Coping strategies used by second-career student teachers

BACKGROUND

When second-career teachers (SCTs) learn to teach, they need to cope with the tension-evoking moments they encounter. Little is known about the coping strategies SCTs use to manage tensions.

AIM

The purpose of this study was to investigate the coping strategies SCTs use during the first 1.5 years of teacher training. The SCTs' own perceptions about the usefulness, evolution and specificity of these coping strategies were also studied.

SAMPLE

Twenty-four SCTs in the alternative teacher training programme (ATTP) at the University of Amsterdam participated in this study. These SCTs aspired to become teachers of mathematics, physics, economics, computer science or chemistry.

METHOD

For each participant, written logbook fragments and interviews were analysed in Atlas-ti.

RESULTS

The SCTs used in decreasing order: intrapersonal approaching (e.g., resolving problems autonomously), interpersonal approaching (e.g., consulting others) and intrapersonal avoiding strategies (e.g., ignoring an undesired situation). Interpersonal avoiding strategies were not mentioned at all. While the SCTs reported approaching strategies (inter- and intrapersonal) as being useful for their development, we also found disadvantages to intrapersonal approaching strategies and advantageous uses of avoiding strategies. The SCTs noted several inter- and intrapersonal approaching coping strategies that they considered typical for SCTs.

CONCLUSION

Intrapersonal approaching coping strategies can be a risk because of the invisibility of these strategies. Interpersonal strategies should be stimulated because SCTs benefit from the social network in school. Avoiding strategies may serve a purpose for managing the complexity of the teaching profession.

Teachers' multicultural attitudes and perspective taking abilities as factors in culturally responsive teaching

Background

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) has been associated with increased student engagement and achievement. Its practice in classrooms, however, has been shown to be less than optimal. Nonetheless, certain teacher qualities have been suggested to facilitate its practice.

Aims

The current study sought quantitative evidence in support of two of these teacher qualities, namely teachers’ multicultural attitudes, and their perspective taking abilities. By identifying the strength of the suggested relationships, we aimed to examine the generalizability of previous findings in the literature and inform teachers’ professional development and interventions.

Sample

A total of 143 primary school teachers from different parts of the Netherlands responded to our online survey.

Methods

We conducted a multivariate multiple regression analysis to investigate the relationship between these qualities and teachers’ engagement in two separate but related components of CRT (i.e., socially sensitive and culturally sensitive teaching).

Results

Results of our analysis yielded significant relationships between the two teacher qualities and the frequency with which teachers engage in socially and culturally sensitive teaching. Perspective taking was a stronger predictor for both aspects of CRT.

Conclusion

These findings signal the significance of incorporating especially perspective taking experiences and exercises into teacher education and professional development programmes, which could benefit all students regardless of their backgrounds. Our results are promising as these qualities are malleable and thus can be improved.

Integrating the teaching role into one's identity: a qualitative study of beginning undergraduate medical teachers

Beginning medical teachers often see themselves as doctors or researchers rather than as teachers. Using both figured worlds theory and dialogical self theory, this study explores how beginning teachers in the field of undergraduate medical education integrate the teacher role into their identity. A qualitative study was performed, involving 18 beginning medical teachers at a Dutch medical school. The teachers were interviewed twice and kept a logbook over a period of 7 months. The study shows that the integration of the teacher role into the teachers' identity was hampered by the idea that teaching is perceived by others as a low status occupation. Some teachers experienced significant tension because of this, while others showed resilience in resisting the negative associations that were thought to exist regarding teaching. The teachers used five different identity narratives in order to integrate the teacher role into their identity, in which the positions of teacher and doctor or researcher were found to be combined, adopted or rejected in diverse ways. The five identity narratives were: (1) coalition between the I-position of teacher and other I-positions; (2) no integration of the I-position of teacher: holding on to other I-positions; (3) construction of the I-position of teacher and other I-positions as opposites; (4) coalition between the I-position of teacher and a third position of coordinator; and (5) meta-position: trivialising the importance of status. These identity narratives offer starting points for supporting undergraduate teachers during their early professional years.

Informal teacher communities enhancing the professional development of medical teachers: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Informal peer learning is a particularly powerful form of learning for medical teachers, although it does not always occur automatically in the departments of medical schools. In this article, the authors explore the role of teacher communities in enhancing informal peer learning among undergraduate medical teachers. Teacher communities are groups of teachers who voluntarily gather on a regular basis to develop and share knowledge. Outside of medical education, these informal teacher communities have proved to be an effective means of enhancing peer learning of academic teachers. The processes underlying this outcome are, however, not known. This study therefore aims to explore the processes that make informal teacher communities effective in supporting peer learning of teachers.

METHODS

A qualitative study was performed at a Dutch medical school, where a student-centred undergraduate curriculum had recently been introduced. As part of this curriculum, tutors are segregated into separate specialty areas and thus have only limited opportunities for informal learning with other tutors. The authors followed two informal teacher communities aimed at supporting these tutors. They observed the interactions within the teacher communities and held semi-structured interviews with ten of the participants. The observation notes and interview data were analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The informal teacher communities allowed the tutors to engage in a dialogue with colleagues and share questions, solutions, and interpretations. The teacher communities also provided opportunities to explicate tacit expertise, which helped the tutors to develop an idea of their role and form a frame of reference for their own experiences. Furthermore, the communities enhanced the tutors' sense of belonging. The tutors felt more secure in their role and they felt valued by the organisation due to the teacher communities.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that informal teacher communities not only support the professional development of tutors, but also validate and strengthen their identity as teachers. They seem to provide a dialogical space where informal intercollegiate learning is stimulated, stories are shared, tacit knowledge is made explicit, concerns are shared, and teacher identity is nurtured.