New teachers working experience: A secondary analysis of TALIS

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1 New teachers working experience: A secondary analysis of TALIS Caroline Rizza Centre for Research on Education and Lifelong Learning, Econometrics and Applied Statistic Unit, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Italy caroline.rizza@jrc.ec.europa.eu, Abstract: Determining and understanding the challenges faced by new teachers and their corresponding support needs is a major issue for policy development and for addressing quality issues that many educational systems face. How well are new teachers equipped to face the challenges they encounter in the classroom and achieve their school tasks/activities? is the research question of this paper. The analysis uses TALIS data and the results constitute the first step of an on-going research project on new teachers and teacher education and training. The paper provides descriptive statistics related to 1) The new teachers and their activities in the classroom and in the school, 2) The challenges they face and the support mechanisms they benefit from, and 3) The new teachers perception of their working environment. When relevant, the results will be discussed in light of the similarities and differences between the new and the more experienced teachers. Keywords: New teachers, teacher professional development, TALIS, challenges INTRODUCTION Recently, a growing interest in recruiting and keeping new teachers has surfaced in response to the high attrition rate of this professional group in many countries (OECD, 2005). Between 30 and 50 percent of teachers leave the profession during their first 3-7 years of teaching (e.g. Achinstein, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 1997; Schlechty & Vance, 1983). The main explanation underlined by research evidence is both the lack of sufficient and suitable support to keep teachers in the profession as well as the heavy workloads and poor working conditions new teachers face when they start teaching (e.g. Ulvik, Smith, & Helleve, 2009; Day, Stobart, Sammons, & Kington, 2006; Achinstein, 2006). Throughout their teaching careers teachers develop competences by practicing and need training as well as support to undertake their work and to contribute to student achievement. The European Commission (2010) acknowledges that the working environments of teachers and the demands placed upon them by society are

2 increasingly complex. Specifically, the EC states that (...) even initial teacher initial education of the highest quality cannot provide teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary for a lifetime of teaching. Teachers are called upon not only to acquire new knowledge and skills but also to develop them continuously. (EC, 2010, p. 12). In this context, new teachers compared to more experienced ones, do not meet the same difficulties (or if they meet the same difficulties, they do not react in the same way since they are less experienced) and do not have the same training needs in relationship to their work. Determining and understanding the challenges faced by new teachers and their corresponding support needs is a major issue for policy development and for addressing quality issues that many educational systems face. How well are new teachers equipped to face the challenges they encounter in the classroom and achieve their school tasks/activities? is the main research question of this paper. As defined in the TALIS survey (OECD, 2009), new teachers refers to teachers in their first two years of teaching; [more] experienced teachers refers to teachers with more than three years of teaching. By equipped, we refer to pre and inservice education as well as the support provided by principals and colleagues in the school (induction process, mentoring, appraisal and feedback). The analysis uses TALIS data and the results presented constitute the first step of an on-going research project on new teachers and teacher education and training. The paper provides descriptive statistics related to 1) The new teachers and their activities in the classroom and in the school, 2) The challenges new teachers face and the support mechanisms they benefit from, such as professional development, appraisal and/or feedback, and 3) The new teachers perception of their working environment. When relevant, the results will be discussed in light of the similarities and differences between the new and the more experienced teachers. The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 presents the theoretical background, Section 3 describes the methodology and Section 4 presents the findings. Section 5 discusses the results and concludes by pointing out future directions for the next steps of this research project. BACKGROUND Why focus on new teachers? Recent researches in the area of teachers and teaching practices have highlighted the relevance of studies about veteran teachers situations (Day & Gu, 2009). Nevertheless, the difficulties new teachers still encounter during their first years of teaching and their early departure from the profession support further investigations in order to better understand the challenges they have to face as well as the support or the education and the training they need.

