Leadership

A recent study of beginning teachers in the USA has important messages for school leadership (Susan M. Kardos and Susan Moore Johnson, ‘On their own and presumed expert: New teachers’ experience with their colleagues’, Teachers College Record, Vol.109, No. 9, 2007, pp.2083–2106, http://www.tcrecord.org ID 12812).

The data show that many beginning teachers find they are expected to be expert and independent from the start, even though they want and need collaboration and even though collaboration is known to contribute to school effectiveness.

The authors conclude that schools need an ‘integrated professional culture’ which
1 promotes frequent and reciprocal interaction among staff with different levels of experience
2 recognises new teachers’ needs as beginners
3 develops shared responsibility among all teachers in the school.

They say: ‘Principals and school leaders could promote professional cultures that support new teachers by paying closer attention to the particular needs of the new teachers. New teachers need sheltered opportunities to improve their craft; they need access to additional help with their students, their teaching, and the encouragement to ask for this help from colleagues and administrators; and they need opportunities to contribute their special talents and skills to the school community. Principals and school leaders themselves could be actively engaged in visibly granting this sort of status to new teachers and deliberately creating the kind of professional environment where new teachers’ needs are recognized and met, both by establishing formal programs for new teachers and also by challenging the time-worn “sink or swim” approach.’

This is an under-researched area in Australia but the situation sounds similar. The loneliness of the beginning teacher needs more deliberate attention.