References

Alderman, G.L., & Green, S.K. (2011). Social powers and effective classroom
management: Enhancing teacher-student relationship. Intervention in School and
Clinic, 47(1), 39-44. doi: 10.1177/1053451211406543
This article reviews the existing literature on the social powers model, which
highlights coercion, manipulation, expertness and likability as four types of social
power teachers use in influencing students behavior. The article suggests
practices teachers can incorporate to use the social powers positively with
students. The article suggests implications in the context of students with
disabilities who exhibit behavioral challenges. Many of the practices and
strategies take a highly behaviorist approach in which students complete certain
behaviors for some sort of teacher controlled reward. This article could be
strengthened with real teacher voices about implementation of these strategies as
opposed to the fictional vignettes incorporated by the authors. Overall, the article
provokes thought about ways to minimize negative interactions and maximize
positive interactions in specific learning environments.
Butland, M.J., & Beebe, S. A. (1992). Teacher immediacy and power in the classroom:
The application of Implicit Communication Theory. Retrieved from Educational
Resources Information Center: http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED371421
This report highlights how teacher usage of prosocial Behavior Alteration
Techniques correlate with student reports of feeling like they learned. Also
addressed are connections between positive student emotions and a higher degree
of self-reported learning. The authors collected data through questionnaires
completed by 625 undergraduate students. The report was presented at a
conference of the International Communication Association. This report was
particularly relevant to establishing that students perceive positive management
techniques as effective.
Cornelius, L., & Herrenkohl, L.R. (2004). Power in the classroom: How the classroom
environment shapes students relationships with each other and with concepts.
Cognition and Instruction, 22(4), 467-498. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3233886
This article highlights how student-centered participant structures impact student
engagement and disciplinary specific learning in the field of science. Data was

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collected through observation and interviews with sixth grade students
surrounding a lesson in which students participated actively. The authors examine
how power among students changes when the teacher is not the only possessor of
power. Another critical aspect of the study is the importance of student ownership
of ideas. The authors highlight that changing the participant structures in
classrooms does not necessarily ensure disciplinary discourses will occur. Each
student and each class has its own set of needs and teachers have to analyze what
those needs are as they shift participant structures away from the traditional
structure. Thus, reflection and awareness on the part of the teacher is a critical
aspect of implementing positive power relationships.
Coy, P.G. (2014). Collective learning agreements as democratic practice and joint
empowerment. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 31(3), 229-256. doi:
10.1002/crq.21087
This article addresses the authors ongoing use of learning agreements as a means
to empower students to engage more fully in the learning process at the college
level. The author analyzed years of data from learning agreements created with
students. Helping students understand the importance they have in the classroom
and allowing them to help form the rules and policies they will be held
accountable to has implications across grade levels. The author also points out
that students set standards to hold themselves accountable less often than they
create standards for teacher accountability. Some of the students expressed that
they struggled with the idea of taking ownership of their own learning because
this had become so foreign to them in their previous education experience. This
finding exhibits that there is a critical problem with power relationships and the
lack of student empowerment in primary and secondary schools that creates this
mindset in college students.
Donnelly, D.F., McGarr, O., & OReilly, J. (2014). Just be quiet and listen to exactly
what hes saying: Conceptualizing power relations in inquiry-oriented
classrooms. International Journal of Science Education, 36(12), 2029-2054. doi:
10.1080/09500693.2014.889867
This article examines the role of power relationships in teaching science through
inquiry-based methods. The authors identified research question is, What
mechanisms of power emerge when teachers attempt to implement IBSE? The
article utilized previous research on classroom power relations as a framework for
identifying the behaviors observed in their investigation. The methods used in this
study involved in depth case studies of two chemistry classrooms in Ireland. The
authors conducted interviews, surveys, and recorded observations of classroom
lessons. The article highlights direct and indirect power interactions among the

