Transitioning to practice across the professions : some lessons from the teaching profession

Across the professions, there is strong interest in the transition between graduation and early stages of professional practice. Our initial literature search revealed that this period of transition is significant to professions that include nursing, vets, midwives, financial planners, lawyers, occupational therapists, doctors as well as our particular area of interest - teachers. This importance is easy to understand for in these applied fields new graduates need to be competent in applying and synthesizing their theoretical content knowledge on a daily basis, often with limited supervision and mentoring (Goetz, Tombs & Hampton, 2005). As such, this transition period is of critical importance to the individual and their feelings of competence and early profession learning. An added layer for graduates in these professions during this transition/probation period is that they are also expected to have well-developed 'soft skills' such as communication, problem solving, and teamwork (Oblinger & Verville, 1998; Rao & Sylvester, 2000) in order to be effective in their roles.

The impact of organisational citizenship behaviour and non-material rewards on dimensions of employee burnout : evidence from the teaching profession

In this chapter, we examine the psychological impact that organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) have on individuals performing them. OCB is discretionary employee behaviour that is not systematically rewarded by employers, but that contributes to overall organisational effectiveness (Organ, 1988). In a sample of schoolteachers, we predicted that performing OCBs would differentially impact two dimensions of psychological burnout -personal accomplishment (PA} and emotional exhaustion (EE). Due to the volitional nature of OCB, there are theoretical reasons to suppose that OCB enhances PA. However, it is also possible that certain OCBs constitute increased workload, thereby contributing to a heightened sense of EE. In addition, given prior research showing that non-material rewards such as praise and recognition, lead to positive employee outcomes, we proposed that praise and recognition would strengthen the relationship between OCB and PA, and weaken the relationship between OCB and EE.

Interdisciplinary experience in the Teacher Training College of Vitoria-Gasteiz: teaching profession module

[EN] The higher education regulation process in Europe, known as the Bologna Process, has involved many changes, mainly in relation to methodology and assessment. The paper given below relates to implementing the new EU study plans into the Teacher Training College of Vitoria-Gasteiz; it is the first interdisciplinary paper written involving teaching staff and related to the Teaching Profession module, the first contained in the structure of the new plans. The coordination of teaching staff is one of the main lines of work in the Bologna Process, which is also essential to develop the right skills and maximise the role of students as an active learning component. The use of active, interdisciplinary methodologies has opened up a new dimension in universities, requiring the elimination of the once componential, individual structure, making us look for new areas of exchange that make it possible for students' training to be developed jointly.

An after-school literacy program : investigating the experiences of students with literacy difficulties, their volunteer tutors, and the tutors' transition into the teaching profession

This research responds to a pervasive call for our educational institutions to provide students with literacy skills, and teachers with the instructional supports necessary to facilitate this skill acquisition. Questions were posed to gain information concerning the efficacy ofteaching literacy strategies to students with learning difficulties, the impact of this training on their volunteer tutors, and the influence of this experience on these tutors' ensuing instructional practice as teacher candidates in a preservice education program. Study #1 compared a nontreatment group of students with literacy difficulties who participated in the program and found that program participants were superior at reading letter patterns and at comprehending the elements of story grammar. Concurrently, the second study explored the experiences of 19 volunteer tutors and uncovered that they acquired instructional skills as they established a knowledge base in teaching reading and writing, and they affirmed personal goals to become future teachers. Study #3 tracked 6 volunteer tutors into their pre-service year and identified their constructions, and beliefs about literacy instruction. These teacher candidates discussed how they had intended to teach reading and writing strategies based on their position that effective teaching ofthese skills in the primary grades is integral to academic success. The teacher candidates emphasized the need to build rapport with students, and the need to exercise flexibility in lesson plan delivery while including activities to meet emotional and developmental requirements of students. The teacher candidates entered their pre-service education with an initial cognition set based on the limited teaching context of tutoring. This foundational ii perception represented their prior knowledge of literacy instruction, a perception that appeared untenable once they were immersed in a regular instructional setting. This disparity provoked some of the teacher candidates to denounce their teacher mentors for not consistently employing literacy strategies and individualized instruction. This critical perspective could have been a demonstration of cognitive dissonance. In the end, when the teacher candidates began to look toward the future and how they would manage the demands of an inclusive classroom, they recognized the differences in the contexts. With an appreciation for the need for balance between prior and present knowledge, the teacher candidates remained committed to implementing their tutoring strategies in future teaching positions. This document highlights the need for teacher candidates with instructional experience prior to teacher education, to engage in cognitive negotiations to assimilate newly acquired pedagogies into existing pedagogies.

