Research regarding the problems encountered by the beginner teacher in his 1st year of teaching

Research conducted on novice teachers suggests that the first year of teaching is a time of much difficulty because of factors such as problems with classroom management, the workload, the learning and teaching process, motivating students, assessment and evaluation, and insufficient and inadequate material, instructional planning and pacing. It was also stated that those beginner teachers who believe that teaching is merely showing and telling, and that learning is memorization, are overwhelmed with problems such as procedural unknowns, feelings of insecurity over the curriculum, teaching techniques and methods, and their relationship with other teachers. One of the outstanding problems that the novice teachers struggle with is having a heavier workload than experienced teachers. In some studies, it was found that one of the primary causes for apprehensive attitudes towards professional development was overwork and associated lack of preparation time. This particular finding was supported by suggesting that beginner teachers are also given the most demanding assignments, such as having to teach difficult groups and completing paperwork assigned by administration, as well as an overload of teaching hours. According to the results of Veenmans (1984) study, with particular reference to classroom management, some of the learner-related issues perceived by beginner teachers are: motivating students, dealing with individual differences, assessing students work, relations with parents and organization of class work. Similarly, the first year teachers have to deal with the most challenging classes and work with some of the most alienated students. Due to these problems, the teaching profession has begun to lose talented teacher. Findings in the literature suggest that nearly 50% of teachers entering the profession leave within the first 5 years The first year is considered a vicious cycle during which teachers first complain about the teaching workload, then either change their teaching in a way contrary to their beliefs, or suddenly decide to leave the profession altogether. Bearing this fact in mind, it is obvious that novice teachers have difficulties in surviving in the profession when left on their own. It is also

emphasized the need for support at this stage to become flexible, self-evaluative, competent, and confident enough to confront any problems which may arise in the classroom and at school. In addition, as Boss (2001) indicates, novice teachers need guidance and support from experienced educators. The questionnaire that I have elaborated aims to reveal the beginner teachers concerns regarding various aspects of their teaching and to identify the strategies they use to cope with these concerns. I have asked some of my colleagues that have been already teaching English for more than one year to complete this questionnaire:

1. What is your gender? a)Female b) Male 2. How old are you? a) Under 25 b) 25-29 3. What is your employment status as a teacher? a) Full-time b) Part-time (50-90% of full-time hours) c) Part-time (less than 50% of full-time hours) 4. What is your employment status as a teacher at the school you are teaching? a) Permanent employment (an on-going contract with no fixed end-point before the age of retirement) b) Fixed term contract for a period of more than 1 school-year c) Fixed-term contract for a period of 1 school-year or less

5. What are the main concerns that you have encountered in your first year of teaching? Give examples and comment.

6. Can you please state some of your inner thoughts when confronting with those concerns?

7. What strategies did you use in order to deal with those concerns?

8. Where those strategies successful?

9. How would you describe your first year of teaching?

10. Describe your present level of commitment to teaching as a career. a) I will soon be looking for another career to pursue. b) I may eventually look for another career to pursue. c) I want to be a teacher but I will also keep other options open. d) I am firmly committed to a career in teaching. e) I am absolutely committed to a career in teaching. Thank you very much for taking the time to complete the questionnaire.

Results
After gathering all the answers and putting them all together, I decided to focus on one question in particular and to analyze the answers received from my colleagues from QUESTION 5. I indentified the following three major categories and subcategories of CONCERNS. The list of concerns and the sample comments by the teachers in the form of direct quotations is given in Table 1.

