The entrance into teaching and need for support – narratives from diverse national and local contexts

Ingrid Helleve,Kari Smith,Marit Ulvik

doi:10.15845/ntvp.v6i1.3316

Abstract

The study investigates how a group of newly qualified teachers in diverse national and local contexts experience the entrance into teaching. The study is based on narratives from new teachers in Australia, England, and Norway. By listening to their stories, the aim is to develop the understanding of this particular phase in teachers’ professional life and learn more about how to support NQTs. The findings suggest that there are more similarities than differences across the included nations concerning the entrance of the profession. When it comes to support the needs are similar, but the frameworks for support and mentoring are different. Implications from the study is that there are commonalities involved that make it possible to learn from each other when it comes to develop frameworks for support and mentoring and what contributes to professional development across national contexts.

Highlights

The transition from being taught to teaching others is described as a critical stage in a teacher’s career (Rots et al, 2012; Fernet et al, 2016)
There seems to be some commonalities involved in successful induction and mentorship across borders that makes it possible to learn across national contexts (Kutsyuruba et al, 2019)
Our research questions are: How do newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in different national contexts experience the entrance into teaching? How are NQTs in different contexts supported? The aim of the study is through examination of individual cases from cross-national contexts to learn more about new teachers needs and how to support them

Summary

Introduction

The transition from being taught to teaching others is described as a critical stage in a teacher’s career (Rots et al, 2012; Fernet et al, 2016). Our research questions are: How do NQTs in different national contexts experience the entrance into teaching? The aim of the study is through examination of individual cases from cross-national contexts to learn more about new teachers needs and how to support them. Practitioners always need to pay attention to situational characteristics and use their “practical wisdom” that involves sensitivity to situations and is acquired through experiences over time (Eisner, 2002). It might be overwhelming for NQTs with limited experiences to take on the full responsibility of teachers.

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Conclusion