Classroom Environment in Public Schools: Towards a more Reflective Teaching

Introduction: Preparing Reflective Teachers

International literature and national legacy are very clear in warning that risks and challenges for the fulfillment of certain essential conditions are necessary in the current twenty-first century. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco, 2014) emphasizes that learning to live together is one of the most important pillars of education throughout life. However, although promoting coexistence, respect, tolerance and shared experiences inside the classrooms are included as an imperative institutional policy, uncertain disruptive behavior demand deeper and proactive solutions on the part of the entire educational community.

According to Hederich-Martínez & Camargo Uribe (2019), educational learning is referred to "that which is intentional and planned within an institutionalized, hierarchical, and progressive educational model, as the one acknowledged in our contemporary societies" (p. 6). This quotation underlines the curriculum purpose of preparing new educators able to select coherent contents and goals according to the interests and expectations of future schoolchildren generations. Although teacher training programs select and apply modern theories to plan and evaluate learning, the real classrooms exhibit a big gap between the real educational settings and the hierarchical and intentional plans which can be perceived as isolated and far beyond the reach of beginning teachers.

Moreover, concerning new generations of students, Benade (2015) explores the relationship between reflective practice and learning through critical, theoretic and hermeneutic approaches, arguing that "learning and teaching at school must prepare young people for engaging in a complex and dynamic world deeply influenced by globalization and the revolution in digital technology" (p. 42).

Following the guidelines disseminated by Unesco (2014) in Education for all ₃ the international human rights codes and the Political Constitution (1991), new professionals are challenged to develop key skills and competencies such as reflective thinking, lifelong learning, critical thinking and healthy coexistence among people and peoples (Martínez-Scott et al., 2017; Munévar, 2018). Hence, educational institutions are privileged settings of friendship and coexistence where the new generations of citizens ought to be assured the normal satisfaction of fundamental freedoms and human rights (Munévar & Giraldo, 2015) promoting well-being, social justice, human values, and peaceful resolution of conflicts among students.

On another note, Colombian universities prepare teachers who become the new professionals serving society for the nation type that should be reconstructed. Those who are studying to be teachers develop an integral process called teaching practicum during the last stage of the curriculum plan as a graduation requirement. Prospective teachers select an educational institution-whether urban or rural-and immerse there for about one academic year.

It is hard for new teachers to stop being a student and accept a teacher's role serving public or private institutions (Macias & Sánchez, 2015). When mature students of educational careers undertake practicum experiences, they appreciate the opportunity to engage in authentic classrooms although they feel under-prepared to manage large groups made up of girls and boys with diverse ranges of behaviors, interests, needs and learning styles. Given this, in order to address relevant concerns, they are trained in the art of becoming integral educators exploring effective solutions and accessing scientific literature.

Materials and Method

The research process assumed the epistemic characteristics of the qualitative-interpretivist paradigm (Creswell, 1998; Elliott, 1991). That is why each trainee teacher's class was observed during a six-month academic period. Besides, this paper makes part of a narrative research project about critical pedagogy from Universidad de Caldas in Manizales, Colombia, whose purpose was to understand curriculum reforms in undergraduate education programs. Five elementary public schools located in the Colombian Coffee Region, where future teachers develop their teaching practicum, were approached to participate in the field work. These institutions have begun to adopt a reflective and critical orientation included in the curriculum model.

The group of participants was integrated by five novice trainees (three women and two boys), from 22 to 25 years old who were qualifying themselves to become teachers in elementary, secondary or middle state institutions, guided by experienced practicum advisors. They are finishing the last academic stage, which is a requirement for graduation as educators. Those public school classrooms present disruptive behavior episodes that, if not properly managed, become barriers blocking down the access to contents, expectations and feelings related to the everyday academic life. For this reason, all of the participants had to develop inquiring, reflective and critical competences.

Each novice trainee teacher was in charge of one course with an average of 40 students, ages ranging from ten to twelve years, being in total 200 classmates approximately. Likewise, eight diaries were reviewed, five from novice teachers and three from practicum advisors. Narrative texts containing indiscipline episodes, interaction difficulties and the most exasperating occurrences during a period of class, followed by the trainee teachers' practical solutions, were systematically registered in the personalized diaries.