Transition into the teaching profession: induction and mentoring issues surrounding secondary music teachers /

The purpose of this study was to investigate the issues surrounding the transition into the teaching profession by specifically focusing on teacher induction and mentoring issues while explicitly addressing matters of concern by secondary music teachers in a large suburban school board in southern Ontario. Participants included beginning teachers with fewer than 5 years of teaching, mid career teachers with between 6 and 15 years of instruction, and experienced teachers with more than 16 years of practice. The ' processes of mentoring and inducting new teachers within the board were examined, along with their relationships between proteges, mentors, and administrators. Further, internal and external programs specifically designed and implemented for newer music teachers were scrutinized and discussed. An analysis of key documents and literature on the subject was performed, and data were collected through 16 personal interviews. The findings suggest that although the necessity of mentoring and induction processes has begun to be recognized, there exists a fundamental relationship between mentoring and induction and the effect of the professional attachments to mentoring; the institutional and administrative supports that are enabled; and essential processes and practices between mentors and proteges. Together these three arms combine to support successfiil induction and mentoring initiatives that will help ease the transition into teaching.

Why I am not a teacher: a self-study examining why I made the decision to exit the teaching profession /

A good teacher was once described as being like a candle; consuming itself to light the way for others (Author unknown). But as Knox (2005) says, far too many yoimg flames flicker out before they ever get the opportvmity to bum their brightest. This self-study explores the phenomenon of teacher attrition through the stories and lived experiences of one elementary teacher. I strive throughout this self-study to delve deeper into the significance of my story and lived experiences in order to enhance our understanding of why teachers exit the profession. As a result, the guiding question throughout the study is, "Why do teachers, particularly those who have only taught for a few years, leave the classrooms they worked so hard to enter?" Through the writing of a narrative entitled Sarah 's Story, I was able to identify and give voice to a story openly sharing the feelings of despair; disappointment, frustration and disillusionment. This study has identified areas of tension that lead to dissatisfaction, discontent, and teacher disillusionment. It confronts the issues of complexity, uncertainty, and conflict that are experienced in teaching. It discusses the puzzling, powerfiil and upsetting experiences, highlighting the importance of talk between all members of the education system.

Who am I this time? : exploring prospective teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession in Malaysia

Monogr??fico con el t??tulo: "La investigaci??n sobre la identidad profesional del profesorado en Europa???

Shifting the technology context : career-change entrants’ transition into teaching

