Section archive - Beginning Teachers

This study followed a cohort of new early childhood teachers from preparation into their first year of teaching, giving voice to their challenges and triumphs, and insight into the elements of their preparation program which they continued to value and build on in their classroom practice. The findings revealed that participants’ perceptions on those elements of the program which best guided their decisions in practice, such as reflective thinking about their daily work and child observation and inquiry. Overall, although the participants expressed feeling less prepared in terms of specific curricula which aligned with their particular teaching settings, they seemed to feel most prepared in those skills that can be applied broadly across a wide variety of classrooms and educational contexts, such as observation, reflection, and differentiation.

This case study aimed to examine the construction of teaching practices of a first-year science teacher in an urban school setting to illustrate the non-linear nature of teaching activity. The author contends that by examining the conflux of elements present in the settings where new teachers teach and the ways those elements work together to shape practice, teacher education researchers will help advance the field’s understanding of teacher learning as continually transforming in relation to the teacher’s own experiences, her students, the classroom and school context, and the broader state and federal policies that bear down on her teaching. The author concludes that non-linear conceptual and methodological frameworks turn the attention to the processes through which outcomes are produced.

This paper analyzes how Effectiveness Network (BTEN) schools supported new teacher development using a standard feedback process and improvement science methods. The findings reveal that BTEN participants almost universally reported the use of the feedback process as strengthening relationships between administrators and teachers by opening up communication and making new teachers more visible and vocal in the schools. In addition, administrators also described the consistency and inclusiveness of BTEN as important to improving relationships and developing teachers’ expertise.

In this study, the authors examined the direct effects of preservice preparation quality and early career support as well as potential moderating effects of early career support on the career intentions and decisions of novice teachers. The findings confirm and extend prior research related to the effects of early career support alone and in conjunction with varying levels of satisfaction with preservice preparation. The authors show a direct association between new teachers’ perceptions of preservice preparation quality and their intentions to remain in their current school and in the profession. In conclusion, this study provides a first and important step in filling a gap in the teacher attrition literature by examining whether mentoring and induction support differentially influences beginning teachers’ career intentions and decisions depending on their level of preservice preparation.