THE ELEPHANT IN THE CLASSROOM: POWER AND AUTHORITY IN EDUCATION 3

students and the teachers. One of the major implications of this study is
recognition of the indirect ways in which teachers and students adhere to the
traditional teacher and student roles and how this affects student ownership of
learning.
Doyle, W. (2009). Situated practice: A reflection on person-centered classroom
management. Theory Into Practice, 48(2), 156-159. doi:
10.1080/00405840902776525
In this article, Doyle places classroom management strategies and practices within
an ecological framework of understanding. Treating students with dignity and
respect is important to creating a learning environment in which the students join
forces with a teacher instead of taking on adversarial roles. Doyle further argues
that understanding classrooms cannot be taken out of the context of the physical
structure, program structure, and actions of a classroom. Understanding students
as individuals and allowing them to co-construct the classroom environment is
critical, however structures are necessary and student centered classroom
management will not create productive classroom environments in isolation of
teacher involvement. Doyle calls for teachers and other individuals with vested
interest to consider the implications and merits of all approaches as classroom
environments are created.
Elliott, J.G. (2009) The nature of teacher authority and teacher expertise. Support for
Learning, 24 (4), 197-203. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9604.2009.01429.x
This article synthesizes previous research in the field of teacher authority by
drawing on traditional studies to examine the increase in student resistance to
authority in certain cultures such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Elliot posits that addressing the behavioral problems, stemming from a lack of
respect for authority, can be approached in three ways: focusing on the
individuals who are most disruptive, focusing on teachers strategies and skills,
and focusing on school wide interventions. Elliot suggests that there are multiple
types of authority including traditional authority, charismatic authority
bureaucratic authority, and professional authority. Elliot also points out that no
list of specific interventions or suggestions can be compiled because of the tacit
nature of teacher knowledge and experience, making the solution to the authority
problem ambiguous and illusive.
Erwin, J. C. (2004). The classroom of choice: Giving students what they need and getting
what you want. Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104020/chapters/Power-in-the-

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Classroom@-Creating-the-Environment.aspx
Jonathan Erwin is a teacher of eleven years who has worked as an adjunct faculty
member at a variety of colleges and universities and now works as an independent
education consultant. Erwin examines the classroom learning environment from
the perspective of the basic human needs of belonging, power, freedom, and fun.
In regard to power, Erwin emphasizes that empowering students gives teachers
more authority in the classroom. When the students need to feel important is met,
they are more engaged and more cooperative. Erwin also incorporates a wide
variety of strategies throughout the book in order to help teachers implement his
philosophy in their own classrooms.
Freire, P. (1974). Education for critical consciousness. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Paulo Freire was an influential educator and education philosopher. This
particular book addresses how education can be used to oppress certain groups in
a society to submit to the power of the elite. Freire draws on the experience of his
own background with the Brazilian people as an example of the oppression that
can be distributed through the education system. Freire also addresses the issues
surrounding the creation of a critically conscious citizenry. This critical
consciousness can enable oppressed groups to understand the decisions made by
the powers that be in a given society and therefore, begin to bring about change in
oppressive societies. Freires work provides bearing on the implications of hidden
curriculum and the societal power messages transmitted in schools.
Graco, J., Calheiros, M.M, & Barata, M.C. (2013). Authority in the classroom:
Adolescent autonomy, autonomy support, and teachers legitimacy. European
Journal of Psychology Education, 28(3), 1065-1076. doi: 10.1007/s10212-0120154-1
This article examines a study completed with Portuguese adolescents with the
purpose of examining the relationship between teacher legitimacy and perceived
autonomy support. Data were collected through a series of three self-reported
questionnaires designed to collect student perceptions of teacher legitimacy, level
of student autonomy in the classroom and the degree of autonomy support. The
authors found that teacher legitimacy is based on a complex variety of factors
including the level of autonomy of the individual as well as the level of student
perceived autonomy support.
Harjunen, E. (2012). Patterns of control of the teaching-studying-learning process and
classrooms as complex dynamic environments: A theoretical framework.

