The positioning of students in newly qualified secondary teachers’ images of their ‘best teaching’

Abstract

Asking newly qualified teachers (NQTs) to provide images of their ‘best teaching’, and encouraging subsequent reflection on these images, has the potential to enhance their understanding of themselves as teachers as they explore their often unconsciously held assumptions about students and classrooms. This paper reports aspects of a study of 100 New Zealand secondary NQTs as they constructed and explained images of themselves when ‘teaching at their best’ at three points over the first 18 months of full-time teaching. The article shows how these images of ‘best teaching’ may represent the NQTs’ pedagogical creed, and explores the nature of relationships and ways of working with students described within this developing pedagogy. It concludes by indicating implications from this study for teacher education pedagogies and programmes.

Keywords:

• newly qualified teachers (NQTs)
• metaphorical imagery
• pedagogical creed
• teacher education programmes

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the funding received to support this research from the New Zealand government’s Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI). We also thank the members of the Making a Difference team, who were Glenda Anthony, Beverley Bell, Philippa Butler, Ronnie Davey, Sylvia Fontaine, Susan Lovett, Ruth Mansell, Kogi Naidooo, Kate Ord, Brian Prestidge, Cheryl Stephens and the authors.