An analysis of the perception of novice teachers about participation in an induction program

1 Introduction

This article aimed to analyze the perception of beginning teachers (PIs) about participation in an induction program, seeking to understand the consequences for teaching activity, through the reading and interpretation of 18 open answers to a mixed questionnaire.

This program, which had the financial support of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), lasted from 2017 to 2020 and aimed to advise teachers in their professional insertion, in order to support them at this stage of their career and help them to act autonomously. For this, she had the support of experienced teachers - called mentors - who, through periodic and contextualized activities, sought to promote training and collaborate with the professional development of beginners.

To achieve the objective initially proposed, we understand that narratives can be fundamental in the investigative process, since they give visibility to conceptions and ideas and can reveal the voices of teachers (Souza, 2014).

The article was divided into four sections. In the Theoretical Contributions, we discuss teacher training and teaching learning; induction and mentoring programs, especially the mentoring program - the scenario of this study; narratives; reflection and reflective processes. In the Methodology, we highlight the research bias and the theoretical-methodological choices, as well as the process of data collection, organization and analysis, presenting the categories built. In the analysis and discussion of the data, we present the records of the responses to the questionnaires, based on the categories elaborated, weaving discussions based on the theoretical principles that underlie this study. In the final Words, we summarized the analyzes and discussions and indicated the revelations and contributions of this work to the area of Teacher Training.

2 Theoretical contributions

Teacher training corresponds to a continuum, which is a permanent process that occurs throughout the life of teachers (Tardif, 2002). Likewise, teaching learning is a continuous process that can be related to the different stages of life: the one that precedes initial training; initial training; the beginning of career and professional development (Reali; Tancredi; Mizukami, 2008).

Teaching learning occurs prior to entry into initial training and extends throughout the professional career. Thus, teachers also learn and develop through practice and professional experience, and it is necessary to move the theoretical learning learned in initial training and throughout personal and professional development (Goodson, 2004). In this process, over time, the training needs and demands of teachers - even though they are not the same for each individual - change according to the phases of their careers (Marcelo, 2010).

According to Huberman (2000), career entry corresponds to the first 2-3 years of work and presents a state of "survival" and "discovery". Survival concerns an initial reality shock, the confrontation between the complexity and unpredictability of the profession's situations with the ideals and expectations prior to acting. The discovery, on the other hand, refers to the initial enthusiasm of feeling part of a professional teaching staff. The states of survival and discovery are usually experienced in parallel, and the state of discovery is the foundation for coping with reality shock - an important factor for teachers to remain in their careers.

Literature has pointed out that the initial years of teaching can represent a phase full of tensions, challenges and learning (Lima, 2006; Papi; Martins, 2010; Príncipe; André, 2019). It is at this moment that the transition from student to teacher occurs and, when he starts his career, he may be faced with a reality totally different from what he expected (Lima, 2006).

Faced with these and several other difficulties, entering the teaching career can be conceived as the most complex phase of learning and professional development, as it involves an important stage of structuring the practice (Papi; Martins, 2010).

[...] seeks to incorporate, understand and integrate more densely into the teaching culture, the school culture and become familiar with the codes and norms of the profession. A decisive time in the teacher's professional history and with decisive repercussions on their future and their relationship with work.

The beginning of teaching is, therefore, a very delicate period. Frustrations caused by a set of challenges can be experienced in loneliness and isolation. This scenario can lead teachers to face deep and painful crises, causing them to rethink their choices and, in more aggravating situations, to even give up the profession (Marcelo, 2010).

Sharing these premises, induction programs are among the alternatives to support beginners and can offer subsidies to face entering the profession in a less traumatic way (Reali et al., 2018). Cruz, Farias, and Hobold (2020, p. 6) highlight, based on studies by Marcelo (1993, 1999), that induction is a time:

[...] the acquisition of knowledge and professional competence by the beginning teacher, who needs systematic actions to monitor the teaching work, either through induction programs, via public policies, or other actions aimed at this purpose.

The concept of induction, however, does not present a unique and congruent meaning among the academic community, but may imply a critical understanding, associated with “[...] issues related to the objective and subjective working conditions experienced by teachers” (Cruz; Farias; Hobold, 2020, p. 6).

For Marcelo (1993, p. 227, our translation), the activities that are developed in the induction programs imply “[...] providing information, advice and supervision to the beginning teacher [...]”. Cruz, Farias and Hobold (2020) complement that Marcelo's studies denote a range of strategies that focus on the construction of the idea of mentoring.

Mentoring programs - an initiative in which experienced teachers accompany and advise novice teachers -, although they may vary in the emphasis attributed to the diverse and different demands of beginners, aim to work on the autonomy and professional development of teachers (Reali; Tancredi; Mizukami, 2008).

Despite the different approaches they may have, mentoring programs should be based on trust and mutual support between experienced and novice teachers. The mentors' advice should also support socialization in school culture, focusing on situated and contextualized needs (Borges, 2017).

