Preservice teachers' perspectives and use of behavior management strategies

Much of the current literature focuses on how preservice teachers are prepared to support entire classrooms (i.e., classroom management) instead of individual students (i.e., behavior management). Because of this gap in the literature, little is known about how preservice elementary education teachers are prepared to support students who are perceived to engage in challenging behavior in their classrooms. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to explore preservice elementary education teachers' knowledge, experiences, and needs for using behavior management strategies with individual students. Findings indicated preservice teachers had limited knowledge about behavior management strategies and sought further opportunities to support students who they perceived to engage in challenging behavior.