Source: European Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 33, No. 3, August 2010, 293–307.
(Reviewed by the Portal Team)
This study aimed to examine how national curriculum, school, and classroom contexts in the Turkish centralised system influenced beginning teachers’ learning to teach when they did not have any support.
Methodology
The participants in the study were six middle grade mathematics teachers who graduated from the same four-year middle-grade mathematics teacher education programme in 2003.
one male and five female participated in the study.
The participants did not receive effective mentorship during their first year of teaching.
Data were collected through semi-structured interviews.
Beginning teachers in this study were generally the only mathematics teachers in their schools in the first few years. Therefore, they could not share their experiences with other mathematics teachers.
The findings showed that when beginning teachers lacked collegial support, they tended to look for other indicators for evaluating teaching performance.
Hence, students’ responses and students' scores in national examinations became the main reference for their teaching decisions.
In conclusion, the findings reveal that teachers’ classroom practice was influenced by national curriculum requirements, lack of collegial support at schools, and students’ mixed knowledge levels in the classrooms due to the complex relationship between the three contexts.
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