Como Aprende Un Experto de Un Novato

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Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 204–215

Novices and veterans journeying into real-world teaching: How

a veteran learns from novices

Shosh Leshema,b,Ã

aOranim Academic College of Education, Tivon 36006, Israel bFaculty of Education, The University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel

Received 29 December 2005; received in revised form 30 June 2006; accepted 27 July 2006

Abstract

This paper illustrates the experiences of novice teachers through self-reflection by a teacher trainer. It shows how novice

teachers recognize deficiencies in their professional capacity, the coping strategies they adopt and implications for teacher

training. As teacher trainers we should know why novice teachers say ‘I wish they had taught me abouty’ or ‘how lucky I

am to have been taught this.’ The paper accounts for the initial experiences of novice teachers in their first school and

clarifies how they address their own self-improvement. It shows how novice teachers engage in meaning making as they

connect theory and practice in the classroom. It also illustrates how within one component of a teacher training

programme a veteran teacher-trainer learnt from novices whose experiences enabled practical theories to be recognised.

The evidence highlights potential areas of criticality in teacher education programmes in the real-world of teaching.

r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Teacher training; Novice teachers; Teacher-trainer reflections

1. Prelude

What am I using that I have been taught?

How useful is it?

What else do I need?

What was lacking in my training?

These questions are central to novice teachers’

experiences as they move from support by teacher

trainers to their isolation in classrooms where they

teach English as a foreign language. As teacher

trainers, we need to know why they may think ‘I

wish they had taught me about ...’ or ‘y how lucky I

am to have been previously exposed to this.’

This paper illustrates how novice teachers recog-

nize deficiencies in their professional capacity in

three domains:

how they learn what they need as they enter the

real world of teaching;

how they interpret what they encounter in the

field;

what meanings they make from what they see

and experience.

From these three issues implications are drawn

for teacher trainers. Their significance is then

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explored, as they illustrate my learning through self-

reviewing one aspect of my professional role. Thus,

this paper has two themes. Firstly, it provides an

account of the initial experiences of novice teachers

in their first school. Secondly, undertaking that

research was a lens upon my own perceptionsregarding those initial experiences and it renewed

my contact, as a teacher trainer, with this important

stage of entering the educational profession.

2. Motives for this study

This investigation emerged from reflecting on my

own professional practice as a veteran teacher

trainer. I asked myself: how much do I really know

about my student teachers’ needs, are their real

needs being catered for in the training courses, or,are we (teacher trainers) maintaining what Eraut

(1994) calls a ‘routinized behaviour’ which might

not always be relevant to their school reality? I also

pondered on our effectiveness in helping them make

sense of the complexities of classroom life. Eraut

suggests that for experts to maintain their expertise

they should engage in reflection and self-evaluation,

and to learn from colleagues. This observation

captured exactly my thoughts and the reality in

which I found myself. It was apparent then that ‘My

Colleagues’ were in fact my own students.The relationship between teacher and students is

conventionally seen as one in which learning occurs

in and by the students. However, by emphasizing

the primary direction of learning in this way may

overlook the potential for learning by teachers from

their students. Senese (2005) emphasizes the itera-

tive pattern of learning and teaching for every

participant in a class. His assertion is based on

Wheatley (1992) who maintains that roles and

people are not fixed entities. They are relationships

that involve one another. Further thinking about

Eraut’s suggestion plus the assertions from Senese

and Wheatley made me realize that over the years I

had indeed learnt from my students. But I then

concluded that this learning manifested itself in the

extensive tacit knowledge that I had accumulated

about how students develop. This realization

prompted me to give particular attention to one of

my courses. Its major assignment was designed to

help students realize that their own knowledge-

building evolved from everyday-simple-classroom-

and-school-events. As they undertook this task,

inevitably they would discover how their pro-

gramme had prepared them for initial entry to their

first school.

3. My students

The students follow a 4-year national teachertraining programme in education. During years 1–3,

they attend lectures in the various fields of educa-

tion and also undertake practice teaching in schools.

In year 4, they are allocated to a school where they

become part-time salaried teachers. They also take

additional courses at the college to complete their

studies. Most of my students were in their early 20s

during their final year.

I became aware of a phenomenon that appeared

regularly in my Teacher as Researcher courses

which had a defined pre-planned syllabus. At times

I found myself yielding the control over the lessonplan to my students. I realized that considerable

lesson time was being devoted to a spontaneous flow

of stories that emerged from my students’ weekly

experiences. These experiences, in practice teaching,

had exposed them to the real world of teaching.

In this course, I wanted them to be aware of the

micro-events both in the classroom and in the

school itself. Furthermore, these experiences would

expose them to ‘making-meaning’ from these events

in a sensitive way. The effect of this was that the

students mirrored their feelings about, and experi-ences in, their respective schools. As a result, I

started to ask myself whether I was providing what

they wanted. This pattern appeared every year in

the same course even when I presented it to different

students, and reinforced my belief that beginning-

teachers needed some space for their voices (Carter,

1993; Golombek, 1998; Richards, 1996) and my

immediate support.

