NEWLY QUALIFIED FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ ADAPTATION IN PROFESSION: CHALLENGES, PROBLEMS, FIRST ACHIEVEMENTS AND FURTHER PROSPECTS

Ukrainian reforms in higher education and participation of universities in different international programmes open new perspectives for quality assurance rising. This study focuses on the foreign language teachers’ professional readiness during their initial period of work and provides an important opportunity to advance the understanding of the main changes in education and their influence on newly qualified FL teachers’ adaptation in the profession. The concept of “foreign language teachers’ training” is studied in the context of the pedagogical field, determining the personality of the future teacher, professional suitability; content of education, application. These prerequisites of newly qualified FL teachers are defined as reasonable and desired for further professional development. As a qualitatively oriented study, the purpose of the suggested investigation was to find out newly qualified teachers’ experience, serious challenges, benefits and, moreover, to explore best practices in order to support newly qualified teachers in their initial career. A variety of qualitative and quantitative tools of survey for collecting data was applied for measurement as a basic study design. The main study findings outline perplexing problems for the FL teachers to solve: paperwork, time management, low salaries and affective filters. Another important finding was that newly qualified teachers need a mentor who can give a methodological support. The results show a significant importance in “New generation School Teacher” programme further implementation in the FL teachers training course.

The perceptions of teachers and heads of department on the roles of a formal mentor in a Zambian Secondary School

This paper reports on research work concerning the perceptions of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) and heads of department (HoDs) regarding the roles of formal mentors in helping newly qualified teachers in selected secondary schools in Zambia. These NQTs could be products of a conventional teacher preparation programme through fulltime study, part-time or parallel study, or an Open and Distance Learning Programme. The purpose of the study was to establish what NQTs and HoDs believed to be key areas in which NQTs needed to be mentored in order to help them adapt to the requirements of their teaching roles in schools. It uses quantitative data that were collected from the NQTs and HoDs using self-administered questionnaires guided by Kram’s Mentor Role Theory. Data were collected from a sample of 191 participants that comprised 92 NQTs and 99 HoDs. Quantitative data were analysed using the Chi Square test. Quantitative results suggest that there was a huge discrepancy in the perceptions of NQTs and HoDs regarding the roles of a formal mentor in helping NQTs in their work. The paper proposes the development of a policy on mentorship of NQTs and a mentorship framework to ensure harmonization of understanding of mentorship and its effective implementation.

An Exploration of an Induction Programme for Newly Qualified Teachers in a Post Primary Irish School

The Irish Teaching Council introduced a new model of school-based and National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT) called Droichead (meaning ‘bridge’ in Gaelic) in 2013/14. The Droichead process is an integrated professional induction framework for newly qualified teachers. It was designed to provide whole-school support for teacher induction in both primary and post-primary schools. This study explores the implementation of Droichead in a post-primary school, and to gain insights as to its effectiveness and the potential to bring about improvements.The study found that NQTs are un-prepared to assume full teaching duties after initial teacher education (ITE), and can benefit greatly from having mentors from within the school to guide them through their first year of teaching. The benefits of the process include emotional support for NQTs, practical help in terms of learning new teaching strategies, the promotion of reflective practice and assisting the professional development of teachers. Droichead was found to promote peer observation and can help leaders change the culture of an organisation to better embrace and support peer observation and review. The programme also promoted and developed leadership skills among the mentors, who cited a renewed enthusiasm for teaching from their involvement in Droichead. There were conflicting views on the involvement of the senior leadership team in the programme, and it would seem that the success of their inclusion depends largely on the individual style of leadership. The negative aspects of the Droichead process related to the ‘Cluster meetings’which are compulsory for NQTs and were seen as being too similar to their initial teacher education.

