All’s well? New Zealand beginning teachers’ experience of induction provision in their first six months in school

Abstract

While the importance of induction for increasing beginning teacher retention and supporting professional development is widely recognised, less is known about the nature of support that novices encounter when they first start teaching. This study investigated 12 first-year New Zealand primary teachers' perceptions of their induction experiences in their first six months of teaching. Semistructured interviews (n = 24) were the primary sources of data for this qualitative study. The study showed that despite New Zealand's longstanding commitment to the induction of beginning teachers, the participants' experiences were diverse and variable. The findings point to the learning and development opportunities open to beginning teachers when they work in schools that both recognise novices' particular needs and have a school-wide commitment to the ongoing professional learning of all teachers.

Preparing teachers for professional learning: is there a future for teacher education in new teacher induction?

“…Fourteen years later, Wideen, Mayer-Smith, and Moon reported their analysis of more than 90 studies of learning to teach, including seven studies of the first year of teaching, which led them to conclude that teacher education did not prepare these teachers for their first year of teaching and that 'most found teaching more difficult than they previously thought it would be' (1998,158). There is abundant evidence in the more recent research literature that the first years of teaching continue to be challenging for most new teachers (Anthony et al 2008;Bullough et al 2008;Grudnoff 2011;Langdon 2011;Schuck et al 2012;Stokking et al 2003) and the reality of the first year quickly shatters their illusions of adequate preparation (Russell and McPherson 2001).…”

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“…At the school level, political factors mostly related to micropolitics, or the overt and covert (formal and informal) processes to acquire and exercise power in order to promote or protect interests within an organization (Yendol-Hoppey, Jacobs, & Dana, 2009). Novice teachers often had to negotiate complex organizational contexts, including considerable variability in access to resources appropriate to the needs of individual teachers (Anthony et al, 2011), political agendas of school administrators (Grudnoff, 2012), policy limitations (Sabar, 2004;Youngs, 2007), workload issues and poor relationships among staff (Sabar, 2004), social justice issues (Yendol-Hoppey et al, 2009), and dealing with school achievement goals which may necessitate that ECTs are more effective than their more experienced colleagues (Fletcher & Barrett, 2004) or carry out same regular and additional tasks as experienced teachers (Gaikhorst, Beishuizen, Korstjens, & Volman, 2014).…”

“…allowed them to seek out constructive ways to deal with classroom management issues in a supportive, collaborative environment" (Forbes, 2004, p. 232). Grudnoff (2012) found emotional support from tutor teacher helped the novice teacher to become much more professionally confident.…”

«Det handler om å finne sin egen form» Læreres profesjonelle handlingsrom - hvordan det blir forstått og utnyttet

“…Handlingsrom er for laererne i hennes studie forbundet med å kunne undervise i tråd med sine idealer gjennom å vaere den laereren man ønsker å vaere. Studien viser at nye laerere lett gir opp sine idealer og tilpasser seg ytre rammer og mål (Rippon & Martin, 2006;Grudnoff, 2012). Konklusjonen er at nye laerere som starter sin yrkeskarriere i en tid preget av krav til resultater og dokumentasjon, ser ut til å tilpasse seg lettere til mål satt av andre enn de som har lengre erfaring.…”