Zulfikar & Rahman (2018) consider that "most in-service teachers regard reflective journals as an effective tool to increase teaching awareness, and thus improve their performance during teaching" (p. 1). Therefore, to enhance the credibility of this project and to allow the triangulation process, data was also collected, recorded and transcribed from semi-structured interviews, and a small focus group of long-experienced teachers, including the principal and the practicum advisors' comments. Interviewees were engaged in discussions and practical strategies; they were asked a range of questions related to the trainee teachers' narratives.

Results

After a careful process of data analysis three thematic categories emerged, which were used in reporting the results: 1) Obstacles and unpredictable circumstances; 2) Favoring a better classroom atmosphere; 3) The desire to be effective teachers.

The desire to be effective teachers

It should be noted that the advisors confirmed their advisee's desire to be effective teachers. Day after day, teacher trainees looked for the best tools to control the indiscipline, creating a collaborative, respectful, and joyful atmosphere. It was important to reinforce rules, to provide engaging tasks that were not too difficult nor too basic, to develop varied technical teaching skills, and so on.

Likewise, in the final stage of their professional studies, trainee teachers went deeper seeking to understand their experiences. As active thinkers, they were expected to conduct their own professional learning and autonomy being more knowledgeable, responsible, respectful, and effective in their work. They were able to design creative and playful materials, develop fun activities, encourage participation, carry out innovative methodologies, formulate clear achievements, being punctual and sharing a positive attitude towards significant teaching endeavors. Yet, students' indiscipline and disruptive behavior are unavoidable and become the biggest obstacle to ensure a pleasant learning atmosphere, even for older teachers.

The following samples, extracted from the advisors' diaries, highlight that for controlling a group, the trainee teachers became coherent in front of the class, using didactic material that really works, trying to keep harmony and a good atmosphere:

At the end of the practicum stage, it means when the academic period was next to finishing, the teacher-trainees did a big effort for counteracting the students' indiscipline. They were able to use strategies to get to know them, their attitudes and their capabilities when carrying out individual and group activities. On the other hand, young teachers understood that it was not appropriate, therefore, to be extremely rigid; i.e., scolding, threatening, raising the voice, making the students feel thoughtless, etc.

In an interview, the teacher trainees stated:

• » I use resources as pictures, real material, colors, maps, games, and figures to catch the attention of negligent children

• » I do the best trying to encourage them to feel good at school

• » It is recommended to avoid excess of adulation and over-stimulation

In this line of work, reasonable expressions were registered in the final pages of the pre-service teachers' diaries, as well as during the interviews and in the practicum advisors' comments, emphasizing the desire to be successful teachers, and how an increasing number of schoolchildren appreciated each class. "I really enjoyed the attitude of this group today" is an illustrative answer corroborating a high level of satisfaction according to the expected results.

As mentioned earlier, trainee teachers were very pleased with the way in which they controlled the last lessons. They also recognized that the most difficult of this profession is, of course, changing the students' attitude towards the desire to learn and letting them be autonomous and enthusiastic.

• » Time is over. I have finished the last class. They showed their satisfaction with applauses

• » I've done better classes. Today I feel happier than yesterday

• » Now, I observe with different eyes

• » I heard words of gratitude and congratulations from several students. I have one word to remember: thank you

Discussion

National and international researchers identify classroom settings as one of the most commonly discussed issues concerning teacher preparation programs (Fandiño, 2013; Macias & Sánchez, 2015). In particular, following the principles of contemporary educational authors (Creswell, 1998; Elliott, 1991), classrooms become natural, favorably-conditioned places of interaction and reflection (Schön, 1987) for both teachers and learners.

Current literature deals with different variables concerning academic goals, such as motivation and regulation, students' behavior and attitudes, learning environment, classroom physical conditions, pleasant coexistence, teaching methods, curriculum contents, academic goals, student's learning styles, autonomy, cultural background, and so on.

