This book addresses one of the most persistent issues confronting governments, educations systems and schools today: the attraction, preparation, and retention of early career teachers. It draws on the stories of sixty graduate teachers from Australia to identify the key barriers, interferences and obstacles to teacher resilience and what might be done about it. Based on these stories, five interrelated themes - policies and practices, school culture, teacher identity, teachers’ work, and relationships – provide a framework for dialogue around what kinds of conditions need to be created and sustained in order to promote early career teacher resilience. The book provides a set of resources – stories, discussion, comments, reflective questions and insights from the literature – to promote conversations among stakeholders rather than providing yet another ‘how to do’ list for improving the daily lives of early career teachers. Teaching is a complex, fragile and uncertain profession. It operates in an environment of unprecedented educational reforms designed to control, manage and manipulate pedagogical judgements. Teacher resilience must take account of both the context and circumstances of individual schools (especially those in economically disadvantaged communities) and the diversity of backgrounds and talents of early career teachers themselves. The book acknowledges that the substantial level of change required– cultural, structural, pedagogical and relational – to improve early career teacher resilience demands a great deal of cooperation and support from governments, education systems, schools, universities and communities: teachers cannot do it alone. This book is written to generate conversations amongst early career teachers, teacher colleagues, school leaders, education administrators, academics and community leaders about the kinds of pedagogical and relational conditions required to promote early career teacher resilience and wellbeing.

Teachers in their first few years of their teaching career require high quality, structured support to begin the journey towards becoming experts. Establishing research-based best practices and working habits set up early career teachers for a fulfilling and successful career. The requirements of teachers are constantly changing, and teachers need to continually adapt their knowledge and practices to fit schools’ changing demographics. Having a toolbox of research-based best practices to draw upon can support early career teachers as they move from theory to practical application when the learning curve is the steepest. Strengthening the system of support includes increasing teachers’ influence over their day-to-day work and developing positive and supportive cultures of learning. Supporting Early Career Teachers With Research-Based Practices presents both theoretical and practical research to support the conceptual understanding of educational praxis for common areas with which early career educators may require additional expertise or support. This book is intended to be a valuable contribution to the body of literature in the field of education by supplying research-based teaching practices for modern education. Primary topics covered include professional learning, classroom management, student-teacher relationships, teaching diverse students and inclusive educational practices, and teacher self-care strategies. This book is a valuable reference tool for early career teachers of all subject areas and grade levels, school administrators, teacher mentors and guides, education faculty in higher education, educational researchers, curriculum developers, instructional facilitators, practicing teachers, pre-service teachers, professional development coordinators, teacher educators, researchers, academicians, and students interested in teaching practices and support for the early career teacher.

This book focuses on sustaining communities of practice in primary and secondary schools in Australia and internationally for the professional learning of all teachers, and particularly, early career teachers. Informed by the communities of practice research of Wenger-Trayner, it shows what factors are conductive to the sustainability of communities of practice, drawing particularly on a case study of an Australian regional secondary school, and explores how it has sustained support particularly for early career teachers over a three-year period. The first chapters of the book provide longitudinal perspectives using qualitative data and include perspectives from a variety of stakeholders, including the principal, the professional learning coordinator and the early career teachers who have experienced the school’s Communities of practice over three or more years. It offers practical suggestions on how to implement and improve communities of practice in schools and highlights the increasing importance of online communities to support early career teachers. Policy-makers, school principals, teacher educators and teaching practitioners find the book useful for implementing and sustaining communities of practice in schools. Subsequent chapters explore the value of online communities, such as Twitter communities; the role of collegial support networks in supporting early career teachers in Flemish primary education; and professional learning in Northern Ireland pre- and in-service teacher networked communities.

This vital book is a unique collection of the Canadian research on teacher induction and mentoring. It makes a timely and valuable contribution by bringing together the pan-Canadian voices of authors who are passionate about the development of early career teachers.

