Ashley Conrad

TE 872: Teachers as Teacher Educators

July 12, 2015
Challenges Facing New Teachers
Being a teacher is an exceptionally challenging occupation, but for those individuals just
entering the world of teaching, the challenges can seem insurmountable. A new job in any field
presents a set of challenges specific to being new: finding the bathroom, determining expectations,
getting to know co-workers and their responsibilities, etc. New teachers, however have a specific set of
challenges that are not always comparable to those faced by other professions.
While the teacher attrition rate for the first five years of teaching in the U.S. has dropped, the
numerous challenges still mean that seventeen percent of new teachers left the profession between
2008 and 2012 (Zinshteyn 2015). Even this number may be more reflective of a challenging economic
climate than an easier situation for teachers. In a study by Ross Brenneman, the top four reasons that
teachers decided to leave teaching were: too little prep time, teaching load too heavy, poor
salary/benefits, class sizes too large (2014).
In his article, Beginning Teachers and the Emotional Drama of the Classroom, Sam Intrator
discusses the advice he gives his teachers education students as they head off to their first jobs. He
focuses on four main challenges that will affect his students in their first year of teaching: the
challenge of being a novice, the challenge of dealing with a roller-coaster of emotions, the challenge
of gaining students interest and attention, and the challenge of maintaining a healthy personal life
(p.233). Two of these factors, the challenge of being a novice and the challenge of maintaining a
healthy personal life connect directly back to Brennemans list of reasons people leave teaching.

Another study done in the Netherlands examined the challenges of student and first-year
teachers and found many struggles that would fall into the first three of Intrators challenges (Pillen,
Beijaard, and Brok 2014). As I read through the very detailed categories of challenges, I was very
surprised to find essentially no mention of the struggle of maintaining a healthy personal life and only
two of the twenty-four new teachers mentioned struggles of wanting to invest time in practicing
teachings vs. feeling pressured to invest time in other tasks that are part of the teaching profession
(Pillen, Beijaard, and Brok 2014 p.672). As I found time management and workload to be an enormous
challenge, I was confused that it would be hardly mentioned by these new teachers. I then, however,
discovered that the average number of yearly student-contact teaching hours in Netherlands is only 750
compared to the U.S.s 1100 hours (Brenneman 2014). This is a difference of 350 student contact
hours each year and would certainly make a difference in a new teachers workload.
In looking at the various articles and information posted about the challenges new teachers
face, the struggle the most resonates with me is that of the challenge of workload and maintaining a
healthy work-life balance. After all, the top two Sources of Dissatisfaction for Outgoing Teachers
were too little prep time and teaching load too heavy (Brenneman 2014). I know that my first few
years of teaching a really struggled with the workload. I was working a minimum of 60 hours each
week in my first two years, and then my third year teaching I was given two new classes to teach for a
total of three different classes to prepare for in two different buildings. Additionally, I had a mentor
teacher whose personality and teaching style so different from mine that I was not able to draw the
necessary support from her. Another challenge for my situation was that I was the only teacher at
either school who taught two of the courses that I was given to teach and district-wide meetings for the
courses only occurred once each year. It was a terrible year for me! I was working a minimum of 80
hours each week, was extremely stressed, and was not getting enough sleep. As overwhelmed as I was,
I definitely seriously considered leaving the teaching profession.

It is my sincere hope that future new teachers do not have to go through that challenging of an
experience. In order to prevent new teacher burn-out, it is crucial that systems are put in place to
support new teachers will all of the challenges that they face. Intrator, who sees the struggles of his
first-year teachers, states, If our beginning teachers have no strategies for retaining their enthusiasm,
rejuvenating their energy, bouncing back from the inevitable dark day, then our children will suffer
(238). It is essential that school districts and veteran teachers provide new teachers with opportunities
to gain these strategies.
One essential way to allow new teachers to receive the support that they need is through mentor
teachers. Zinshteyn states in her article on teachers remaining in the profession that teachers who were
assigned a mentor teacher were significantly less likely to leave the profession than those who were not
assigned one (2015). I would add, however, that it is helpful for the new teacher to be placed with a
mentor who has a similar teaching style and that it may even be advisable for novice teachers to be
provided with more than one mentor so that he or she would have access to multiple individuals with a
variety of strengths, perspectives, knowledge, and availability.
Another important system to aid new teachers in dealing with the challenges of teaching is to
allow them platforms to speak about their challenges. In the study about new teachers in the
Netherlands, the researchers observed that tensions in teaching could become growth experiences if
framed correctly and can be significantly reassured in knowing that other have and are experiencing
similar challenges (Pillen, Beijaard, and Brok 2014 p. 674-675). A new teachers discussion group
where new teachers could go to discuss their challenges, experiences, and strategies could prove
invaluable for alleviating some of the pressure of their struggles as well as allowing them to learn and
grow from the experiences of others.

In sum, teaching is an occupation rife with challenges, especially for new teachers. Because of
this, it is critical for veteran teachers and schools to go out of their ways to provide a wide variety of
supports to enable their new teachers to flourish and to reach their full potential.

References
Brenneman, R. (2014, December 29). The teaching profession in 2014 (in charts). [Blog post].
Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2014/12/the-teachingprofession-in-2014-in-charts.html?cmp=soc-edit-tw
Intrador, S. (2006). Beginning teachers and the emotional drama of the classroom. Journal of Teacher
Education, 57, 232-239. doi: 10.1177/0022487105285890 Retrieved from
http://jte.sagepub.com/conetnt/57/3/232
Pillen, M, Beijarrd, J, den Brok, P. (2013). Professional identity tensions of beginning teachers.
Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 19, 660-678. doi: 10.1080/13540602.2013.827455
or http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2013.827455
Zinshteyn, M. (2015, April 30). Contrary to conventional wisdom, new teachers are staying on the job.
The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/04/contraryto-conventional-wisdom-new-teachers-are-staying-on-the-job/391985/