Brok), veldman@iclon.leidenuniv.nl (I. Veldman), t.wubbels@uu.nl
(T. Wubbels).
1
Tel.: 31-40-247-4702.
2
Tel.: 31-71-527-4024.
3
Tel.: 31-30-253-3910.
0742-051X/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tate.2008.09.005

these three million have their roots in non-western countries,

mostly Morocco, Turkey, Surinam, and the Dutch Antilles. As
a consequence, more and more the multicultural classroom becomes
the standard classroom. Multicultural classrooms are characterized by a diversity of ethnicity, religion, mother tongue, and cultural
traditions (Ben-Peretz, Eilam, & Yankelevitch, 2006). In the last
decades, a huge body of literature has become available about
multicultural classrooms. Much of this research is summarized in
the Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education (Banks &
McGee Banks, 2004). This literature focuses on, for instance, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy, empowering the school culture,
and cultural biases in how content is presented and how knowledge is constructed (Banks, 2004).
One of the challenges that the multicultural classroom provides
for student and beginning teachers is the potential misunderstanding between students and teachers with different ethnic and
socio-cultural backgrounds (Ting-Toomey, 1999; Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clarke, & Curran, 2004). Another challenge is related to the
location of most multicultural schools, which are typically found in
urban areas. According to, for instance, Milner (2006) and Weiner
(2006), urban schools in the USA are not only characterized by large
ethnic and cultural diversity in the student population, but their
students also tend to live in socially and economically deprived
conditions. These schools tend to be larger and have fewer
resources than suburban schools. Student behaviour is often

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J. van Tartwijk et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 25 (2009) 453460

problematic, and teacher turnover relatively high. In the Netherlands too, the large majority of the people with a non-western
background live in urban areas where social and economic problems tend to be concentrated. Teaching in schools in Dutch cities
may be less challenging for teachers than teaching in urban schools
in the USA, for instance because all schools in the Netherlands
receive equal government funding. But in the Netherlands too,
teaching in city schools with a large percentage of students with
a non-western background is regarded as more stressful than
teaching in other schools in the country. Not for nothing, the Dutch
Council for Education recently advised the Dutch government to
provide extra rewards for teachers willing to work in multicultural
classrooms in Dutch cities (Onderwijsraad, 2006).
Teacher education needs a knowledge base for the preparation
of student and beginning teachers for classroom management in
multicultural classrooms. Verloop, van Driel, and Meijer (2001:
443) dene a knowledge base of teaching as all profession-related
insights that are potentially relevant to the teachers activities.
These insights can pertain to formal theory, i.e., knowledge that is
usually generated by university-based researchers, and to shared
elements of teachers practical knowledge. Cochran-Smith and
Lytle (1999) refer to the former as knowledge-for-practice and the
latter as knowledge-in-practice. Practical knowledge consists of
teachers knowledge and beliefs about their own teaching practice.
It is developed through an integrative process rooted in teachers
own classroom practice and it guides teacher behaviour in the
classroom (Meijer, 1999). According to Verloop et al. (2001), an
exchange between theoretical principles, on the one hand, and
teacher expertise, on the other, is necessary for renement of this
knowledge base of teaching.
The recent publication of the Handbook of Classroom Management: Research, Practice and Contemporary Issues (Evertson &
Weinstein, 2006b) has brought together an impressive theoretical
foundation for a knowledge base about classroom management. In
the introductory chapter of this handbook, Evertson and Weinstein
(2006a: 4) describe classroom management as the actions
teachers take to create an environment that supports and facilitates
both academic and social emotional learning. They distinguish
four themes in contemporary research on classroom management.
The rst is the importance of positive teacherchild relationships
for effective classroom management. According to Evertson and
Weinstein, the teacher as a warm demander comes forward as
effective, particularly for students of colour, in this research. Warm
demanders are teachers who are warm, responsive, caring and
supportive, as well as holding high expectations of their students.
The second theme is classroom management as a social and moral
curriculum. This draws attention to the consequences of teachers
managerial decisions for students social, moral and emotional
development. A third theme is how classroom management strategies relying on punishment and external reward may negatively
inuence the classroom atmosphere. More proactive approaches to
prevent management problems are investigated. The nal theme
refers to the recognition that teachers must take into account
students characteristics, such as age, ethnicity, cultural background, and socio-economic status, when creating an orderly,
productive, and supportive classroom environment.
In their contribution to the Handbook of Classroom Management,
Woolfolk-Hoy and Weinstein (2006) summarize research ndings
on teachers knowledge about classroom management. This review
shows that the majority of teachers in secondary education tends to
a traditional or custodial orientation to classroom management. Teachers with such orientations believe in the teacher as the
authority, in a strict adherence to rules, and in a fair set of
punishments for infractions that increase in intensity aligned with
the severity of infractions. Most other teachers tend to a liberal
progressive or humanistic orientation to classroom

