The Perspective of School Principals on Novice Teachers’ Collective Work

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the problems faced by the novice teachers and the effect of novice teachers’ collective work on their teaching practices from the principals’ perspective. A total of seven secondary schools was selected from three states in Malaysia. Generally, novice teachers faced various problems in their teaching practices as well as their involvement in collective work. Consequently to what extent the actual involvement in collective work was a crucial aspect. Since majority of novice teachers were lacking of social skills, this study aimed to explore how they collaborated effectively with other teachers under school context. A set of semi-structured interview questions was used to interview the seven school principals regarding their novice teachers’ collective work and the impact on teaching practices. The findings revealed that novice teachers involved in a wide range of collective work. Results also indicated that most of the novice teachers were comfortable to participate in collective work either voluntary or compulsory. Controlling classroom, combination innovative ideas, new and advanced teaching methods are important criteria in determining good teaching practices according to the principals’ points of view. Mentoring, formal and informal discussion among the teachers are the best collective work that helped to overcome the novice teachers’ problems and embraced their teaching practices