3 The new teacher working conditions New teachers in the United States and in most European countries are placed in high-needs urban or rural areas with particular student and family intake characteristics, including multicultural backgrounds low-income and, diverse language abilities (Castro, Kelly, & Shih, 2010; Achinstein, & Athanases, 2005). Achinstein (2006) underlines how new teachers are vulnerable in their school sites with the least desirable classrooms or students, insufficient supplies, insecure untenured positions. They are often placed in hard-to-staff-school and are constantly examined and inspected by administrators, colleagues, parents and students. These poor working conditions associated with heavy workloads are in contradiction with the research-based evidence stressing that the first teaching period experiences have the strongest impact on retention and that it is primordial to provide beginning teachers with a positive entrance into the profession (e.g. Rots, Aelterman, Vlerick, & Vermeulen, 2007; Ulvick, et al., 2009). Ezer, Gilat, & Sagee (2010) analyze student teacher perceptions of teacher education and its contribution to their professional life based on a sample of 97 first-year new teachers who participated in an internship program. They found a low level of commitment to continue working as a teacher in the near future (half of the respondents) explained by the exposure to hardships and the low material rewards of teaching (Ezer, et al., 2010, p. 401). Employment uncertainty and insecurity tenure are identified by new teachers as one of the main early professional learning constrained they face (Fenwick, 2011). The practice shock In the literature, the most quoted difficulty encountered by new teachers is the practice shock or the discrepancy between teacher education content, often due to lack of relevance, and the reality of the first classroom experience (Ulvick, et al., 2009; Achinstein, 2006; Flores, & Day, 2006). From their part, Ezer, et al. (2010) stress the necessity to bridge the gap between theory and practice. They consider that new teachers must learn survival skills that were not part of their teacher education program (Ezer, et al., 2010, p. 392). The consistency of the new teacher professional identity and the process it is built from their entrance in the profession play also an important role when it comes to take the decision to stay or quit the teaching profession. Comparing the differences between the metaphors chosen by new teachers to qualify their professional identity immediately following their graduation with those used after one year of teaching, Thomas, & Beauchamp (2011) shed light on the shift from seeing themselves as ready for the challenge to adopting a survival mode. Then, the first year of teaching is a fight for survival through a deal with the reality shock (Kyriacou, & Kunce, 2007; Ulvik, et al., 2009). Achinstein (2006) highlights that new teachers need to explore, understand and take advantage of the so called micro-political literacy defined as an analysis of power, influence, conflict and control inside new teacher s organizational contexts (Achinstein, 2006, p. 124). Indeed, by learning to read

4 and understand the micro-political reality, teachers can adapt to it and act into it (Kerchtermans, & Ballet, 2002; Achinstein, 2006). For Sammons, Day, Kington, Gu, Stobart, & Smees (2007), teachers identity is closely related to their professional and personal values, aspirations and changes in their sense of effectiveness. They identify three dimensions of teacher identity: the professional identity, the situated and socially located identity within a specified school, department or classroom and the personal identity based on life outside of school. They show that each of these dimensions can affect positively or negatively teachers perceptions of their working conditions and practices such as resilience, commitment and effectiveness. New teachers professional identity is heavily influenced by negative experiences (Smethem, 2007). Teacher education, teacher training and new teacher needs Even if teacher education cannot realistically prepare new teachers for all the situations they will meet, new processes and professional development phases such as induction or mentoring bring their solutions, advantages and disadvantages. Sammons, et al. (2007) identify six teacher professional lives (respectively phases 0-3, 4-7, 8-15, 16-23, 24-30, 31+ year). The authors show that despite the number of common influences affecting teachers positively or negatively across their professional life phases, their impact varies with these life phases. Based on this, they claim that continuous professional development has to take place within professional, situated and personal contexts (i.e. the key-components of the teacher identity). According to them strategies for sustaining commitment in continuous professional development program should differentiate between the needs of teachers in different phases of their professional lives (Sammons, et al., 2007, p. 699). According to Ulvik, et al. (2009) new teachers need a space where they can reflect and not only act. The authors underline that the induction framework has to be thought and implemented in order to fit with the new teacher characteristics, his/her teaching context and has to be a fully integrated part of the school organization. Studying the first-three-year experiences of new teachers, Fenwick (2011) shows that the transition period between induction and post-induction is crucial and that support is still necessary after the induction process. In this context, schools have to become inclusive communities with a culture of sharing and teamwork (e.g. Fenwick, 2011; Ulvik, et al., 2009). Mentoring processes are also important but have to be implemented following certain specifications. For Achinstein (2006), mentors need knowledge related to how to read, navigate and transform the organizational contexts in order to offer new teachers a way to act in the political climate of schools, to address conflicts with colleagues, administrators and policies, and to move to define their own professional identity. Castro, et al. (2010) consider crucial that problem-solving strategies and techniques become part of the new teacher training and that teacher educators foster peer-support groups by creating cohorts in teacher education and support teams for new teachers within schools.