Thus, two assumptions prompted this study:

Firstly, it had been a long time since I myself was

a ‘novice teacher’ and my mental pictures of the

experience might have lost their ‘vitality’; Secondly,

every beginner’s experience is unique as each school

offers its own individual ethos (Goodman, 1987;

Zeichner & Gore, 1990). As my students came from

different cultural backgrounds and were allocated

to different schools, their experiences could be seen

as an interaction between the teacher’s own psyche

and the school (Fullan, 1982). This made me realize

that providing generic prescriptions of do’s and

don’ts would not accommodate individual teachers’

specific needs. A micro-approach to school events

was needed for me to help my teachers in their first

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S. Leshem / Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 204–215 205



steps into real-world teaching. Finally, adapting

Robson’s (1993, p. Xii) acknowledgement I too

appreciate that the ‘real-world’ is something of a

questionable concept. It is a metaphor used to

express my intentions. As the article suggests, it is

more of a state of mind than a real ‘real-world.’These notions guide my belief that it is imperative

to get as close as possible to my teachers’ realities

and learn how they use their repertoire of knowl-

edge to interpret their experiences: What is it that

they ‘see,’ how do they ‘ perceive’ it and, what

‘meaning’ do they ascribe to it?

4. Approaching the issue

Thirty accounts of critical incidents were written

by a selected sample of 5 novice teachers (3 Jews, 1

Arab and 1 Druze) during their first year of teaching. The incidents were recorded on a weekly

basis during their first term in school, as part of

their assignment in the Teacher as Researcher

course at the college. Narrative accounts were

supported by open interviews and weekly discus-

sions with the respondents.

The student teachers were introduced to the

components of critical incidents which were used

as an instructional tool (Tripp, 1993). This involved

practice writing while going through phases of peer

questioning to fill in gaps of information, followedby rewriting to provide a thicker description

(Geertz, 1973). Students then discussed possible

solutions in order to elucidate different definitions

of the situations (Eraut, 1994) and to examine all

possibilities before reaching a conclusion (Dewey,

1933). These four processes helped them to produce

rich linguistic accounts of classroom events, think

critically and reflectively upon their practices, whilst

surfacing beliefs and emotions about their immedi-

ate needs and professional expectations. This

approach is grounded in the assumption cited by

Hunter and Hatton (1998) that guided mentoring of

a writing process enhances reflection. Rodriquez

and Syostrom (1998, p. 209) support this view

claiming that ‘Writing is a critical level of learning

that provides a springboard from which students

can move from the specific to the general as well as

develop a habit of reflection.’ This finding is

supported by more recent research which shows

that writing can become ‘a catalyst to raise levels of

reflection where interpretations become more intro-

spective’ and less descriptive (Leshem & Trafford,

2006, p. 11).

After 2 months of practicing the writing of critical

incidents, students had to compile a portfolio of

incidents from their daily teaching. These were

analysed through repeated sorting and coding for

dominant themes. Special attention was given to the

type of incidents teachers chose as critical and to thelanguage they used to unravel beliefs, levels of

interpretation and insights.

5. Teachers’ experiences

Drawing on teachers’ critical incidents, I illustrate

the experiences and insights that indicate significant

turning points in the teachers’ journey. The analysis

of the data revealed three distinct phases in the

teachers’ journey into real-world teaching.

5.1. The transitional phase: looking forward

A transition from the known to the unknown, the

anticipated and the unanticipated, the familiar and

the unfamiliar, the change from observers to active

participants, are all descriptors of first steps into

teaching. What is it that constitutes this transitional

phase? I was interested to discover what my teachers

thought and felt at the threshold of real-world

teaching. What is it they expect? The school venue

was not new to them since they had played both

roles of audience and actor throughout theirpractice teaching.

A common feature in the teachers’ voices is that

they were all aware of the notion of transition from

one phase into another and they all expressed a

certain level of expectation. Lena is trying not to be

too idealistic. She has met ‘the youth of today’ ‘the

system’ and ‘the world. However, she still hopes

that when she moves to the other side of the fence

she will have the opportunity to make some change.

I have no delusion of saving the world, the

system or the youth of today. I do have theintentions to make a positive impact on some of

the lives that I come into contact with. I want to

make a difference in my own way.

Ana looks forward to ownership. She can hardly

wait to move from the phase of dependence to

autonomy.

When I have my own classroom, things will be

different. I can hardly wait.

Rana feels the same. She enters the field full of

energy and good intentions.

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S. Leshem / Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 204–215206



I am keen on giving of myself. I am anxious to

start already and feel the ownership of my own

class.

