This study focuses on the experiences of beginning teachers in the British Army’s training and education branch. The research sought to identity what influenced participants’ construing about teaching and learning, teacher identity, role, and trajectory during initial teacher education. By utilising Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) and Communities of Practice as analytical frameworks, the impact of influences on the construing of the research participants was identified. The research was underpinned by a constructivist and interpretive epistemology and utilised a collaborative, narrative-based case study approach. Interviews, Repertory Grids and Trajectory Targets were used to provide insight into the construing and experiences of the participants during their teacher education. The research was conducted by a former Army officer and data were collected from and analysed with five participants during their teacher education programme. Research data suggested that these beginning teachers were highly influenced by their previous experience as a student and this experience left strong personal biographies and images of teaching that appeared to be maintained throughout their early explorations of professional practice. The beginning teachers in this study appeared to rely heavily on these stable images and constructs during their early practice when classroom 'survival' was paramount and at this point attached little value to the pedagogical content of their teacher education programme. Data further suggested that it is only once these beginning teachers built a level of confidence, began to 'routinise' aspects of their practice, and had the opportunity to validate their initial images of teaching that they become more receptive to other influences such as their teacher education or their community of practice. This confirmed the findings of a number of other studies and, by utilising the theories that underpin PCP, a rationale for this situation was advanced. The implications of the research findings suggest that care must be taken to ensure that teacher education courses are designed to allow the opportunity for beginning teachers to critically analyse and validate their initial beliefs and constructs through the experience of practice before embarking on significant theoretical and practical pedagogical content. It is argued that this initial period of professional practice provides the opportunity for beginning teachers to develop the cognitive and emotive dissonance or 'anxiety' that appears to be required before they are willing to step away from the relative stability and safety of their personal biographies. Based on these research findings a '4-dimensional' pedagogical model (Do, Discover, Diversify, Deepen) is developed to underpin the design of practice-based teacher education programmes.

This study argues that education law is of paramount importance in order to be a successful teacher in our democracy where human rights of all stakeholders are protected and as such remains the responsibility of government to ensure that all new teachers are trained in the field of education law. This dissertation reports to the significance the participants attach to education law and to their attitudes and their practice in schools. It continues to answer the question whether knowing the legal rules is in fact changing the game on ground level. There are differing perspectives on the exact essence of education law; however, there seems to be consensus in the literature that the fundamental function of education law is to regulate the rights and obligations of the interested parties in order to make the school conducive for teaching and learning. The education law functionally contributes to the creation of harmonizing relationships and ensuring co-operation amongst all stakeholders. Education law therefore creates a clear framework for the professional role of teachers. The law defines the border of the playfield and actions at stake in the education sector. Education law as module in Higher Education programmes deals with issues that pertain directly to the teaching profession. These include inter alia governance, the Bill of Rights, instructions/regulations, limitations, application of legal principles and expectations regarding the teacher as an employee. It deals with legal applications and the legal balancing of human rights in educational practice. As a result, it is assumed that teachers may feel somewhat overwhelmed by the content of an education law module and its associated outcomes. This dissertation will therefore also deal with the ability of teachers to understand and apply the values that underpin the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Education should lead young citizens towards occupying their place in a democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom. The dissertation argues that insufficient knowledge of education law is impacting negatively on a culture of human rights application in our school system which results that the school system is unsuccessful and do not fulfil its obligations in a democracy. This may result in the DoBE being held accountable for not empowering teachers to develop our young citizens to fulfil their place in our democracy. In light of the impact of education law, this dissertation is essentially divided into three sections:  The first section provides an overview of the issues and challenges of teachers who have had no formal exposure to education law;  The second section focuses on the impact on teachers who have studied education law as part of their teaching qualification, and  The third section seeks to offer policy recommendations as remedy, inter alia to include education law as part of all teachers’ training curricula in South Africa. The legal remedies that this dissertation advocates is that Government should take on their legal responsibilities towards its employees without turning a blind eye on the value crisis in our country. Government is accountable to ensure that each teacher is skilled and have the competencies to apply legal principles and human rights to instil a culture of human rights that is conducive for teaching in our school system. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / unrestricted