Hederich-Martinez & Camargo Uribe (2019), after critically reviewing international studies, identified "those characteristics that are less favorable to the school learning situation" (p. 9). One important issue shows that some students with higher scores in certain types of learning also display low performances in others. There are students exhibiting disorganized and confusing methods of study. Low academic goals have to do with lack of regulation, motivation, and cooperative learning. Superficial information processing strategies are also associated with low-quality learning and seriously affect academic life. Students do not know very well either how to develop their academic tasks, nor the amount of material to be assimilated.

Due to ineffective approaches to accomplish learning tasks, some students also exhibit greater difficulties to reach academic goals. When facing classroom atmosphere, both new and experienced educators must have the courage to change their own beliefs or convictions. For example, the issue that conducting a successful class is an impossible goal, in this case, to be able to change the students' attitudes, lack of discipline to get a pleasant coexistence. A better alternative, on the other hand, is to assume a reflexive, comprehensive and purposeful attitude to face frequent, real and uncertain situations which deserve a deeper comprehension on the part of the academic community. "Questionable too, is whether sustained pedagogical changes to practice will arise from simply making notes over one's planning, as suggested by several teachers" (Benade, 2015, p. 48).

Hederich-Martinez & Camargo Uribe also ask the following question: "What is the ideal student of the educational system?" (p. 18). The authors' answer is:

[...] they build their own knowledge, which is determined by their own personal interests, and does so in a completely self-regulated manner: the students themselves manage and assess their process, in relative independence from external information. More than this, this ideal student can work independently on content and learning activities and does not need any kind of stimulation from their teachers. (p. 19).

Although in their 2019 study the quoted authors were focused on higher education contexts, this portrayal is directly linked to the classroom environment in the basic levels. Maybe the real situations in the elementary and secondary pedagogical settings directly influence the ideal student profile that will be required by the university, later on.

"In light of the view that twenty-first century learning requires teachers to make significant shifts to their practice and their thinking about the purposes of education" (Benade, 2015, p. 47), it is essential to know how new generations of teachers and students define and construct relationships of coexistence, respect, peace and public safety in the school (Gregory et al., 2016). Nonetheless, reflective teaching practicum is not a matter of recipes, rigid formulas, and mechanical plan design or course tracking. Notable theorists (Dewey, 2021; Freire, 1996; Giroux and McLaren, 1989) warned that both beginners and experienced teachers require a big dose of willingness to carefully see and understand the visible and invisible situations that emerge from everyday actions, considering that classrooms demand a persistent and challenging activity.

So far, assuming the principles of a reflective-critical hermeneutic approach, as Benade (2015) has pointed out, narratives go beyond exasperating episode descriptions. A reflective trainee teacher will not only be able to make sense of his or her educational profile, but also to engage with the experiences of the classroom disrupters and seek feedback from other colleagues and experts. In addition to reflecting on trainee teachers' performance, critical narratives would serve the ends of educational institutions with the desire to be autonomous, collaborative and focused on sharing expectations. This line of action agrees with Freire's (1996), Schön's (1987), and Giroux and McLaren's (1989) conceptions of an ethical, autonomous and reflective professional as one who could interact with others in the search of learning, acquiring higher levels of critical awareness.

For classroom management it is quite important to create successful environments where reflective and critical teachers play a fundamental role, as well as communication skills in terms of being proficient for contributing to establish and maintain discipline and learning routines. According to Muna (2019), time-consuming problems that demand solutions are indiscipline, disruptive behavior and lack of expertise, which constitute an important point of reflection. Besides, echoing Zulfikar & Rahman (2018), "reflective journal facilitates teachers to reflect on their teaching and then generate feedback for the improvement of their classroom practices" (p. 1). In the following paragraph, Sieberer-Nagler (2016) presents a more explicit description concerning classroom management:

Everything a teacher does has implications for classroom management, including creating the setting, decorating the room, arranging the chairs, speaking to children and handling their responses, putting routines in place (and then executing, modifying, and reinstituting them), developing rules, and communicating those rules to the students. These are all aspects of classroom management. (p. 163).

From the above points of view, teacher education programs should include an awareness-raising component that helps to expand the prospective teachers' experiential knowledge. This is possible and necessary because teacher trainees assume the challenge to face and promote a healthy classroom atmosphere.

