‘One up’: a case study exploring new information and communications technology teachers' satisfaction and development in their first year of teaching

Abstract

This article reports on the experiences of 10 new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) teachers in the United Kingdom after their first year of teaching and forms part of a wider project in which beginner and new ICT teachers are tracked during their training and first 2 years in post. Nine out of the 10 teachers in this study were positive about their decision to teach and saw relationships with students as the source of their professional satisfaction. Most members of the group felt they had developed considerably as teachers over the year, and sensitivity to student needs and to student feedback was instrumental in their development. However, the members of the group gave mixed accounts of mentoring and several lacked quality feedback on their teaching. The limitations of existing theories of professional development are discussed in the article and the importance of these new teachers' perception of the environment in which they work is highlighted.