1. Dr. Eva Sunde
The University of Bergen
Dr. Anna E du Plessis
The University of Queensland
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2. The outline
• Beginner teachers assigned to complex teaching
positions has significant meaning for these teachers,
their leaders and their classrooms
• Interrelationships
▫ School leaders’ perceptions of beginner teachers’ real-life
experiences
▫ Beginner teachers’ lived experiences and their ‘truths’
• The literature
(Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007; 2009)
(Hattie, 2009)
(Teague & Swan, 2013)
(Le Maistre & Pare, 2010)
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3. What is happening?
(Moir, 2011; Wisconsin Education Association Council, 2014).
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4. Contextualising complex teaching
experiences
The life-world of
beginner teachers
Qualification
concerns
Class sizes
and student
cohorts
Language
issues
Teaching and
learning
environment
Knowledge of
cultures and
traditions
Support and
targeted
professional
learning
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5. Literature: Being novice and effective
•‘A teacher needs to possess knowledge before they
are able to share it’ (Leaman, 2006, p. 7; Berliner, 1986).
•Teachers concerns - unfamiliarity with cultural
background (Boreen et al., 2000).
 Being a beginner, and still effective – the balance
between content knowledge and classroom
management strategies (Boreen, Johnson, Niday & Potts, 2000).
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6. Positioning the argument
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‘Being a novice teacher’
Expectations Their truth...
‘Being competent’
‘Being adjustable’
Assignments
Work load
Placements
‘Being effective’ Support
Leadership decisions and perceptions

7. Approach and Methodology
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Semi-structured interviews
Classroom and staff room
observations
Document analysis/Support
and developmental strategies
Reflections in field diary
Way of inquiry

8. The analytical tools
‘Complex teaching
situations’
Beginner teachers
School leadership
decisions/choices
What does it mean?
• Thematic analysis
• Inter-relationships (Units of meaning)
• Looking through different lenses - Various levels of school
leaders and beginner teachers
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9. Findings: Perceptions and real-life
experiences
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Self critique Support
Expectations:
The gap
Confidence
Self-esteem
Lack of content
knowledge
Communication
Insecurities
Experiences of
beginner teachers in
complex teaching
situations

10. Beginning teachers: Summary
• Need to learn rules and routines
• Practical solutions, need to know the system
• Understand their role and duty
• Find themselves
• Find their place in school
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Results: Leadership perceptions
(Norway)

11. Results: Leadership perceptions
(Australia and South Africa)
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Leaders leading:
She is a very effective teacher but she doesn’t know what she
doesn’t know. I did feel sorry for her because she
could’ve performed far better if she had been in her
own area.
Principal, Australia
....any good teacher should be able to teach anything...they are
too picky...
Principal, South Africa

12. Summary
• Leadership focus, priority and perceptions influence
real-life experiences and assignments of beginner
teachers
• Leadership style plays a major role in the lived
experiences of beginner teachers
▫ Instructional leadership models
▫ Transformational leadership models (Hattie, 2009)
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Results: Leadership perceptions
(Australia and South Africa)

13. Results: Life-world of beginner
teachers (Australia)
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…..felt like the cart was before the horse
Beginner teacher

14. I tried when we got our timetables (talks fast) I came in …I
said can I see you please…to the Deputy…and he said: Oh
sorry, I am really busy. I emailed him a couple of times
and I had no reply, I tried to see him before the kids came in
at the start of the year and he was busy ...he didn’t have
time for me …I felt like I was fobbed off and I just
wanted to sort the stuff out because I felt really quite
stressed…
 Beginner teacher
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Results: Life-world of beginner
teachers (Australia)

15. ...I tried to talk to them (leaders)...but they
didn’t listen...I feel angry and depressed. If
things do not improve by the end of the year...I am
leaving...
 Beginner teacher
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Results: Life-world of beginner
teachers (South Africa)

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Results: Life-world of beginner
teachers (Norway)
The most difficult experience for me was all the things I was
not prepared for, as a beginner teacher …
I was not made familiar with the job… After a while I
found two sources to survive, my own common sense and
an experienced colleague…
…to get the most difficult classes, either in a subject I was
not educated for or the classes that the experienced
teachers resisted to take and, for example, by holding
back on information about the class.
Beginner teachers, Norway

17. The truth...
and the meaning of leadership choices.... (Ingersoll,2012)
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18. The interrelationship:
School leaders and novice teachers
Positive experiences: “Growing people”
Caring, awareness, support, action
Negative experiences: Communication break
down, misconceptions, Teacher attrition
Implications: Targeted professional learning for
leaders and beginner teachers, leadership skills,
informed and preparedness of beginner teachers.
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19. anna.duplessis@uqconnect.edu.au
School of Education: The University of Queensland
http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:330372
Eva.sunde@iub.uib.no
School of Education: The University of Bergen
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