The predictive relationship between teachers' lateral thinking tendencies and their preferred classroom management and teaching approaches

The aim of this study is to determine the predictive relationships between teachers' lateral thinking dispositions and their preferences for classroom management and teaching approaches in Türkiye and Kosovo. The study is quantitative research in a relational survey model. The study group consists of 334 teachers working in preschool, primary, secondary, and high schools in Türkiye and Kosovo. The study group was selected using the convenience sampling method. Data were collected with the “Lateral Thinking Disposition Scale” by Yıldırım [1], the “Classroom Management Approaches Scale” by Metlilo and Yildirim [2], and the “Teaching Approaches Scale” by Tezci [3] during the spring semester of the 2023-24 academic year. In the study, Pearson Correlation was used to determine the relationship between teachers' lateral thinking tendencies, classroom management approaches, and instructional approaches, while regression analysis was used to determine the prediction levels. According to the findings of the study, there was a weak significant relationship between lateral thinking tendency, classroom management approaches, and teaching approaches of teachers in Türkiye and Kosovo. A moderate relationship was found between the reactive sub-dimension of classroom management approaches and the teacher-centered sub-dimension of teaching method approaches, as well as between the developmental sub-dimension of classroom management approaches and the teacher-centered sub-dimension of teaching method approaches. In the regression analysis of the total teaching approaches of the teachers working in Türkiye and Kosovo, a significant predictive relationship was found between the total classroom management and lateral thinking tendencies.