management. These teachers believe that democratic principles

should apply in all social situations, including schools and classrooms, and they emphasize self-discipline. Research about
teachers perceptions of the value of classroom management
strategies is also reviewed in this chapter. Generally, teachers seem
to prefer neutral or positive/supportive interventions over negative/punitive actions, but control-oriented strategies, such as
reminders of rules of behaviour, threats to punish, and actual
punishment, are seen as appropriate for hostile, aggressive,
disruptive, and deant students (Brophy & McCaslin, 1992).
Brown (2003) studied teachers knowledge about classroom
management in the specic context of urban schools in the USA
(often with a highly multicultural character). He interviewed thirteen primary and secondary effective urban teachers from several
cities across the USA. These teachers emphasized the importance of
developing a caring relationship with their students. They wanted
to demonstrate assertiveness through establishing and making
clear a set of academic expectations for students, and through
enforcing rules and behavioural policies. Several of these teachers
emphasized the need for knowledge about their students culturally rooted communication styles. Weinstein, Curran, and Tomlinson-Clarke (2003) also advise teachers to become knowledgeable
about the cultures and communities in which their students live,
and to teach their students mainstream ways to interact in social
situations, in order to succeed in dominant social spheres. At the
same time, teachers should not devalue students cultural practices
which are not part of the dominant cultural paradigm.
Recently, teachers knowledge and beliefs about classroom
management strategies in multicultural classrooms in a European
context, were investigated in an exploratory study by Wubbels, den
Brok, Veldman, and van Tartwijk (2006). In this study, focus-group
interviews with experienced and beginning teachers in Dutch
multicultural schools were used. To validate the ndings of the
focus-group interviews, an in-depth case study of one expert
teacher was carried out. In the focus-group interviews, the teachers
brought up and discussed the competence needed to successfully
manage their multicultural classrooms and mentioned a number of
specic classroom management strategies. According to the
teachers in the focus-groups, teaching in these classrooms requires
competence in Creating positive teacherstudent relations, Managing
and monitoring student behaviour, and Teaching for student attention
and engagement. Further, teachers should be interested in and
knowledgeable about their students cultural background and its
consequences for student behaviour.
The present study is a follow-up of the exploratory study by
Wubbels, den Brok, et al. (2006), and focuses on practical knowledge of teachers who are successful in creating a positive working
atmosphere in their multicultural classrooms in secondary education. It wants to contribute to the knowledge base about classroom
management by answering the question: Which elements of
practical knowledge underlying classroom management strategies,
are shared by teachers who are successful in creating a positive
working atmosphere in their multicultural classroom?
2. Methods
2.1. Sample
To identify teachers who were successful in creating a positive
working atmosphere in their multicultural classrooms, we rst
selected four schools for secondary education that collaborate
with the teacher education programs of our universities. These
schools were located in areas with a multicultural population and
had a multicultural student body. We then asked the principals of
these schools to help us contact teachers whom they regarded as
good classroom managers in multicultural classes and who might

