Transitioning from university to workplace : experiences of novice teachers in rural schools

Abstract

The study investigated activities initiated in different rural secondary schools to assist novice teachers with less than three years in the field to cope with challenges arising during the transitional phase. The study arose out of challenges encountered by novice teachers attached to my school and other neighbouring rural secondary schools as observed by me due to the lack of clear professional development activities aimed at assisting them to cope with the challenges at work which in most cases lead them into exiting the profession prematurely. I posed a primary research question: How do novice teachers cope with the transition from university to the workplace? Twelve novice teachers working in rural secondary schools in the Capricorn North District in Limpopo Province were sampled purposefully as participants in this study. The study indicated some of the challenges encountered by novice teachers in their first three years of teaching which normally kills their spirit and results in a high rate of attrition. The study employed a descriptive qualitative research approach and multiple case study design to explore the problem. The study used the theory that was developed by Fuller (1969). The theory compared a novice teacher to a new-born child that just got thrown into a new place of which he knew nothing. The theory holds that teachers go through three stages of concern, namely a state of survival, self-adequacy and thirdly, acceptance. The findings revealed that novice teachers working in rural schools experienced a different form of developmental support from their schools due to the lack of a clear professional development policy and the lack of support from the Department of Basic Education. In some rural schools, novice teachers are not being assisted at all, they depend on consultations with senior teachers which they had to initiate themselves.