Case Studies to Deepen Understanding and Enhance Classroom Management Skills in Preschool Teacher Training

This article adds to the existing body of data that demonstrates how the use of in-depth case studies that include social episode analysis can deepen the teaching students' and researchers' understanding of the perceptions and skills needed for Classroom Management (CM). In this article, CM is defined as a meta-skill that integrates cognitive perceptions (proactive, ecological-systemic, and leadership-oriented), self-regulation skills, and interpersonal relationships with students and colleagues. CM is also perceived as a cyclical process that includes advance planning, implementation, assessment during the implementation, and a final evaluation that takes into account factors related to the children and their environment, intended to bring about progress in the activities carried out for the learning and emotional well-being of the children in the class. Two cases showing opposite positions with regard to social-moral CM were selected from 34 cases documented by second-year, 4-year-track, preservice teaching students enrolled in a CM course in Israel in the spring of 2008. One case shows how, guided by the desire to ensure a child's well-being, a student developed perceptions and skills related to all components of the CM theoretical framework. The other case shows how opportunities were missed to learn and develop a social-moral, complex, CM perception. Based on an analysis of the two cases, the discussion examines the usefulness of case studies in teacher training and offers insights related to improved teacher training.