Teachers’ changing work and support needs from the perspectives of school leaders and newly qualified teachers in the Finnish context

ABSTRACT

Teachers operate amidst continuous societal changes that transform schools. In response, teachers must acquire wide-ranging professional competences to work in complex school situations while cooperating with numerous partners both within and outside the school. This study examines how teacher growth and the new demands of the teaching profession appear from the perspectives of school leaders and newly qualified teachers. The aim is to investigate in which professional competences new teachers require support at the beginning of their careers. After presenting various theoretical reflections, we analyse the empirical data of Finnish school leaders (N = 104) and new teachers (N = 145) using quantitative and qualitative methods. The results indicate that new teachers require support, for example, in order to provide holistic support for students’ learning and in working with partners, both within and outside the school community. The results provide important knowledge for the induction phase of teachers’ careers.

KEYWORDS:

• Newly qualified teachers
• school leaders
• induction
• professional development
• professional competences
• support needs

Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for funding the ONTP project. In addition, the authors thank all the members of the ONTP team.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical statement

The researchers have no conflict of interest and conducted the study based on the research guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (2009) and the All European Academies (2017). In addition, the researchers have followed the open-data policy of the University of Helsinki (2015).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European commission Erasmus+ KA2 project [Grant Number 2014-1-BE02-KA201-000474].

Notes on contributors

Vilhelmiina Harju

Vilhelmiina Harju M.A. (Ed), is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Her main research interests are lifelong learning, teachers’ professional development, non-formal learning environments, and learning and teaching with digital technologies.

Hannele Niemi

Hannele Niemi, PhD, Professor, Research Director (2017) at the University of Helsinki. She was Professor of Education (1998–2016), Vice Rector for Academic Affairs (2003–2009), Dean of the Faculty of Education (2001–2003). Niemi has been a scientific leader of several large national and international research projects and served as a keynote lecturer at tens of international forums. She has been invited as Honorary Doctor or Professor in Finland, Romania and Singapore. Her main research interest areas are teachers’ professional development, quality of teaching and learning, teacher education and learning with digital tools and environments.