The link between student’s maths achievement and teacher behaviour in classroom management: what does the initial learning analytics show?

Abstract

Effective classroom management, setting classroom rules and responding appropriately to students' disruptive behaviour, is one of the most significant factors influencing student achievement. At a theoretical level, we can distinguish six different approaches to classroom management: behavioural, internal control, ecological, discourse, curriculum and interpersonal relationships. At a practical level, teachers usually integrate elements of all six approaches to correct students' disruptive behaviour, although there has been a worldwide trend over the last three decades towards a shift from behavioural to internal (internal control, ecological, curriculum, discourse-oriented and interpersonal) approaches to classroom management.

This paper presents learning analytics data from 12 schools in one city for the period 2020-2021 and analyses the impact of different teacher behavioural variables (frequent assessment, praise, comments) on students' mathematical achievement. The analysis of learning data shows that students' mathematics achievement is not dependent on certain teacher behaviour variables in classroom management. Frequency of assessment, teacher praise and comments on students' behaviour sent to parents or students do not have any impact on pupils' mathematics achievement. Recognising that classroom management, as one of the highly significant element of quality teacher performance, is a complex phenomenon, further research is needed.