Newly Qualified Teachers’ Needs of Support for Professional Competences in Four European Countries: Finland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Belgium
Keywords:
lifelong learning, newly qualified teachers, professional learning needs, teachers’ professional competence
Abstract
The first few years in the teaching profession are usually demanding. Although initial teacher education forms an essential foundation for teachers’ work, it cannot fully prepare new teachers for the complexities of working life. This study focuses on investigating the need for professional development support among newly qualified teachers to determine what their
professional learning needs are and how these needs differ among teachers from four different countries: Finland, the United Kingdom (England), Portugal and Belgium (Flanders). The research data was collected via a questionnaire from 314 teachers, each with less than five years of teaching experience, and both closed and open-ended questions were included. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis to identify the latent variables associated with their needs. Answers to the open-ended questions were used to gain deeper insight into the newly qualified teachers’ situation. The results indicate that new teachers need support, especially regarding conflict situations and in differentiating their teaching. In addition, when analysing the profiles of eight support-need latent variables, all of the teachers in the different countries viewed supporting students’ holistic development as the most important area. Although the results of this study cannot be generalised, they provide an important overview of new teachers’ learning needs that should be taken into account when planning and organising support for them.
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References
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Niemi, H. (2011). Educating student teachers to become high quality professionals – A Finnish case. CEPS Journal, 1(1), 43-66.
Niemi, H. (2012). Relationships of teachers’ professional competences, active learning and research studies in teacher education in Finland. Reflecting Education, 8(2), 23-44.
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Niemi, H., & Nevgi, A. (2014). Research studies and active learning promoting professional competences in Finnish teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 43, 131-142.
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Rippon, J., & Martin, M. (2006). Call me teacher: The quest of new teachers. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 12(3), 305-324.
Saavedra, A. R., & Opfer, V. D. (2012). Learning 21st-century skills requires 21st-century teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(2), 8-13.
Scheerens, J. (Ed.) (2010). Teachers’ professional development. Europe in international comparison. An analysis of teachers’ professional development based on the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Union.
Schwille, J., Dembélé, M., & Schubert, J. (2007). Global perspectives on teacher learning: Improving policy and practice. Paris: UNESCO, International Institute for Educational Planning.
Shapira-Lishchinsky, O. (2011). Teachers’ critical incidents: Ethical dilemmas in teaching practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(3), 648-656.
Sunde, E., & Ulvik, M. (2014). School leaders’ views on mentoring and newly qualified teachers’ needs. Education Inquiry, 5(2), 285-299.
Vähäsantanen, K. (2015). Professional agency in the stream of change: Understanding educational change and teachers’ professional identities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 47, 1-12.
Wang, Q., & Zhang, H. (2014). Promoting teacher autonomy through university–school collaborative action research. Language Teaching Research, 18(2), 222-241.
Yayli, D. (2012). A hands-on experience of English language teachers as researchers. Teacher Development, 16(2), 255-271.
Ananiadou, K., & Claro, M. (2009). 21st century skills and competences for new millennium learners in OECD countries (OECD Education Working Paper No. 41). Paris: OECD Publishing.
Ballantyne, J. (2007). Documenting praxis shock in early-career Australian music teachers: The impact of pre-service teacher education. International Journal of Music Education, 25(3), 181-191.
Bautista, A., & Ortega-Ruiz, R. (2015). Teacher professional development: International perspectives and approaches. Psychology, Society, & Education, 7(3), 240-251.
Binkley, M., Erstad, O., Herman, J., Raizen, S., Ripley, M., Miller-Ricci, M., & Rumble, M. (2012). Defining twenty-first century skills. In P. Griffin, B. McGaw, & E. Care (Eds.), Assessment and
teaching of 21st century skills (pp. 17-66). Dordrecht: Springer.
Bullough Jr., R. V. (2011). Ethical and moral matters in teaching and teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(1), 21-28.
Colnerud, G. (1997). Ethical conflicts in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(6), 627-635.
Commission of the European Communities. (2007). Improving the quality of teacher education. (Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament 2007/C
300/07 of 15.11.07.) Brussels. Retrieved 08.08.2016 from http://www.atee1.org/uploads/EUpolicies/improving_the_quality_of_teacher_education_aug2007.pdf.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Constructing 21st-century teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), 300-314.
Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R. C., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learning in the learning profession: A status report on teacher development in the United States and abroad. Stanford, CA: National Staff Development Council and the School Redesign Network at Stanford University.
Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work. Educational Research Review, 10, 45-65.
European Commission. (2005). Common European principles for teacher competences and qualifications. Brussels. Retrieved 08.08.2016 from http://www.atee1.org/uploads/EUpolicies/
common_eur_principles_en.pdf.
European Commission. (2010). Developing coherent and system-wide induction programmes for beginning teachers: A handbook for policymakers. Brussels. Retrieved 08.08.2016 from http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/school/doc/handbook0410_en.pdf.
European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice. (2015). The teaching profession in Europe: Practices, perceptions, and policies (Eurydice Report). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Evans-Andris, M., Kyle, D. W., & Carini R. M. (2006). Is mentoring enough? An examination of the mentoring relationship in the pilot two-year Kentucky Teacher Internship Program. The New
Educator, 2(4), 289-309.
Ewing, N. J. (2001). Teacher education: Ethics, power, and privilege. Teacher Education and Special Education, 24(1), 13-24.
Fransson, G., & Gustafsson, C. (2008). Becoming a teacher: An introduction to the theme and the book. In G. Fransson, & C. Gustafsson (Eds.), Newly qualified teachers in Northern Europe:
Comparative perspectives on promoting professional development (pp. 11-26). Sweden: University of Gävle.