According to Reali, Tancredi and Mizukami (2008, p. 86):

[...] the literature has indicated that mentors should generally be experienced teachers, veterans in the daily experiences of the classroom and school subjects, who can help beginning teachers to learn philosophy, cultural values and establish a repertoire of professional behaviors expected by the school community in which they work.

It is important to emphasize, however, that simply being an experienced teacher is not enough to be a mentor. Mentoring is a complex process that requires time, training and constant improvement of skills and learning (Moir et al., 2009). Although some studies suggest that specific training is not always required to perform the role of a mentor, assuming that experience alone is sufficient (Marcelo & Vaillant, 2017), in this study, we consider that an experienced teacher does not necessarily become a good mentor. It is necessary to go through a specific training process for mentoring (Borges, 2017).

In mentoring, while experienced teachers (mentors) help beginners deal with the challenges and difficulties specific to this phase of their career, they also train and develop as trainers (Marcelo, 1999). Therefore, while developing their practices in the mentoring processes, they can also train, research, test, etc. This process benefits the development of both novice and experienced teachers (Moir et al., 2009).

Still, for this strategy to be valid and enhance the professional development of teachers, it is important to mention the performance of the training institutions, whether they are schools, universities and/or even in mutual collaboration. These institutions can promote the necessary support to undergraduates, graduates and those who are in the first years of work, through partnership with experienced teachers, providing favorable learning conditions for their professional practice. In this sense, through a partnership between university and school, the Hybrid Mentoring Program (PHM) of the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), the scenario of this study, offered specific training to experienced teachers so that they could act as mentors to beginning teachers.

Based on a constructive-collaborative framework (Cyrino, 2016; Mizukami, 2003) and a hybrid perspective (combining online and in-person activities; bridging school and university; and linking theory and practice), the program aimed to investigate its limits and contributions to the professional development of both experienced and novice teachers working in various educational levels (Early Childhood Education, early years of Elementary Education, and Adult Education).

The experienced teachers had a specific training of continuous character to become mentors. Such training was prepared by the teachers coordinating the project. The work with the beginners took place virtually and began with digital literacy, in which activities were carried out to habituate them in the virtual environment. Then, the mentors went on to follow up, in which individualized activities were proposed for each IP, based on the training demands evidenced (either at the direct request of the beginners or through the sensitive and experienced look of the mentors).

Regarding the constructive-collaborative framework (Cyrino, 2016; Mizukami, 2003) of the program, assuming this perspective implied the active participation of all members of the group, as well as the appreciation of their knowledge, opinions, objectives and, mainly, assumption of responsibilities, decision-making and results on the work.

In addition, one of the main objectives was to ensure participants' understanding and participation in all phases of the intervention and investigation process, considering that teachers involved in collaborative inquiry processes can have changes in practice and reflexivity, as well as in the construction of learning (Cyrino, 2016; Mizukami, 2003). Therefore, reflection and reflective processes are also prominent and important points in the aforementioned mentoring program.

Rodgers (2002) explains that reflection is a process of creating meaning and building knowledge that occurs through connections between experiences and ideas. This movement between experiences is what enables learning to be continuous. Reflection is a type of thinking that requires a rigorous and disciplined system to occur. It needs to be situated individually and in community. In addition, it is essential that the reflective act is intertwined with attitudes such as open-mindedness, willingness to learn, responsibility and directivity (Rodgers, 2002).

Schön (1983) contributes to the discussion through the idea of a reflective professional. Some principles elaborated by Schön (1983) are those of “reflection in action”, “reflection on action” and “reflection on reflection in action”. The first refers to the reflective act during practice, articulating the teacher's thoughts in a more routine, spontaneous and natural way. The second means a pause to reflect after the moment of the teaching action, in order to reorganize thoughts and attitudes, with a view to achieving the teaching purposes. Subsequently, reflection on reflection in action may occur, in a more advanced process of meta-analysis on what led to take a certain action at that particular moment of the action.

Given the above, narratives can be powerful instruments in promoting reflective processes and enhancing teacher professional development, because, when narrating, the individual needs to reorganize and re-signify thinking about life history experiences, training and professional practice (Oliveira; Gama, 2014).

In the words of Reali, Tancredi and Mizukami (2010, p. 501): “[...] becoming a reflective teacher through narrative writing involves more than mastering some techniques for building written productions. It involves learning to think reflexively.”

The reflections undertaken from the act of narrating can produce learning about teaching through deeper aspects, because talking about oneself involves feeling, meaning and meaning (Oliveira; Gama, 2014), while “[...] the subject organizes his ideas [sic] for the report - whether written or oral - he reconstructs his experience reflexively and, therefore, ends up doing a self-analysis [sic] that creates new bases for understanding his own practice” (Cunha, 1997, p. 187). We believe, therefore, that they are an ideal instrument to analyze the participation of beginning teachers in the mentoring program and the implications and consequences of this participation for teaching activity.

