The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Teaching in the Early Years of Practice: Four vignettes

This fall, the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s longitudinal research study of beginning teachers enters its fifth and final year (2011/12).

The study was designed with the following questions in mind:

• Why do teachers leave within the first five years of teaching and where do they go?
• How are mentorship programs and other induction practices used in Alberta schools and how effective are they?
• How do working conditions and school cultures affect early-career PD?

In the fall of 2010, the Association published The Early Years of Practice: Interim Report of a Five-Year Study of Beginning Teachers in Alberta (available at www.teachers.ab.ca, under Publications). The document provides a detailed summary of the study’s third-year findings.

The study, now wrapping up its fourth year, was conducted by lead researcher Laura Servage, with the assistance of Jaime Beck. Both are doctoral students at the University of Alberta. As in previous years, data is collected through telephone interviews of 15–20 minutes’ duration. Interviews have included standard questions used to measure changes over time, but they have also included questions that, year to year, have changed to probe themes emerging from the data.

As well as telephone interviews, researchers conducted three focus groups in early summer 2011. Highlights from focus groups and year-four phone interviews include the following:

• Participants no longer identify as “beginning teachers”—a small number are already mentoring newer colleagues. Some have assumed key leadership roles in their schools through AISI (Alberta Initiative for School Improvement) or site-based PD initiatives.
• A small number of participants have taken on formal administration roles as assistant principals.
• PD needs have changed—teachers feel confident in the basics of planning, teaching and classroom management and are choosing focus areas to develop their practices. (Students’ needs, AISI and site- or district-based initiatives are the key determinants of teachers’ focus areas.)
• Although stress levels have diminished as teachers gained experience, the teachers we interviewed still experience chronic and persistent time pressures. Lack of support for students with special needs and lack of administrative support are often cited as sources of stress.
• Formal mentorships have had little effect on the early career development of this cohort. Informal/personally selected mentors and collaboration with grade level/subject area partners have been the most effective sources of support in the early years. Most cite professional learning communities as valuable to their early career learning.
• Approximately 15 per cent of participants are still trying to obtain steady work. A lack of transparency in hiring practices is a commonly cited source of frustration for these teachers.

Yet beyond these statistics and general trends, the research project’s real success is found in the lived experiences of teachers. The following four vignettes, gleaned from participants, capture the complexity of the early years of teaching in Alberta schools.

Learning the ropes in a rural school

Jayden lives in a small Alberta city, but accepted a full-time position at a rural school after a year and a half of substitute teaching and temporary assignments. Although she had never pictured herself teaching in a rural setting, Jayden appreciates the strong sense of community she experiences in her K–12 school and the close relationships she has forged with students. However, starting her career in a small and isolated school has been difficult. She teaches three different subjects in junior/senior high and, as she declares, “I am the science department.” Jayden reflects that her learning curve as a beginning teacher might have been eased with colleagues who taught in her subject area and could have provided her with resources and lesson plans. For this reason, she’s especially pleased that next year she’ll be taking a leadership role in a district initiative to promote more collaboration among teachers who don’t always have grade level or subject area partners in their schools.

Hitting the ground running

Thomas, who just graduated from university, considers himself lucky to have landed a probationary teaching position in his city. He had a rocky start, however, as he only found out about the position three days into the school year. Thomas remembers frantically setting up his classroom and yearly plan for his Grade 5 students. His university training provided little preparation for handling the challenges he faced at the beginning of the school year. In fact, there was much that Thomas hadn’t been prepared for. “The thing that really caught me off guard,” he says, “is all the parts of the job we didn’t talk about in my classes—the paperwork, report cards and all the meetings. There’s just so much more to the job than just prep and teaching. If that’s all I had to do, that might be okay.” Thomas was assigned a mentor by his school principal. He describes her as “very nice,” but because she didn’t teach his grade, there was only so much support she could provide. Halfway through his first year, Thomas met another Grade 5 teacher at a district PD day who shared his passion for technology. The two forged an informal mentoring relationship, which Thomas describes as “invaluable.” The two continue to work together closely to this day, despite teaching in different schools.

A thriving school culture makes it work

Anika spent her first and second years teaching with a number of temporary contracts. In her third year, she landed a probationary position. “I love my school,” she says, “and my admin is amazing.” She describes the regular support she receives from the two other Grade 2 teachers in her school, stating that she “couldn’t have done it without them.” In addition to timetabling monthly grade level meetings for all teachers in the school, Anika’s administrator ensured that Anika feels supported. “When you first start out,” Anika says, “you are just always so worried about ‘how am I doing?’ My administrator visits my classroom. There are things I would have never figured out if she hadn’t taken the time to observe my class and tell me what she saw.” Anika works in an urban school, and has many English as additional language students. On some days, she is overwhelmed as she tries to meet the special needs they present, but the positive collegial climate in which she works makes it easier to take these challenges in stride.

Tired of waiting

Chris completed an after-degree in education and moved back to her hometown, hoping to secure a teaching position. “I expected it might take a couple of years,” she says, “but I at least thought I’d eventually get a job.” Instead, after almost four years of substitute teaching and temporary contracts, Chris decided to go ahead with plans to have a family. Now expecting her first child, Chris is thinking about whether she’ll try to return to teaching. She recounts the disappointment and frustration of not securing a position. “I got good evaluations. I was invited back to the schools I taught at. But every year, I meet teachers who were hired in their first year, and no one will tell me what, if anything, I’m doing wrong.” Chris says she’ll stay home with her child next year and evaluate her career options. Although she wants to teach, she’s discouraged. She also wonders about the challenges of teaching full-time with a family—she’s watched teacher friends with young children juggling home and work. One friend says that her part-time FTE was an unexpected blessing, and Chris wonders if this could work for her, too.

A thread running through these vignettes reminds us that the past four years have been a time of real promise for new teachers in Alberta and, as one study participant described it, a “roller-coaster ride of hope and frustration.” Despite the promised stability of the five-year labour agreement with the Alberta government, the reality is that life for many new teachers has been ambiguous, uncertain and unstable.

As this study moves into its final year, Association staff, in collaboration with the research team, will prepare a final report. When completed next fall (2012), the five-year study will represent a unique and important contribution to the research on teaching in Alberta and the conditions of practice that contribute to the optimal growth of our profession’s members in their first years of teaching.

__________________

Dr. J-C Couture is an executive staff officer with the Alberta Teachers’ Association.