Section archive - Beginning Teachers

In this article, the authors explore which factors support or constrain professional learning during initial years of teaching. The findings reveal that novice teachers generally experienced a positive welcome into their schools and the support of well-meaning colleagues. The majority of the new teachers perceive their initial induction to be useful and, in particular, they credit mentoring with assisting their transition into teaching. The authors conclude that providing opportunities for the new teacher to observe other teachers and to be observed by a mentor emerged as central tasks of learning to teach for these new teachers.

The purpose of this study was to compare the challenges faced by new K-12 mathematics teachers (MTs) and new mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) and use what is known about supporting new K-12 MTs to begin to develop improved support systems for new MTEs. These findings show that novice mathematics teacher educators need additional and more valuable teaching opportunities throughout their preparation programs as well as mentoring experiences to help them as they transition into their new positions. These findings are consistent with literature review findings on the experiences of novice K-12 mathematics teachers. The authors conclude that these findings about the need for teaching experiences and mentorship for novice MTEs ,much like those needs identified for novice MTs, may help improve teacher education programs while also improving mathematics teacher education programs.

This study explores how the newly qualified foreign language teachers’ (NQT) see their teacher work as an education expert. Furthermore, it also examines how their expertise develops in the working community at the outset of their career. This study shows that the NQTs have difficulty in putting their theoretical knowledge into practice during the first years at work and the effect of the working community on their professional development. The author argues that an NQT needs individual and collegial support both during teacher education and afterwards in working life but more research is, however, needed to define exactly what kind of support would be the most useful for NQTs’ professional development.

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.