J. van Tartwijk et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 25 (2009) 453460

be willing to participate in our research. We regarded a class as

multicultural when at least one-third of the students were born in
non-western European countries or had parents who were born
in these countries. Fifty teachers were nominated. In one multicultural class of each of these 50 teachers, we gathered data about
the students perceptions of their teachers interpersonal style
with the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI: Wubbels,
Creton, & Hooymayers, 1985; Wubbels & Levy, 1991). Research has
shown that data gathered with the QTI are indicative for the
working climate in this classroom (Wubbels, Brekelmans, den
Brok, & van Tartwijk, 2006). Typical items are S/he is a good leader,
and S/he is someone we can depend on. Research using this
questionnaire has shown that eight typical interpersonal styles
can be distinguished (Brekelmans, Levy, & Rodriguez, 1993):
directive, authoritative, tolerant-authoritative, tolerant, uncertaintolerant, uncertain-aggressive, repressive, and drudging. Both
teachers and students usually prefer tolerant-authoritative,
authoritative, or directive interpersonal styles (Wubbels, Brekelmans, et al., 2006). These three styles all combine relatively high
levels of teacher inuence and teacherstudent afliation.
Compared to other teachers, teachers with such interpersonal
styles have a positive working atmosphere in their classrooms,
their students do well on standardized tests, and their students
are motivated for the subject and the lessons (Brekelmans et al.,
1993; Wubbels, Brekelmans, et al., 2006). The difference between
teachers with these three styles lies in the level of teacher
student afliation. Compared to directive teachers, authoritative
teachers have closer relationships with their students. Tolerantauthoritative teachers have the closest relationship with their
students (Wubbels, Brekelmans, et al., 2006).
Of the 50 teachers nominated by their principals as excellent
classroom managers, 12 were selected to participate in the study.
They were selected (1) because they were regarded by their
students as directive (three teachers), authoritative (three
teachers), or tolerant-authoritative (six teachers) and (2) because
they were willing and able to participate in the next phases of our
research project. In this article we will refer to the three directive
teachers as Daphne, Dave and Diana, to the three authoritative
teachers as Adrian, Alan and Albert, and to the six tolerantauthoritative teachers as Theo, Trudy, Tina, Tom, Terry and Thea.
One teacher, Alan, had a non-Dutch background. He was born in
Surinam and considered his ethnic and cultural background as nonDutch.
In Table 1, we report at which school the teachers taught, their
teaching experience (in years) and the composition of the classes.
On average the percentage of students with a non-western background was 61%. This percentage is highest in Dianas class (83%),
and lowest in those of Daphne and Thea (40%).

455

2.2. Data gathering

To gather data about these teachers practical knowledge of
classroom management strategies, we videotaped a lesson of each
teacher and conducted a teacher interview immediately after the
lesson. In the interviews the following procedure was used: The
researcher and the teacher watched the video-recording together.
The teachers were asked to stop the videotape whenever they
remembered thoughts, emotions or feelings. The researcher also
stopped the videotape at specic moments, such as the start and
end of the lesson, at transitions between lesson phases or activities,
or when problems related to classroom management occurred.
After each stop, the teachers were asked to describe the situation,
and their own behaviour and thoughts during these moments. The
interviewers were cautious to phrase their questions in such a way
that the teachers answers and remarks were inuenced as little as
possible.
This interview resembles the stimulated-recall interview technique described by Yinger (1986). The difference is that in stimulated-recall interviews, teachers are asked to describe their thoughts
during their lesson, whereas in our interviews, teachers also elaborated on their teaching and their students in general. For this
reason, we refer to the interview as a video-stimulated interview.
2.3. Analyses
All 12 interviews were transcribed and coded using the software
tool Atlas.ti. First, statements were distinguished within the transcribed interviews: a statement was dened as one or a sequence of
sentences relating to one specic occurrence or topic. Thus, 611
statements were distinguished. The rst three authors of this
article subsequently coded the statements. During the process,
coding results were discussed regularly and all differences were
resolved by reaching consensus. Coding involved three phases.
In the rst phase, the topic of all 611 statements was coded using
six categories: classroom management strategies; students thinking
or behaviour; required teacher attitudes and knowledge; student
background; teaching a subject; and other (e.g. about the research
project). In 332 out of the 611 statements, teachers talked about
their classroom management strategies.
In the second phase of coding, these 332 statements were coded
for the type of classroom management strategy. As initial categories
for the second phase we employed the categories describing the
strategies mentioned by the beginning and experienced teachers in
the focus-group interviews conducted by Wubbels, den Brok, et al.
(2006). Whenever a strategy had been mentioned that did not
match with one of the categories from the focus-group interviews,
a new category was added or the category label was reworded to

Table 1
Sample: teacher experience, school, and country of origin of the students
Teacher

Country of origin of student or parents

Name

School

Years of experience

Subject

Netherlands (%)

Turkey (%)

Morocco (%)

Surinam (%)

Diana
Theo
Daphne
Alan
Thea
Albert
Terry
Tina
Dave
Adrian
Tom
Trudy
Mean

1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4
4

24
21
9
16
8
18
4
12
20
23
16
4
14,6

Dutch
Drama
French
Geography
Dutch
Physical education
Mathematics
Dutch
English
German
English
French

17
57
60
40
60
52
37
50
25
18
25
30
39

4
14
30
35
20
26
37
28
13
18
5
11
20

63

13
7

Netherlands Antilles (%)

