Differences in novice and experienced teachers’ perceptions of planning activities in terms of primary instructional tasks

Abstract

This study was aimed at investigating differences between novice and experienced teachers’ perceptions of planning activities for developing teacher education students’ professional skills by focusing on promoting of identified ill-developed skills. The teachers’ thinking about instructional planning was conceived as teachers’ decision-making for implementing primary teaching tasks in the planning, delivery, and reflective phases of instruction. This model served as a basis (or framework) for the identification of potential variables of planning skills and developing of items for a teachers’ questionnaire. Fifty-eight experienced and 55 novice teachers from Estonian schools of general education were surveyed. It was revealed that novice teachers did not apprehend events that may undermine reaching long-term instructional objectives and they focused more on the achievement of immediate objectives and the teaching of obligatory content in comparison with experienced teachers.

Keywords:

• Instructional planning
• novice teachers
• experienced teachers
• teacher education
• teachers’ expertise