During their practicum teachers feel constrained

by their cooperating teachers’ methodologies and

educational philosophies. Many expressed theirdismay at being told how to perform in their

classroom to fit into their cooperating teachers’

pedagogical practices. They claimed to have no

freedom to display their personal enthusiasm and

creativity.

Similarly, Sue has it all on the tip of her tongue:

ideas, tips, theories textbooks—all the scaffolding

that she needs to get through the threshold into the

real world of teaching. She is excited to put it into

practice—is it the harmony between theory and

practice that she expects?

I begin my teaching career in a flurry of

excitement and confusion. I have all these

wonderful theories, ideas, tips and experiences

from my practice teaching. I have done all the

reading from last year and still have my textbook

to refer toy’

The common feature in these teachers’ expecta-

tions is their avid desire to make a contribution in

their own way.

5.2. The socialization phase: encountering reality

I entered the classroom. There was perfect

silence. A bunch of sweet little faces looked up

at me with a puzzled look on their faces: Who is

she? What is she doing here? Where is Rachel? I

proceeded with my lesson plan. The children

cooperated and everything was so relaxed and

peaceful. How wonderful, I thought to myself. It

is exactly as I imagined it in my dreams.

Suddenly, just out of the blue, one of the children

started running around the class, as if in a race. I

couldn’t believe my eyes. I was paralyzed, I

became speechless. The other children seemed to

enjoy the show, as they giggled and made all sorts

of encouraging sounds. I was so miserable and

completely lost. I couldn’t remember any song or

activity that I had learned to use as a savior in

such unexpected situations. My mind went

completely blank. As I turned around, I saw

the principal at the door. He was quite annoyed

with me for not being able to control the class.

Once the bell rang, I was relieved and very

disappointed. It was after all my first day in a

new school and hey, what a start!

This is how Ana was welcomed into her real

world of teaching. On the surface Ana’s story is not

unique. It typifies the experiences of most novice

teachers’ first encounters with teaching. Someobservers would see this process as an emotional

roller-coaster during which the beginning teachers

learn about their emotional makeup (Ryan, 1970).

This process for novice teachers could be called

experimenting and testing while hesitating at class-

room doors ‘to prepare a face to meet the faces that

you meet.’ Corcoran (1981) describes it as ‘reality

shock’ which is characterized by a gap between the

protected status of the student and the independent

teacher. The consequence of this for the ex-student

teacher is that they now have to accept professionalresponsibility for their actions.

However, what makes Ana’s story unique is what

Lave and Wenger (1991) call ‘situated knowledge’,

how people respond to the specific context in which

they operate. They claim that people learn through

social practice, and that knowledge is constituted by

the whole person in action, acting with the settings

of that activity. In the same vein, Leinhardt (1988,

p. 147) argues that ‘we can learn much about the art

of teaching if we seriously consider the nature of the

environment in which teachers work and reason.’

These notions have guided my conception of the

novice teachers’ experiences. What each teacher

found in their world of teaching was therefore

unique to themselves but not to others. How they

make sense of events is context-specific and

influenced by their personal beliefs, values and life

histories.

5.3. The learning phase: gaining insights

This phase affords us six reflective insights on the

teachers’ entry into the real world of teaching.

5.3.1. Insight 1: mismatches and gaps

I am so thick!

Today I learnt one of the biggest lessons ever,

and it was from one of my pupils. Dana in my

6th grade class is a non-reader. She has learning

disabilities that are connected to her short-term

memory, which makes it very difficult for her to

remember the sounds and names of the letters.

When she copies from the board, by the time her

pen reaches the paper, she has already lost what

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she was trying to copy. Along with this, she has

had some social problems which haven’t made

her life among her peers easy. I have tried to give

her some extra help but it is like trying to fill up a

sieve with water. Admittedly, I have given up

trying and just let her go her merry way in mylessons. I was inevitably thinking about all my

pupils and what I still need to do with them until

the end of the year. However, I decided to give

Dana another try and see if I could get her to

read. Today, at the end of the lesson I called

Dana to me and discussed this with her. She

didn’t say a word but gave me a note that she had

written to me asking to please include her in my

lessons!!! I was totally blown away when I read

the note. I realized that I had not been helping

her by allowing her to go her own merry way; in

fact, I had actually given the impression that shewas not even worth my time or effort.

When will I be able to balance out my reactions?

Do I get the choice to decide who is worthy of the

extra push? All she asked for is for me to ask her

easy questions and to have her participate in the

lesson. I should have thought of that!

In another instance with another pupil the same

teacher reflected:

Two things hit me like a ton of rocks: the first

was that he had been trying for ME and not forhimself. The second was that, that was HIS

definition of trying. There was this huge chasm

between HIS reality and MY expectations.

These accounts illustrate a two-folded realization.

The teacher had to make a decision concerning

Dana’s learning difficulties. She was faced with a

dilemma; extra time devoted to Dana will be at the

expense of time for other pupils. She might even do

Dana a favour by leaving her alone. However,

Dana’s interpretation of the event was different.

