Being a new teacher in NZ secondary schools

1
Being a new teacher in NZ secondary schools

• Making a difference
• Team Glenda Anthony, Ruth Kane, Beverley Bell,
  Ronnie Davey, Sylvie Fontaine, Mavis Haigh, Susan
  Lovett, Ruth Mansell, Kate Ord, Brian Prestidge,
  Susan Sandretto, Cheryl Stephens
• The research was supported by the TLRI fund.

2
The Making a Difference Study

• Mixed method national study
• Questionnaire to graduating teachers (n 855)
• Sample of 100 secondary school teachers
  interviewed at 6, 12, and 18 months.
• Mentor on-line surveys at end of Year 1 (n43)and
  Year 2 (n44)
• Decision to choose teaching, sense of
  preparedness, experiences of their induction
  support and guidance, and teacher learning.

3
Does induction really make a difference?

• Despite nationally mandated support for new
  teachers there existed considerable variability
  in the implemented and received induction
  programme both within and between schools
• In each school the enacted induction programme
  operated as a complex system - access, focus,
  quality

4
Satisfaction with their induction programme
At 6 months At 12 months At 18 months
Very dissatisfied 4 9 10
Dissatisfied 18 21 24
Neutral 11 7 7
Satisfied 46 37 40
Very Satisfied 20 22 16
Missing 1 4 3
5
When induction works very well

• Structural, contextual and personal factors
  contributed to successful induction experiences
  with considerable evidence of teacher learning
• PRTs who reported successful experiences
• Were in a school with other PRTs, who supported
  them
• Saw themselves as being part of an active
  community of learners, as pro-active, aware of
  registration requirements
• Reported strong leadership from principals and
  other administrative leaders, were actively
  observed
• Had realistic expectations of teaching and its
  workload, student differentiation and management
• Actively sought professional development
  activities

6
When induction works very well II

• PRTs who report successful induction experiences
• Viewed their induction as multi-faceted and
  positive
• Were committed to ongoing learning
• Were confident that their teaching had improved
• Reported that they had progressed in their
  understanding of how students learn
• Felt able to monitor their own performance
• Felt confident of resolving emerging problems
• Felt able to ask for support from a number of
  directions
• Reported facing assessment challenges, but were
  ready to tackle them

7
When induction doesnt work

• Structural, contextual and personal factors
  contributed to unsuccessful induction experiences
  with little evidence of teacher learning
• PRTs who reported unsuccessful induction
  experiences
• Felt isolated, alone and unsupported
• Perceived that mentoring added to their problems
  instead of alleviating them
• Felt guilty about asking for help
• Reported a lack of structure to the program
• Rarely observed others teach
• Displayed a lack of knowledge about registration
• Appeared unaware of external opportunities for
  professional development

8
When induction doesnt work II

• PRTs who reported unsuccessful induction
  experiences
• Believed that the reasons students do poorly is
  that they dont try hard enough
• Struggled to negotiate assessments standards
  inadequate or non-existent exemplars
• Reported lack of appropriate resources spent
  much of their non-contact time making these
• Lacked strategies for responding to diversity in
  their classrooms struggled with ways of
  assessing their students prior knowledge
• Reported that their students were disinterested
  and lacked motivation

9
Being part of community of learners

• The learning opportunities afforded the beginning
  teachers are dependent on the established
  learning community within the school and the
  agency and (preparedness) of the beginning
  teachers themselves.

10
Where does the mentor fit into the induction
process?

• What are the expectations of beginning
  teachers, of senior management, of colleagues, of
  the tutors/mentors? How are the following
  negotiated?
• Relationship
• Time commitment
• Support
• Guidance
• Roles
• Outcomes/goals

11
At 6 months beginning teacher sought help on

• Classroom management
• Subject and curriculum focus
• Administration strategies / report writing
• Reality of teachers life role of senior
  teachers
• School organisation / systems
• Working with diversity
• Working with Maori / Pasifika students
• Planning and resource development
• Assessment
• Relevance and application of theory
• Practical ICT

12
What did beginning teachers expect?

• I expected there to be more support. In terms of
  behaviour particularly I think I expected that if
  something went wrong you could call on someone to
  help you. And if someone was to do something
  stupid it wouldnt be so hard to find someone in
  the moment of need, when thats actually quite a
  hard thing to do. And sometimes it can be 2 or 3
  days before you can find somebody who has got the
  time to deal with something. (T101)

