A study of the experiences of beginner teachers in the first three years of teaching suggests that more support mechanisms are needed to encourage teachers to remain in the profession.
The study, entitled Beginner Teachers in South African Schools: Readiness, Knowledge and Skills, was conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council at 340 schools in five provinces in 2006. The five provinces, Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Free State were selected as previous research indicated that more teachers were hired in these provinces.
The study was prompted by concern that a high number of teachers leave the profession in South Africa within the first five years, while the number of teachers who resign before they are 30 is significantly higher than the number who resign after reaching this age.
“When new teachers resign early on in their careers, or trainees fail to take up work as teachers government investment in them is seen as a waste of resources,” says the report.
This can be attributed to several factors, including poor support from official structures, unattractive remuneration and working conditions and the ‘difficulties faced in the transition from trainee to practicing teachers’.
The report also noted that: “The research noted that most beginner teachers could be retained if they were offered salary incentives, sufficient teaching and learning resources and well-paced educational changes”.
It was also found that respondents were surprisingly confident about their abilities in the classroom, which contradicts similar studies conducted previously.
Respondents indicated that they felt their skills in lesson preparation; content knowledge and creating a stimulating class environment were ‘more than adequate’.
“This contrast can be attributed to several factors, including the possibility that beginner teachers would want to appear to be coping even if they are not; their inability to self-reflect early in their careers or they could in fact just be competent.”
The report called for intervention to tackle problems faced by beginner teachers, the fleshing out of teacher support programmes at school and district level and longer periods of practical training for teacher trainees.