The teacher is suddenly aware of the mismatch

between her intentions and Dana’s interpretation

and in the second instance between the pupil’s

reality and the teacher’s expectations. Kumarava-

divelu (1991, p. 106) argues that ‘the narrower the

gap between teacher intentions and learner inter-

pretations, the greater are the chances of achieving

desired learning outcomes.’ He also observes that

though mismatches may be inevitable they need not

be totally negative. They can be sources of knowl-

edge construction for both teachers and learners.

These behavioural gaps created learning opportu-

nities for the teacher. They illuminated her dual role

as teacher and learner, sensitized her to the complex

unpredictable nature of classroom events and to the

language lesson being ‘a very tricky balancing act

between the competing pedagogic and social pres-

sures of life’ (Allwright, 2005, p. 21).

5.3.2. Insight 2: quests for professional identity

Lakoff and Johnson (1980) suggest that meta-

phors are a powerful tool to describe our percep-

tions and understanding of experiences. Clandinin

(1986) offers a similar view using the notion of

image as a personal, meta-level, organizing concept

in personal practical knowledge, and a perspective

from which new experience is taken. In both, oral

and written discourse teachers tended to use visual

images to describe their feelings and experiences.The concept of role identity was very strongly

expressed and was mainly concerned with two

principal dimensions: role ambiguity and the multi-

plicity of roles that teaching entails (Handy, 1999,

pp. 63–67).

Hawkins (2005, p. 61) describes identity forma-

tion as an ‘on going negotiation between the

individual and the social context or environment,

with particular attention paid to operant cultural

and power relations’ She contends that ‘newcomers

to these communities (schools, classrooms) enter

into a complicated dance in which identities arenegotiated and constructed through social interac-

tions.’ Having to face different people and unique

situations, the teachers suddenly realize the dynamic

nature of their identity and the impact of these

encounters on their perceptions of self. They are

now officially defined as teachers and they are no

longer student teachers. Within this role re-defini-

tion their employers expect them to perform

professionally and competently, when actually they

feel quite insecure as ‘knowers.’ Handy (1999, p. 64)

maintains that ‘one of the crucial expectations thatshape the role definition is that of the individual

yif his or her conception of the role is unclear-

ythere will be a degree of role ambiguity’. He

argues that this feeling is not necessarily bad as the

ability to shape one’s own role is a freedom that

many people desire, but it may lead to role stress.

Let’s listen to some of their voices:

I am still trying to find who I am as a teacher. I

feel like an imposter. I am new and still unsure of

things, but I am teachingy and I don’t even

have my certificate. Am I faking?

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I am playing the role of the ‘knower’ when in fact

I am still a student. I feel quite uncomfortable

with the ambiguity of my role.

I am ‘the new teacher’ I wonder how long will I

be called like that.

I am first of all an educator and then and Englishteacher. I am responsible and obligated to guide,

nurture and educate the kids in my care. I

sometimes feel like a thermometer, feeling when

they need me and always being there.

I feel like God—creating a new something out of

nothing and being responsible for the conse-

quences.

I feel like a spy. I have to use all my senses to

crack the unresolved and on top of it to sense

what is happening around me! I thought that my

job was to teach, but I very quickly learned that I

had to become ‘one of the club’ and socialize,whether I wanted it or not.

I feel like I am in a maze, going on a journey and

not knowing where I will end up. I feel like a

giant question mark.

The teachers believed that clarifying the issue of

role and stress were due to suddenly realizing the

complex and multidimensional nature of teaching:

‘There is much more to being a teacher than just

teaching, it is educating, creating, manipulating,

socializing and navigating.’ These aspects have been

dealt with in their preparation courses, however,

only when they encountered them in the real world

of teaching, did they fully understand the meaning

of the enormity of the job and the pressure of

accountability. This was often expressed in such

questions as: Am I doing the right thing? Are they

learning?

5.3.3. Insight 3: power and status conflicts

The following examples depict the micro-politics

of the school environment. The insight that the

teachers have gained was that socialization is not aneasy process and that they sometimes have to

comply with the school ethos which is against their

own beliefs (Lacey, 1977). Their enthusiasm to

‘make a change’ has been challenged by maintaining

stability. During conversations in course sessions

some expressed their frustration and even anger at

having to conform to the established norms.

Ana said. I had no chance in implementing my

strategy of dealing with the trouble makes. I truly

believed in my way but I felt a sort of resistance

from both the homeroom teacher and the

principal. They were not very much in favour

of challenging the school norms.

(Homeroom teacher: a teacher responsible for the

teaching and social events of a particular class for a

whole year).