5
7
4
5
6
33
30
40
37
18

13
6
5
11
5

3
10
2

Other (%)
4
21
10
20
13
17
21
17
17
24
15
11
16

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J. van Tartwijk et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 25 (2009) 453460

better match the data. When this occurred, earlier coding was
checked again. Memos were added to specify and elaborate the
category label meaning. As a result, the labels of the categories were
rened and their meaning was made explicit in the memos. This
helped us identify properties of the data and the concepts that were
emerging from them (cf. Charmaz, 2006). In the end, 30 categories
were distinguished. Subsequently, categories describing similar
strategies were ordered into 11 groups. As a last step in this phase,
these groups were clustered according to the competences
mentioned in the Wubbels, den Brok, et al. (2006) study that they
related to: Monitoring and managing student behaviour, Creating
positive teacher-students relationships, and Teaching for student
attention and engagement.
In the third coding phase, all 611 statements were again
considered and coded for reference by the teacher to the cultural or
ethnic background of students. We identied 60 such statements.
After coding, all statements were summarized and displayed in
cross-case displays (Miles & Huberman, 1994), with the teachers in
the rows and the 30 specic strategies in the columns. In this
display, the strategies were grouped according to the (groups of)
categories to which they belonged. These displays were used to
identify differences and similarities in the statements of the 12
teachers.
Finally, we calculated the relative frequency of mentioning
a specic strategy by dividing the absolute frequency through the
total number of statements of that teacher. Subsequently we
compared the differences in these relative frequencies between
directive, authoritative and tolerant-authoritative teachers, the
subjects they teach, their experiences and the four schools.

3. Results
In this section, we rst describe shared elements in the practical
knowledge of the teachers we interviewed. Then, we discuss the
teachers statements about the cultural and ethnic background of
their students. In our description of the results of the analyses of
the interviews, we illustrate classroom management strategies that
were mentioned by the majority of the 12 teachers with quotes.
Finally, we present the results of the analyses of the differences
among the teachers.
3.1. Practical knowledge about classroom management strategies
Table 2 presents the 30 specic strategies (third column), 11
groups of strategies (second column) and the three competencies
(rst column), together with the number of teachers that
mentioned a strategy and how often the strategy was mentioned.
All 12 teachers talked most about monitoring and managing
student behaviour: 230 of the 332 statements. The teachers talked
far less about creating positive teacherstudent relationships. Three
teachers didnt talk about this at all. Nine teachers did, but not very
frequently: only 30 statements were found on this topic. Eleven of
the 12 teachers talked about teaching for student attention and
engagement: in total there were 72 statements.
We now describe and illustrate the strategies we identied.
3.1.1. Monitoring and managing student behaviour
Almost all teachers talked about being clear about rules and
procedures in the classroom as a condition for creating an orderly

Table 2
Competencies and strategies for classroom management in multicultural classrooms
Competency

Groupings of strategies

Strategies

Monitoring and managing

student behaviour (t12-s230)

Monitor student activities (t5-s12)

Be clear (t12-s73)

1. Monitor student activities (t5-s12)

2. Provide clear rules and procedures (t11-s48)**
3. Teach students the rules (t5-s7)
4. Stick to the rules (t7-s18)
5. Show awareness (t3-s4)**
6. Remind students of the rules (t6-s8)
7. Show anger (t5-s8)
8. Warn (t7-s10)
9. Impose punishment (t9-s18)
10. Use small rather than intense correction (t8-s20)*
11. Sometimes ignore minor misbehaviour (t8-s26)
12. Cope with student emotions (t2-s2)**
13. Use humour to make corrections less grave (t4-s4)
14. Use rational rather than power arguments (t6-s13)**
15. Respond positively to justied criticism (t2-s3)**
16. Adapt approach to student characteristics (t6-s9)
17. Be exible in applying rules (t6-s10)
18. Make rules together with students (t3-s5)
19. Create positive relations to make classroom management easier (t3-s5)**

Put limits to students (t11-s48)*

Prevent escalation (t12-s68)*

Be exible (t6-s19)
Create student commitment (t5-s10)

Creating and maintaining

positive relationships (t9-s30)

Build positive relationships (t7-s19)

Maintain positive relationships (t6-s11)

Teaching for student attention

and engagement (t11-s72)

Use the carrot (t9-s27)

Adapt teaching (t11-s34)
Make content relevant (t6-s11)

20. Use and create opportunities to get to know students (t4-s15)

21. Invest time in building relationships (t3-s4)
22. Show humour (t2-s3)*
23. Give feedback without loss of face or humiliation (t1-s1)*
24. Show respect and give compliments (t 3-s7)*
25. Reward and stimulate (t 6-s14)
26. Frequent and varied testing (t 4-s13)*
27. Adapt pace to individual students needs (t 4-s7)
28. Adapt teaching to expected student response (t10-s27)
29. Probe for students background, beliefs and interests (t3-s5)*
30. Explain the reason for activities (t4-s6)

Competencies have been taken from the earlier Wubbels, den Brok, et al. (2006) study.
In the (tn-sn) behind the label for the strategy, the t refers to the number of teachers that refer to this strategy, s refers to the total number of statements.
Strategies marked with an * were also mentioned in the focus-group interviews reported about in Wubbels, den Brok, et al., 2006, Strategies marked with ** resemble strategies
that were mentioned in these focus-group interviews.

