New teachers feel alone one year on

By STUART DYE


New teachers say they often face little job stability, a lack of support and are untrained to deal with diverse classes.

An Education Review Office report has found that almost half of beginner secondary teachers, and a third of novice primary teachers, do not reach the required level of classroom competence.

A follow-up study, due to be released in December, will show the struggling teachers feel they are not getting the support they need.

Many were offered only temporary jobs, which left them and the school lacking the motivation to invest time and effort in professional development.

And the biggest problems were difficulties in catering for diverse students with different backgrounds and different cultures.

One Year 2 teacher, who declined to be named, told the Herald that after the first year, all ties with mentors and training were often severed, setting teachers adrift and sometimes on the wrong track.

Yesterday's report, Quality of Year 2 Beginning Teachers, assessed almost 200 teachers in subject knowledge, teaching methods, ability to engage students, and how well they met the needs of all students.

It showed that only 65 per cent of primary and 52 per cent of secondary teachers met required competence levels across all four areas.

Mike Hollings, ERO national manager of analysis and policy, said parents should be concerned by the results.

"We believe that to be really effective, you need to be good in all areas. A teacher may be teaching students for the next 35 years, so it's important that we get the early stages right," he said.

The ERO had found that schools with the most effective beginning teachers usually had more than one and that they had strong tutor-teacher programmes.

Those who failed the assessment were more likely to be the only new teacher at the school.

The solution was more training and support from teacher mentors in the second year, when beginners were making the transition between graduate trainee to practising teacher.

But there was no evidence that different training providers made a significant difference to the quality of teaching.

The Parent-Teacher's Association said the report was proof that many teachers should be removed from the classroom.

"It is the children's life. Some teachers have the same children for two or three years, so if that teacher is a poor one, the children suffer," said association president Dianne O'Sullivan.

Bill English, National's education spokesman, said the report could mean as many as 20,000 students being taught by up to 1000 ineffective teachers nationwide.

"Parents have every right to expect that the teacher at the front of the classroom will be competent," he said.

But teaching organisations defended the profession yesterday.

Primary teachers' union president Colin Tarr, and Don McLeod, principal council chairman of the Post-Primary Teachers Association, both said it took time for a teacher to become proficient in what was a demanding profession.

The acting president of the Secondary Schools Principals Association, Graham Young, admitted the figures were "a bit alarming", but blamed it on a skills shortage.

"There needs to be a major shift in values towards learning, for us to attract the best school leavers into teaching," he said.