Others displayed a much more resilient attitudeand preferred to take an adaptive stance to avoid

confrontation. This is illustrated in a teachers’

advice to her colleague: ‘When you are new, you

have to take a deep breath and suppress your feelings,

even if it is against your principles.’ Similarly, Sue

and Lena describe their resilient stance when they

had to comply with implicit power struggles that

resulted in feelings of loss of face and insecurity.

Ana refers to her pupils:

The message that has been conveyed by the 6th

graders was: we are the veterans around here.

They knew their way around the school; I was

the one who needed their help. It really made me

feel quite insecure and they might have sensed it

While Sue complains about her superior:

The homeroom teacher argued with me in front

of the pupils. They immediately knew who the

authority was. She crushed my self-image right

there and then.

5.3.4. Insight 4: contradicting rationalities and delusions of myths

The realities described by the teachers destabi-

lized some of the set beliefs and values that framed

their expectations about school agendas. This

knowledge base is often derived from their past

experiences and influence the way they interpret

how things are and should be. They somehow felt

that they were at a loss in reconciling the two

conflicting ends.

Lena was ‘flabbergasted’ because she ‘ had

received two conflicting pieces of advice from thesame authority’. And Sue was ‘completely confused’

at the mixed messages she was given by the staff.

I am completely confused. I was told that the

45 min of a lesson are precious and should be

wisely exploited. Now I am reprimanded for

being strict and self-centered. ‘Let go’, said the

Homeroom teacher, ‘your lesson is not the most

important lesson, so what if the sports-teacher

took 30 min of your lesson.

The following day when I took an extended

break with one of my problematic pupils, I was

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reprimanded for being late to my class. I was

speechless. Am I naive?

In another incident that Ana had with the parents

of one of her pupils, she concludes:

Now I really know that we don’t know a damnthing!!! We are not equipped to deal with children

and the parents of today.

Ana is confronted with different norms of

behaviour that shake her moral and ethical beliefs

about what constitutes a ‘wisely exploited’ lesson

and a caring teacher. She interprets the educational

event in an assertion that:

The policy changes hourly and we are just trying

to keep our heads above water and keep our

names out of the newspaper.

Sue identifies the social schemes within the school

system:

I thought I had to concentrate on my teaching

and the pupils. I realized that there is more to it.

She articulates her own understanding of the

situation and asserts that:

You have to become one of the club and smile,

mingle, even if you don’t feel like it. This is the

name of the game—the hidden curriculum that

nobody teaches you but you have to discoveryourself, sometimes in the hard way, like me.

5.3.5. Insight 5: the rat-race syndrome

Teachers did not anticipate how long they had to

devote to administrative tasks, apart from also

coping with cumulative teaching responsibilities

plus emotional or physical consequences of ‘the

day’s teaching.’ This schedule was outside their

experience of practice teaching as observers, having

to teach only a few hours in each school.

I can’t keep up with this pace of running from

one lesson to the other. I don’t have a minute to

myself.

Every ‘homeroom teacher’ has different require-

ment. Each one of them wants me to follow her

way of doing things. I am going mad.

5.3.6. Insight 6: cultural differences

The cultural aspect of inducting novice teachers

into school was not given much attention in the

class sessions, despite the students’ cultural diver-

sity. This alerted my attention to the issue and

prompted further introspection. It was illuminating

to observe the non-verbal astonished gestures of my

two Arab teachers in one session when the Jewish

teacher shared a recent experience from school life.

They could sympathize with the pedagogical un-

certainties and dilemmas; however, they were quitesurprised to learn about the feelings of loneliness,

estrangement, and even the animosity that this

teacher experienced. Their social route into the real

world of teaching seemed to be less bumpy

according to their perceptions.

I am shocked, said F (Arab teacher). I just can’t

believe the stories you are telling. In my school, I

immediately felt at home. I was introduced to the

teachers on the first day, they all tried to help. It

seemed as if the teachers’ room is one big family.

I felt more or less the same, said the Druzeteacher, we always find somebody we know in the

school. They are either from the same village,

family related or know somebody from my

village.

6. Conceptualizing the mutual journey

Accompanying my teachers through their journey

of real-world teaching, I realized that my teachers

had led me through their trail of knowledge

construction. This fed into my own reshaping of existing knowledge and belief systems.

Jacoby and Gonzales (1991) assume that expert

knowledge is shifting and temporal. They claim that

‘Viewing expert–novice as a bipolar dichotomy

yfails to capture both the complexity of what it

means to ‘‘know things’’ and the dynamic fluidity of

expert–novice relations as they are constituted in

unfolding interaction.’ Extending this view, Rogoff

(1994) argues that when no one has all the

responsibility for knowing and expertise is not

static, opportunities for learning seem enhanced.

Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1999) support these

views by claiming that teacher research blurs the

separation ‘between teachers and researchers,

knowers and doers, and experts and novices’. I

now recognise those views.