J. van Tartwijk et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 25 (2009) 453460

457

working climate in the classroom (number of teachers 11, number

of statements 48):

The third is to show that you are irritated or angry (ve teachers,
eight statements).

I have various levels for volume. They know that. Now I said:
No sound, level zero. (Alan)
You have to split up the lessons in parts in such a way that they
know what they can expect.give them clear instructions about
the division of tasks among them, so that they know who should
do what. (Diana)
I want them to remain seated until they hear the bell. If not, they
will start hanging onto the doors and ticking against the
windows and that is something that I dont like. (Tina)

Well, I have said this for three or four times. Then I get irritated.
Then I say: Damn! I have told you this ve times already!
(Daphne)

Especially at the start of the lesson, the rules and procedures are
important for creating an orderly working climate:
If they enter the classroom, there are a number of things that I
denitely want. That they take off their coats and caps and that
their bags are off the table and their books are on the table, so
that I can start right away. (Dave)
I am very strict about that. They have to sit down in a circle and
look at me. For me, that is a condition for starting the lesson.
(Theo)
In this school, you are supposed to write down all the absentees.
At rst I tried to do that while they were still fooling around
a bit. Just have a look around who is present and who isnt. But
that didnt work. You get confrontations among them and all
kinds of behavioural problems. So now I do it this way [read the
students names out loud]. It will cost you a couple of minutes,
but I have to do this to provide them with some structure. If not,
you will have a messy start and that will have its effect on the
rest of the lesson. (Albert)
Teachers also emphasized the importance of sticking to their
own rules (7 teachers, 18 statements):
In this multicultural group.you have to be consistent. You have
less room to negotiate, or give in. That will be used immediately.
(Theo)
Yes, I always react, in a very calm way. I dont let him interrupt
without a reaction. If I didnt, he would think: O, I can do that.
(Alan)
Providing rules and procedures is one thing, the other is to
make students follow these rules. The teachers talked a lot
about this. Not only about putting limits to students (11
teachers, 48 statements), but especially about how to prevent
escalation after correcting students (12 teachers, 68
statements).
Five strategies were mentioned aimed at putting limits to
students, with different levels of severity. The rst one is showing
awareness (three teachers, four statements).
It is ritual really. Put your jacket on the coat-hooks, your bag on
the oor and your books on the table. But there is always at least
one student who does not do that. That one comes in, looks
around, and starts chatting. So you just stand in the front of the
classroom and look. The others will notice this by your way of
looking. You should just go through with this. Keep standing
there and they will notice it and it will be become really quiet.
They notice that I am waiting until their jacket is on the coathooks. Then we can start. (Diana)
The second strategy is to remind students of the rules (six
teachers, eight statements).
This group that was sitting here, with Aisha and Jasmin.. They
talk Turkish. And then I say: Girls, I cant understand you.I
dont want that, you are in the Netherlands here. You should talk
Dutch here.(Thea)

The fourth strategy, aimed at putting limits, to students is

warning students (7 teachers, 10 statements).
He had to come back in and pick up the tray. But he says: I wont
do that. Then I say: Ramazan, come on, pick it up and sit
there! and nally, he does. In this case I dont have to warn him.
But in the end, if it does not work, they get the choice. Either you
pick up the tray and sit down or you can go to the principal and
explain to her why you dont want to pick it up. And that usually
works. (Alan)
The last strategy is to impose punishment (9 teachers, 18
statements).
Well, the rule is that if a mobile phone rings, they have to hand it
in and I will keep it for a while. I have a number of telephones
here! (Tom)
Correcting students can have a negative effect on the classroom atmosphere. The teachers talked even more about how to
prevent escalation after correcting the students (12 teachers, 68
statements) than about how to put limits to students. We
distinguished six strategies. The strategy that the teachers
mentioned most is to sometimes ignore small misbehaviour
(8 teachers, 26 statements):
I dont feel like asking them to be silent each time.At that
moment I thought, Ill just continue. It might take me half an
hour and it wouldnt be silent anyway.I might start a battle
that I wont win. (Thea)
If you have built a relationship with them, you must sometimes
forget things. (Adrian)
The teachers also frequently mentioned using small rather than
intense correction for unwanted student behaviour (8 teachers, 20
statements):
Of course, you can give him a good telling-off. But in this case
just a nonverbal signal was enough. (Dave).
In the past, I have made the mistake of starting to yell at them
and imposing some kind of punishment. But in fact, this only
ruins the atmosphere in the class both for you and for the
students. They suddenly see aggression in front of them. So you
have to nd another solution. Just be silent. After a while they
will start correcting each other and it will become silent.
(Adrian)
3.1.2. Creating and maintaining positive teacherstudent
and peer relationships
The majority of teachers mentioned the importance of building
trustful relations (7 teachers, 19 statements) by using and creating
opportunities to get to know students and invest time in building
relationships. Some examples:
I always try to give them the feeling that I want to pay attention
to them. (Alan)
It [shaking hands with the students when they enter the classroom] works both ways. If you do that, you have their attention
right away and you have a contact that, if it works out right,
remains during the lesson. (Diana)
We have been to the zoo together. We have done all kind of
those things, just because I wanted to get a better grip on them
as group. As a consequence, I had a lot of informal chats with the
students. Of course, that creates a relationship. (Thea)

