Abstract:

The first years of teaching represent a defining stage for an educator when beginner teachers contact an unknown reality during their student years. Communication with parents, colleagues and school directory, classroom discipline, inadequate guidance and support, limited physical resources in the school environment, insufficient pre-service training, bureaucratic practices seriously test the young teacher's skills. The management of stressful situations and the adapting level of the new professional environment will influence their subsequent decision to keep or leave their teaching positions.

This research aims to identify the factors that support an effective adaptation in the first years of teaching through a mixed research design approach. Quantitative research focuses on the discoveries of certain factors capacities to operate on the adaptation level of beginning teachers in the educational field. Age, experience, didactic degree, type of employment, teaching environment, type and size of educational institution and grades obtained at the initial training are analysed. In the focus group discussion, seven beginner teachers from different geographical areas of Romania participated. The subjects recommended improvements in the academic programs concerning developing more curriculum documents, conducting micro-teaching sessions for each subject matter and grade, practising classroom management techniques during their pre-service training, and having mentors during the first year of their profession.

The comparison and combination of the two sets of results allow drawing objective conclusions with direct implications on the educational process.

Keywords:

Beginner teacher, mixed research, quantitative research, pre-service training.