School work environment and its impact on the professional competence of newly qualified teachers

Abstract

The nature of the relationship between the work environment and people working in it has become a significant issue for educational research. This paper is based upon the outcomes of investigations made in a number of secondary schools in England and Wales in which a Work Environment Scale and follow-up interviews were used. It contains a snapshot of the British way of portraying the secondary school work environment, provides a perspective of its impact on the professional competence of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) and offers a comparison of NQTs' and more experienced teachers' perceptions about the work environments of their workplaces. The interaction between NQTs and their work environments is considered in order to give ideas about what is happening in these schools when NQTs start their professional careers and how their professional competence might be promoted. An outline of the Work Environment Scale is presented with a special emphasis on its application in educational settings and its implications for educational policy on teacher professional development are explored. © 1998 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.