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3.1.3. Teaching for student attention and engagement

Most teachers talked about taking anticipated student
responses into consideration when they plan their teaching with
the aim to keep their students engaged (10 teachers, 27
statements).
After reading out loud by students, I always read a part myself.
Not because my pronunciation is very good, but because it is
faster and that will keep them or get them involved again.
(Adrian)
They have only worked in groups since the autumn holiday.
Before that, they used to work in pairs. For the kids it is fun and
they like it very much, so I have decided to leave it this way.
(Tina)
Compared to his colleagues one teacher seemed to focus much
more on teaching for student attention and engagement. This
teacher, Tom, talked about teaching for student attention and
engagement twice as much as any other teacher. We scored 17 of
the 49 strategies that he mentioned as strategies that relate to
teaching for student attention and engagement. He was the only
one who referred to testing as a strategy to keep students
attention and keep them engaged more than once. He did this 10
times.
I always explain very clearly that this will count for the exams
and suggest paying attention to this, because here you are able
to score because it is just about your knowledge. (Tom)
This is particularly interesting, because Tom is a very experienced teacher. His interpersonal style was perceived by his
students highest on both teacher inuence and afliation,
compared to the other 11 teachers. Students perceptions of his
style resemble the style that students and teachers, on average,
regard as the ideal style (Wubbels, Brekelmans, et al., 2006). One
of his colleagues refers to his popularity among the students:
Tom also disciplines them. But still, the kids think he is really
great. (Trudy)
3.1.4. Statements about student background
According to Brown (2003), teachers wanting to meet urban
students needs, need to develop an awareness of students
culturally determined communication style. Weinstein et al. (2003)
argue that teachers need to become knowledgeable about the
cultures and communities in which their students live. According to
the teachers in the focus-groups that Wubbels, den Brok, et al.
(2006) interviewed, teachers in multicultural classrooms need to
be aware of, and interested in student diversity, cultural background and personal situation and the consequences of these
characteristics for interactions in the classroom. They also need to
be aware of language difculties.

Table 3 shows that 10 of the 12 teachers in our study did refer to

the students ethnic and cultural background during the videostimulated interviews, although not very frequently. But 7 of these
10 teachers explicitly said that they did not think that ethnic and
cultural differences between students should play a role in their
teaching and communication with the students.
I mean, I am a person myself of course. They can also get used to
how I want it and how I address them. For me, it would go to far
to rst think You are from Turkey and you are from Morocco.
No, that wouldnt work. I take their character into account, but
not their background. (Trudy)
We did have that discussion [about how to cope with cultural
differences between the students]. We dont regard the classes
as multicultural classes. They are just the kids from the neighbourhood. That discussion about the multicultural society and
integration, that is very prominent here of course. But we say:
We do not pay attention to these differences. (Tom)
However, most of these seven teachers seemed to struggle with
whether or not they should pay attention to cultural and ethnic
differences between the students in their classes.
I have thought about it, but I do not notice a big difference
between the students in the classes, whether or not they have
a Turkish background, or have another background. But I do try
to pay attention to their home culture.Last year a new mosque
was built here. We have spoken about it and agreed that it
would be nice to visit it.On the other hand, I think: why? You
should keep the balance; it should not be that this group gets
extra attention. (Tina)
Most teachers made remarks about the challenges of intercultural communication, although not very often (8 teachers, 10
statements).
Then [after a conict with a boy from Moroccan background
about spitting in the corridor] another boy came to me and said:
Miss, he nds it really humiliating that you said this to him in
this way.Then I thought: Hey! This is the rst time that Ive
been confronted with the differences in culture. (Thea)
Only one teacher, Alan, who was born in Surinam and considered his cultural and ethnic background as non-Dutch, talked quite
a lot about the cultural and ethnic differences between the
students. He not only discussed the challenges of intercultural
communication but he is also the only one who referred to the
position of minority groups in Dutch society.
Because, look, these children are in a real Dutch culture at
school, and at home, very often, in the other culture.If, for
instance, you ask a Moroccan child Look at me, you are really
asking him: Be rude to me. Because that is something that this

