The body of literature clearly articulates the unique needs of newly qualified teachers and the challenges they experience during their early career years. In addition, literature advocates for implementation of induction programmes to enable a smooth transition of the beginners into the profession. This empirical phenomenological study explored the induction experiences of newly qualified primary school teachers in Zimbabwe in an attempt to gain insights into the everyday issues they contend with. Purposive sampling was employed to select twenty participants who comprised of ten newly qualified teachers, five beginners whose experience in the field ranged from one to three years and five mentors. Data were collected mainly through three semi-structured interviews with newly qualified teachers and mentors, reflective essays written by beginners who were not so new in the profession and a focus group discussion with selected beginners. The protocol used for data explication was a simplified version of Hycner’s (1985) framework for phenomenological analysis suggested by Groenewald (2004). The findings yielded six themes and revealed that: new teachers experienced adaptation challenges relating to forging of new relationships, location of schools and nature of host communities; induction was largely informal and incidental, and the induction supports experienced by the new teachers were limited; the beginners had various teaching and social concerns that needed to be addressed; and, while the new teachers had derived some lessons from their first year of teaching, these were outweighed by their concerns and might not have made a significant impact on their classroom practices. The data also revealed that the partnership between teacher education institutions and schools in providing for teacher professional development was weak. The study concluded that the absence of a policy on induction in the country has resulted in lack of appreciation of the centrality of induction on the teacher development continuum and the haphazard manner in which issues of induction are being handled. The main recommendations from the study were that a policy on induction should be put in place, that schools are empowered to provide induction and induction supports that are amenable to the country’s context be fully exploited. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

Induction for teacher development is important for quality teaching and learning to take place in schools. The process of induction should be well-structured so that it is not mistaken as just an orientation to school procedures; it should be well-planned and implemented for the purposes of professional development and support (Rolley, 2001). The main aim of this study was to investigate beginner educators’ experiences of the induction process for professional development in the Bochum East Circuit of Limpopo Province. The assumption was that if schools are held accountable for learner performance, then support measures in terms of induction should be provided to newly appointed educators. Poor performance or educator turnover can sometimes be ascribed to inadequate interventions or the design of educator induction programmes. Although educators may have received the best training at university or training college, they still need to adjust to the realities of classrooms. To achieve the aim of the study, a qualitative research approach was followed to collect data through semi-structured interviews. The study is ensconced in the Educator Development Theory which acknowledges that educator preparation is rarely sufficient to provide all the knowledge and skills necessary for successful teaching. A great deal of knowledge and many skills are, mostly, acquired while on the job and principals should, therefore, adequately induct newly appointed educators. Four beginner educators and two principals from average performing primary schools were purposively sampled in the Bochum East Circuit of the Limpopo Province. A thematic analysis was carried out to generate themes that addressed the problem of the study. The findings from participant responses revealed differences in an understanding of the induction process. Support from the principal, HoDs and fellow colleagues were considered to be part of induction. Recommendations include that educators should be given continuous professional development through standardised induction programmes which could be adjusted to the needs of the school. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The body of literature clearly articulates the unique needs of newly qualified teachers and the challenges they experience during their early career years. In addition, literature advocates for implementation of induction programmes to enable a smooth transition of the beginners into the profession. This empirical phenomenological study explored the induction experiences of newly qualified primary school teachers in Zimbabwe in an attempt to gain insights into the everyday issues they contend with. Purposive sampling was employed to select twenty participants who comprised of ten newly qualified teachers, five beginners whose experience in the field ranged from one to three years and five mentors. Data were collected mainly through three semi-structured interviews with newly qualified teachers and mentors, reflective essays written by beginners who were not so new in the profession and a focus group discussion with selected beginners. The protocol used for data explication was a simplified version of Hycner’s (1985) framework for phenomenological analysis suggested by Groenewald (2004). The findings yielded six themes and revealed that: new teachers experienced adaptation challenges relating to forging of new relationships, location of schools and nature of host communities; induction was largely informal and incidental, and the induction supports experienced by the new teachers were limited; the beginners had various teaching and social concerns that needed to be addressed; and, while the new teachers had derived some lessons from their first year of teaching, these were outweighed by their concerns and might not have made a significant impact on their classroom practices. The data also revealed that the partnership between teacher education institutions and schools in providing for teacher professional development was weak. The study concluded that the absence of a policy on induction in the country has resulted in lack of appreciation of the centrality of induction on the teacher development continuum and the haphazard manner in which issues of induction are being handled. The main recommendations from the study were that a policy on induction should be put in place, that schools are empowered to provide induction and induction supports that are amenable to the country’s context be fully exploited. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