13
What did teachers expect? II

• In my first year, the associate that I got was
  very helpful in pointing mewas basically this
  is how I operate, I dont want to be patted on
  the back continually that is no good to me. I
  need you guys telling me what I am doing wrong so
  I can fix it, so he was quite good in suggesting
  and he would give me concrete things and pointing
  me in other directions that I could do the same
  thing as I observed which I found very useful.
  (T7063)

14
Changing expectations/reflections

• I did have one on one mentor right at the start
  so in the first three or four weeks and I found
  that very helpful but I think it has a limit
  because you are moving on and youre progressing
  and they have got other things to do as well and
  I think one on one becomesit was good to start
  with but I like the in-the-group situation
  more.(T1811)
• Probably I think I would have liked a more active
  mentor Because I find that everyone is very
  restricted by the amount of free time that they
  have. So everyone is under pressure, that is just
  what its like and so every second is precious.
  So you do feel that when you do track somebody
  down you are taking them away from something
  else. (T8283)

15
Living up to expectations

• Im enjoying it and it certainly is challenging.
  At N School, like behaviour management is a big
  thing to get your head around and its always
  changing but theres been lots of support for me
  which has been really good and Ive found that
  really helpful.
• Yeah definitely and I wouldnt have survived last
  year year 1if I didnt have some people to have
  a moan to or work some thing out with.(T833)

16
What activities did beginning teacher report that
mentors were involved in

• Meetings, classroom observations, shared
  workplace interactions.
• What was the focus of meetings
• Marking, assessment, what Im going to do next,
  what trips are coming up and what I need to do
  for them. Sometimes we skip it if nothing is
  happening. Any general problems Im having we
  will talk through it. (T2961)

17
Formal vs Informal

• The meetings helped quite a lot really because
  they are not particularly structured. If there
  is nothing else going on well go through each of
  my classes and talk about how they are going. But
  that is an opportunity to bring up any issues
  that I have been having during the week or ask
  questions. Some of them are quite a practical
  nature, do you have any good resources for this
  topic? (T1911)
• One could be a good mentor and a good student
  without endless paper work I think just making
  you write more and more things out all the time
  doesnt seem to be as effective as demonstrating,
  showing talking and just reflecting afterwards
  about things in a friendly sort of way. So they
  are going a bit over structured too many boxes to
  fill in and you are not learning from the boxes
  you are learning from the advice and support.
  (T8273)

18
Scheduled versus needs basis?

• I think were meant to meet like every Friday but
  then only every second Friday its been
  happening. She just says have we got any
  problems? And I say not really. We dont have
  any formal meetings or anything like that and no
  agenda or anything. (T1901)
• Yes they have been. With one of them, with the
  HOD of English it was at my instigation that we
  have regular meetings. So I had to push for that
  and they werent always stuck to. (T2911)

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What did the mentors report doing in Y1?

• classroom observations
• sharing of units of work, resources, curriculum
  planning documents
• support with assessment procedures
• classroom/student management concerns
• parent/teacher interviews and report writing
• offering of professional readings
• issuing invitations to team teach
• encouragement to participate in extra-curricula
  activities
• tips for managing systems and paperwork.

20
Mentoring Arrangements in Year 1

• Regular one-on-one meetings in Year 1
• Usually its looking at what is coming up.
  Sometimes it might be looking at marking some
  assessments or going through a bit more detail on
  the assessments. But usually I usually make a
  list of things that I want to discuss and its
  usually talking about just clarifying for me what
  Im teaching up ahead. (T2911)
• Not so regular meetings
• More of a needs basis, we did have a regular time
  set up then my netball started and so that took
  over that particular one and she couldnt meet
  any other day. I will just find her or put a note
  in her pigeon hole saying can we catch up, and
  then get together. (T2961)
• Informal chats
• On-call assistance (email system)
• Appraisals related to portfolios and observations
  schedule requirements

21
What did the mentors report doing in Y2?

• Collegial supportin areas of planning,
  curriculum sharing, and general trouble-shooting.
  
• Teaching/lesson observations (video?)
• Increased evidence of sharing of practices such
  as planning, accessing/developing resources, and
  assessment.