My journey with my teachers reinforces these

notions. I sensed that we were a community of

practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) where we learned

from each other. There was obvious interplay

between their reflections and interpretations and

my continual self-examination of my own practices

and conceptions of teaching. These iterations

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became critical features in my learning as they

provided both theoretical (assumptions about tea-

cher training) and practical (users’ evaluative

judgements) feedback. This can be illustrated in

three cameos.

When Ana asks ‘How do I build that bridgebetween what I know and what I am able to do in the

classroom? I was intrigued to know what is it that

she knows and what does she think she is able to do

in class; what is the gap between the two and how

was it created; and, what theoretical basis underlies

her final statement of the reflective account that:

‘teaching has a life of its own.

These were typical of the insights that my teachers

arrived at, and they became the raw material for me

to pursue through my own self exploration as I

pondered on this question: Am I providing my

student-teachers in my preparatory courses sufficienttools to help them in their self-study? We were all

journeying into our respective professional worlds

from different starting points. I was looking back

and surveying the repertoire of paths making-up my

professional journey whilst my teachers were taking

initial steps to create their repertoire of personal

experiential knowledge. On a practical level the

critical incidents, the discussions and the random

conversations provided me with vivid opportunities

to understand my teachers’ experiences and rekindle

my own memories of being a novice teacher.

7. My insights

Looking back at my teachers’ critical incidents, I

realized that some of their questions and assertions

represented introspective interpretations that re-

quired a critical analysis of the event.

Ana’s speculative question ‘How do I build a

bridge between what I know and what I am able to do

in class,’ challenged my own perspective on novice

teacher’s practical knowledge. For me this was

evidence of what Daudelin (1996, p. 39) describes as

‘a highly personal cognitive process which happens

in the mental self’. She argues that ‘when a person

engages in reflection, he or she takes an experience

from the outside world brings it inside the mind,

turns it over and makes connectionsy’ Ana not

only shows ‘signs of deliberation in setting the

problem’ (LaBoskey, 1994) but is also able to form

a hypothesis which is implicit in her questions: ‘If I

bridge the gap, I might be able to solve the problem.’

The same accounts for Sue’s question: ‘When will I

be able to balance out my reactions?’ Balancing her

reaction might help her cope with pupils like Dana.

Similarly, Lena explores her own feelings about

parent–teacher relationships by asking: ‘Why do I

see a parent– teacher conference as threatening?’ and

‘Why do I feel that I have to arrive with ammunition?’

Following these questions is a search for possibleexplanations: ‘Is it the responsibility for the children

that threatens me?’ ‘Is it because I am new and still

unsure of what I am teaching them?’ ‘Am I being

naı ¨ve?’

The questions that my teachers asked themselves

challenged my own appreciation of their experi-

ences. My students demonstrated what Daudelin

(1996) describes as ‘the stages of reflection’ leading

to learning e.g. articulation of a problem, analysis of

the problem, formulation and testing of a tentative

theory to explain the problem. Or they may have

been ‘developing a generality of knowing’ (Greeno,1997) to develop ways of seeing and interpreting

classrooms that are applicable to other situations

(Edwards & Protheroe, 2003). Their assumptions

about the micro politics of the school system and its

effect on teaching (Zeichner & Gore, 1990) might

also display moral concern. Their exhibitions of

sensitivity to the uniqueness of situations seemed to

acknowledge cultural differences. Perhaps all these

realizations were reconstructing their understand-

ings of what it means to be a teacher.

These were the questions that challenged mybelief system about ‘novice teachers’ and extended

my insights about my role in guiding my students

into the real world of teaching.

8. A bird’s eye view: conceptualizing the process

When the students stand at the gate of the real

world of teaching they are at a transitional point in

both their career and their learning (Bridges, 1991).

They are leaving an institutional context which

provided their professional training. This was

preparatory for them as teachers; it was of a generic

and collectivist nature with a primary purpose to

develop their professional characteristics. Schools

and colleges both expected students to gain appro-

priate skills and knowledge. From the trainees’

perspective they required basic knowledge in order

to overcome their inexperience as semi-professionals

and they recognized that they were dependant

learners. For them the outcomes of institutional

training should be gaining insights upon the

profession and becoming aware of the multiple

roles that they would fulfil in a school.

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When novice teachers enter the world of teaching,

they are faced with ‘instant’ and ‘immediate’

situations that turn into need-driven and continuous

professional development. It is inescapable. This

process is also irreversible. However, the school-

based provision of induction and mentoring repre-sents on-the-job, individualistic, remedial assistance

for each student. This is professional guidance

provided by schools for newly appointed novice

teachers. However, for the student who is now a

novice teacher they are faced with personal inde-

pendence, evolving professional autonomy and a

constant necessity to reflect in and on practice

(Scho ¨ n, 1983). For them pragmatism in handling

new situations, applying previously learnt theory to

the reality of teaching and actively learning about

their new roles become their day-to-day life.

