Induction into Teaching in Turkish Secondary Schools: A Multiple Case Study of First Year Teachers’ Experiences

2019-03-01
Gunes, Tugba
Yıldırım, Ali
The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of the first year of four novice teachers regarding their classroom experiences, relationships with colleagues, mentoring process and the reflections on the pre-service teacher education they received. The study adopted a qualitative multiple-case study design and the data were collected from four novice teachers through semi structured interviews. Additionally, 28-hour classroom observations were conducted and documents such as teachers’ materials, exam papers and meetings reports of the committee of teachers’ group were analyzed to supplement the interview findings. The results of the study suggested that novice teachers had trouble in classroom management, handling student behaviors, relationships with colleagues, principals and parents, using appropriate teaching learning methods and techniques, motivating students, establishing a productive relationship with mentors, and handling workload. Moreover, ineffective mentoring and inadequacies of the pre-service teacher education turned out to be challenging. The most significant weakness of the pre-service teacher education was found to be the lack of an efficient training period, and the results indicated that the pre-service teacher education failed to prepare novice teachers for the realities of teaching and for their first year in the profession.
Mediterranean Journal of Educational Research

Suggestions

Induction into teaching: a multiple-case study of the first year teachers’ experiences at schools /
Cihan, Tuğba; Yıldırım, Ali; Department of Elementary Education (2016)
The aim of this study was to examine the first year of four novice teachers in the teaching profession with regard to their perceptions and experiences about the classroom processes they undergo, professional development, relationships with students and colleagues, teaching performance, mentorship, personal life and the pre-service teacher education in addition to their mentors’ perceptions regarding the induction process. The study adopted a qualitative multiple-case study design and data were collected fr...
Pre-Service Teachers’ Evaluation of Their Mentor Teachers, School Experiences, and Theory–Practice Relationship
Alemdağ, Ecenaz; Özdemir Şimşek, Pınar (2017-06-01)
This case study investigated practicum experiences of pre-service teachers by focusing on their evaluation of mentor teachers, school experiences, and theory-practice relationships. Interviews were conducted with six teacher candidates, and observations in the participants' practice schools were made. The results revealed that mentor teachers had both positive and negative qualities with respect to social support, professional support, and role-modeling mentoring functions. Moreover, pre-service teachers re...
Beginning early childhood education teachers' career perceptions, expectation, concerns and their experiences in public schools
Akdağ, Zeynep; Haser, Çiğdem; Department of Elementary Education (2012)
The aim of this study was to scrutinize perceptions, expectations and concerns of pre-service early childhood education (ECE) teachers before they start their careers and their challenges in their first year as they became beginning teachers. This study also focused on documenting public school contexts where beginning teachers have been either supported and given the opportunity to develop as successful teachers or discouraged and left alone with the challenges in their first year of teaching. In order to ...
An exploration of teacher commitment through the perspectives of novice teachers
Ural, Fadime; Ok, Ahmet; Department of Educational Sciences (2021-8)
The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of novice teachers regarding teacher commitment, their experiences of teacher commitment, and the factors causing changes in it. Also, it was aimed to be informed of the suggestions of novice teachers for the sustainability and increase of teacher commitment. In this study, phenomenology as a qualitative research design was used. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews from 30 novice teachers working their first three years of the teach...
Re-defining language teacher cognition through a data-driven model: The case of three EFL teachers
Öztürk, Gökhan; Gürbüz, Nurdan (2017-01-01)
This study examined the main sources of the participant English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' cognitions, their classroom practices and the impact of institutional context on these practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL instructors working at English preparatory programs at university level. The data were collected through three semi-structured interviews, twelve hours of classroom observations with follow-up stimulated recall interviews, and reflective journal entries. To analyse th...
Citation Formats
T. Gunes and A. Yıldırım, “Induction into Teaching in Turkish Secondary Schools: A Multiple Case Study of First Year Teachers’ Experiences,” Mediterranean Journal of Educational Research, pp. 86–122, 2019, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/56591.