Session Information
SES C 02, Paper Session
Paper Session
Contribution
Beginning teachers and their early career experiences have been the focus of educational research, in Ireland and elsewhere, over the last decade. With increasingly diverse and complex demands being placed on today’s teachers nationally and within the broader European context, it is recognised, that the first year of professional practice of teachers, also known as induction year, has far reaching implications for the subsequent teaching career and the quality of teachers’ learning and professional development. As such, teacher professional socialisation and retention within the profession depends to a greater extent than ever on teachers’ early professional experiences within their immediate working environments during the first few years of professional practice.
Taking into account that there has been a considerable focus on the first years of beginning teachers in Ireland, particularly from the perspectives of proposing different induction structures for new teachers (Killeavy 2001; Killeavy and Murphy 2006; Leahy 1996; Minogue 2004) which seek to provide a learning support for newly qualified teachers and to inform a national policy on induction, there is a increasing need to explore the origins of beginning teacher concerns as well as their early professional experiences. This paper reports on the evidence from an explorative study in the Republic of Ireland which focused on primary teachers’ socialisation in schools. Firstly, the rationale of this concurrent mixed methods study is discussed. Secondly, the paper reports on the collected empirical evidence in relation of teachers’ experiences of classroom teaching, their relations with parents, colleagues and pupils as well as their perceptions of professional teacher roles. Within the context of this paper, the distribution of teachers’ responses are presented from the perspectives of the issues new teachers found difficult or challenging to deal with. Notably, the analysis of these socialisation experiences was principally conducted for the mainstream classroom teachers, but for comparative purposes, the experiences of teachers with non-class teaching responsibilities are also highlighted. The data is then additionally analysed to explore for the impact of personal characteristics of teachers, such as gender and teaching qualification held, as well as teachers’ employment characteristics – the grade level taught and class size by the number of pupils. Finally, the paper discusses what actual implication these experiences have for the primary teachers’ professional development and models of induction support within the Irish educational context.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Killeavy, M. (2001) Teacher Education in Ireland: the Induction and Continuing Professional Development of Primary Teachers, the European Journal of Teacher Education, 24(2), pp. 115-133 Killeavy, M., Murphy, R. (2006) National pilot project on teacher induction: Report on Phase 1 and 2, 2002–2004. Dublin: Government Publications Office. Leahy, F. (1996) Induction policy and Practice in Community Schools: A survey of Newly Appointed Teachers in Leinster, M.Ed thesis, Trinity College, University of Dublin Minogue, S. (2004) A study of the needs of beginning Primary Teachers in relation to induction, and facing Irish Primary Schools regarding the introduction of a standardised structural programme, M.Ed thesis, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick.
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