It can be stated that problems related to classroom environment are also grounded in the institutional norms. The exhaustive application of regulations and the rooted practice of making notes on the notebooks or inviting the parents to observe their children misbehavior are not always the best solutions. "Students' work is much better in environments that are well-defined in terms of dos and don'ts and when they exactly know the rights and wrongs. It is not so good when rules are ambiguous and inconsistent" (Sieberer-Nagler, 2016, p. 165).

Providing effective pedagogical responses to solve those greater difficulties is a prime decision-making measure within the educational settings. Elementary and secondary institutions ought to do the required changes in the interests of youth who have to live together in the current century sharing educational discourses and practices.

To this extent, what is the backbone of what goes on around the ideal atmosphere to favor the teaching, learning and training processes? It is necessary to dive into the meaning of the classroom as a natural environment suitable to coexistence. Derived from the National Political Chart (Constitución política, 1991) as well as from the Unesco (2014), four main pillars should be directly or indirectly related to human rights: equity, treatment of conflicts, coexistence and peace, meeting the needs of global proposals. Thus, promoting education in consonance with the current twenty-first century goals is the most challenged promise which has to be based on the co-responsibility of the State policies, and has been extensively documented in previous research works (Collins, 2017; Munévar, 2018).

Conclusions

The most frequent obstacles, moments and circumstances associated with disruptive behavior affecting classroom environment inside public schools, and how trainee teachers faced them were the core content of this research work. In accordance with the stated objectives, and after a careful data processing, the conclusions drawn below emerged from three thematic categories: 1) exasperating disruptive behavior , obstacles and unpredictable circumstances; 2) strategies that favored a better classroom atmosphere; 3) the desire to be effective teachers.

When calling the role as teachers and being immersed into real school settings, prospective teachers start having very good relationships with students, accepting that schoolchildren's behavior affects the classroom atmosphere. It is important to discern how inexperienced pre-service teachers faced and favored classroom environment to better conduct pedagogical processes according to educational goals. Nevertheless, they perceive that the lack of discipline and the disorder due to overcrowded rooms are already nominated as common unsolved problems. Perturbing situations seem to be an uncertain difficulty because they cannot be solved straight away. Consequently, trainee teachers face a continuous tension between wanting to conduct successful lessons and exhibiting endless efforts aimed at counteracting disruptive students' behaviors.

Although educators in progress show a great deal of anxiety, it is evident their sensitivity to generate learning environments and to discover hidden factors in their daily practices that affect learning and training processes. In a later stage in the education curriculum programs there are great challenges, especially by those who have understood the value of reflecting on and writing down the experience carried out in real contexts of learning, teaching, and training processes.

The most effective strategies that pre-service teachers explored to reduce the most frequent academic misconduct episodes that emerged during their classes were analyzed. Writing reflections through diaries contrasted with interviews provided effective opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of the way in which teacher trainees operated in their classroom, explaining how and why certain changes favor a better classroom atmosphere.

Persistently, both trainee teachers and advisors risked inventing and testing different ways to modify routines and unwanted behaviors. As in a game, the classroom should be an expectant scenario because of the movements, choreography, actors, interactions, characters, scenes, outcomes, and persuasion of a public with different expectations, interests and necessities. Above all, they identify strengths and weaknesses as well as useful strategies in terms of improving academic goals. In this way, new teachers are able to provide ideas to address all situations affecting their school environments.

It might be worthwhile to point out that such purpose was possible through progressive levels of reflection, critical attitude and the desire to overcome difficult real situations having good results and indicators of success, which are linked to the institutional goals.

Indiscipline, disruptive behavior, coexistence, and general instructional work as factors that directly affect the classroom atmosphere become a thematic focus to reflect on and transform, which implies to turn the classroom and the school into searchable scenarios. Using real data that emerge from educational contexts, reflective trainee teachers are able to explore direct immediate strategies that help them recognize themselves as future educators and to qualify their performance. Given this, there are constant concerns to ensure comfortable environments to develop successful classes.

In that sense, at the end of their teaching practicum, trainees of educational careers feel more competent and more self-assured to observe and to take corrective measures, demonstrating more in-depth analysis, authority, and professionalism.