This book provides an evidentiary basis for policy decisions regarding initial teacher education and beginning teaching and informs the design and delivery of teacher preparation programs. Based on a rigorous analysis of international literature and the policy context for teacher education globally, and assessing data generated through a longitudinal study conducted in Australia, it investigates the effectiveness of teacher education in preparing teachers for the variety of school settings in which they begin their teaching careers. Over four years, the Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education (SETE) project tracked roughly 5,000 recently graduated teachers and 1,000 school principals in Australia to capture workforce data and gauge graduate teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of their initial teacher education programs. This book offers a synthesis of the research findings and uses the SETE as a catalyst for innovative theorization of the effectiveness of teacher education.

When bad behaviour threatens to derail lessons and undermine teaching, it's easy to feel like you've run out of solutions. Enter: Nikki Cunningham-Smith. With her comforting sense of humour, wealth of experience and ability to see positives in even the most nightmarish of classroom scenarios, Nikki encourages early career teachers to reflect on their practice, take care of their mental health and implement behaviour management strategies that really work. Feel Free to Smile draws on anecdotes from Nikki's time as a teacher in alternative provision settings, as well as contributions from fellow professionals and current NQTs such as Ross Morrison McGill, Vivienne Porritt, Kemi Oloyede and Sarah Mullin. It provides practical strategies, tips and quick fixes for dealing with difficult behaviour and keeping your cool in testing situations. With advice on all aspects of behaviour, as well as reflective questions and space to jot down your thoughts, this book is the perfect companion if you're feeling daunted by challenging behaviour and looking for an experienced voice to help lead the way.

Forewords by Professor Rachel Lofthouse and Reuben Moore. With low early career teacher retention rates and the introduction of the Department for Education's new Early Career Framework, the role of mentor has never been so important in helping to keep teachers secure and happy in the classroom. Haili Hughes, a former senior leader with years of school mentoring experience, was involved in the consultation phase of the framework's design - and in this book she imparts her wisdom on the subject in an accessible way. Haili offers busy teachers a practical interpretation of how to work with the Early Career Framework, sharing practical guidance to help them in the vital role of supporting new teachers. She also shares insights from recent trainee teachers, as well as more established voices in education, to provide tried-and-tested transferable tips that can be used straight away.

Early Career Teachers in Higher Education explores the experiences of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) through 13 personal teaching journeys from academics working across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and South America. This edited volume contains the subjective narrative of each contributor's entry into academia, their pedagogic practice and the development of their multiple teaching identities. Their personal narratives and testimonies presented here will provide a valuable resource for ECTs and academics around the world as they begin teaching in higher education. In addition, this edited book highlights contemporary issues, such as precarity, casualisation, fragmentation of academic responsibilities and intersectionality, that shape contemporary ECT workloads.

Behaviour is the number one concern for most early career teachers so this accessible book provides a range of research informed and road-tested strategies to support the development of positive classroom systems and structures. It offers key psychological insights into the factors that lie behind different behaviours, helping you understand and manage your own behaviours as well as those of the children and young people you teach. Chapters cover understanding individuals, the classroom environment and the wider school context, as well as working with parents and carers. Ultimately the book enables you to successfully work with groups of children and young people so that they can learn effectively and make progress. The Essential Guides for Early Career Teachers series provides accessible, carefully researched, quick reads for early career teachers, covering the key topics you will encounter during your training year and first two years of teaching. They complement and are fully in line with the new Early Career Framework and are intended to assist ongoing professional development by bringing together current information and thinking on each area in one convenient place.

The Essential Guides for Early Career Teachers provide accessible, carefully researched, quick-reads for early career teachers, covering the key topics they will encounter during their training year and first two years of teaching. This title on Assessment provides a range of practical but critically engaged strategies and approaches to assessment. It offers a brief history of the core ideas and educational philosophy underpinning these, looks at links to planning and reflection, examines the concept of progress over time as a mirror for quality teaching and learning, and explores the idea of pupil self-assessment. Most importantly it recognises that assessment can and should be at the heart of enabling and accelerating the progress of all learners. Clear, accessible and practical. An unmissable guide to classroom assessment. Professor Dame Alison Peacock