VR Teaching Under Pressure: A Virtual Reality Simulation for Developing Emotional and Reflective Classroom Management Skills
Leveraging virtual reality and learning analytics to develop emotional and reflective classroom management skills in teachers.
Duration: January 2026 – December 2026
Status: Ongoing
Educational Level: Upper Seconary Level – Vocational Education, Tertiary Level
Topic: Digital Tools
Keywords: Teacher Education, Classroom Management, Virtual Reality, Learning Analytics, Emotion Regulation
Initial Situation
Teaching is widely acknowledged as a form of labor, requiring educators not only to regulate their own emotions but also to manage the emotional climate of the classroom. Epistemic emotions such as curiosity, confusion or interest play a crucial role in the learning process. However, regulating them in the classroom can be challenging in contexts marked by complex or disruptive dynamics, where teachers must maintain composure and pedagogical focus under stress. This task becomes even more difficult for novice teachers, who often lack the experience and strategies necessary to manage such challenges effectively. Ineffective classroom management has been linked to increased risk of teacher burnout and can significantly impair the quality of teaching and learning. Developing classroom management skills is thus a critical, yet notoriously difficult, aspect of teacher training, as it demands repeated practice and exposure to varied teaching situations. Traditional training methods (e.g., role-playing ) are commonly employed by teacher educators to build these competencies in student teachers. However, these approaches are resource-intensive and typically limited to a few instances within a training program. In this context, virtual reality (VR) offers promising opportunities by enabling practice in a safe, controlled, repeatable environment, and providing real-time data for reflection and feedback.
Objectives
The project aims to evaluate whether an existing VR platform can effectively support the development of core classroom management competencies in emotionally challenging scenarios. For this purpose, it will assess the VR platform’s ability to elicit measurable emotional responses, measured by physiological and behavioral indicators. Moreover, piloting with vocational teacher educators from SFUVET, the project will investigate the feasibility of expanding the approach across different training programs concerning in-service vocational teachers.
Method
The study employs multi-method and multimodal approaches. Physiological measures, eye-tracking, and self-report measures will assess whether VR-based classroom simulations can reliably trigger authentic emotional responses to classroom disruptions. Qualitative content analysis of discourse data will be used to assess the presence of emotional co-regulation behaviors. By reviewing their physiological and behavioral data after each session, the teacher educators will be guided during a debriefing to reflect on their emotional classroom management. This will allow us to assess the effectiveness of a data-driven feedback in enhancing teachers’ reflective practice. Through semi-structured interviews, we will investigate the feasibility and potential for broader use of the VR training tool.
Planned Translation
The VR platform is already being used in teacher training programs in Johannesburg, South Africa. This implementation demonstrated that the platform can be successfully integrated into teacher education. Moreover, the platform is currently being adapted to the Swiss context in a collaboration with SUPSI. Similarly, SFUVET has the potential to incorporate the tool into a wide range of courses, including both initial teacher training and continuing professional development for more experienced student teachers. Concrete examples include EHB’s Start-Up course, designed for teachers in the early stages of their careers, and the SVEB course, aimed at adult educators with limited teaching experience. The project will yield relevant information for practitioners in terms of the feasibility and effectiveness of VR as training tool for emotional classroom management competencies. Starting with the involvement of teacher educators will also give us their perspective on possible further implementations in teacher education, which would constitute the major possible impact on practice. Further impact on practice will be assured via dissemination activities (e.g., BeLEARN project lunch). Research-wise, we plan to have impact via conference presentations and at least one peer-reviewed article (conference or journal paper).
