Book Reviews: The Socialization Process of Beginning Teachers

Abstract

An essay review of B. L. Brock and M. L. Grady, From First-Year to First-Rate: Principals Guiding Beginning Teachers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 1997. The process of socialization of teachers has received increased attention in the past three decades. Among others, Eddy's (1969) publication on the process of becoming a teacher and Lortie's (1975) seminal sociological study on the teaching profession are key works in raising awareness about the significance of this process. Previously held views assumed that since teachers spend more than 15 years in school as students before they enter the classroom in their role of teachers, they would then find it easy to adapt to their new educational setting. Current empirical studies exploring these assumptions indicate, however, that this seemingly simple transition is, in fact, a complex, multifaceted phenomenon with enormous implications in terms of the professional development of teachers (Bruckerhoff & Carlson, 1995; Featherstone, 1993; Staton & Hunt, 1992). Brock and Grady's book, From First-Year to First-Rate: Principals Guiding Beginning Teachers, addresses one of the crucial stages in teachers' lives: the first-year teaching experience. Literature on this stage of the socialization process supports the notion that the first year is key to future careers of teachers (Fox, 1995; Solmon, Worthy, & Carter, 1993). This becomes even more evident when the authors refer to Schlecty and Vance's (1981, 1983) findings regarding beginning teachers' attrition rate: About 30% of beginning teachers leave the profession during the first 2 years. Another 10% to 20% leave during the next 5 years. Approximately 50% of all beginning teachers leave the profession within 7 years. One can only wonder about the cost of this situation in terms of educational efforts and expenses, shortage of teachers, and the number of potentially successful teachers who prematurely end their career with feelings of frustration, inadequacy, and failure. Given this scenario, From First-Year to First-Rate is a welcome handbook that suggests ways to achieve effective assistance programs for beginning teachers by means of a developmental model with induction as the first stage of a teacher's career development. This book is primarily addressed to principals and administrators in K-12 schools. However, it can be helpful to any teacher, coordinator, or administrator in charge of an instructional program where new teachers arrive regularly. It is not difficult to see that Brock and Grady's general framework can be applied to various educational settings. Moreover, the reasons for doing so are compelling. As the authors state in the introduction to the book, when beginning teachers do not succeed, everyone loses. From First-Year to First-Rate includes the following topics: profile and major problems of beginning teachers, the role of the principal in implementing viable and successful induction programs, a model for designing such programs, the organizational culture of schools and the challenge this represents to incoming teachers, the role of mentoring teams, and design of evaluation procedures. A crucial aspect to keep in mind, Brock and Grady emphasize, is to assure the effectiveness of the implemented strategies aimed at easing the adaptation of beginning teachers to the new environment. They support their recommendations by means of extensive use of literature references, including relevant research studies, reports from educational organizations and agencies, related academic papers and dissertations, and numerous articles published in educational journals. Therefore, this publication is not merely a how-to book, but a theory-based proposal for structuring yearlong assistance and strategies for problem-solving regarding the needs of beginning teachers. In particular, the authors draw on adult development theory and principles in order to plan induction programs. …