Novice Teacher’s Social and Emotional Learning: Challenges and Coping Strategies

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 5:10 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Examining Chinese Teachers' Identities (Table 10)

Abstract

Teachers play a vital role in students’ social and emotional learning (SEL)SEL, but they are not merely facilitators or interveners; they are also social and emotional learners themselves. This qualitative case study, involving six novice primary teachers in a Chinese context, elucidates their SEL challenges and coping strategies in their early careers. Novice teachers encounter key challenges such as a significant gap between their ideals and reality, compliance with multiple and complex tasks, difficulties in student management and parent communication, and insufficient experience in emotional regulation. Novice teachers can enhance their SEL through intrapersonal, interpersonal and institutional strategies and these coping strategies are influenced by contextual and cultural factors. Implications for novice teachers, schools, and professional development programs are discussed.

Author

• Zheng Xin, East China Normal University