Identifying Strategies Adopted by Novice Lecturers in the Initial Years of Teaching

Abstract

Novice lecturers generally face many challenges in their initial years of teaching especially in the three areas relating to their roles and responsibilities which are teaching, research, and community service. Some institutions of higher learning offer basic courses in teaching and learning to these new lecturers. However, these courses are not conducted prior to their entry into teaching as these courses are usually conducted at a certain period after they have started teaching. As a result, they have to perform the three main roles mentioned above without any proper training and guidance especially in conducting their core business which is teaching. Most of these novice lecturers have sufficient content knowledge but are lacking in pedagogical skills. As such, they resort to other strategies to equip themselves with the required skills in teaching, research and performing community service. The objective of this study therefore, is to examine the coping strategies adopted by novice lecturers to cope with the demands of their roles and responsibilities in their initial years of their teaching prior to attending formal training. A study was carried out on a group of novice lecturers who attended the Kursus Asas Pengajaran or Basic Teaching Course in 2012 organised by Institute of Leadership, Quality and Management (ILQAM) Universiti Teknologi MARA. The data was collected using questionnaire and were analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies, means and percentages. With adequate support especially at the initial years of teaching, these novice lecturers will be empowered to undertake their roles and responsibilities in line with innovating education for the future generation.