Students’ Time Management in the Classroom

: exploring U.S. teacher and student perceptions

Abstract

Time management is an executive function (EF) skill which affects a student’s ability to complete tasks in a timely manner in school, as well as being a life skill for successful higher education and employment. This research explores student classroom time management skills from two perspectives: teachers’ and students’. Early adolescent students (ages 11-14 years) were selected due to rapid cognitive, prefrontal lobe development during these years combined with increased demands at school to be independent. EF can be characterized as metacognitive and social/emotional and includes a set of coordinated cognitive capacities which engage organization, strategic thinking, self-regulation and goal-directed behaviours. For this study, time management was defined as students using time efficiently to complete assignments within the teacher’s specified length of time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten teachers and ten students across the United States. These interviews explored participants’ perceptions of the importance of time management to academic success, student proficiency, teacher expectations, student struggles and the use of time tools, such as clocks and timers. Cognitive load theory (CLT) was the framework used to discuss potential instructional practices. Transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis (QCA) organized by related research questions. The analysis revealed agreement that time management was deemed important for academic success and many students were not proficient. There was less agreement regarding expectations, required skills and student struggles. Both metacognitive and social/emotional aspects were revealed including a lack of temporal sense and motivation. Teacher pedagogy of explicitly teaching time management was also discussed. Analogue clocks are present in nearly every classroom; however, students overwhelmingly prefer digital clocks due to the ease of determining the time. Both analogue clocks and timers were preferable for showing the passage of time. The data analysis suggests a benefit to teachers explicitly including time management skills in their pedagogy.

Date of Award	24 Jun 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Janice De Sousa (Supervisor), Frances Warren (Supervisor) & Laura Clarke (Supervisor)