Classroom management for first-year pre-service teachers: What is difficult and why?

Although classroom management is central to students' learning and development, little is known regarding pre-service teachers' (PSTs') initial classroom management competencies. Understanding what aspects of classroom management are challenging for PSTs initially is important to inform teacher education. We included texts and self-recorded videos from 19 Norwegian PSTs' first practice placement and investigated their conceptions and enactments of classroom management through abductive analysis and systematic observation. PSTs demonstrated competence in emotional support and classroom organization, while instructional support emerged as the most challenging domain. Teacher education should build on PSTs existing classroom management competencies to effectively support their further development. • Pre-service teachers submitted written texts and self-recorded videos from their first practice placement. • Teaching Through Interactions was used as theoretical framework to operationalize classroom management competencies. • PSTs demonstrated more competence in classroom organisation and emotional support than in instructional support. • Cognitive load theory was used to explain relative difficulty of classroom management competencies. • Research into development of classroom management competencies across teacher education is needed.