Assigning novice teachers to out-of-field positions happens because of different reasons offered by school leaders. Previous research (Ingersoll, 2003; Australian Education Union, AEU, 2009; McConney, & Price, 2009; Du Plessis, 2010) in this field focused on statistics and the occurrence of the out-of-field situation. Teachers teaching outside their field of qualification or expertise are widespread and a global concern; it involves the USA, Europe, Australia and South Africa (Ingersoll 2002; Bonesrønning, Falch & Strøm, 2003; Maaranen, Kynäslahti & Krokfors, 2008) just to name a few countries. The significance of this paper is vested in the investigation of novice teachers’ experiences of ‘being out-of-field” and how school leaders understand and perceive the experience across cultures. Previous research paves the way for questions about the implications of the out-of-field experience for novice teachers’ effectiveness in classrooms. The purpose of the study is to develop an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of novice teachers in out-of-field positions integrating Husserl’s theory of the “life-world” which describes object and subject as interrelated through the subject’s lived experiences. In addition the paper investigates novice teachers’ understanding of their out-of-field situation and how school leadership’s perceptions affect them in their classrooms and in the school community. The setting includes Primary and High Schools on two continents, Australia (Two states, Queensland and Western Australia) and South Africa. The research questions address concerns about effective and quality teaching and the implications of leadership. The meaning of this investigation to understand novice teachers’ experience is supported by Heidegger’s philosophy (Heidegger, 2008, p.24) “The being-there of Dasein has its open space of publicness and its ways of seeing there”. The paper explores the intersocial relation concerns which novice teachers experience against the background of Vygotsky’s social interdependent theories (Scott, 2008). Against this theoretical background the focus is the influence of school leaders, educational communities and colleagues on novice, out-of-field teachers’ significant social relations. The paper concludes with the implications of school leaders’ involvement with these teachers as far as support strategies, effective classroom and behaviour management strategies and subject or content knowledge are concerned. Finally the paper highlights novice out-of-field teachers’ general and emotional perceptions, their self-esteem experience, their confidence to teach and manage their classrooms and how these factors influence key decisions about their future in the teaching profession.

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