EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES FACED BY THE SCHOOL TEACHERS
New
teachers bring energy and enthusiasm to their classrooms, but also a specific
set of needs.
A
teacher's first year on the job is often difficult. According to research,
student achievement tends to be significantly worse in the classrooms of
first-year teachers before rising in teachers' second and third years (Rivkin,
Hanushek, & Kain, 2005). The steep learning curve is hard not only on
students, but also on the teachers themselves: 15 percent leave the profession
and another 14 percent change schools after their first year, often as the
result of feeling overwhelmed, ineffective, and unsupported (Ingersoll &
Smith, 2003; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004).
Surveys
and case studies offer compelling insights into the areas in which new teachers
commonly struggle. By effectively addressing these areas, schools can help new
teachers improve their skills more quickly, thereby keeping them in the
profession and raising student achievement.
Struggling with Classroom Management
The
biggest challenge that surfaces for new teachers is classroom management. A
2004 Public Agenda survey found that 85 percent of teachers believed "new
teachers are particularly unprepared for dealing with behavior problems in
their classrooms" (p. 3). A separate survey of 500 teachers found that
teachers with three years or fewer on the job were more than twice as likely as
teachers with more experience (19 percent versus 7 percent) to say that student
behavior was a problem in their classrooms (Melnick & Meister, 2008).
When
interviewed, many beginning teachers say their preservice programs did little
to prepare them for the realities of classrooms, including dealing with unruly
students. "A bigger bag of classroom management tricks would have been
helpful," one first-year teacher confessed (Fry, 2007, p. 225).
New
teachers universally report feeling particularly overwhelmed by the most
difficult students. One Australian first-year teacher interviewed for a case
study observed that having a disruptive "student in my classroom is having
a significant impact on my interaction with the remainder of the class … As a
first-year teacher, I don't have the professional skills to deal with this
extreme behavior" (McCormack, Gore, & Thomas, 2006, p. 104). Often,
classroom management difficulties can prompt new teachers to jettison many of
the research-based instructional practices they learned in college (such as
cooperative learning and project-based learning) in favor of a steady diet of
lectures and textbooks (Hover & Yeager, 2004).
Burdened by Curricular Freedom
Another
concern that new teachers commonly raise is a lack of guidance and resources
for lesson and unit planning. In a recent survey of more than 8,000 Teach for
America teachers nationwide, 41 percent said their schools or districts
provided them with few or no instructional resources, such as lesson plans.
When classroom materials were provided, they were seldom useful; just 15
percent of the respondents reported that materials were of sufficient quality
for them to freely use (Mathews, 2011).
Although
such curricular freedom may be welcomed by veteran teachers, it appears to be a
burden for new teachers, who have not yet developed a robust repertoire of
lesson ideas or knowledge of what will work in their classrooms (Fry, 2007).
Case studies have observed novice teachers struggling "just trying to come
up with enough curriculum" and spending 10 to 12 hours a day juggling
lesson planning; grading: and the myriad demands of paperwork, committees, and
extracurricular assignments (Fry, 2007, p. 225).
It's
worth noting that many schools that have successfully raised low-income
students' achievement have taken a distinctly different approach. Rather than
letting new teachers sink or swim with lesson planning, they provide binders
full of model lesson plans and teaching resources developed by veteran teachers
(Chenoweth, 2009).
Sinking in Unsupportive Environments
The
sink-or-swim nature of many first-year teachers' experiences frequently
surfaces as another significant challenge. New teachers often report difficult
interactions with colleagues, ranging from "benign neglect" of
administrators (Fry, 2007, p. 229) to lack of cooperation or even hostility
from veteran teachers.
One
first-year teacher, for example, said a colleague flatly refused to share his lesson
plans, which was "unfortunate my first year, sinking down and getting no
help" (Hover & Yaeger, 2004, p. 21). Another teacher reported that a
veteran member of her department came into her classes, propped his feet up on
her desk, and disrupted her teaching by throwing out historical facts. "It
was so degrading," she said (Hover & Yeager, 2004, p. 20).
More
than anything else, novice teachers often appear to yearn for, yet seldom
receive, meaningful feedback on their teaching from experienced colleagues and
administrators (Fry, 2007; McCormack, Gore, & Thomas, 2006). Regrettably,
teacher mentors, ostensibly assigned to provide this support, were sometimes
part of the problem, dispensing little guidance, if not bad advice (Fry, 2007).
In the words of one new teacher, "Some of the teachers who are mentors
shouldn't be. They're not nurturing people; they've just been here the longest,
and they want [the mentor position]" (Hover & Yaeger, 2004, p. 20).
How Schools Can Scaffold Success
New
teachers bring energy and enthusiasm to their classrooms, but also a specific
set of needs. Whereas experienced teachers might bristle at receiving classroom
management tips, model lesson plans, and constructive feedback on instruction,
new teachers appear to long for such supports. School administrators should
recognize that, like students, new teachers need scaffolded assistance. This
support should go beyond merely assigning them a mentor, a practice that only
reduces five-year attrition rates by one percentage point, from 40 to 39
percent (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004).
If,
however, school administrators provide mentoring and guidance, schedule common
planning periods to plan lessons with colleagues, and reduce new
teachers' workloads by providing an aide in the classroom or fewer
preparations, they can cut the attrition rate of their beginning teachers by
more than half—down to 18 percent (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). This early
investment in time and resources may result in long-term gains by shortening
new teachers' often-perilous journeys from novice to experienced professional.
