Novice teachers reflexively explicate their internal moral dialogues linked with their practical experiences in Dutch primary schools

Abstract

This article discusses the personal stories of Dutch novice teachers, explicating their internal moral dialogues about their daily work in primary schools. Aside from their didactical work, novices must address sociocultural frictions in school, which seems too little or not developed in teachers' initial education. Using an interview protocol at the Dialogical Self Theory and ethics intersection, novice teachers are challenged to discuss moral involvement with their work. The study reports findings regarding the moral themes that novices discussed when asked about coping with the destabilising aspects and how novice teachers express their reflexivity in narrating the disbalances generated by unexpected experiences during their induction. Results show that novices can handle the contradictory fluctuations in the daily routines and problem-solving issues they were taught about in their initial education by alternating involvement and distanciation of practice. However, they show more discomfort about the interplexity of the cooperation with colleague professionals, forcing them to make tradeoffs between the different perspectives and possibilities that do not always fit their ideas of good work. The conclusion is that a change in perspective on induction from trained problem-solving towards reflexive problem-finding makes novices embrace the uncertainty and move it from dread to the gift for professional development. Conclusive remarks show that teacher education should educate students more consciously about the different results of problem-solving versus problem-finding strategies. Novices should gain more critical thinking skills that facilitate their reflexive practice.