Cumulative risk and newly qualified teachers’ professional well-being: Evidence from rural Ghana

The transition from student-teaching to full-time teaching is an understudied period in teachers’ careers. This paper uses a cumulative risk (CR) framework to assess personal and professional risks experienced by 135 student-teachers in rural Ghana during pre-service training and later as newly qualified teachers, and examines how risks relate to their professional well-being and learning outcomes of children in their classrooms. Higher CR was associated with lower teacher motivation and personal accomplishment. Furthermore, higher CR predicted lower child numeracy skills and socioemotional development over the school year. Implications for teacher professional development and improving educational quality are discussed.

FoU-kompetansen til nyutdannede grunnskolelærere – grunnlag for skoleutvikling?

De nye femårige grunnskolelærerutdanningene på masternivå skal kvalifisere for en profesjonsutøvelse som bygger på forsknings- og utviklingsarbeid (FoU). Det finnes få norske studier som undersøker hvordan lærere forstår og anvender forskningsbasert kunnskap i yrket (Mausethagen, 2015). Denne studien undersøker følgende forskningsspørsmål: Hvordan anvender nyutdannede lærere med master i grunnskolelærerutdanning sin FoU-kompetanse i skolen i de to første yrkesårene? Studien er en kvalitativ intervjustudie av 29 nyutdannede lærere etter ett år i yrket; 17 av informantene er også intervjuet på ny etter to år i yrket. Intervjudataene ble analysert ved bruk av temasentrert tilnærming. Undersøkelsen inngår i et longitudinelt forskningsprosjekt. Denne studiens resultater viser at FoU-kompetansen gir et kunnskapsgrunnlag for utvikling og forbedring av egen praksis, grunnlag for refleksjon over sin praksis og grunnlag for forbedring av undervisningspraksis og klasseledelse. Enkelte nyutdannede lærere blir også ressurspersoner på arbeidsplassen i sine fordypningsfag fra utdanningen. De nye lærerne har et positivt forhold til sin FoU-kompetanse og knytter den til personlig profesjonsutvikling, men forblir passive i forhold til skolens strategiske FoU-arbeid. Enkelte nyutdannede lærere uttrykker at de ikke anvender sin FoU-kompetanse utover egenrefleksjon i yrkesutøvelsen, på grunn av mange nye arbeidsoppgaver og tidsmangel. De nyutdannede oppfatter skolenes kvalitetsarbeid som utviklingsarbeid, og det er i mindre grad basert på systematisk forskningsarbeid. Resultatene indikerer at lærerutdanningen har et forbedringspotensial og bør vektlegge å utvide studentenes forståelse av FoU-kompetanse. Nøkkelord: femårig grunnskolelærerutdanning, forsknings- og utviklingsarbeid, nyutdannede lærere, FoU-kompetanse R&D competence of newly qualified primary and secondary school teachers – a basis for school development? AbstractThe new Norwegian five-year primary and lower secondary school teacher education at master level qualifies teachers for a professional practice based on research and development work (R&D). Few studies in Norway have investigated how teachers understand and apply research-based knowledge in the profession (Mausethagen, 2015). This theme is investigated in this study with the following research question: How do newly qualified teachers with master degree in primary and lower secondary school education use their R&D competence in school in the first two years? The data used were from semi-structured interviews of 29 newly qualified teachers after one year in the profession. We also interviewed 17 of the informants once more after two years’ work experience in the profession. The data were analyzed using theme-centered analysis. The study is part of a longitudinal research project. Results from the study show that R&D competence provides students with a knowledge base for development and improvement of their practice, a basis for reflection on the practice, and contributes to improving teaching practices and class management. Some newly qualified teachers also become resource persons in their subjects of specialization as a direct consequence of their education. The results also show variation in the newly qualified teachers’ participation in schools’ R&D projects, from central roles to completely peripheral participation. Other work tasks combined with time pressure prevent the use of R&D expertise. The results indicate that the new teacher education also has potential for improvement and should emphasize expanding the students’ understanding of R&D competence. Keywords: five-year primary and lower secondary school teacher education, research and development work, newly qualified teachers, R&D competence

