How do induction year teachers in Scotland learn in the workplace?

• Main Author: Shanks, Rachel
• Published: University of Aberdeen 2012
• Subjects: 370.711; First year teachers
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.558637

This mixed methods study sought to investigate the professional learning of induction year teachers in Scotland and the factors which influence this learning. New teachers' professional learning does not simply consist of continuing professional development days but also includes the informal learning from colleagues, peers and pupils that takes place every day at work. The factors which may affect induction year teachers' learning include the situation or context of a particular school workplace, the teacher's individual learning disposition, their level of micro-political literacy and their relationship with pupils. The school context may be regarded as a workplace learning environment which has expansive and/or restrictive practices. Through interviews and questionnaires, new teacher learning was examined in relation to the learner, their learning and their context, all three being inextricably linked. Induction year teachers in Scotland are learners with individual needs. There is no longer a one-size-fits-al/ mentality in relation to pupil learning and so it is anachronistic that new teachers are treated identically. In order to examine new teachers at an individual level it is necessary to examine their attitudes towards learning, their learning biography and their engagement with learning opportunities. These personal aspects can be encapsulated in the term individual learning disposition. In a similar way to learning environments having expansive and restrictive elements, people may exhibit expansive and/or restrictive characteristics in relation to their individual learning disposition.