Depuis les années 1990, la formation des enseignants français et québécois a évolué au rythme des réformes et du mouvement de professionnalisation de l’enseignement (Malet, 2010). La France et le Québec n’ont pas opté pour les mêmes configurations de leurs programmes de formation. La formation à l’enseignement est plus longue au Québec qu’en France et correspond à un diplôme de premier cycle universitaire. Cependant, dans un pays comme dans l’autre, l’insertion professionnelle fait naître chez les nouveaux enseignants un sentiment de manque de préparation au métier (Broccolichi et al., 2018 ; Borges et al., 2021). Cette thèse s’intéresse à cette période particulière de la carrière enseignante qu’est l’insertion professionnelle et, plus particulièrement, aux apprentissages propres aux relations avec les élèves qui s’effectuent à cette période. La maîtrise de ces relations est aujourd’hui une condition indispensable pour pouvoir « faire la classe » (Barrère, 2002). À partir d’une analyse sous le prisme de la sociologie du travail enseignant, de la sociologie de l’expérience mais aussi de concepts plus proches des sciences de l’éducation tels que les « savoirs pour enseigner », le « développement professionnel » ou encore « l’apprentissage par l’expérience », cette recherche permet d’articuler des objets qui jusque-là ont plutôt été analysés séparément : la formation initiale, l’entrée dans le métier, la formation continue et les difficultés du travail enseignant. Ce travail repose sur l’analyse d’entretiens semi-directifs menés auprès d’enseignants québécois et d’enseignants français. Les résultats mettent en avant les épreuves relationnelles que les enseignants rencontrent lorsqu’ils débutent dans le métier ainsi que les stratégies qu’ils mobilisent afin de leur faire face. Ils montrent que les enseignants débutants s’appuient sur des ressources telles que la formation, la division du travail éducatif, les collègues ou encore les parents d’élèves. Enfin, ces enseignants sont présentés comme étant détenteurs de connaissances relationnelles constituées à la fois de connaissances sur les élèves et de connaissances sur eux-mêmes en situation d’interaction en classe. Cette thèse ouvre trois axes de réflexion. Premièrement, le manque de formalisation de l’interaction avec autrui est ce qui fait frein à la professionnalisation des métiers de la relation (Demailly, 2008). La réflexion autour de l’objection d’un « savoir relationnel » détenu par les enseignants chevronnés et transmis de génération en génération a donc été amorcée. Deuxièmement, l’approche comparée a permis de mettre en avant le poids de l’organisation scolaire et des choix politiques en matière de formation sur l’apprentissage de la dimension relationnelle du métier. Une réflexion sur les contenus des formations à l’enseignement mais aussi sur leur organisation a donc été proposée. Troisièmement, cette recherche propose une réflexion théorique et pratique sur les relations entre enseignants et élèves. L’injonction à l’individualisation n’a pas été couplée avec une réorganisation des espaces scolaires et du travail des enseignants. Par conséquent, il semble aujourd’hui difficile de considérer ces relations comme étant individualisées. / Since the 1990s, the education and training of French and Quebecois teachers has evolved in line with educational reforms and the professionalization movement in teaching (Malet, 2010). France and Quebec have not adopted the same configurations for their initial teacher education (ITE) programs. ITE in Quebec is longer than in France and corresponds to an undergraduate degree. However, in both countries, new teachers experience a sense of unpreparedness for the profession during their induction years (Broccolichi et al., 2018; Borges et al., 2021). This thesis focuses on a specific period in teachers' careers, namely professional induction, and particularly on the learning related to relationships with students during this time. Mastery of these relationships is now an essential condition for being able to "manage the classroom" (Barrère, 2002). Through an analysis under the lenses of the sociology of teachers’ work, the sociology of experience, and concepts closer to educational sciences such as "knowledge for teaching," "professional development," and "experiential learning" this research allows for the integration of objects that have hitherto been analyzed separately: initial teacher education, entry into the profession, continuous professional development, and the challenges of teaching. This work is based on the thematic analysis of semi structured interview conducted with Quebecois and French teachers. The results highlight the relational challenges that teachers face when starting their careers, as well as the strategies they employ to address them. They demonstrate that novice teachers rely on resources such as training, the division of educational labor, colleagues, and even students’ parents. Finally, these teachers are presented as possessors of relational knowledge composed of both knowledge about students and self-awareness in interactive classroom situations. This thesis introduces three areas of reflection. Firstly, the lack of formalization of interaction with others hinders the professionalization of relational professions (Demailly, 2008). The discussion around the notion of "relational knowledge" held by experienced teachers and transmitted from generation to generation has thus been initiated. Secondly, the comparative approach has highlighted the influence of school organization and political choices regarding training on the learning of the relational dimension of the profession. Reflection on the content and organization of teacher education programs has therefore been proposed. Thirdly, this research offers a theoretical and practical reflection on relationships between teachers and students. The call for individualization has not been coupled with a reorganization of school spaces and teachers' work. Therefore, considering these relationships as individualized appears challenging today.