Table 3
Statements about students ethnic and cultural background
Statement

Groupings of statements
about student background and

Statements

About students ethnic and

cultural background (t10-s60)

Teacher-student
communication (t10-s29)

1. About the role ethnic and/or cultural differences should play when dealing with students (t7-s14)
2. About intercultural communication (t5-s10)
3. About paying attention to students background (t3-s5)
4. About the impact of student background on student behaviour (t5-s6)
5. About the importance of student background for making friends (t5-s7)
6. About language problems for Dutch as second language speakers (t3-s5)
7. About the importance of speaking Dutch in the school premises (t3-s7)
8. About how students with a non-Dutch background talk and think about themselves as members
of the Dutch society (t1-s6)

Student behaviour (t7-s13)

Language (t5-s12)
Their position
in society (t1-s6)

In the (tn-sn) behind the label for the statement, the t refers to the number of teachers that refer to this statements, s refers to the total number of statements.

J. van Tartwijk et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 25 (2009) 453460

child is not allowed to do at home. If you know that, you know

that you should handle this in another way. (Alan)
The stories are negative.I try to counter this kind of story. In
other words: I tell them that many Moroccan boys make
mistakes, but also that many Dutch young people make
mistakes too. I use myself as an example. If I enter a room and
start yelling at people, everybody knows and will remember
that it was me.but if a white person does that, no one will
recognize him. (Alan)
3.1.5. Differences between groups of teachers
We compared relative frequencies of strategies and practical
knowledge about students background across groups of teachers,
using analysis of variance and correlational analysis. No signicant
differences were found for the interpersonal style of the teachers,
their subject, their experience, or the school at which they teach
(P < 0.05, corrected for the number of analyses using the Bonferroni
method, cf. Bland & Altman, 1995). The relative frequencies of
statements about student background did not differ between
teachers either. The only signicant correlation (0.77) we found,
was between class composition and the number of statements
about the role that ethnic and cultural differences should play
when dealing with students: the more students with a nonwestern background were present in their class, the less teachers
talked about taking the students background into consideration.

4. Conclusions and discussion

The research described in this article wanted to answer the
question: Which elements of practical knowledge underlying
classroom management strategies, are shared by teachers who are
successful in creating a positive working atmosphere in their
multicultural classroom? The identied shared elements of practical knowledge may contribute to the knowledge base about
classroom management in multicultural classrooms.
In the video-stimulated interviews, most statements of the
teachers referred to the importance of providing and enforcing
clear procedures and sound rules, and how to do this in such a way
that no escalation occurs with negative consequences for the
classroom climate. This issue resembles the third theme that
Evertson and Weinstein (2006a) distinguish in classroom
management research: how classroom management strategies
relying on punishment and external reward may negatively inuence the classroom atmosphere. Although the teachers in our study
sometimes ignored disruptive behaviour if they thought that correcting this behaviour would cause rather than solve problems,
they realized that correcting student behaviour can be necessary.
They favoured using small rather than intense corrections and
preferred rational rather than power arguments. The teachers were
aware that corrections that are perceived by students as aggressive
can easily elicit aggressive reactions, whereas small corrections
minimize the risk of introducing aggression. They also realized that
positive feedback and a positive trustful relationship usually elicit
positive student responses. It can be concluded that, according to
these teachers, setting rules and enforcing them is necessary, but it
should be done in a way that is as unaggressive as possible.
The teachers did talk about strategies aimed at promoting
student attention and engagement, but far less than about strategies aimed at setting and enforcing rules. However, Tom, the
teacher who was most successful in creating a positive working
atmosphere in his classroom, talks far more about how he tries to
stimulate student attention and engagement than the other
teachers. This suggests that engaging curriculum and learning
activities work as a proactive approach to preventing problems