5 In this paper, based on a secondary data analysis of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), we will answer to the following question: How well are new teachers equipped to face the challenges they encounter in the classroom and achieve their school tasks/activities? by considering the following sub-aspects: 1) The new teachers and their activities in the classroom and in the school, 2) The challenges new teachers face and the support mechanisms they benefit such as professional development, appraisal and/or feedback, and 3) The new teachers perception of their working environment. THE STUDY The OECD s Teacher and Learning International Survey: An overview TALIS is an international survey focusing on the working conditions of teachers and the learning environment in schools. More specifically, TALIS focuses on lower secondary education teachers (teachers who, as part of their regular duties in school, provide instruction in programs at ISCED Level 2) and the principals of the schools where they teach. It provides data and analysis on the following key aspects of schooling: the role and functioning of school leadership; how teacher s work is appraised and the feedback they receive; teacher professional development; and teachers beliefs and attitudes about teaching and their pedagogical practices. TALIS looks at these factors through the eyes of teachers and school principals. This innovative approach was chosen in order to examine how the intended school and teacher educational policies and practices are actually perceived and implemented in schools and classrooms. Sample Twenty three countries have participated in TALIS 1 and the data was collected in In total, 71,619 teachers are represented. In order to create two representative sub-categories new teachers and more experienced teachers, we first focused on their background experience (see Table 1.). 1 Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flemish community), Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Slovenia.

6 TEACHERS - Background experience Freq. Percent. Cum. This is my first year 2, years 2, years 7, years 12, years 10, years 9, More than 20 years 26, Total 71, Table 1: Repartition of the sample per background experience Based on this partition, we created the two following categories: the new teachers with less than 3-year experience (Sammons, et al., 2007) and the more experienced ones with 3 year-experience and more (see Table 2.) Background experience Freq. Percent. Cum. New Teachers 4, More experienced teachers 66, Total 71, Table 2: Repartition of the sample between the new teachers and the more experienced ones As this stage of our research project, we did not focus on international comparisons. So, the different statistical weights related to each participant countries were not taken into consideration. Furthermore, since the sample of new teachers is very small compared to the more experienced ones, comparison between the two populations will be presented only when it seems relevant for the understanding of the new teachers working situations. FINDINGS The findings focus on the new teacher population (n=4,975). They successively present the new teacher population characteristics and its activities in the classroom and in the school; the new teachers needs and the support mechanisms they benefit from and the new teachers perception of their working environment. The new teachers and their activities in the classroom and in the school Among the new teacher population, 68.38% are women and 91.7% are under 40 years old (see Table 3.):

7 NEW TEACHERS - Age groups Under Total Freq. 1,309 2,202 1, ,975 Percent Cum Table 3: Repartition of the new teacher population per age-groups The majority of the new teachers have a bachelor degree (57.65%) and 26.97% a Master s. When it comes to their employment conditions, only 42.05% of the respondents have a permanent position in his/her school (against 85.77% of the more experienced teachers). The majority of the new teachers (46.69%) have a fixed term contract for 1 school-year or less (against 8.51% of more experienced teachers). Finally, 66.53% of the new teachers have a full-time contract (66.53%) (see Table 4 & Table 5): Permanent Fixed term contract for more than 1 school-year Fixed term contract for 1 schoolyear or less Omitted Total Employment status New Teachers (percent.) More experienced Teachers (percent.) Table 4: Employment status, comparison in percentage between new teachers and the more experienced ones Employment time Fulltime Part-time (50-90% of fulltime hours) Part-time (less than 50% of fulltime hours) Omitted Total New Teachers (percent.) More experienced teachers (percent.) Table 5: Employment time, comparison in percentage between new teachers and the more experienced ones

