Further Education as Help to Saturate the Needs of Beginning Teachers

The paper presents an analysis of the effect of lifelong learning courses helping the observed beginning teachers overcome difficulties in the initial years after completing undergraduate training. Data, analysed using a grounded theory method, were obtained through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 11 beginning biology teachers with 1 to 5 years of experience. There is an apparent disconnect between what novice teachers named as failures (and what they need to improve on) and what kind of continuing education courses they actually take. The data analysed revealed the reasons for this discrepancy: (1) beginning teachers fail to identify the causes of their teaching problems; (2) An induction teacher or a similarly attuned colleague can help to name the problem and identify its causes; however, beginning teachers lack an induction teacher (often only formally appointed); (3) the lack of support from the school can be compensated to some extent by in-service training courses – however, beginning biology teachers sought out courses oriented towards knowledge or practical skills acquisition; only when they came across a course that provided a space for reflection and sharing experiences with other (beginning) teachers did they better cope with the “reality shock” – they discovered that teaching failures do not happen only to them and they are not “thrown into the water” alone. While in-service training courses are valuable for beginning teachers, it is essential that they are not only oriented towards knowledge or the acquisition of practical skills, but that they provide a space for sharing experiences and for joint reflection on situations arising from school reality.