Bridging the gap: using therapeutic models of psychology to develop Further Education teachers’ strategies for promoting a culture of learning

Abstract

Programmes provide a useful foundation for managing the classroom, many of the curriculum theories and approaches often appear too linear and inadequate for preparing teachers to manage the complex emotions and behaviours that their students may present on a day-to-day basis. This thesis investigates these claims and suggests that whilst effective teaching strategies can influence classroom behaviour a teacher’s ability to cultivate a culture of learning necessitates that they have a sensitive awareness of their students and an ability to positively regulate their own emotions and behaviours. Whilst it may be assumed that teachers will already have these intuitive abilities, personal experience and research highlights that this cannot be guaranteed. Reflecting on past experience as a nurse therapist in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and drawing on the findings of empirical research studies, it is suggested that teacher education can learn a great deal from the world of therapy. In developing this area of research at a practical level this thesis reports on a small-scale action-based project that involved designing and trialling a Cognitive Behavioural Toolkit with groups of teachers in the second year of an initial teacher education programme. Data was collected through questionnaires, personal diary entries, interviews and classroom observations. The findings of this research suggest that the majority of teachers in the sample found CBT useful for regulating their thoughts, increasing their self-confidence and improving relationships with their students. Although the results of this small-scale study cannot be generalised to other teacher education programmes, it is suggested that it provides a foundation for supporting teachers to bridge the gaps which currently exist between the curriculum theories of behaviour management and the realities of classroom practice. At the time of writing no other studies have investigated this particular topic, hence there is no comparative data to validate these claims, and so this is a notable area for further research.

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