Bridges presents through a three-componentmodel of change, the relationship between ending/

neutral zone/beginning that form a continuous

change from the old to the new. The practical

significance of Bridges’ model is his inclusion of a

neutral zone. This, he argues, is an in-between state

full of uncertainty and confusion where people

might rush forward or retreat to the past. He

suggests that change need not be a sudden alteration

from one phase to the other; transition and its

duration will vary depending upon the individual

and their respective change context. Thus, heproposes, that time in the neutral zone should not

be rushed, for this is where change takes place.

Bridges’ model explains the situation that the

novice teachers were experiencing. The students

were passing through three phases of transition.

Firstly, they recognized an end to their total

dependence upon a teacher training institution for

guidance through each working day. Secondly,

initial days and weeks in their new school con-

fronted them with passing through a ‘neutral zone’.

Here they had to cope with sets of roles, relation-

ships and purposes as novices in a new school

experience. Thirdly, they were entering a new

beginning as accepted teachers within the profes-

sional community of their new school when they

will inevitably take stock of both.

This notion of change emphasizes the transitional

stages through which the processes of altered states

move. It portrays change as one in which previous

states are carried over into the subsequent stage.

This was evident in my students who carried

forward their teacher-training experiences into their

initial novice-teacher time in their new school.

Similarly, the experiences which they encou-

ntered in those early days influenced how they

proceeded and perceived their new professional

environment.

The practical implication of the neutral zone for

teacher education calls for the need to acknowledgethe notion that transition from one phase to another

is developmental thereby teachers’ knowledge is

shaped and reshaped by new insights emerging at

different stages in their personal experiences. This

has to be nurtured during the neutral zone.

Equipping students with sets of skills is not

sufficient to help them in the transition process.

What is required from both trainers and trainees is

to adopt an enquiring and a more conceptual stance

to puzzling situations and allow space for students

to make connections and derive meanings from their

experiences. This is when real and effective trans-formation takes place.

Using Bridges’ construct also allowed me to

recognise my own transitional process of change.

My ‘traditional’ view was that my students were

adequately prepared to cope with ‘novice days’ in

their first teaching appointment. This was my

ending stage. My neutral zone combined collecting

this data and reflecting upon it through my

professional lens as a teacher trainer. Here, I had

moved from a relatively unquestioning and accept-

ing view of my role to a new realization of thecoping strategies needed by contemporary novice

teachers (my students). The outcome of this

investigation—my new beginning—are the insights

that I have gained and the components which can

now be included in my future teacher-training

programmes. Thus, appreciating these three stages

of change enabled me to realize that at times in the

past I had not really recognised that different

demands were latent in my students. These were

determined by their own passing through the three

stages that Bridges outlined.

This bird’s eye view used my students’ experiences

during their initial time in a new school as the

vehicle to conduct my own self-review. In this

respect my investigation contained multiple levels of

analysis and interpretation. The evidence showed a

variety of met and unmet expectations by my

students of their initial time in schools. It is the

presenting issue in this investigation, and provides

an illuminative and evaluative perspective (Parlett &

Hamilton, 1972) on my assumptions regarding the

suitability and efficacy of one component in my

professional role.

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9. Conclusions

My interest in discovering what my student

teachers experienced in their initial weeks of

teaching stemmed from wanting to evaluate the

relevance of their training. This was a regular partof my teacher-training role over many years.

However, the specific focus for this investigation

was prompted by my re-acquaintance with Eraut’s

(1994) ideas. As a consequence, in researching my

own work it was ‘impossible for me to be detached,

and so the examination of my involvement shaped

the way in which my data was interpreted’ (Hollo-

way & Jefferson, 2000, p. 33). In this way, two

complementary themes emerged from the evidence.

Firstly, there were insights on how the teachers

coped in their new working context, and secondly,

those insights then provided the foundation for myown learning.

Although seeking to understand the emotional

experiences of student teachers as they took on the

role of teachers is potentially complex, the evidence

that was collected simplified that task. The com-

ments from my students represent very direct, real-

time and practical feedback to my colleagues, and I,

on the questions that initiated this investigation. It

showed that teachers should be prepared to

acknowledge gaps and dissonances between their

‘college learning’ as opportunities for personaldevelopment on-the-job. Furthermore, they should

be willing to engage constantly in exploring their

own classroom events discourses and patterns of

interaction. Their comments also confirmed that

they drew upon ‘taught programmes’ for guidance

and clues to coping with emergent problems. This

suggested that retaining ideas, or searching for

potential solutions, were significant parts of their

coping strategy.