«Det er et kjemperart system!» – spesialpedagogikk, tilpasset opplæring og nyutdannede læreres kompetanse

De nye femårige grunnskolelærerutdanningene i Norge skal utdanne lærere med fag-fordypning og forskningsbasert kunnskap. Disse lærerne skal kunne tilpasse opp-læringen til den enkelte elev og integrere spesialundervisning i grunnskolen. Studiens forskningsspørsmål er: Hvordan erfarer nyutdannede grunnskolelærere at den formelle lærerkompetansen fra en integrert femårig grunnskolelærerutdanning samsvarer med deres behov for kunnskap om tilpasset opplæring og spesialpedagogikk i yrkesstarten? Studien er basert på kvalitative intervjuer med 43 nyutdannede lærere fra de tre første grunnskolelærerkullene med femårig integrert masterutdanning for skolens trinn 1–7 og 5–10 fra UiT Norges arktiske universitet. Undersøkelsen inngår i det longitudinelle forskningsprosjektet «Relevant masterutdanning for grunnskolelærere». Analysen av data er basert på en temasentrert analysestrategi i NVivo12. Resultatene viser at de nyutdannede lærerne opplevde utfordringer med å tilpasse opplæringen for en sammensatt elevgruppe, og spesielt for elever med behov for særskilt tilrettelegging. De nyutdannede lærerne erfarte at de manglet kunnskap og ferdigheter til å arbeide med atferds¬problemer og bestemte diagnosegrupper. De manglet også kunnskap om hvordan det eksterne spesialpedagogiske støtteapparatet fungerer, og hvordan og når de skal melde inn tiltak. De nyutdannede tilegner seg spesialpedagogisk kompetanse ved å teste ut egne ideer, eller de bygger på råd fra kolleger. Enkelte deltar på kurs eller veiledning fra PPT, BUP eller andre aktører om temaer som individuelle opplæringsplaner eller diagnoser. Den erfaringsbaserte læringstilnærmingen styrker etablert og kritisert tenkning om spesialpedagogikk og viderefører et system som ikke fungerer (Nordahl et al., 2018). Nyutdannede lærere trenger mer kunnskap om inkluderende pedagogikk og relasjonell tenkning i utdanningen. Nøkkelord: femårig grunnskolelærerutdanning, nyutdannede lærere, spesialpedagogikk, tilpasset opplæring, relasjonell tenkning, inkluderende pedagogikk “It’s a very strange system!” – Special education, adapted education, and newly qualified teachers’ competence AbstractThe new Norwegian five-year primary and lower secondary school teacher education prepares teachers with increased subject-specific and research-based knowledge. These new teachers should be able to adapt teaching to individual students and integrate special education approaches. The research question is: How do newly qualified teachers experience their formal teacher competences from a five-year integrated master’s programme compared with their need for knowledge about adapted and special education at career-start? The study is based on qualitative interviews with 43 newly qualified teachers from the first three cohorts of a five-year integrated master’s teacher education programme at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The study is part of the longitudinal research project “Relevant master education for school teachers”. Data are thematically analysed in Nvivo12 with results showing that new teachers experienced challenges in adapting teaching to all students, especially to students with needs of additional support. The new teachers found that they lack the competence to work with behavioural problems and particular diagnostic groups. They felt that they lack expertise on how external specialist support systems work and how and when to report concerns. Newly qualified teachers acquire special education competence by testing out their own ideas or based on advice from colleagues. Some also attend courses or seek guidance from support services on topics such as individual plans or diagnoses. The experience-based learning approaches taken by new teachers strengthen established and criticised thinking about special education and perpetuates a dysfunctional system. Newly qualified teachers need more knowledge about inclusive pedagogy, adapted education, and relational thinking in education. Keywords: primary and lower secondary school teacher education, newly qualified teachers, special education, adapted education, relational thinking, inclusive pedagogy