Understanding the Experience of Novice Teachers for Planning for an Induction Program: A Case Study of a Private School in Lebanon

Abstract

The study examined the perceptions of novice teachers and administrators about novice teachers’ experience as they transition from college to their first years of teaching. The study purpose is to identify novice teachers and instructional supervisors’ perspectives regarding the challenges novice teachers face during their first years of teaching in addition to the administrative support provided to assist them during this phase. Also, it aims at comparing these perspectives to best practices in the reviewed literature on supporting novice teachers to derive recommendations for addressing novice teachers’ needs. Finally, it aims to plan an induction program grounded in the data collected and responsive to the school context and novice teachers’ emerging needs that would support novice teachers during the transition phase. The study is conducted in one K-12 private school in south Lebanon. Participants include 8 new teachers, instructional supervisors including one principal, 4 department heads, and 4 subject coordinators, in addition to 4 veteran teachers. The study adopted the qualitative case study design and fall under the interpretivist approach. Data includes field notes, semi-structured individual interviews with each of the selected teachers and instructional supervisors and focus group interviews. Data are analyzed and coded using the interpretational analysis approach. The findings of the study reveal that the perception of the participants regarding supporting novice teachers converges in some respects with the recommendations of literature while in others it does not. However, even though there is some alignment with what literature proposes as effective ways to support novices, participants do not seem to have a framework from which they are operating purposefully, as people’s actions and ideas seem reactionary and on prompt rather than brought in strategically. Drawn from the study results, recommendations for practice are suggested in the form of an action plan and recommendations for research are also proposed.