Abstract:

The transition of novice teachers from being a trainee into a full in-stage position, is accompanied with a sense of inadequacy (Schatz &Dvir, 2014). Hence, during the first year of teaching, novice teachers are required to participate in weekly support groups to obtain a teaching license.
72 Israeli novice general education teachers and 75 novice special education teachers, discussed dilemmas in their work, in online forums during their induction year. The cases underwent content analysis in order to find common themes and reveal the perceptions of the novice teachers in the different frameworks.

We found five common themes in both groups. In all the themes we found essential differences between the perceptions of the two groups:
Interrelations with the school staff:
- Novice special education teachers perceived themselves as team managers, regardless of the position they held. Their teammates had a multidisciplinary training that spans a wide range of ages and levels of educational experience (e.g. assistants, disciplinary teachers, counselors, therapists). Thus the novices in special education frameworks had a quotidian contact and as a result –deliberations and disputes regarding the diverse approaches to the pupils. The novices were accepted as equal decision makers regarding their educational opinions.
- Novice general teachers were usually in contact with the teachers of the same discipline they taught, or with teachers in the same age group. The novices were perceived by their mates, as lower in the hierarchy and were examined under a professional magnifying glass. They reported feelings of loneliness.

Class management:
All the novice teachers reported many incidents of discipline disorders and violence, yet there is a difference in the interpretation to the cases between the groups:
- In special education classes the teacher and staff interpreted the misbehavior as a symptom, and emphasized the factors that contribute to this behavior. Moreover, the diverse professionals could offer therapeutic help and escorted the novices in using various methods and means for coping in severe cases. Often the novice teachers in special education describe their rescue fantasy in regards to these cases.
- In general classes, too often, pupils with discipline disorder were tagged as problematic or abusive, and the harassments as being directed deliberately at the teacher. The novices felt deserted and lonely. Most of the coping with violence and disorders were formal or mediated behavioristic methods.

Teaching methods:
- The novice special education teachers used resources of professional multidisciplinary knowledge and relied on therapists that back up their work.
- Novice general education teachers worked alone in an overcrowded class.Hence they tended to use traditional methods.

Interactions with parents:
The novice special education teachers felt responsible and even paternalistic towards the parents, whereas novice general education teachers perceived the parents as adversary and even paternalistic towards themselves.

Time management and workload:
All the novice teachers complained about workload. Yet, it seems that general education teachers suffered more of the workload caused by working in many overcrowded classes and several age strata.

The differences between the perceptions of novice teachers in special education and in general education revealed diverse systems, despite the new trends of mutual courses for teacher training.

Keywords:

Novice teachers, role perception, special education teachers.