459

with discipline, which has positive consequences for creating and

maintaining a positive working atmosphere in the classroom.
The rst theme in classroom management research that Evertson and Weinstein distinguish is the importance of positive
teacherstudents relationship. The teachers in our study did talk
about this, but, again, far less than about providing and enforcing
clear rules. It is remarkable that when they talked about building
positive relationships, they often gave examples of strategies before
the start of the actual lesson, such as handshakes when the
students enter the class or friendly talks before instruction starts, or
of going on trips with the students. It can be hypothesized that
these informal situations before the start of the actual lesson or
even outside the classroom, are particularly important for building
positive relations with students. If this hypothesis would be
conrmed, the relative low frequency of statements relating to
building and maintaining positive relations with the students could
be ascribed to our interview technique, which might stimulate
teachers to comment on their teaching during the formal lesson.
The second theme that Evertson and Weinstein distinguish is
classroom management as a social and moral curriculum. In the
interviews, the teachers hardly talked about their classroom
management strategies from this perspective. However, because all
aspects of teaching have moral implications, these teachers,
classroom management strategies can also be discussed as an
implicit moral curriculum (Fallona & Richardson, 2006). All 12
teachers tend to an orientation to classroom management in which
the teacher is the authority, rules are to be obeyed, and infractions
are to be punished. This orientation is referred to as traditional or
custodial in research summarized by Woolfolk-Hoy and Weinstein (2006). But obey the teacher as the authority is not the only
moral message the teachers communicate to their students. Many
of the strategies that the teachers mention tend to a more liberal
orientation. Examples are the strategies 14 (Use rational rather than
power arguments), 15 (Respond positively to justied criticism), 18
(Make rules together with the students) and 24 (Show respect and give
compliments). In their teaching, these teachers do not only focus on
adherence to the rules, but also on mutual respect in the classroom.
They do not only impose rules, but also discuss them.
The last theme in the research on classroom management that
Evertson and Weinstein distinguish is how teachers take students
background characteristics into account in their classroom
management. Contrary to the teachers in multicultural schools in
the USA (Brown, 2003), the majority of the 12 teachers in our study
in the Netherlands seemed to consider explicit reference to the
cultural and ethnic differences between their students inappropriate when discussing their classroom management strategies. We
even found that the higher the percentage of students with a nonwestern background in their class, the less teachers talked about the
role ethnic and cultural differences should play when dealing with
students. These Dutch teachers present themselves as colour blind
(c.f. Cochran-Smith, 1995; Johnson, 2002; Milner, 2006; Norberg,
2000). This may be attributed to the dominant discourse in Dutch
society, in which it is considered inappropriate to take peoples
ethnic and cultural background into consideration when discussing
their behaviour because this might reinforce prejudice. This seems
to be different from the dominant discourse in the USA-literature in
which teachers are advised to develop an awareness of and
explicitly respond to their [students] ethnic, cultural, social,
emotional and cognitive characteristics (Brown, 2003: 282). A
notable exception among the 12 teachers in our study was Alan. Alan
was the only teacher involved in our research with a non-Dutch
background. He was very much aware of the differences in common
communication styles of mainstream teachers and minority
students and he explicitly tried to help his students nd their way as
members of a minority group in Dutch society. By doing so, his
teaching was in line with the advice of Weinstein et al. (2003) that

460

J. van Tartwijk et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 25 (2009) 453460

teachers should become knowledgeable about the cultures and

communities in which their students live, but they should, at the
same time, teach students mainstream ways to interact so that
students can use these to succeed in dominant social spheres.
In this study, we used video-stimulated interviews conducted
immediately after the lesson with teachers who successfully
created and maintained a positive working atmosphere in their
classrooms. This resulted in a renement of the descriptions of
teacher knowledge about classroom management strategies by,
for instance, Brown (2003), who used interviews, and by Wubbels,
den Brok, et al. (2006), who used focus-group interviews. It can be
hypothesized that using such video-stimulated interviews or
stimulated-recall interviews (Yinger, 1986) is a more effective
data-gathering strategy than regular interviews or focus-group
interviews, in eliciting practical knowledge about classroom
management strategies that guide actual teacher behaviour in the
classroom, because teachers are stimulated to talk about all their
behaviour visible on video and have to rely less on their memory
about what they did in their class.
Still, only investigating teachers statements is probably not
enough to nd out what teachers actually do in classrooms. Further
research is needed to investigate all the strategies teachers actually
use. This is, for instance, important when investigating how
teachers take students background characteristics into account in
their classroom management. The strategies that teachers in the
USA and in the Netherlands use may not differ so much as the way
in which they talk about these strategies.
Finally, further research is needed to investigate the strategies
that teachers use to develop positive relationships with their
students from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds outside the
context of the formal lesson, or even outside the classroom.
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