ARPHA Proceedings 3: 2609-2619, doi: 10.3897/ap.2.e2609
Difficulties and Resources of Teachers’ Adaptation in Teachers’ Reflection
expand article infoInessa. V. Usoltseva, Natalia A. Savotina, Igor V. Metlik, Yaroslava A. Kabalevskaya
Open Access
Abstract
Improving the quality of teacher's training can be difficult without analyzing the crucial problems and resources to overcome the former which exist at the initial stage of the teacher’s work. The article is devoted to this relevant problem. The aim of the article is a comprehensive analysis of factors that are actualizing the capacity of school teachers at the initial stage of their work.The leading method for researching the problem is the authors’ questionnaire “Reflection on early pedagogical experience”. A total number of 104 school teachers with a different length of service at school were interviewed. We compared data using the Mann-Whitney U-test in the program Statistica 8.0.The study reveals the most significant difficulties experienced by teachers in the first years of their work which are divided into three groups: a didactic competence, job requirements (“bureaucratic” difficulties), and interactions with other individuals in the sphere of education. The most various difficulties of a teachers’ adaptation are from a group of psychological difficulties.The data shows that beginning teachers put the support of colleagues, administration and parents in the first place among the resources of their adaptation to the school, while more experienced teachers praised the self-education and creativity in teaching.Based on our data, we are suggesting that teacher initial education should influence the formation of professional self-awareness of future and novice teachers, motivating them to self-knowledge and self-development within the framework of psychological training and workshops.
Keywords
teacher's adaptation, teacher's professional development, teacher's education, survey