• Publishing Information
• Preface
• Field 1 - Development of schools and professionalism
• Supporting New Teachers at the Beginning of their Professional Careers: A Collegial Mentoring Project in Styria, Austria
• Using Social Software on Erasmus Exchange: A Qualitative Study of How Erasmus Outgoing Students from the University College of Teacher Education are using Social Software during their Erasmus Student Exchanges
• Happiness Makes School
• Field 2 - Early childhood
• An Analysis of Preschool Children’s Perspectives on their Relationships with Adults
• Field 3 - Language
• Support of Plurilingualism of Students in Narva College of the University of Tartu, Estonia by Implementing CLIL and Trilingual Educational Model
• Learning Space Deutschlandsberg – Creating Language Friendly Learning Environments
• MALEDIVE - Diversity in Majority Language Learning - Supporting Teacher Education
• Field 4 - Diversity
• When Perception is Upside Down
• Field 5 - Natural Science and Health
• Inquiry-based Learning and Teaching for the Development of Students’ Competences in Science
• Living with Type 1 Diabetes
• Appendix
• Editors

Supporting New Teachers at the Beginning of their Professional Careers: A Collegial Mentoring Project in Styria, Austria

Andrea Holzinger, Karin da Rocha

Until now there was no possibility for new primary and secondary school teachers in Austria to gradually master the challenges at the beginning of their professional careers. They were left alone with full responsibility and, in most cases, a fulltime employment right from the beginning with only the practical experience they had gained during their three-year teacher training.

As about 900 primary and 1400 secondary school teachers are going to retire in Styria, Austria, in the next five years, the University of Teacher Education in Graz is carrying out a pilot project to aid new teachers in three Styrian regions accompanied by evaluation research from 2012 to 2014. Primary school teachers who are new to the job are advised by experienced colleagues at their local schools. Additionally, courses for mentors, mentees, and principals are offered. The lectures’ design allows for social and digital networking by means of several meeting or online facilities. The contents of the courses are adapted to the roles and interests of the three focus groups and hold the possibility of peer discussion and cross-group communication. Some of the topics are as follows:

• Challenges of professional development for new teachers and mentoring basics (for principals).
• Classroom management, work with parents, and assessment of performance (for newcomers).
• Mentoring and feedback (for mentors).

The research accompanying the project investigates factors at structural, systemic, and personal levels that help new teachers to have a successful start in their chosen profession. As well, the value of collegial mentoring as a part of the human resources and school development is examined. Accordingly, the following research questions are pursued:

• Which factors can help to establish mentoring at school?
• How can mentoring help build professionalism in new teachers?
• How does specific training facilitate new teachers’ starts in professional life?
• Which roles do social and digital networks play in the challenges of new teachers’ professionalism?

During the two-year project, participants are asked to contribute to evaluation research by completing two questionnaires concerning mentoring at the beginning and at the end of the school year. Moreover, expert interviews are conducted three times a year.

First analyses have proved the necessity of the project, especially from the mentees and mentors’ points of view, and have allowed for detailed insight into the fields new teachers are challenged with at the beginning of their careers like grading, administration, and meeting parents.

References

Hericks, U. (2006). Professionalisierung als Entwicklungsaufgabe. Rekonstruktionen zur Berufseingangsphase von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

Keller-Schneider, M. (2010). Entwicklungsaufgaben im Berufseinstieg von Lehrpersonen. Münster, New York, München, Berlin: Waxmann

Stöger, H., Ziegler, A., Schimke, D. (Hrsg.) (2009). Mentoring: Theoretische Hintergründe, empirische Befunde und praktische Anwendungen. Lengerich: Pabst

Contact

andrea.holzinger@phst.at; karin.darocha@phst.at