Identifying how novice teachers make sense of

events by entering their new world of teaching, can

help to build a repertoire of cases. My investigation

generated such cases as cameos and vignettes and

they were critical incidents of professional experi-

ence. These can be used as teaching tools and

guiding aids by teacher trainers to help subsequent

trainee teachers appreciate the experiences of join-

ing a new school. Teacher trainers can use such

critical incidents as instructional tools to raise

awareness of novice teachers towards their own

teaching processes. This will help them combine

‘self-critical subjective perspectives’ (McIntyre,

2005, p. 367) and Bridges (1991) three stages

through problematising (Orland-Barak, 2002) for

discussion the practical issues that confront trainees

teachers prior to, and on entry to, first teaching

positions.

Real-world critical incidents provide opportu-

nities for teachers and learners to reflect onauthentic teaching experiences. This, in turn,

enhances peer discussions that help to overcome

feelings of novice teacher isolation by recognizing

that ‘your own emotional experiences are not

unique’ (Wincup, 2001, p. 29). This is a practical

outcome from my investigation, and it applies to the

work of my colleague teacher trainers as well as to

me.

The evidence from this study suggests, though it is

difficult to prove, that these novice teachers were

faced with six dilemmas as they took up their first

post in a school. Firstly, the relative significance andorder in which these dilemmas appeared was

personal to each student. Secondly, the excitement

of the first post and the first lesson seemed to be met

by various levels of frustration. Thirdly, their need

to survive both in the school and in their classroom

offset the fulfillment of becoming and independent

teacher. This also reflected the dilemmas of wishing

to be creative within the regularity of the school day

which itself may have been simply mundane. These

three dilemmas are personal and reflect the necessity

to cope emotionally with their new experiences.The remaining dilemmas stem from coping with

the practicalities of schools as organizations.

Fourthly, some frustration emerged when novice

teachers sought to take advantage of the opportu-

nities that they experienced whilst coping with the

challenges from pupils, colleague teachers and

administrative demands of the school. Fifthly, the

notion of personal space and ‘ownership’ then had

to be balanced against the school culture of

collective responsibility and professional flexibility.

Finally, novice teachers had to reconcile the

harmony that they anticipated in the school with

the multiple layers of discord that are found in any

organization.

The potential for learning, therefore, was directly

determined by how our students viewed their

‘preparation’ by us to cope with their first formal

teaching appointment. If teacher trainers are to

work with the notions of Donald Scho ¨ n, then

perhaps we ourselves might revisit our own earlier

professional experiences in parallel with those of

our students. The feedback that we receive from our

students takes on far greater significance when it is

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given from their real-world context of the school.

Their insights at that time can incorporate ‘the

experience of practice.’ Thus, we should perhaps

distinguish between this type of feedback and other

evaluative comments that are made before such

experience is gained by our students.My world of teaching contained a different set of

insights to those of the students. This study shows

how within one component of a teacher training

programme a veteran expert teacher learnt from

novices whose experiences enabled practical theories

(Kroath, 2002, p. 49) to be made more relevant to

their immediate needs. Kroath argues that ‘yprac-

tical theories guide, monitor, and justify profes-

sionals’ action and are functionally equal to

scientific theories.’ He suggests that everyone guides

their life through theories that are on the ‘virtual

epistemological level and on the real-practical level(Kroath, 2002, p. 55).’ He implies that practitioners

who are also researchers possess a duality of

outlook—giving conceptual meanings to events

and seeking concrete ways to cope with present

situations. This notion provided a deeper under-

standing of my educative and developmental role as

a teacher trainer.

I have learnt the importance of alerting students to

the great variety, complexity and richness of the

teacher’s life by ‘sophisticating the beholding’ of their

own classrooms (Stake, 1995) and as a result, helpingthem to underpin the theories within their practice and

conceptualize their experiences. The real world of

teaching is both unreal and surreal having its

delightful absurdities and pleasures as well as its

difficulties and problems. These absurdities, pleasures

and difficulties as depicted in their critical incidents

can be developed into what Orland-Barak (2002)

describes as ‘occasions for learning.’ She argues that

these moments of crisis then help novice teachers to

make sense of the world of teaching. I believe that the

more rounded and educated they are the better they

will be able to navigate their own ways through the

messy labyrinth of education and teaching. This

means that they have to be helped to see themselves

as people with their own points of view and sets of

values which then become lenses, prisms or crystals

with which they reflect and refract the teaching world

they experience.

I felt that the engagement in a self-examination of

my professional experience by ‘making the familiar

strange’ (Erickson, 1984) had enriched my under-

standing of educational phenomena that I had taken

for granted. It is in this last conclusion that the real

value of this self-review account has value for me.

Deciding to challenge the assumption that ‘one

knows’ or ‘I understand’ need not be a high risk issue

(Parlett & Dearden, 1977). However, it can provide a

simple and fairly immediate immersion in the value

systems that have previously been unscrutinised. In awider sense, this implies the continuous need for

teacher educators to reassess their practice through

introspection of their own sources of information

(Freiberg & Waxman, 1990) and accept reflection

about the pedagogy of a teacher education course as a

worthwhile exercise (Moguel, 2004).

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