Becoming a teacher in technology-rich classrooms is a complex and challenging transition for career-change entrants. Those with generic or specialist Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expertise bring a mindset about purposeful uses of ICT that enrich student learning and school communities. The transition process from a non-education environment is both enhanced and constrained by shifting the technology context of generic or specialist ICT expertise, developed through a former career as well as general life experience. In developing an understanding of the complexity of classrooms and creating a learner centred way of working, perceptions about learners and learning evolve and shift. Shifts in thinking about how ICT expertise supports learners and enhances learning preceded shifts in perceptions about being a teacher, working with colleagues, and functioning in schools that have varying degrees of intensity and impact on evolving professional identities. Current teacher education and school induction programs are seen to be falling short of meeting the needs of career-change entrants and, as a flow on, the students they nurture. Research (see, for example, Tigchelaar, Brouwer, & Korthagen, 2008; Williams & Forgasz, 2009) highlights the value of generic and specialist expertise career-change teachers bring to the profession and draws attention to the challenges such expertise begets (Anthony & Ord, 2008; Priyadharshini & Robinson-Pant, 2003). As such, the study described in this thesis investigated perceptions of career-change entrants, who have generic (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) or specialist expertise, that is, ICT qualifications and work experience in the use of ICT. The career-change entrants‘ perceptions were sought as they shifted the technology context and transitioned into teaching in technology-rich classrooms. The research involved an interpretive analysis of qualitative data and quantitative data. The study used the explanatory case study (Yin, 1994) methodology enriched through grounded theory processes (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), to develop a theory about professional identity transition from the perceptions of the participants in the study. The study provided insights into the expertise and experiences of career change entrants, particularly in relation to how professional identities that include generic and specialist ICT knowledge and expertise were reconfigured while transitioning into the teaching profession. This thesis presents the Professional Identity Transition Theory that encapsulates perceptions about teaching in technology-rich classrooms amongst a selection of the increasing number of career-change entrants. The theory, grounded in the data, (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) proposes that career-change entrants experience transition phases of varying intensity that impact on professional identity, retention and development as a teacher. These phases are linked to a shift in perceptions rather than time as a teacher. Generic and specialist expertise in the use of ICT is a weight of the past and an asset that makes the transition process more challenging for career-change entrants. The study showed that career-change entrants used their experiences and perceptions to develop a way of working in a school community. Their way of working initially had an adaptive orientation focussed on immediate needs as their teaching practice developed. Following a shift of thinking, more generative ways of working focussed on the future emerged to enable continual enhancement and development of practice. Sustaining such learning is a personal, school and systemic challenge for the teaching profession.

Pre-service teachers' pedagogical relationships and experiences of embedding Indigenous Australian knowledge in teaching practicum

This paper argues from the standpoint that embedding Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in Australian curricula occurs within a space of tension, ‘the cultural interface’ (Nakata, 2002), in negotiation and contestation with other dominant knowledge systems. In this interface, Indigenous knowledge (IK) is in a state of constancy and flux, invisible and simultaneously pronounced depending on the teaching and learning contexts. More often than not, IK competes for validity and is vexed by questions of racial and cultural authenticity, and therefore struggles to be located centrally in educational systems, curricula and pedagogies. Interrogating normative western notions of what constitutes authentic or legitimate knowledge is critical to teaching Indigenous studies and embedding IK. The inclusion (and exclusion) of IK at the interface is central to developing curriculum that allows teachers to test and prod, create new knowledge and teaching approaches. From this perspective, we explore Indigenous Australian pre-service teachers’ experiences of pedagogical relationships within the teaching habitus of Australian classrooms. Our study is engaged with the strategic transgressions of praxis. We contend that tensions that participant Indigenous Australian pre-service teachers experience mirror the broader (and unresolved) political status of Indigenous people and thus where and why IK is strategically deployed as ‘new’ or ‘old knowledge within Australian liberal democratic systems of curriculum and schooling. It is significant to discuss the formation and transformation of the pedagogical cultural identity of the teaching profession within which Indigenous and non-Indigenous pre-service teachers are employed.

Gatekeepers to the profession: recruitment to initial teacher education in the United Kingdom

We develop a framing for research on the relationship between context, process and outcomes in recruitment to the teaching profession. We do this through a ‘home international’ comparison of policies, outcomes and recruitment processes in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There is plenty of movement between these countries in the graduate labour market, but the contexts for teacher supply and demand vary in terms of: (i) scale, (ii) excess supply or demand, (iii) reliance of policy on market forces or bureaucracy and (iv) beliefs of policymakers about whether teaching is a craft or a profession. Recent changes in England and Wales have highlighted the importance of recruitment to initial teacher education (ITE as a policy issue whilst also creating further points of comparison which are useful for research. We draw on trends in data on recruitment to teaching and in-depth interviews with gatekeepers to the profession in each country.