Building a supportive program for new teachers in Italy Essay

Building a supportive program for new teachers in Italy - Essay Example First group contains novice teachers in order to gain their perspective about the program, their demands and concerns. The other group would consist of mentor teachers in order to gain their perspective, developing a strategy to provide help and the best way to support beginning teachers. Also, Questionnaires will be used besides observation and note taking. Using questioners might help to supporting the findings of the case study. In Italy large number of new teachers is hired each year. Each of these new teachers is expected to assume the same responsibilities as veteran teachers on the first day of employment. With limited experience and limited support, they are expected to provide a quality educational experience for the students in their classrooms. Most schools in Italy are traditional in structure, hence each of the new teachers taught in a self-contained classroom. Novice teacher, newly experiencing the problems of teaching, are alone with their students for the majority of the day, trying to identify and satisfy the needs of several students with unique needs. This isolation limited the support and assistance that novices could gain from their more experienced colleagues and could have added to feeling of stress and anxiety. The principal, the sole administrator of the institution, had not much time available to observe the development of their newly appointed staff. Also, some administrators feel that their presence is threatening and stress provoking so they opt to allow the novice to develop on his/her own.Nowadays people are concerned with the quality of education more than ever. Why then had the supportive program for novice teachers and their concerns not been addressed? ... Educational regulations in Italy required non-tenured teachers to be observed in certain time period. Unfortunately, few received any supportive instructions in the classrooms. The principal, the sole administrator of the institution, had not much time available to observe the development of their newly appointed staff. Also, some administrators feel that their presence is threatening and stress provoking so they opt to allow the novice to develop on his/her own. Nowadays people are concerned with the quality of education more than ever. Why then had the supportive program for novice teachers and their concerns not been addressed Kilgore and Kozisek (1998) and Huling-Austin (1998) felt that educators did not view teachers' supportive program as a pressing need and are not familiar with the body of knowledge related to this area. Limited support, isolation and anxiety are realities of induction year (Fuller, 1969, 207-226). As educators, we knew that the emotional well being of a child was an important factor in their ability to learn. Did it not seem reasonable to ensure that same senses of well being to our novice teachers so that they would learn and grow into responsive and effective teachers The aim of the current paper is to outline the study of building a supportive program for novice teachers in Italy, in order to solve the problems faced by novice teachers. Problems Encountered Novice teachers, being new to the problem of teaching become isolated from the institutional environment because of the system prevailed in Italian schools. This surely limits their ability to prosper from the experience of their veteran colleagues and thereby taking lot of stress. This and lack of any supportive program throughout their earlier