22
Mentoring Arrangements in Year 2

• Reported that Year 2 teachers developed a greater
  network of support within the school rather than
  reliance on them to solve their problems.
• Experiences within a range of classrooms provided
  a more solid base to reflect and engage in
  discussions.
• As a second year teacher, X brings a lot more to
  the table than she did as a first year teacher.
  She is surer of her own opinions than previously,
  without having become arrogant or obstinate. This
  means that there is much more of an exchange
  going on than previously. Last year I felt more
  like a giver, but now both giver and receiver.
  (M24 S2)
• For some mentors this meant less formal contact
  in the second year and a move to more informal
  discussions.
• Focus changed from management to different
  teaching strategies.

23
Roles of Mentors

• Problem Solver
• The mentor is the best form of support I think
  because I can just sit down and go through my
  problems with him. (T3451)

24
Changing Roles of Mentors?

• This is the first unit where I am doing it alone
  where Im trying to make it my own because Ive
  gone with what my mentor has done previously,
  which has worked well but now I am quite
  confident so I want to do my own unit. But am I
  doing it right. (T2961)
• Last year I met with my mentor teacher once a
  week and went over a few things and most of the
  time it was how are you going, yeah Im
  alright. And this year we dont need it often but
  if I wanted to have a talk he would and he does
  just pop in and say how are you going, are you
  alright ,and all that kind of thing, which is
  good. (T943)

25
When mentoring goes wrong!

• Formal versus informal
• Schedule versus needs basis
• Unclear expectations
• It would have been good to have things in place
  like go and see three teachers this term and then
  you can tick it off but I felt like I needed like
  my mentor to say this is our induction process
  you needed to be doing this each term. (T943)
• Difficulty forming positive relationships
• Curse of competence

26
When mentoring goes wrong

• Difficulty forming positive relationships
• I have one teacher who is supposedly my
  supervising teacher, She tells me what Im doing
  wrong and I feel really bad. Were meant to meet
  once a week, it doesnt always happen. The
  difficult thing because shes in charge of one of
  the courses that I teach we spend most of our
  time on that course, and thats the course where
  I feel the least supported, funnily enough
  because theres no one else that I can ask for
  help. I feel that she resents the fact that she
  has to give me such specific things. (T3031)

27
When mentoring goes wrong II

• Mentors working in areas they are not expert in.
• So we started doing classroom observations and I
  ended up teaching her how to do classroom
  observations, and that was great for a while then
  it petered off, as she said things like thats
  great which wasnt useful. I think probably
  another aspect is that a lot of other people
  dont have a clue what I am doing in my area -
  computing and dont entirely understand the
  environment. (T8482)
• Mentor under pressure/stress.
• Uncertainty about who is the mentor!
• But S is the one who is allocated as such, but I
  dont know if shes actually my mentor or not.
  (T1511)
• I think its still X but X was unaware that he was
  my mentor last year so.(T8493)

28
Mismatch in styles??

• I think the best people to learn from are people
  who have a similar teaching style because you can
  go and see what they do and it transfers
  instantly. It is no good for me to go and see,
  for example our SCT- hes fantastic but he is so
  vain and out there - he jumps around, action
  hands on head clapping, singing a song kind of
  stuff and that is not me at all I am a control
  freak and it has to be neat and tidy, it has got
  to be structured. But my mentor last year was
  exactly like me and she said to me lots of times
  that she came and observed me and she was like
  oh my god you are like me thats exactly what I
  would have said to that kid when they talked.
  (T7903)
• What I have been finding with this associate -
  which is of no use to me - is that for me to have
  a good observation by him is to take on his
  style so I have been finding assessment by him
  to be just a complete waste of time. (T7063)

29
Reported challenges for mentors

• Lack of time
• How much and how best to provide on-going support
  
• How to provide support that is responsive to
  individual needs
• Working to a programme but able to adapt
  according to teachers needs, sometimes at the
  drop of a hat. (M184S1)
• Frustrations when teachers appeared unwilling to
  accept advice
• have come into teaching with a specific personal
  agenda. think that they know it all.
• Unrealistic expectations of Management with
  regards to support and clarity of induction
  programme.

30
Mentors want professional development

• Half of the mentors acknowledged that they would
  benefit from professional development on
  mentoring.
• They would like time to discuss strategies with
  other mentor teachers to determine the most
  effective strategies and identify the areas of
  greatest need of the beginning teacher
  (M182S1).