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European Journal of Teacher Education, 35(2), 139-161. doi:
10.1080/02619768.2011.643465
This article provides a framework for understanding and characterizing power
relations in the classroom. Harjunen suggests a continuum of dominance
characterized by teacher dominance, empowerment, and student dominance,
which parallel the establishment of classrooms of order, classrooms at the edge
of chaos, and classrooms of chaos. It is recognized that empowerment and
classrooms at the edge of chaos provide the greatest opportunity for holistic
development and learning, as well as creativity and mutual security on the part of
students and teachers. All teachers and all classrooms fluctuate along the
continuum, but functioning in one type of authority consistently creates the
classroom environment that corresponds with that type of authority. Harjunen
characterizes the continuum with examples from previous research she carried
out. The dominance continuum is a useful tool for discussing and reflecting on
the power environment in a given classroom.
Harjunen, E. (2011). Students consent to a teachers pedagogical authority.
Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 55(4), 403-424. doi:
10.1080/00313831.2011.587325
In this article, Harjunen highlights how teachers come to possess pedagogical
authority through the consent of students. Harjunen analyzed data from Finnish
students written responses and interviews to create a typology of student
demands that must be met in order for the students to consent to teacher authority.
Through forming connections and positive relationships with students, teachers
begin to establish authority in students eyes. The students are more willing to
participate and follow the rules when they respect that their teacher has their best
interests at heart and is a fair person. The article also highlights the means through
which students can exert their own intentions or power over teachers if the teacher
does not meet their needs/demands.
Hughes, J.N. (2002). Authoritative teaching: Tipping the balance in favor of school
versus peer effects. Journal of School Psychology, 40(6), 485-492. doi:
10.1016/S0022-4405(02)00125-5
Hughes highlights the power teachers possess to counter some of the negative
influences on students lives through reviewing existing research relating to this
topic. She places teachers within the framework of Baumrinds (1973)
classification of parenting styles. The authoritative teacher who exhibits high
control and high warmth has the greatest ability to positively impact students.

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Furthermore the impact of a positive student relationship has the highest
propensity to help students who are at risk.
Kitchen, W.H. (2014). Authority and the teacher. New York, NY: Bloomsbury
Academic.
Kitchen takes an argumentative approach to suggest that an authoritative approach
to education is necessary. He is critical of the current education system and the
shift of focus from knowledge to skills. He argues that the general erosion of
authority has impacted the status of the teacher. Kitchens treatment of authority
is a largely philosophical approach seeking to establish theoretical and
philosophical backgrounds as influential in discussions of teacher authority. The
book references theorists such as Polanyi, Oakeshott, and Wittgenstein. Kitchens
work provides a functional definition of authority as well as the role of tradition
and sociological factors in determining the legitimacy of authority.
Lovorn, M., Szymanski Sunal, C.,McFadyen Christensen, L., Sunal, D.W., & Shwery, C.
(2012). Whos in control? Teachers from five countries share perspectives on
power dynamics in the learning environment. Journal of Research in
International Education, 11(1), 70-86. doi 10.1177/1475240911435869
This study examined an online discussion board involving teachers from the
United States and four other South American countries. The teachers abroad
taught in international schools where American culture, language, and power were
predominant. The researchers formulated several questions relating to power and
the teachers responded from their own experiences. The research questions
included: What are teachers perspectives of power in the learning environment?
How are teachers perspectives on power influenced by dominant cultures? and
How do classroom power dynamics impact concepts of citizenship and other
ideas? The article highlights the importance of teacher awareness of power as a
critical issue in increasingly diverse classroom settings. The article calls attention
to the subtle and inadvertent ways teachers and schools pass on culture, language,
and power relations to students through modeling. This article is a useful
companion to the hidden curriculum framework. The article also calls for further
research to determine the effect of this phenomenon on learning outcomes.
Lyles, S.B. (2014). School psychologists experiences with teacher-to-student
mistreatment (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Educational Research
Information Center. (Accession No. ED546866)

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Lyles completed a study with 139 school psychologists from Virginia to examine
their experiences with instances of teacher-to-student mistreatment. Data were
collected through a mixed survey and interview format. Findings indicated that a
large majority of the school psychologists in the study identified the existence of
teacher-to-student mistreatment in the school setting. Negative teacher behaviors
identified by Lyles include yelling, sarcasm, put downs, negative comparison,
humiliation, isolation, and ignoring. Furthermore, school psychologists indicated
a desire to decrease the prevalence of teacher-to-student mistreatment and
encourage early intervention among all interested parties.
Manke, M.P. (1997) Classroom power relations: Understanding student-teacher
interaction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Mankes work is an ethnographical study of three elementary classrooms with the
purpose of examining the presence of power in classroom interactions and
relationships. She collected data through classroom observations as well as
interviews with teachers. Manke found that each of the classroom teachers
exhibited varying degrees of control over students. One teacher gave the students
almost no other choice but to listen and pay attention out of fear. Another allowed
students to make many choices about their learning and the means through which
their learning would take place. The third teacher found middle ground between
the two aforementioned examples. Manke argues that all the teachers made
decisions about the power structure in their classrooms in an effort to control
student behavior, be it through fear of punishment or through willing
acquiescence as a result of open choice. Mankes work was particularly revealing
in that it highlighted that teacher power through decision-making is unavoidable
regardless of the teachers philosophy or approach. All teachers make decisions
for learning even if the decision is to allow students to decide.
Nussbaum, J.F. (1992). Communicator style and teacher influence. In V.P. Richmond &
J.C. McCroskey (Eds.), Power in the classroom: Communication, control and
concern (pp. 145-158). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Power in the Classroom approaches the topic of power dynamics in education
from a communication perspective. Nussbaums chapter specifically examines
how the communicator style of a teacher influences student affective and
behavioral learning gains. Nussbaum draws on studies, largely completed at
colleges and universities, to exhibit the most effective communicator styles as
indicated by students as well as the relationship between certain styles and student
learning. Nussbaum also establishes that teachers can make positive changes to
their communicator style in order to benefit students.
Reinsvold, L.A., & Cochran, K.F. (2012). Power dynamics and questioning in elementary

