TY - JOUR
T1 - Underwhelmed and playing it safe
T2 - newly qualified primary teachers’ mentoring and probationary-related experiences during induction
AU - O’Sullivan, Dan
AU - Conway, Paul F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Educational Studies Association of Ireland.
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - Framed within the burgeoning policy and research literature on teacher induction internationally, this paper focuses on the mentoring and probationary-related experiences of nine newly qualified primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland, during the course of their initial year of workplace practice, post-graduation. Gleaning newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs’) perspectives on these matters is opportune, as the Teaching Council’s new model of induction entitled Droichead (bridge in Irish) is envisaged to become the sole induction and probation route for all NQTs. Transacted during the 2010/2011 school year, when the induction and probationary arrangements in place were those that the Droichead initiative is intended to replace, a three-cycle, individual interview design facilitated continuing contact with each NQT. Selected, representative interview data are utilised to illustrate the dynamics of NQTs’ experiences of mentoring and probationary-related processes. Empirically based findings establish, firstly, beginner complicity in the transaction of narrowly conceived mentoring support; secondly, enamorment of the reifications of initial teacher education-phase teaching practice when negotiating probationary processes; thirdly, the valuing of techniques that respond to immediate, probationary-related requirements over more complex forms of practice; and fourthly, the inevitable and essential interconnectedness of mentoring and probationary processes. The paper concludes with implications for the design and implementation of induction programmes.
AB - Framed within the burgeoning policy and research literature on teacher induction internationally, this paper focuses on the mentoring and probationary-related experiences of nine newly qualified primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland, during the course of their initial year of workplace practice, post-graduation. Gleaning newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs’) perspectives on these matters is opportune, as the Teaching Council’s new model of induction entitled Droichead (bridge in Irish) is envisaged to become the sole induction and probation route for all NQTs. Transacted during the 2010/2011 school year, when the induction and probationary arrangements in place were those that the Droichead initiative is intended to replace, a three-cycle, individual interview design facilitated continuing contact with each NQT. Selected, representative interview data are utilised to illustrate the dynamics of NQTs’ experiences of mentoring and probationary-related processes. Empirically based findings establish, firstly, beginner complicity in the transaction of narrowly conceived mentoring support; secondly, enamorment of the reifications of initial teacher education-phase teaching practice when negotiating probationary processes; thirdly, the valuing of techniques that respond to immediate, probationary-related requirements over more complex forms of practice; and fourthly, the inevitable and essential interconnectedness of mentoring and probationary processes. The paper concludes with implications for the design and implementation of induction programmes.
KW - induction
KW - mentoring
KW - newly qualified teacher (NQT)
KW - primary
KW - probation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84986208217&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03323315.2016.1227720
DO - 10.1080/03323315.2016.1227720
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84986208217
SN - 0332-3315
VL - 35
SP - 403
EP - 420
JO - Irish Educational Studies
JF - Irish Educational Studies
IS - 4
ER -