Big step: ensuring your beginning teachers get the best start to their school year

With teacher shortages putting a huge amount of pressure on schools, ensuring that beginning teachers feel supported and nurtured right from day one is more important than ever, according to one education expert.

Dr Ellen Larsen is associate head of Professional Engagement in the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and a senior lecturer in Curriculum and Pedagogy.

She says that one of the main policy responses around teacher shortages has been to encourage more people into the profession, which means we’re getting a lot of new teachers coming through, “which is absolutely fabulous”, but with that comes the responsibility of not only supporting them to make the transition, but also to hit the ground running and to really enjoy and experience success early on.

“The profession now is very complex, it’s very demanding, and it’s important that we understand how to support the teachers of today to actually manage the diverse classrooms that they work in, the diverse responsibilities that they are given, as well as to manage what is a space which has huge amounts of accountabilities and extra responsibilities that really are particular to the contemporary teaching profession,” Larsen tells EducationHQ.

“And if we’re going to keep our teachers, we absolutely must provide them with the support that they need, particularly in those early years, where it can be very overwhelming, no matter how good a teacher they are.”

Larsen says USQ has prioritised working hard, in partnership with a range of schools, to better understand the ways in which early career teachers can be supported as they transition from the university context into schools.

Two focuses are most critical in this period – a quality induction process or program, and mentorship.

“Most schools have really good induction programs where they are able to support teachers to understand the context and the ways of working in that context, but what’s important within induction is mentoring, and we know that mentoring always comes up among those early career teachers who leave they say that it was mentoring that they would really, really like to experience.

“Further mentoring provides that social support, that emotional support, as well as that practice support that’s so interesting.”

Many schools arrange socialising activities to ensure that graduate teachers or new teachers feel a sense of belonging and community from their very first days, but Larsen contends that a welcoming broader school community can have immeasurable impact.

“Parents can go a long way to making new teachers to the school feel really welcome, and while introducing themselves in person might not be possible, even something as simple as an introductory email can be a really important thing to do.”

Larsen, who taught in schools for 25 years before working with teachers in professional development and later moving into ITE, says where once upon a time our beginning teachers were those who had finished their secondary schooling, went to university, undertook quite a traditional university program, did placements out in schools, qualified, and then took up their first teaching position, these days there are many ways that people are coming into the profession.

Dr Larsen, pictured above, says it's really important that just as we know in our classrooms that all students are unique and bring their own knowledge and life experience with them, it's the same with our beginning teachers.

“So there are those who’ve done extensive and numerous placements, and they’re really excited to get a class of their own, but we’ve also got a range of teachers now who have completed what we call a “teaching internship” – so, they’ve already had quite a lot of time already teaching independently in a classroom before actually reaching the official completion of their program and moving into the profession with their qualification,” she explains.

There are also many beginning teachers who are “career changers”, who are bringing their qualifications with them, as well as an extensive understanding of practice and an incredible sense of passion and purpose to make a difference.

“They are at the same time unique and individual, and so, when we think about supporting and nurturing them, we need to make sure that we are looking at who these beginning teachers are and thinking about what they need to successfully transition into the context," Larsen says. 

With this in mid, the expert says it’s important that school leaders in particular acknowledge that even though they look a little bit older, they are still new teachers in need of guidance, support and advice.

“Sometimes it’s hard in really big schools, but it’s important that they connect with them, understand where they’ve come from, and what experiences they’ve had previously, so that they can ascertain what that teacher might need.

“It’s also about recognising the extensive skills and the knowledge and the currency of research-based best practice that these beginning teachers bring with them into the school setting.”

School leaders, Larsen says, see beginning teachers as the ‘lifeblood of schools’, the leaders of the future and an absolute asset.

“I can’t think of a school leader who doesn’t see their beginning teachers in that way,” she says.

The academic is bullishly confident about education’s future in this country.

“If we can take a two-pronged approach of encouraging more teachers into the profession but concurrently ensuring that those teachers, as they transition into and progress through their careers, are given the opportunity to not only be supported but valued and recognised, I think that the profession will ultimately prove what I’ve always believed, that it is the best profession that you can ever be part of.”