8 The new teachers needs and the support mechanisms provided by schools The new teachers needs In TALIS, teachers were asked to rate on a four-point scale their professional development need from low level of need to high level of need in different aspects of their activities in the school (see Figure 1.). The two aspects of new teacher work that is on average most frequently rated by teachers as an area of high development need are Student discipline and behavior problems (32.52%) and Teaching students with special learning needs (32.4%). As it was underlined by the European Commission (2010) in an analysis of teacher professional development (without distinction of experience background), since the TALIS target population excludes teachers who only teach special learning need students, this finding is quite significant and probably reflects two actual trends in educational policy: the integration of students with special learning needs in mainstream schools and the increasing emphasis on equity. The others aspects in which, on average, a sizeable proportion of new teachers report having a high level of development need are: Classroom management (23.74%) and Instructional practices in their main subject (23.26%). Figure 1: Areas of greatest development needs of new teachers (TALIS, ) It is interesting to present here the findings of the analysis of teachers professional needs conducted by the European Commission (2010) in order to shed light on the specificities of the new teacher population. Indeed, the European Commission (2010) has shown that on average across the 23 participating countries the aspect of

9 teachers work that is most frequently rated as a high level of need is Teaching students with special learning needs (32%); followed by ICT teaching skills (25% against 18.71% for the new teachers) and Student discipline and behavior (21% against 32.52% for new teachers). Classroom management and Instructional practices in their main subject represent respectively only 14% and 18% of the new teacher respondents. The support mechanisms provided by schools (see Table 6 & Figure 2.) The majority of new teachers declare never having received appraisal or feedback about their work from the principal of their school (28.92%), their colleagues (27.46%) or external individual/body (62.47%). Focusing on internal-school support, 19.46% of new teachers declare receiving an appraisal of feedback from their principal once per year and 15.96% three or more times per year % of the new teachers declare having received appraisal or feedback from a colleague three or more times per year and 13.85% monthly. Table 6: Appraisal and feedback about new teacher work in their school In TALIS, teachers were also asked to rate on a four-point scale the impact they received in their school on their situation in this school and on their activities in the classroom from No change to A large change (see Figure 2.).

10 Figure 2: Impact of appraisal and feedback on new teaching activities and situation in their school The comparison between the two extreme scale-points sheds light on the very low impact of the appraisal and feedback new teachers received about their teaching activity. The scarcity of this kind of support is then combined with their low impact. New teachers professional development (see Table 7.) The majority of new teachers (71%) declare having participated in courses or workshops during the last 18 months preceding the survey, only 31% of them declare having benefited of mentoring or peer observation and coaching as part of a formal school arrangement. About one third of them has participated in a network of teachers formed specifically for teacher professional development (29%) and has conducted an individual or collaborative research on a topic of professional interest (33%). NEW TEACHERS - Professional development activities during the last 18 months Yes No Omitted Total Courses & workshop 71% 28% 1% 100% Education conferences or seminars 41% 58% 1% 100% Education conferences or seminars 26% 72% 1% 100% Observation visits to other schools 21% 78% 1% 100% Participation in a network of teachers formed specifically for the professional development of teacher 29% 70% 1% 100%

11 Individual or collaborative research on a topic of interest to them professionally 33% 65% 1% 100% Mentoring or peer observation and coaching, as part of a formal school arrangement 31% 68% 1% 100% Table 7: New teachers participation in professional development activities during the last 18 months The majority of the new teachers (60%) affirm that they wanted to participate in more professional development than they did. Among these 60%, the main reasons they give to explain what prevented them from participating in more professional development than they did are Conflict with work schedule (44%); No suitable professional development offer (39%); and professional development too expensive (26%). The lack of employer support reaches 13% of the respondents and the Family responsibilities obtains 18% (see Figure 3.) Figure 3: Reasons explaining new teachers did not participate in more professional development during the last 18 months The new teacher perceptions of their working environment The results regarding the new teacher perceptions of their working environment are not indicative of any specific problem (see Table 8.) In different proportions new teachers agree with the statements related with their situation about themselves as a teacher: 74% Successful with their students of their classes ; 72% Know how to get through to students ; and 61 % are Satisfied with their job.

