The transition from the teacher education institution to life in a real classroom has been characterized as a type of reality shock in which beginning teachers realize that the ideals they formed while training may not be appropriate for the realism they are faced with during their first year of teaching.
The first step in preparing and supporting novice teachers during their initial year of practice is to understand what they will be faced with during this experience. The initial year of teaching has been documented as a critical growth period for teacher development, as novices become acquainted with their teaching responsibilities and the expectations of their school while translating their teacher education experiences and knowledge into actual teaching practices with children (Kagan 1992). Beginning teachers must possess the ability to structure environments that lead to successful student learning (Bransford and Schwarte 1999) within the unique context of a particular classroom (Munby, Russell, and Martin 2001). Increasing demands-including student diversity, mainstreaming, and new standards for student development and learning-place even greater responsibilities on these teachers (Darling-Hammond and Cobb 1996).
Since the pivotal work of Veenman (1984), the educational field has recognized that beginning teacher concerns differ from those of teachers with more experience. As Ducharme and Ducharme (1996) recognized, beginning teachers often are confronted with a multitude of problems and issues that they have never seen before. Novices have yet to develop a familiar repertoire, which is an essential component during the process of reflection and inquiry on problems in practice (Schön 1983). When asked to identify and describe their issues and concerns during the first year of practice, novices can be assisted to identify patterns, call on their previous knowledge, determine what they might need to improve their practice, and make decisions based on these reflections. This process unveils their practical knowledge as embedded in reflections on practice (Cochran-Smith and Lytle 1999) and understood in the complex environment in which they naturally occur (Connelly, Clandinin, and He 1997). Reflective processes can then be captured, rather than absorbed in day-to-day teaching practice (Bamberger 1991). Understanding beginning teachers’ concerns is critical in constructing support for educators in their initial year of practice (Gold 1996).
Increased efforts to support novice teachers during their first year of teaching also serve as a proactive measure for retaining teachers in the profession (Ingersoll 2003; Johnson 2004). An estimated 20 percent of teachers leave the profession within the first three years of teaching-9.3 percent of them before completing their first year (Fideler and Haselkorn 1999). Understanding the issues beginning teachers are faced with might help teacher educators and district facilitators create additional support systems that enable novice teachers to stay in the profession and make an effective transition from preservice to experienced teacher. Further, beginning teachers are more likely to stay in schools in which they feel successful and supported (Cochran-Smith 2004; Johnson 2004). Addressing specific issues in practice might be the first step toward providing this necessary support.
Earlier research on teacher concerns is synonymous with an identified struggle in teaching. Because negative aspects of the beginning teacher experience and struggles have been overly documented in the literature (Hebert and Worthy 2001), this study encouraged novice teachers to highlight successes in teaching and areas in which they felt competent. This approach could potentially encourage more positive reflection on practice and help teacher education and induction programs recognize ways in which they can effectively assist novice teachers. At the same time, by examining struggles in teaching, teacher education and induction programs can ascertain additional services and support to provide during the first year of teaching. Assessing these issues and concerns over time recognizes that beginning teacher needs might fluctuate throughout the school year (Wilkinson 1994) and that more appropriate times for certain interventions exist. Assessing ways in which teacher education and induction programs can provide support for novice teachers not only will assist beginning teachers during this critical growth period, but also will address the lack of connection across the phases of learning to teach (Feiman-Nemser 2001).
This discussion on what can be learned from examining first-year teachers’ successes and struggles by building on earlier. The first investigation (Romano and Gibson 2007) involved elementary and middle school teachers from a single school district, whereas the second study (Romano 2007) focused on teachers employed at the same grade level, but not necessarily in the same district. The study described in this article recognized the need to generate a wider and more random sampling of beginning teachers, and sought to identify similarities and differences in the successes and struggles identified in the three studies. Thus, this study provides a more cohesive picture of the additional support needed by beginning teachers as they enter their practice.
Identification of successes and struggles is an effective tool for understanding the types of issues novice teachers are likely to experience during their first year of practice. These insights, combined with those obtained from future groups of beginning teachers, can potentially provide suggestions for teacher education and induction programs to further support these novices as they become experienced teaching professionals. The categories of successes and struggles described by these beginning teachers could be introduced into teacher education programs to raise awareness of the complexities of practice that prospective teachers will face during their first year. Teacher induction programs also can focus on these issues and determine additional types of support that may be provided at appropriate times during the critical first year of teaching. Novice teachers presumably will benefit from engaging in reflection on their practice and, ultimately, flourish if they are fully supported through their teacher education and induction programs before and during their first year of teaching.
Therefore, in order to ensure ESL teaching in our country to benefit from more effective structures of teacher professional development, there is a need for educational environment in Philippines to pursue the current trend of more self-directed, collaborative and inquiry-based approach of professional development programmes as well. Besides, the adoption of these alternative structures will address the importance of more individual oriented notion of professionalism as a crucial part to the prevailing forms of teacher professional development programmes in Philippines, which generally pivot around institutionally endorsed and publicly heralded definition of professionalism
Reference:
https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi6wY3phOrMAhXkXaYKHap-CKoQFggfMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fportal.macam.ac.il%2Fdbimage.aspx%3Fimage%3Dfile%26id%3D2098&usg=AFQjCNEyn709MuMjB901evYFz-IMYTJIJw
http://www.open.ac.uk/creet/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.creet.main/files/07%20Teachers%20as%20Readers.pdf
http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/1/4/2/
By: Mr. Ulysses Gabriel | Teacher III | Sta. Isabel Elementary School | Dinalupihan, Bataan
