Classroom management and teacher emotions in secondary mathematics teaching: a qualitative video-based single case study

ABSTRACT Classroom management is an emotionally demanding task for mathematics teachers, especially if students exhibit frequent discipline problems. Intense classroom conflicts can result in persistent latent emotional dispositions, such as fear or anger, that teachers are not directly aware of but that have a strong influence on their classroom management. However, little is known about the relationship between mathematics teachers’ latent emotions and their classroom management strategies. This paper reports on findings from an exploratory, video-based single case study in an urban secondary school in Germany. One mathematics double lesson (95 minutes in total) was videotaped to conduct a depth-hermeneutical analysis of identified classroom management strategies and the corresponding latent teacher emotions. The results suggest that mathematics teachers use classroom management strategies not only to establish orderly lessons but also to regulate intense latent emotions that arise during classroom teaching.