The experiences of early career teachers: new initiatives and old problems

Abstract

The task of supporting beginning teachers has received considerable attention in recent years, and numerous initiatives have been implemented. In this paper we investigate the experiences of early career teachers (ECTs) in New South Wales, Australia, at a time when their employing authority mandated the provision of mentors and reduction in face-to-face teaching for ECTs. This paper draws on ECTs' responses to survey items asking about their experiences as ECTs. It emerged that many of the issues of the early years that have caused problems for ECTs remain intractable, or at least unresolved for some. The research indicates that despite support that has been mandated by some employers, we cannot be complacent about the transition of ECTs into the profession. There remains a need to address the elements of school environments that impact on ECTs' experiences.

A comparative study of the impact of enhanced input on inclusion at pre‐service and induction phases on the self‐efficacy of beginning teachers to work effectively with children with special educational needs

“…These factors continue to feature in the more recent literature (e.g. Meister & Melnick, ; Liston et al ., ; Dicke et al ., ; Schuck et al ., ). A number of studies have also identified working with children with special needs as a particular challenge for new teachers (Meister & Melnick, ; Fantilli & McDougall, ; Anthony et al ., ).…”

The Role of Mentoring and Coaching for Managerial Capacity Development

“…Novice teachers can receive support by building healthy relationships with their experienced colleagues. This will facilitate their familiarization with the profession (Schuck et al, 2018). In addition, it has been pointed out that teaching performance is parallel to effective relationship and communication with students and mentoring and coaching process will guide inexperienced teachers how to be better communicators.…”

Nye læreres erfaringer med skolen som organisasjon

“…Både ledelse, kolleger og foreldre har alle sine normative interesser, og organisasjonen de nyutdannede kommer inn i er allerede preget av etablerte verdier, relasjoner og strategier. Skolen kan utvikle visse strategier for å imøtekomme nye laerere, strategier som støtter dem i den grad de tilbys en jobb tilpasset dem, det tilrettelegges for samarbeid mellom laerere og det gis ekstra støtte til nytilsatte (Johnson, 2006;Kraft, Marinell, & ShenWei Yee, 2016;Schuck, Aubusson, Buchanan, Varadharajan, & Burke, 2018). Kelchtermans og Ballet (2002) anbefaler på bakgrunn av sin studie at det de kaller «micropolitical literacy» (s.118) bør få en systematisk start allerede i laererutdanning, saerlig knyttet til praksisopplaering, for deretter å følges opp som en del av introduksjonsordnin gen for nye laerere.…”