Grimsæth, G., Nordvik, G., & Bergsvik, E. (2008). The newly qualified teacher: A leader and a professional? A Norwegian study. Journal of In-service Education, 34(2), 219-236.
Haggarty, L., & Postlethwaite, K. (2012). An exploration of changes in thinking in the transition from student teacher to newly qualified teacher. Research Papers in Education, 27(2), 241-262.
Jokinen, H., Morberg, Å., Poom-Valickis, K., & Rohtma, V. (2008). Mentoring of newly qualified teachers in Estonia, Finland, and Sweden. In G. Fransson, & C. Gustafsson (Eds.), Newly qualified teachers in Northern Europe: Comparative perspectives on promoting professional development (pp. 76-106). Gävle / Sweden: University of Gävle.
Kersaint, G., Lewis, J., Potter, R., & Meisels, G. (2007). Why teachers leave: Factors that influence retention and resignation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(6), 775-794.
Knight, P. (2002). A systemic approach to professional development: Learning as practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18(3), 229-241.
Korhonen, T., & Lavonen, J. (2014). Crossing school–family boundaries through the use of technology. In H. Niemi, J. Multisilta, & E. Löfström (Eds.), Crossing boundaries for learning: Through technology and human efforts (pp. 37-66). Helsinki: CICERO Learning Network, University of Helsinki.
Kukkonen, M., & Lavonen, J. (2014). Crossing classroom boundaries through the use of collaboration supporting ICT: A Case study on school–kindergarten–library–seniors’ home partnership. In H. Niemi, J. Multisilta, & E. Löfström (Eds.), Crossing boundaries for learning: Through technology and human efforts (pp. 67-89). Helsinki: CICERO Learning Network, University of Helsinki.
Livingston, K. (2012). Approaches to professional development of teachers in Scotland: Pedagogical innovation or financial necessity? Educational Research, 54(2), 161-172.
Livingston, K. (2014). Teacher educators: Hidden professionals? European Journal of Education, 49(2), 181-232.
Lonka, K., Hietajärvi, L., Moisala, M., Tuominen-Soini, H., Vaara, L. J., Hakkarainen, K., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2015). Working document I. In European Parliament (Ed.), Innovative schools: Teaching & learning in the digital era – Workshop documentation (pp. 5-46). Brussels: European Parliament.
Moir, E., & Gless, J. (2001). Quality induction: An investment in teachers. Teacher Education Quarterly, 28(1), 109-114.
Morales, M. P. E. (2016). Participatory action research (PAR) cum action research (AR) in teacher professional development: A literature review. International Journal of Research in Education and Science, 2(1), 156-165.
Niemi, H. (2011). Educating student teachers to become high quality professionals – A Finnish case. CEPS Journal, 1(1), 43-66.
Niemi, H. (2012). Relationships of teachers’ professional competences, active learning and research studies in teacher education in Finland. Reflecting Education, 8(2), 23-44.
Niemi, H. (2014). Teachers as active contributors in quality of education: A special reference to the Finnish context. In D. Hung, K.Y.T. Lim, & S.-S. Lee (Eds.), Adaptivity as a transformative disposition for learning in the 21st century (pp. 179-199). Singapore: Springer.
Niemi, H. (2015a). Teacher effectiveness in the European context with a special reference to Finland. In O.-S. Tan, & W.-C. Liu (Eds.), Teacher effectiveness: Capacity building in a complex learning era (pp. 51-78). Singapore: Cengage Learning.
Niemi, H. (2015b). Teacher professional development in Finland: Towards a more holistic approach. Psychology, Society, & Education, 7(3), 279-294.
Niemi, H., & Nevgi, A. (2014). Research studies and active learning promoting professional competences in Finnish teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 43, 131-142.
Niemi, H., Nevgi, A., & Aksit, F. (2016). Active learning promoting student teachers’ professional competences in Finland and Turkey. European Journal of Teacher Education. Retrieved 04.08. 2016 from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02619768.2016.1212835.
OECD (2014). TALIS 2013 results: An international perspective on teaching and learning. OECD Publishing. Retrieved 20.06.2016 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264196261-en.
Rippon, J., & Martin, M. (2006). Call me teacher: The quest of new teachers. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 12(3), 305-324.
Saavedra, A. R., & Opfer, V. D. (2012). Learning 21st-century skills requires 21st-century teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(2), 8-13.
Scheerens, J. (Ed.) (2010). Teachers’ professional development. Europe in international comparison. An analysis of teachers’ professional development based on the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Union.
Schwille, J., Dembélé, M., & Schubert, J. (2007). Global perspectives on teacher learning: Improving policy and practice. Paris: UNESCO, International Institute for Educational Planning.
Shapira-Lishchinsky, O. (2011). Teachers’ critical incidents: Ethical dilemmas in teaching practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(3), 648-656.
Sunde, E., & Ulvik, M. (2014). School leaders’ views on mentoring and newly qualified teachers’ needs. Education Inquiry, 5(2), 285-299.
Vähäsantanen, K. (2015). Professional agency in the stream of change: Understanding educational change and teachers’ professional identities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 47, 1-12.
Wang, Q., & Zhang, H. (2014). Promoting teacher autonomy through university–school collaborative action research. Language Teaching Research, 18(2), 222-241.
Yayli, D. (2012). A hands-on experience of English language teachers as researchers. Teacher Development, 16(2), 255-271.
Published
2016-09-30
Section
FOCUS
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