12 Table 8: New teachers perceptions about themselves as a teacher in their school Regarding new teachers perceptions of what happens in their school, almost one third of them (29%) disagree with the statement Teachers in this local community are well respected (see Table 9.). With the other statements, new teachers agree in different proportions. Table 9: New teachers perceptions about what happens in their school Finally, the new teachers perceptions of their class do not highlight specific difficulties but are not so clear cut positive (see Table 10.).

13 Table 10: New teachers perceptions about their class Indeed, although the majority of the new teachers does not consider waiting quite a long time for student to quiet down when the lesson begins (45% disagree) one third of them claim that they have to (29% agree). In the same way, whereas the majority of the new teachers does not consider losing time because of students interrupting the lessons (41% disagree) 30 % agree with this statement. Although 52% of the respondents agree with the proposal stating that students in their classroom take care to create a pleasant learning atmosphere, 28 % of them disagree with this statement. Finally, 62% (disagree and strongly disagree) of the new teachers does not consider that there is much noise in their classroom. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION This study has described the working situation and conditions of the 4,975 new teachers having participating to the OECD s Teaching and Learning International Survey. Its purpose was to answer to the following question: How well are new teachers equipped to face the challenges they encounter in the classroom and achieve their school tasks/activities?. The findings confirm the vulnerability of this population of teachers (Achinstein, 2006). When it comes to their employment conditions (Fenwick, 2011), only 42.05% of them have a permanent position and % have a fixed-term-contract for one-school year or less. When it comes to their perception of the school working environment, one third of them do not feel well-respected in their local community. New teachers seem to have specific needs in terms of professional development in comparison with the more experienced teachers. Among them, the needs related to classroom management and instructional practices in their main subject fields tend to confirm the practice shock described in the literature review (Ulvick, et al., 2009; Achinstein, 2006; Flores, & Day, 2006; Ezer, et al., 2010). This difference

14 between the new teacher ideal of teaching and the reality they have to face (Kyriacou, & Kunce, 2007; Ulvik, et al., 2009) also surface when it comes to their description of the perception of their class. Even though the majority of them have a good perception of it, the results show that this positive perception is not shared by all : although they do not constitute the majority of the respondents one third of them consider losing time because of student interrupting the lessons, waiting quite a long time for student to quiet down when the lesson begins or disagree with the statement students in their classroom take care to create a pleasant learning atmosphere. Since the first years of experience have the strongest impact on teacher retention, the survey highlights that there is still a lot to do in this area. With respect to the support mechanisms provided by schools to the new teacher population and its impact, the findings are quite negative and underlined the necessity for policy makers and the different stake holders to focus on this area. Regarding the crucial internal-school support (e.g. Ulvick, et al., 2009; Fenwick, 2011; Alchinstein, 2006; Castro, et al., 2010), the findings indicate their scarcity and their poor impact on teaching activities and situations in the school: the majority of new teachers (almost one third) declare never having received appraisal or feed-back from their principal or from their colleagues. Among the professional development activities they participate in during the 18 months preceding the survey, only one third of them claim having benefited from mentoring or peer observation and coaching as part of the formal school arrangement. Furthermore, among the 60% of the respondents that wanted to participate in more professional development than they did, 44% did not to it because of the conflict with the workschedule, 39% because of the non-suitable offer, and 26% because of the cost. These findings confirm that new teachers need space where they can reflect and not only act (Ulvik, et al., 2009) as well as the discrepancy of the support provided to them (Sammons, et al., 2007). Finally, the new teachers having responded to TALIS seem to have a positive perception of themselves as teachers and of what happens in their school since no specific difficulty surfaced, excluding the way teachers are considered in the local community (see above). In light of these preliminary findings, the new teacher respondents in TALIS do not seem different from the new teachers considered in the literature review: they are vulnerable because of their employment conditions and the emotional situations they encounter in their working-day experience, the support they benefit from does not seem well adapted to their specific needs as new teachers, and their perception of their working situation though globally positive, is tainted by some negative aspects. There is no way to know if these new teachers have stayed in the profession the year following this survey, but it is clear that a lot has still to be done by policy makers and stakeholders to respond to the needs of this specific population of teachers. This paper is a first step of an on-going research project on new teachers and teacher education and training. The next steps will consider the national specificities of the respondents and will focus on analyzing the relationships

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