Background

Newly qualified teachers (NQTs) working in multilingual classrooms, now commonplace throughout Western Europe, are the focus of this presentation. Cazden (1988, 2001) pointed out the complexity of the linguistic and interactional structures in classrooms.  In addition, lessons may be directed by a monolingual teacher, with relatively little training about bilingualism and multilingualism. In England, continuing dissatisfaction is expressed by NQTs about teacher preparation for the teaching of English as an additional language although there is evidence of improvement in the last annual survey (Training and Development Agency, 2009).  Furthermore, pedagogical knowledge acquired in training may not transpose easily to the multilingual classroom, unless teachers have the time and support to explore practice to meet the challenge of diversity. This challenge is now a global reality for all teachers as, according to Gogolin (2002: 123), 35% of under-35s in Europe have an ‘immigrant background’.

Challenges facing teachers are constantly shifting and commentators (e.g. Earle et al, 2003) highlight the need for sustained professional development over a number of years if changes to teachers’ practice are to be effective and durable. In England, new teachers are expected to demonstrate competence in 41 standards, when taking full responsibility for whole classes, sometimes in challenging circumstances. Learning about teaching is a lifelong activity: ‘The need for ongoing renewal of professional skills and knowledge is not a reflection of inadequate training but simply a response to the fact that not everything teachers need to know can be provided at pre-service level’ (Richards & Farrell, 2005: 1).  

Research Questions and Focus of Enquiry

The paper reports the perspectives of NQTs, with the key question: how do new primary teachers develop their teaching in multilingual classrooms?  We also explored how NQTs learned about the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of their pupils, and how they interacted with and learned from other practitioners. While the survey data showed that NQTs did not feel fully prepared for teaching English as an additional language (Hall & Cajkler, 2008; Cajkler & Hall, 2009), our focus in this presentation is on how expertise develops in the early part of teachers’ careers, looking for evidence of both interaction with other colleagues and reflection on practice.

We conducted annual surveys of NQTs and 26 interviews over a five year period (2004-09). Prompted by comments from interviewees about ‘learning on the job’ and ‘learning on their feet’, we focus on the qualitative analysis for the emergence of reflective practice (Schon, 1983; 1987) and the situational understanding (Elliott, 1991;1993) that NQTs acquired during the induction year spent in ethnically diverse and multilingual classrooms.  

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