Session Information
01 SES 13 B, From Novice Teachers to Lifelong Learners. Teachers Reflection on Challenging Moments.
Symposium
Contribution
Internationally, there is a great deal of concern about the high number of new teachers who leave the profession after a brief period of work in school (Roness, 2012). The symposium is presenting three studies, all focused on reflections made by teacher in and on challenging moments in teaching. The underlying motive for the three studies, is the case that many teachers leave the teaching profession work during their first years as teachers (Cochran-Smith et al. 2012; Ingersoll, 2001). One reason is that many novice teachers experience loneliness and lack of support and guidance in the beginning of their carrier (Smith, Ulvik, & Helleve, 2013). Some newly qualified teachers feel that they don’t succeed following up all their duties, and that the profession gives them challenges they were not prepared for (Caspersen & Raaen, 2010; Day & GU, 2010; Munthe, 2003). Another reason is related to teacher’s relations to their pupils. The first years in the teaching profession, particularly the first year, have been entendedly studied (Le Maistre & Pare, 2010). Teachers’ first years of experience in the profession seem quite essential for the acquisition of the skills that enable teachers to teach effectively (Ryan,1970; Kyriacou, 1993). The first year of teaching can also be regarded as a challenging and testing time as teachers may face numerous problems (Huntly, 2008; Sanford, 1988;Akyeampong & Lewin, 2002; Gustafson, Guilbert and MacDonald, 2002; Belay, Ghebreab, Ghebremichael, Ghebreselassie, Holmes & White, 2007; Fantilli & McDougall, 2009). However, the problems that each novice teacher faces might be different since individual experiences vary. According to Lavigne (2014), teachers in their first five years of teaching encounter a number of challenges which has been investigated by many researchers from different point of views and various methodological approaches. However, managing different kinds of challenges vary from one teacher to another (Schatz-Oppenheimer and Dvir, 2014) as the way of dealing with these challenges are unique to teachers. This is also important due to the development of a culture of collaboration, where novice teachers and more experienced teachers reflect together in a community of practice. This fact leads to think about and also give importance to the voice of teachers through their individual stories. An action against the dropout rate of novice teachers, is to gain more knowledge about how to prepare them better throug teacher training, by providing a good basis to tackle challenging situations. The purpose of these three studies is to gain more knowledge about how teachers experience challenging moment, and implications for teacher education. The overall research questions are:
- How do teachers experience challenging moment?
- What can describe their reflective practice in the moment and after
- What support them/have supported them in their reflective practice?
- How to develop and support a culture for lifelong learning
- How can knowledge about novice teachers reflective practice contribute to teacher education?
Theoretical framework is based on theories on reflection and reflection in and on action (Dewey, 1997; Schon, 1983), knowledge for, in and of practice (Cochran-Smith and Lytle,1999) , communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 2002, 2003) and professional learning communities of practice ( Bolam mfl., 2005; Mulford, Silins, & Leithwood, 2004; Stoll mfl., 2006). The three studies is the start of a collaborative study, wherer more studies are needed in order to answer the overall research questions.
References
Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Stoll, L., Thomas, S., Wallace, M., Greenwood, A., Hawkey, K., Ingram, M., Atkinson, A., & Smith, M. (2005). Creating and sustaining effective professional learning communities. London: DfES and University of Bristol. Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1999). Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities. Review of Research in Education, 24(1), 249–305. Day, C., & Gu, Q. (2010). The New Lives of Teachers. London: Routledge. Dewey, J. (1997). How we think. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publication. Ingersoll, R., & Kralik, J. M. (2004). The impact of mentoring on teacher retention: What the research says. Education Commission of the States (ECS). Retrieved from http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/50/36/5036.htm Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (2000). Legitim perifer deltagelse. In K. Illeris (Ed.) (2000). Tekster om læring. Kap. 18. Fredirksberg: Roskilde Universitetsforlag. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (2003). Situert læring og andre tekster. Copenhagen: Hans Reitzels forlag. Mulford, W., Silins, H. C., & Leithwood, K. (2004). Educational leadership for organisational learning and improved student outcomes. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Stoll, L., Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Wallace, M., & Thomas, S. (2006). Professional learning communities: A review of the literature. Journal of Educational Change, 7(4), 221–258.
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