TITLE:
Technology of the Self and Classroom Management—A Systematic Approach for Teacher Students
AUTHORS:
Gisela Steins, Anna Haep, Katharina Wittrock
KEYWORDS:
Technology of the Self, Classroom Management, Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy, Teacher Stress
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.6 No.19,
November
23,
2015
ABSTRACT: In order to reduce the relatively high burden of teaching profession and to improve teachers’ skills in their interactions with students, a systematic introduction to Technologies of the Self and a continuous training of their use should be established in Teacher Education. We explored whether students in Teacher Education classify rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) as a useful Technology of the Self. We taught the basics of REBT in a university setting in addition to the traditional contents of Classroom Management research. Using a repeated-measures design, we explored the results of implementing Classroom Management research including a continuous and systematic teaching and training of a Technology of the Self that was based on REBT (N = 110 teacher students). We assessed varying degrees of realism in teaching (low, medium, high, control). The students evaluated the courses before (T1) and after taking them (T2) regarding their usefulness for teaching profession. The trainees also evaluated the usefulness of the course content 6 months after the course was finished (T3). The results show that applying a systematic Technology of the Self such as REBT and its affiliated rational emotive education (REE) is quite necessary and should be given high priority in teaching Classroom Management (CM).