3 Methodology

This qualitative research proposes the use of narratives as an instrument for apprehending data, due to the understanding that they are important training and research tools (Souza, 2014).

The formative aspect of the narratives for teachers consists mainly in the possibility of providing reflection on the experience and creativity when making decisions about teaching performance. It can be a process of self-knowledge and transformation of practices. In the scope of the investigation, it makes it possible to research the teachers' thoughts, their experiences and their narrative discourses. Narratives are sources that allow us to know historical and cultural conjunctures of the contexts. They also make it possible to listen to teachers, their concerns, learning and perspectives (Oliveira, 2011).

In view of the above, we based ourselves on a descriptive-interpretative analysis of the narratives of the beginners, in order to pay greater attention to the meanings they attribute to their records and reflections, as well as to the interpretations of the researchers about the senses and subjects (Santos, 2009). We seek to focus on the development and complexity of beginners' participation in the mentoring program and the meanings they give to their learning processes and teacher professional development through this participation. Thus, we assume a representational and interpretative reading of the narratives of the beginners with regard to data analysis.

For data collection, we applied a mixed questionnaire (with open and closed questions) composed of four blocks, with the purpose of investigating several aspects related to the teaching practice that are reflected in the performance of beginning teachers, as well as the influence of the mentoring program on the professional development of these teachers. The teachers were referenced in this study according to their identification number in the questionnaire (automatically generated). We emphasize that the data were collected by signing the Informed Consent Form (ICF) and approving the research project at the university's Ethics Committee (case number: 68415717.8.0000.5504Y).

Eighteen beginning teachers were collaborators in the research, who work in different spheres of education: Early Childhood Education, early years of Elementary School and Youth and Adult Education.

We selected, for the analysis, the open questions related to participation in the mentoring program and the consequences of this participation for the teaching activity, present in block 1. The questionnaire was applied at the end of the second half of 2020, which marks the end of the mentoring activities in the program. Among the answers, we sought to identify similar ideas and/or ideas that stood out for their uniqueness/diversity.

The analysis procedures began with the organization of data from a spreadsheet that was automatically generated by the software in which the questionnaire was produced and answered. Thus, the questions and answers were systematized in order to facilitate reading and understanding.

The second step was to start reading the answers to the questionnaire with the intention of outlining the first analyzes and thinking about the paths that would be viable in the construction of the methodology. Based on these first impressions, we chose to highlight the answers/ideas that represented the majority of the respondents, as well as highlight those that were unique/specific.

In the construction of the analytical process, we could see that the answers/ideas dealt with very specific subjects, which became categories of data analysis. In this sense, the categories were created as the subjects emerged from the responses. It is worth mentioning that these analyzes were undertaken in the light of the theoretical framework that supports this study.

4. Results and Discussion

As mentioned, we elaborated, based on the teachers' narratives, the categories of analysis, built through the convergences in the reports, namely: initial expectations about mentoring; perceptions about the PHM for teaching performance; and reflective processes. We emphasize that, despite the separation, the subjects addressed are intertwined and connected, so the categories talk to each other.

5 Final Considerations

The beginning of teaching can be extremely challenging for beginners in teaching (Papi; Martins, 2010; Príncipe; André, 2019). This beginning is often permeated by a mix of emotions, insecurities, and frustrations, as well as joys and learnings. In this context, the PHM, based on the analysis and interpretation of the data, proved to be an important support for beginning teachers by providing a “safer” passage, seeming to allow a fertile ground for teaching learning.

Regarding the initial expectations about the program, the beginning teachers demonstrated that they had good expectations for their professional development and learning construction. It was also possible to perceive evidence of changes in conceptions about teaching as an occasion for the application of theory, for a more reflective and contextualized view.

One of the objectives of the program was to promote skills such as autonomy and self-confidence in beginners in the face of teaching situations. Thus, in certain excerpts, the IPs highlighted the pedagogical and emotional support offered by the mentors. These narratives suggest a process of building such skills. Reflective processes were an intrinsic factor that exercised the cultivation of a more human formation for beginning teachers. The daily situations of the classroom, the challenges, the anxieties, the fears, the conflicts of the beginning of the career were - each one - receiving support and guidance from mentor teachers.

The perceptions of the beginners indicate that the dialogued and formative participation, built collaboratively with the mentors, opened the door to more critical reflective processes about their performance, in addition to exercising their self-knowledge.

Therefore, we consider that induction programs are necessary with regard to the training of teachers working at the most varied levels and modalities of teaching, but, in particular, teachers working in basic education. We argue that the discussion of this topic should be expanded and widely dialogued with the educational community, especially in relation to the implementation of proposals such as the PHM, the scenario of this study, in the areas of initial and continuing education.