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science classrooms. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 23(7), 745-768. doi:
10.1007/s10972-011-9235-2
This article examines how power relationships affect questioning and inquiry
methods in the elementary science classroom. The authors recorded and observed
two teachers science lessons and conducted interviews with the teachers
following the lessons. The article includes extensive corroboration with other
articles and a section devoted to examining the work of other researchers relating
to the topics addressed. The authors found that teacher comments and questions
during lessons greatly outnumbered student comments and questions. The authors
also purport that open-ended questions did not necessarily coordinate with
increased student responses and engagement. The authors call for further research
in this area of concern to address student perspectives and learning outcomes.
This research was particularly informative when considering participant structures
and verbal interaction between teachers and students.
Pace, J.L., & Hemmings, A. (2006). Understanding classroom authority as a social
construction. In J. Pace and A. Hemmings (Eds.), Classroom authority: Theory
research and practice (pp. 1-31). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Pace and Hemmings address the multiple factors teachers encounter as they seek
to establish authority in the classroom. Their work analyzes the existing research
on the societal factors that influence classroom authority. This source provides an
important voice on how the world outside the school influences authority in the
classroom through societal pressure as well as the individual backgrounds of
students. Considering the societal perspective rounds out the academic
conversation about which factors influence authority construction in the
classroom and suggests that the authority making process is more complex than it
appears at surface level.
Sharpe, G.W.B., & Curwen, T. (2012). The hidden curriculum in elementary educationBeyond the Straight Line: A theoretical, critical, and reflective analysis of the
hidden curriculum in elementary school education in Ontario, Canada. Review of
Higher Education and Self-Learning, 5(15), 57-68. Retrieved from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8f5264f6-6659-480fb93b-d1d0538f517e%40sessionmgr4003&vid=3&hid=4105

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This article highlights power imbalances in curriculum and in behavioral control
domains. The hidden curriculum is that which is taught to students that is not in
the mandated curriculum. This includes ideas of power and behavior that are
valued by society as well as academic curriculum that is neglected in the
standards. Students have little control of their own discipline and the rules they
are bound to and therefore have little investment in the process. The author
suggests that sharing power in the classroom, nurturing student interests, and
fostering student responsibility are critical to combatting the hidden curriculum
that poses outdated and unfortunate expectations on students.
Tzuo, P.W., & Chen, D.T. (2011). Re-conceptualizing teacher authority: When to exact.
New Horizons in Education, 59(1), 1-11. Retrieved from
http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/NewHorizon/index2.html
This article examines the boundary between using necessary authority and power
to benefit student learning and when using this authority limits student autonomy
and creativity. The authors draw on previous studies to emphasize the importance
of using content and process authority in some circumstances. Tzuo and Chen
also include a section that outlines the different purposes of exacting authority.
These include facilitating childrens learning, fostering childrens freedom of
intelligence, the empowerment of every child, equity in the classroom, and
reciprocity among peers. This article was useful when considering the delicate
balance between too much and too little authority.
Uibu, K., & Kikas, E. (2014). Authoritative and authoritarian-inconsistent teachers
preferences for teaching methods and instructional goals. Education 3-13, 42(1),
5-22. doi: 10.1080/03004279.2011.618808
This study examined Estonian teachers preferences for authoritarian or
authoritative teaching styles and their disposition to focus their instructional goals
on cognitive or social learning outcomes. A sample of diverse Estonian teachers
were given two questionnaires on which they indicated their teaching preferences.
It was found that the majority of the teachers could be identified in the
authoritative style that promotes a high degree of cognitive and social competency
as well as a stronger focus on more progressive teaching methods. The
authoritarian teachers exhibited a more rigid idea of controlling student learning
and behavior and preferred more traditional teaching methods like memorization.
This study provides an interesting look at how teachers standards for control in
the classroom can affect whether the students are encouraged to develop socially
as well as cognitively.

