How to Welcome a New Teacher Into a School

(Originally titled “Beyond Solo Teaching”)

From the Marshall Memo #436

In this Educational Leadership article, Brandeis University professor Sharon Feiman-Nemser bemoans the way many new teachers have been treated over the years – larger classes, more students with special needs, extracurricular duties, and classrooms with inadequate materials and equipment – conditions that amount to “hazing” and result in a high rate of teacher turnover. The good news is that many schools are now making valiant efforts to help new teachers succeed. Feiman-Nemser describes three models for supporting new teachers, each providing more support and stronger links to schoolwide development:

• Induction as temporary support – The goals of this model are easing a rookie’s transition into teaching, reducing stress, and addressing problems. Its components are a reduced workload for new teachers, a good orientation to the school and community, and an informal buddy system that offers advice and emotional support. The hoped-for outcome is survival and retention.

• Induction as individualized professional development – The goals are fostering new teachers’ development and promoting more-effective teaching and learning. The components include: reduced workload; orientation to school and community; guidance with the curriculum; at least two years of serious mentoring with attention to a good match, training, and time; and administrative support. The hoped-for outcomes are improved teaching and learning and teacher satisfaction and retention.

• Induction as cultural transformation – The goals are reduced teacher isolation, welcoming new teachers into an integrated school community that supports continuous learning by all, promoting more effective teaching and learning, and reducing the achievement gap. The components include: reduced workload or a team-teaching assignment; serious mentoring (as above); intergenerational learning teams; and administrative involvement. The hoped-for outcomes include: continuous learning by all teachers; collective responsibility for teaching and learning; a high-quality learning environment for students; increased student achievement; and rewarding career paths for teachers. 

“Beyond Solo Teaching” by Sharon Feiman-Nemser in Educational Leadership, May 2012 (Vol. 69, #8, p. 10-16), http://www.ascd.org; the author is at snemser@brandeis.edu.