Democratic Classroom Management in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

The purpose of this study is to determine teacher candidates' awareness of the concept of democracy, how they describe this concept, how their perceptions relate to the democratic classroom management process in the faculty of education, and their opinions about the qualifications of faculty members. This research is a descriptive study. This study was carried out on 194 students who were studying in Eskisehir Osmangazi and Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education in the 2010-2011 academic year, spring semester. The study group was determined by using the convenience sampling method. In this study, the phenomenological pattern of the qualitative research method was used. For data collection, a semi-structured Democratic Classroom Management Interview Form developed through related literature was used. Data was collected through individual interviews by researchers. For analysis of the data, the content analysis technique was used and frequency values were also given using tables.