The major and sub-categories of concerns and sample comments: Concerns Individual Concerns Students are hard to motivate. Student-based Concerns I took granted that all students would know the basics, but they didnt. Some students are too inhibited and passive. I no longer trust my students, my perspective towards them changed. I started to believe that they are attacking me. I started the second semester being a strict teacher, Concerns about self even though I am not. Am I turning into an exam-oriented teacher? It is almost impossible to get them to do homework without threatening them. At the moment, I am not the teacher I actually want to be. Classroom Procedures Classroom Management They are not following my instructions I have classroom management problems. Students are getting naughtier. I dont feel in control. Physical conditions are contributing to create distractions For group activities, physical conditions are poor I get disappointed when group activities dont work Setting up pair/group work is very difficult Sample Comments by Teachers

Physical Conditions In-class activities

Students are resorting to Romanian a lot. Academic Coordination There is no time to use any kind of extra material The schedule is so busy that we are bombarding the Material students with a lot of input. The material is too challenging, especially for low level groups I dont know what the exams will cover Testing There seems to be a mismatch between what is taught and what is tested. Work-load Student Regrouping I have to teach 20 hours a week, I feel so tired Teaching four to five hours in a row is exhausting They compare me to other teachers and they think I am boring.

Under the major category of Individual Concerns, the first sub-category was studentbased concerns. Student motivation, the proficiency level of students, and personality traits of students appear to be the major concerns in this category. Motivating students and dealing with individual differences are among the main concerns of beginner teachers. The second sub-category under this theme was Concerns about Self. As can be seen in the quotations in Table 1, these concerns show that teachers perceptions about students have changed and they began to view themselves as acting contrary to their beliefs; in other words, a conflicting teacher-image was apparent in their statements. The first year of teaching is a vicious cycle which causes teachers to change their beliefs regarding their students, themselves as teachers and their teaching. The second main theme was Classroom Procedures, which covered the sub-categories of classroom management, in-class activities and physical conditions. From the quotations related to classroom procedures in Table 1, discipline emerges as the major issue. The third subcategory

regarding the concerns of the novice teachers was in-class activities. As can be inferred from the quotations above, teachers believe that the physical conditions of the classrooms (size, seating layout etc) interfere with their teaching, thus become a concern. The last main theme was Academic Coordination, consisting of material, testing, work load and student regrouping. Among these, material and work-load were indicated as the prominent concerns. The novice teachers clearly expressed their concerns resulting from the busy schedule, leaving little time for different learning activities. The teachers stated that they could perform better with more preparation time, less teaching hours and less additional duties. Coping with hectic schedules, instructional pacing, and planning of instruction are among the concerns of novice teachers. Testing was another sub-category mentioned by the teachers. Also, when new groups are formed and different instructors are assigned to each group, which apparently cause teachers to express concerns about student dynamics and the fact that students tend to make comparisons between teachers. The answers at my 6th question were also very interesting. The results suggested that novice teachers struggle in their own way through the first year of teaching by using different strategies such as consulting colleagues and family members, and searching the internet. Two of the teachers who solved some of their classroom management problems by consulting family members who were themselves teachers, stated: I change the seating of some students to solve management problems because my mother told me she would do the same thing . Three indicated that they searched different sources to solve problems such as giving instructions. I solved problems with giving instructions by shortening them and giving them step by step. This is something I read on the internet. Finally, consulting colleagues was a strategy used by all teachers. By asking my office-mate, I managed to involve the indifferent students by giving them some tasks such as cleaning the board, distributing handouts, etc., Sometimes I rewrite the material so it looks more motivating and matches the students level. That is what other teachers told me they do, too., I learned how important it is to keep silent to make students silent.

They all agreed that consulting colleagues was the most useful strategy in coping with the problems encountered during the research. They also expressed a desire for fewer teaching hours per week, which would give them the opportunity to cope with the above mentioned concerns more easily. As a conclusion to what I have analyzed, I may say that being a teacher is not easy. Teaching is a full time job, as a teachers day does not end when the bell rings or when s/he gets home from school. S/he has to prepare the lesson plan for the next day, s/he has to find a range of different activities than the ones s/he used a day before and s/he may have to do some research before adopting a topic (in order to be informed of the latest news concerning that topic) as good teachers should also teach students values, not only lessons. It is the type of job that has its rewards when seeing the students one teaches grow up to be good and successful people, always thankful for the efforts their teachers did in order to provide them a proper education.