Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
M C C A N N
L A R R Y R . J O H A N N E S S E N
B E R N A R D P. R I C C A
Supporti ng
Beginning English Teachers
Research and Implications for Teacher Induction
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Why do some early-career
English teachers leave the
profession while others stay?
Supporting Beginning English Teachers extends
earlier research about the concerns of beginning
teachers in general and also examines specifically
the frustrations of beginning high school English
teachers. Based on their findings from a three-year
research study, the authors review the common
concerns among beginning English teachers and the
underlying factors that make these issues
distressful; they also describe new teachers means
for coping with difficulties, their journey toward
competence and confidence, and the measures that
universities, schools, and new teachers themselves
can take to increase the likelihood that promising
new teachers will remain in the profession.
Educators interested in the induction and retention
of new high school English teachers can pursue the
new questions and methodologies suggested by
this study to learn more about the pressures that
drive newcomers away from teaching and the
factors that can encourage retention.
National Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096
800-369-6283 or 217-328-3870 www.ncte.org
Foreword
vii
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Jeffrey D. Wilhelm
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
1 The Problem of Attrition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Research Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 Common Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4 Follow-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5 Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6 The Common Life of the First-Year Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7 The Benefits of Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8 The Struggle for Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9 Steps toward Helping Beginning Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
10 Guiding New Teachers to Help Themselves . . . . . . . . . . 136
11 Summary of Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
12 Directions for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
APPENDIXES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
AUTHORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
a02697_fm 4/26/05, 9:25 AM 7
The Problem of Attrition
1
I
J
O
H
A
N
N
E
S
S
E
N
R
I
C
C
A
Why do some early-career
English teachers leave the
profession while others stay?
Supporting Beginning English Teachers extends
earlier research about the concerns of beginning
teachers in general and also examines specifically
the frustrations of beginning high school English
teachers. Based on their findings from a three-year
research study, the authors review the common
concerns among beginning English teachers and the
underlying factors that make these issues
distressful; they also describe new teachers means
for coping with difficulties, their journey toward
competence and confidence, and the measures that
universities, schools, and new teachers themselves
can take to increase the likelihood that promising
new teachers will remain in the profession.
Educators interested in the induction and retention
of new high school English teachers can pursue the
new questions and methodologies suggested by
this study to learn more about the pressures that
drive newcomers away from teaching and the
factors that can encourage retention.
National Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096
800-369-6283 or 217-328-3870 www.ncte.org