Abstract:

The recruitment and retention of teachers in Estonia have reached crisis point. It is caused by, on the one hand, modest interest in teacher education, and situation, where less than 50% of teacher education graduates head to work as a teacher. On the other hand, teachers’ average age is quite high (i.e. 48 years), and according to Leijen et al. (2018), only 68% of today teachers see themselves as teachers also in 3 years. Therefore, it is important to support Estonian teachers in every possible way.

To support novice teachers, induction year programmes with varying support activities have been developed and launched in many countries, including Estonia. However, researchers have questioned the effectiveness of support systems designed for novice teachers in schools with unsupported professional cultures (Birkeland & Feiman-Nemser, 2012; Remmik, Lepp, & Koni, 2015).

Since 2004, Estonia has been implementing the induction year system in order to support the professional development of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) and it aims to support the adjustment of novice teachers to the school as an organization, develop basic competencies in new teachers, and provide support in solving problems. In addition to the inner school support system, NQTs can participate in induction seminars at the universities.

The aim of this study was to analyse the expectations of NQTs to induction seminars and the value of the of the seminars for NQTs. Following research questions were stated:
1) What are the expectations of NQTs to induction seminars?
2) What is the value of the seminars for NQTs?

This case study involves one induction year seminar group (N=12) from the University of Tartu in 2017. The participants were teachers of general education, for 10 teachers, it was their first working year, 2 teachers had worked part-time since the year before.

The discussions from the first meeting (in September) were audiotaped and expectations mapped during group work, recorded. In the last meeting (in May), the feedback about the value of the seminars for teachers was gathered in the same manner. In addition, the participants filled the feedback survey. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

The preliminary results for research question one “What are the expectations of newly qualified teachers to induction seminars?” indicate that novice teacher had the expectation to share their experience and reflect on it, and to have an opportunity to learn from other teachers’ experiences. Participants also had expectations for getting new knowledge, to repeat teacher education studies, assessment, and social interaction. Finally, they were keen on new teaching methods and technological opportunities.

The answer to research question two “What is the value of seminars for newly qualified teachers?” lies in the opportunity to talk about the issues that are not comfortable, safe, appropriate etc. to speak about with colleagues at the workplace. The possibility of linking theory and practice (scientific reasoning to the questions arose, consulting). Also, participants valued the seminars as an evaluation-free and supportive environment, where they could share their personal problems, and conduct deep and systematic self-analysis.

Keywords:

Newly qualified teachers, induction seminars, induction year, case study.