Mentoring at Tower Hamlets

This research looks at class management in senior high schools during tutor supervised teaching practice in and around the west Norwegian port city of Stavanger. The main focus is on the management of pupil behaviour, but some attention is also given to the management of pupil learning. It is recognised, of course, that the two overlap.

The study provides tentative evidence ‐no grand claims are made ‐ that Norwegian pre‐certified teachers (this term is explained below) value a class management style which is consultative rather than authoritarian. The preferred model is ‘indulgent persuader’ rather than ‘sergeant major’.

Campus, ministry and chalkface cultures seem to support non‐combative styles of class management, which suggests that the idealism of the tutor and civil servant is not pitted against the pragmatism of the pre‐certified teacher.

When'I' is used in the article, it refers to Paul Stephens, who implemented and conducted the empirical research. Otherwise, the content reflects the joint thoughts of both writers. To avoid literary tedium, the terms ‘pre‐certified teacher’ and ‘teacher’ are sometimes used interchangeably. The context makes it clear whether ‘teacher’ refers to pre‐certified or qualified persons.

Citations from Norwegian sources (except for one published in English) have been translated from Norwegian to English. So too have replies to a questionnaire which was used in the study.