The induction phase in teacher’s careers

Author(s):

Guido VangoidsenhovenDimokritos Kavadias Jessy Siongers Ellen Huyge

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 02 B, Teacher Performance

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-28

11:15-12:45

Room:

NIG, HS II

Chair:

Maureen Killeavy

Contribution

There have been already quite a few studies regarding the entrance into the teaching profession. However, most research has focused on problems related to classroom teaching. Making the move from teacher education to actual professional practice is difficult for many teachers and often of great influence on the next career stages. Although many scholars refer to the disillusionment teachers experience as a (praxis) shock, the term, strictly taken, doesn’t cover the entire reality of a beginning teacher. More then a one-time confrontation, the entrance of beginning teachers in everyday teaching practice is a long learning and adaptation process with both actors and organizational structure influencing and adjusting to each other. This paper is embedded in a larger research project in which the profile of Flemish teachers is compared to other occupational groups. Like in other Western societies the profession of teacher tends to become more important. As a consequence, how to attract and retain teachers became the focus of inquiry in recent research. These studies tended to gather useful information on teachers’ social-economic characteristics, time spending, work satisfaction…However, the singularity, appeal and shortcomings of the profession can only be detected by comparing teachers with other occupations. This research wants to fill the hiatus and compare the socio-graphic characteristics and careers of teachers with those of other occupational groups by analysing available data from representative population surveys, and by means of focus group interviews with teachers and ex-teachers. Several factors will be explored that contribute to the so-called harsh entry into the teaching profession. As previous research has shown, one of the biggest attractions of the educational sector in Flanders is the fact that teachers are able to get a permanent appointment after a minimum of three years working experience. This means that the first three years teachers face a certain degree of work- and income insecurity. In the first part of our paper we investigate if these beginning teachers experience significantly more or less job-insecurity than their peers in other occupations. The second part, then, goes deeper into the specific difficulties teachers experience during their first years of teaching. Since substantial literature on the induction phase in Flemish teachers’ careers is lacking, this research is largely based on international literature, and previous empirical findings from other European countries. This research project, thus, offers us the possibility to compare our findings with those of other European countries.

Method

This paper mainly draws on two datasets. For the first part the merged SCV 2002-2006 database was used. In this part of the paper we compare both objective and subjective job-insecurity of starting teachers with that of their peers using multivariate techniques such as logistic regression. In the second part of this paper data from a survey conducted in 2003 involving 3659 Flemish graduates from the teacher training was analysed in order to understand the problems faced by beginning teachers. By means of a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) four factors were distinguished: problems with teaching, school culture, authority and work pressure. Graduates who always worked as teacher after graduation, those who first worked somewhere else but then entered the teaching profession, and teachers that left the profession will be compared in relation to these 4 factors by means of multivariate techniques.

Expected Outcomes

The analyses show that beginning teachers face significantly more job-insecurity, both objective and subjective, than their peers: beginning teachers work more frequently on a temporal basis, are more often involuntary part-time employed and experience more often a fear for losing their job than their contemporaries in other occupations. The specific problems teachers mention more often than graduates that at the time of the survey weren’t working as a teacher, are work pressure, excessive administration, obtaining didactical material, discipline in the classroom and the combination between work and private life. Although not all our findings are in concordance with the results of previous international research, we found a similar emphasis on problems with work pressure and discipline in the classroom. Also the importance of a constructive school culture, stressed by previous international research, was confirmed by the participants of the focus group interviews and the respondents of both databases.

References

• Ball, S (1994) Micropolitics of schools. In: T Husén & T Postlethwaite (Eds.) The International Encyclopedia of Education; Vol 7, Oxford: Pergamon: pp3824-3826. • Ball, S. J. & I. F. Goodson (Eds.) (1989) Teachers’ lives and careers. London & Philadelphia, The Falmer Press: pp279. • Ballet, Kelchtermans, Berens & Janssens (2000) ‘Professionele belangen in de beroepssocialisatie. Micropolitiek in de loopbaanverhalen van beginnende leerkrachten basisonderwijs’. Pedagogische studiën: tijdschrift voor onderwijskunde en opvoedkunde, 77 (2): pp67-84. • Dekker, F (2008), ‘Flexibele arbeid, werkonzekerheid en gemeenschapsgevoel – steun voor collectieve sociale zekerheid in een flexibel arbeidsbestel’, Sociologie (4) : pp38-52 • Gold, Y (1996) ‘Beginning Teacher Support – Attrition, Mentoring and Induction’ In J. Sekula (Ed) Handbook of research on teacher education. New York, London: Mac Millan pp 548-594 • Huberman, M (1989) ‘The Professional Life Cycle of Teachers’ in: Teachers College Record, 91 (1): pp31-57 • Kelchtermans, G & Ballet, K (2005) “Micropolitieke geletterdheid en professionele ontwikkeling bij beginnende leerkrachten”, pedagogiek 25 (2): pp89-102. • Matheus, N., J. Siongers & I. Van Den Brande (m.m.v. Liesbet Maes) (2004) ‘De roeping tot leerkracht. Een onderzoek naar de aantrekkelijkheid van het leerkrachtenberoep in Vlaanderen anno 2002’. Onderzoeksproject OBPWO 01.02. Een onderzoek in opdracht van het Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Departement Onderwijs, Onderzoeksgroep TOR, Vakgroep Sociologie, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Hoger instituut voor de arbeid, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven: pp319. • OECD (1990), ‘Involuntary part-time work as a component of underemployment’, in: Employment Outlook 1990, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/47/33/4343175.pdf (consulted on 30/07/2008). • Sverke, M., J Hellgren en K Näswall (2002) ‘No security: A meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences.’ Journal of Educational Health Psychology 7 (3): pp242-264. • Tielens, M & Vermandere, C (2007), ‘Cijferen met jongeren – Een doorlichting van de arbeidsmarktsituatie van jongeren in Vlaanderen en Europa’. Leuven: katholieke universiteit leuven. Steunpunt Werk en Sociale Economie en VDAB: pp29 • Veenman, S (1984) ‘Perceived Problems of Beginning Teachers.’ In: Review of Educational Research Summer; 54 (2): pp143-178. • Vlaams Ministerie van Onderwijs (VMO) (2008) Arbeidsmarktrapport 2007 http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/secundair/arbeidsmarktrapport/AMR_2007.pdf (consulted on 30/07/2008) • Weick, K (1976) ‘Educational organizations as loosly coupled systems’. Administrative Science Quarterly 21 (4): pp263-277 • Zeichner & Gore (1990) ‘Teacher Socialization in: R. Houston (Ed.) Handbook of Research on Teacher Education. New York, London: Macmillan: pp329-348

Author Information

Guido Vangoidsenhoven

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Sociology

Brussel

Dimokritos Kavadias

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium

Jessy Siongers

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Ellen Huyge

Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium

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