A systems approach to understanding novice teachers’ experiences and professional learning

Abstract

The seeming disconnect between what novice teachers learn at university and what their first year of teaching demands has been described and lamented for decades. Researchers, teachers, and school managers often blame teacher education programmes for not preparing novice teachers for the realities of school. However, blaming student teachers’ initial teacher education (ITE) programme is reductionist and ignores that this is only one of the complex systems that shape their practice. I argue that a more productive way to understand novice teachers’ experiences is through a systems approach that engages with four nested systems that shape their practice—the system of the teacher (that encompasses their personal and professional identities and their knowledge and competences), the classroom system, the school system and the macro-educational system. In this paper, I present interview data generated from 30 novice teachers after they had been teaching for 18 months. The data shows that many challenges faced cannot be addressed by the ITE curriculum because they are grounded in other sub systems. I engage with what ITE programmes can do and suggest that the main influence of ITE is in developing student teachers’ ethical commitment, professional identity, competences, and professional knowledge and in providing practical teaching experiences in different schools. I also highlight what aspects need to be addressed by the macro levels of the schooling system.