Section archive - Beginning Teachers

This study explored investigated novice teachers’ sense of professional agency, and the perceived resources and obstacles affecting it. The authors conclude that the findings imply that novice teachers need multiprofessional, collegial, and principal support for the practice of their professional agency within the school. The findings also emphasized the crucial role of the school principal.

The current study investigates the use of a digital video annotation tool (VideoANT) used by beginning in-service secondary science and mathematics teachers in the Teacher Induction Network (TIN). It specifically examines the social interactions and potential supports of a VideoANT to promote collaborative interactions toward the development of reflective practices. The intent of VideoANT was to allow teachers to identify elements of their teaching that contribute to their successes and struggles, and elicit feedback from peers that may guide the teacher toward improving their practice. However, the findings reveal that majority of peer commentary praised the practices of these teachers, and commentary that would suggest alternative solutions was less frequent. The authors conclude that explicit supports for teacher discourse in VideoANT are needed.

The author wondered why so many beginning teachers leave the profession. The author proposes to frame the problem as one of teacher identity making and identity shifting in order to understand the experiences of beginning teacher attrition.In what follows the author uses the stories of his experiences as a beginning teacher as a way to narratively read the ways beginning teacher attrition has been conceptualized. Through his experiences as a teacher, and his autobiographical narrative inquiry work, the author has begun to frame beginning teacher attrition as a problem that compels inquiry into teacher identity making and identity shifting as a way to narratively understand the experiences of beginning teachers.

This article addresses the issue: whether there are key differences in the type and quality of preparation that newly-qualified teachers (NQTs) receive. The findings reveal that, in general, there is a high level of reported overall satisfaction with induction of teacher education (ITE), and that this is true across all routes. There was less satisfaction with specific features such as preparation for handling special needs, behaviour and reading. The average levels of satisfaction for NQTs are largely un-stratified by sex, disability, age and ethnicity. Adding all available variables, including those aggregated and examined as interactions with others, can explain only around 20% of the unexplained variation even in the strongest models.