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Uitto, M. (2011). Humiliation, unfairness, and laughter: Students recall power relations
with teachers. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 19(2), 273-290. doi:
10.1080/14681366.2011.582262
In this article, Uitto analyzes a study in which volunteers wrote about their
experiences with teachers growing up in Finland. Uitto found that the majority of
the responses were negative and the root of the negativity was often the issue of
power teachers held over students. One particularly interesting facet of this article
is that it points out students ways of resisting teacher power when possible. Uitto
points out that pre-service teachers should look to their own experiences in the
past in order to inform their practice in the future. Ultimately teachers have to be
cognizant of their own experiences and how those experiences impact how they
treat their own students.
Wegwert, J.C. (2014). Looking the tiger in the eye: Overcoming fear-based teacher
identities. Childhood Education, 90(2), 137-142. doi:
10.1080/00094056.2014.894816
Wegwert draws on existing research in the fields of teacher authority and teacher
training to address the role fear plays in the creation of teacher identities.
Wegwert posits that teachers fear losing control of their classrooms and as a result
feel the need to overcompensate in order to maintain control. This fear culminates
in school environments that diverge from research-based strategies that promote
collaboration between the teacher and students to create a productive learning
environment. Wegwert also addresses the presence of fear in teacher interactions
with parents and taking political stances. Wegwerts work was thought provoking
in that he addressed an issue at the center of inequitable teacher-student power
relationships, fear.
West, R. (1994). Teacher-student communication: A descriptive typology of students
interpersonal experiences with teachers. Communication Reports, 7(2), 109-118.
doi: 10.1080/08934219409367593
This article focuses on what elementary and secondary students identify as their
most positive and most negative interactions with teachers. The study examined
the question of how students interpret what teachers say and do in their
classrooms and focused more specifically on the interactions students identify as
positive and negative. West referred to prior research as a context for the research
he carried out. He specifically addressed the existing literature on teacher power
and immediacy and the findings of those studies informed the methodology

THE ELEPHANT IN THE CLASSROOM: POWER AND AUTHORITY IN EDUCATION 11

selected for this study. West distributed surveys to a range of age groups. On the
survey, the students wrote the best and worst experience they had with teachers.
Researchers then analyzed the responses and placed the responses in categories
that characterized each experience. The results indicated there are common types
of negative and positive interactions between teachers and students. Positive
interactions were characterized as: helping, recognition, and enjoyment via
activity. Negative interactions were characterized as: embarrassment, unjustifiable
discipline, unwanted aggression, inappropriate affection, and unrealistic
expectation.
Yariv, E. (2009). Students attitudes on the boundaries of teachers authority. School
Psychology International, 30(1), 92-111. doi: 10.1177/0143034308101852
Yarivs study served the purpose of examining how students respond to
illegitimate demands given by teachers, the boundary of acceptable and
illegitimate demands, and the jurisdiction of teachers power outside the school
setting. Yariv completed his study with elementary and middle school students in
Israel. Data collection consisted of student interviews requiring students to draw
on their own experiences with the issues examined in this study, diverging from
other studies that focused on hypothetical situations. Yariv found that students
justify obedience to teachers out of attempts to avoid punishment, minimize
disturbance of learning, respect, and trust that teachers make decisions for the
overall benefit of students. Yariv also indicated a typology of justifying
disobedience: teacher violation of rights, placing students in moral dilemmas,
intervening in personal matters, violating school norms, and making demands
beyond a given students ability. Yariv conceptualizes these typologies as circles
of authority. In the center of the circle are the demands students are willing to
obey and on the outer rim of the circle are the demands students are unwilling to
obey. Between these to circles are the grey area in which teachers and students
question whether demands and obedience are acceptable. Yariv posits that the
area of the middle circle can be minimized through learning about students as
individuals and establishing positive relationships. This model is particularly
useful in considering the student perspective of obedience to authority.