University of Macau / Faculty of Education

University of Macau / Faculty of Education

This dissertation focused on the study of the Spanish academic language proficiency of novice bilingual teachers during the act of teaching mathematics in elementary grades. Four first year teachers in a large urban school district in central Texas participated in the study. At the time of the study two participants were fully certified and had attended four-year teacher preparation programs. The additional participants had completed all certification requirements including content examinations and the Texas Oral Proficiency Test (TOPT); they were completing their certification requirements through alternative certification programs. The study sought to identify the moments in their teaching of mathematics in Spanish when their instruction broke down, i.e. when they appeared unable to communicate ideas to students, and the reasons for these breakdowns. Findings revealed that the teachers in the study demonstrated linguistic and/or pedagogical breakdowns and that certain factors influenced their knowledge and language competencies. Linguistic breakdowns were manifested when teachers switched to English, used repetitive language when teaching, or provided limited academic language. Pedagogical breakdowns were identified as a lack of: student talk or discussion, effective teacher questioning, or diverse presentation of content. Overall, the teachers struggled with limited language in Spanish and limited pedagogical reasoning skills while teaching mathematical concepts to their students. These limitations were exacerbated by the pressures of high stakes testing and countered by the fact that all four teachers shared linguistic and cultural affiliation with their students. This collective case study was conducted from within a constructivist theoretical framework focusing on theories of academic language, communicative competence, and Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective of learning. Recommendations for future training and practice of bilingual teachers are provided specifically on the importance of Spanish language proficiency of this group of educators. / text

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Faculty of Human Sciences, Department of Linguistics, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 167-188. / Introduction -- Contextual background -- Literature review -- Methodology -- Pre-service teachers' beliefs about being a teacher -- Practicum students' beliefs about the teaching experience -- Teachers' first year experience: beliefs and reflections -- Conclusions. / This research focuses on the analysis of the beliefs of pre-service Mexican student-teachers from a public university in central Mexico who have learned English as adolescents or young adults. Specifically, it examines their beliefs about teaching and about themselves as English teachers in different stages of initial professional development. The participants reflected on their experiences as English language learners, students, teaching practicum students and as first year teachers in a follow up study. -- This thesis is composed of three studies that are linked by involving the same participants. The studies follow these participants through different stages in their initial development as teachers.The research is set within the qualitative research paradigm and draws on qualitative data and interpretive analysis. The data were retrieved using the following procedures: autobiographies, a focus group interview, journals, personal interviews and short narratives. -- Responses to the following research questions emerged through the different stages of this thesis. 1. What initial beliefs do pre-service and beginning students hold about being a teacher? 2. Do these beliefs evolve or change during the initial stages of their teacher development? 3. Do their experiences during their initial stages of their development influence their beliefs? -- There is little research on English language teacher beliefs in Mexico. It is considered that research in this area can contribute to the understanding of the processes of what English language teachers' beliefs are and how they evolve or develop over time and the influences that they may have on the actual teaching process. This research may contribute to bring to the attention of English language teacher preparation programs the necessity of providing opportunities for student-teachers to unpack their beliefs and reflect and view them in the light of the courses and their practice in order to create an understanding of the Mexican educational context of which they will be a part. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / viii, 265 p