Walking the Walk, Finding the Talk: Disentangling Professional Development During the First Year of Teaching

• In Event: 18.055 - Supporting Teacher Educators, Preservice Teachers, and Early-Career Teachers

Abstract

Findings of a longitudinal multiple case-study on early career teachers (following-up, semi-structured interviews at four moments during the first year of teaching) are presented to substantiate and analytically unravel their professional development (encompassing a technical, a moral, a political and an emotional dimension) as resulting from the interplay between the individual’s sense making, his/her interactions with significant others in the school as an organization (principal, colleagues, students and parents) and situated in the particular material and cultural conditions of its context. Narrative portrayals and analytical patterns are presented and documented, which deepen the theorizing of early career teachers’ experiences and learning, as well as contribute to the critical rethinking of the mentoring programs or facilities, designed to support those teachers.

Authors

• Geert Kelchtermans, University of Leuven

• Ann Deketelaere, University of Leuven