Considering the first year: reflection as a means to address beginning teachers’ concerns

Abstract

If teaching is a complex act, it is additionally complex for first-year teachers’, who enter with the same responsibilities as veteran teachers yet encounter specific difficulties as beginning teachers. This paper uses existing research on beginning English teachers major concerns to frame the exploration of concerns faced by four beginning teachers. This exploration focuses on two guiding questions: (1) What issues of practice do beginning teachers identify in their first year of teaching?; (2) How do the beginning teachers understand these issues of practice? A qualitative methodology guided the research, with active interviewing and ethnographic content analysis used to examine the data. While the beginning teachers experienced several concerns noted in previous research, analysis of the data identified three additional first-year teacher concerns: adjustment to the profession, acceptance of students and management of emotion. Teacher educators must prepare beginning teachers for the existence of these concerns in the classroom, as well as the impact of these concerns on the beginning teacher. Reflective practice is offered as a means to meaningfully address concerns during university preparation and consider these concerns in the first years of teaching.