Induction needs of a group of teachers at different career stages in a school in the Republic of Ireland: Challenges and expectations

Building Early Career Teacher Resilience: The Role of Relationships

“…This was a particular challenge to many of our early career teachers given the physical and emotional exhaustion they faced on an ongoing basis. An increasing number of writers are recognising the profoundly emotional experience of early career teaching (Bullough & Draper, 2004;Intrator, 2006;McNally & Blake, 2009;Aitken & Harford, 2011) and appreciating that which Intrator (2006) acknowledged; "The inner journey novice teachers experience is especially intense, conflicting, dynamic and fragile" (p. 234). It is precisely because of this that the early career teachers' relationships with their family and friends played such a significant role.…”

Disquiet Voices Foretelling Hope: Rural Teachers’ Resilience Experiences of Past and Present Chronic Adversity

“…Others agree that rural teachers experience professional isolation (Haughey and Murphy, 1983; Sharplin et al, 2011; Tytler et al, 2011). Other studies in adverse educational contexts also found that the significant strain placed on teachers’ time causes heightened exhaustion levels in teachers (Aitken and Harford, 2011; Choi and Tang, 2009; Lee and Bang, 2011). It is a common finding that rural teachers believe that society underappreciates the teaching profession (Haughey and Murphy, 1983; Huysman, 2008).…”

Mentoring beginning teachers and goal setting

“…Four mentors had one mentee each, one mentor had two mentees and one mentor had 13-14 mentees, and as such it was inferred throughout the study that mentoring must be differentiated between mentees as their needs are different. The induction needs were different for the different career stages (see also Aitken & Harford, 2011), with these beginning teachers requiring fundamental insights at various points during their first year of teaching and, simultaneously, mentors advancing their leadership practices with engagement in a mentoring program. Although differentiation was not indicated sufficiently with the 13-14 mentees assigned to one mentor, it appeared that having too many mentees may not allow for adequate differentiation with adequate knowledge of each mentee's challenges and achievements.…”

“…Some reasons for exiting the profession include inadequate teacher preparation (Gavish & Friedman, 2010) and a lack of appreciation from colleagues (Darling-Hammond, 2010). Aitken and Harford (2011) state that beginning teachers can have difficulty "working with colleagues; negotiating a new school culture; and dealing with management" (p. 355).…”