Conclusions from the Empirical Studies

• School management focus mostly on welcomes and introductions (Table 4.4 in Paragraph 4.3.3.1), which are easy and quick to implement. Instead they should focus more on long term activities like mentoring (Paragraph 2.8) and in-service training (Paragraph 2.7) through workshops (Paragraph 2.8) which have a long term effect on beginner teachers.

• Cooperation between universities and schools at present is limited to arrangements for practical teaching. There is an implied lack of relationships and continuity between initial teacher education and induction programmes in schools; the former being provided by Colleges of Education and Universities and the latter by schools (Paragraph 4.3.5).

• Induction activities must be varied and carried out throughout the induction year (Paragraph 4.3.3).

122 • Findings reveal that seminars allow novices to participate in the discussions

and to learn with others at the same time (Paragraph 4.3.3.1).

• Some collegial activities might help beginning teachers to accomplish teaching related work and learn more about teaching (Paragraph 4.3.4).

• Departmental meetings and lesson observations provide support to beginner teachers (Paragraph 4.3.3.2).

• Collaboration allows novice teachers to team with others and hence develop work relationships out of group efforts. Regularly scheduled collaboration with other teachers on issues of instruction can impart cooperation skills to novices, boost their self esteem and raise their association levels with the school management (Paragraph 4.3.4).

• Open communication with the principal is vital because it is through communicating with school management that novice teachers could learn more about the school’s policies and culture (Paragraph 4.3.9). Communication also offers links between a novice and other role players (Paragraph 4.3.6).

• Staff development coordinators can organise school based workshops in order to offer instructional practices that eventually reflect on practice (Paragraph 4.3.8).

• The extent to which novice teachers develop knowledge and skills as teachers at the end of an initial year of teaching is determined by their survival skills, implying that those without such ability may eventually quit (Paragraph 4.3.5).

• It is apparent that despite their roles being similar to those of professional tutors, Staff Development Coordinators in CJSS do not play an expected active role in inducting novice teachers (Paragraph 4.3.6).

• The perceptions and experiences of beginner teachers vary across schools. Novices from schools with comprehensive induction programmes have higher perceptions compared to those from schools with weaker induction programmes (Paragraph 4.3.3.1).

• Novice teachers are not involved in the identification and analysis of their needs (Paragraph 4.3.7).

123 • Beginner teachers bring strengths that a school can tap from. They have

innovative ideas and latest teaching techniques that may benefit veteran teachers. Their involvement in committees might be used to revitalise and renew the commitment of members to the objectives of the organisation (Paragraph 4.3.2).

The importance of induction of novice teachers is widely documented and generally includes three main arguments:

Learning while teaching

Induction provides novices with opportunities for an extension of knowledge and skills. Typically, newly qualified teachers experience problems (Paragraphs 2.5 & 4.3.5) during this phase. Induction offers opportunities to consult and collaborate with colleagues and to engage collectively in the teaching profession.

Acquiring new knowledge and skills

The concept of induction refers to a process whereby beginner teachers acquire the cultural, social and practical knowledge and skills traditionally associated with the teaching profession and the school community. Ideally, learning has to do with change in knowledge and skills (Paragraph 4.3.2).

Commitments to school improvement and the profession

Compared to other professions, teaching has a high turnover rate, which is not only costly to learners, but to the profession of teaching (Paragraph 4.3.5). Due to specific contextual differences, novice teachers have needs and therefore require varied and diverse kinds of support during their initial years of teaching (Paragraphs 2.6, 2.8, 4.3.2, 4.3.4, & 4.3.5):

• Policy makers and other relevant officers do not provide enough resources that can support novices in meaningful career transactions, growth opportunities and the desire to remain in the teaching profession (Paragraph 4.3.4).

124 • The major difference between the amounts of support received by beginning

teachers with a mentor assigned by the school versus those without assigned mentors, serves as a powerful evidence of the importance of formal mentoring programmes in schools (Paragraph 4.3.7).

• The current problems faced by beginning teachers and the need for novices to become effective practitioners, make the immediate implementation of effective mentoring programmes imperative (Paragraph 4.3.5).

• Participation by beginning teachers in school events and extracurricular activities gives beginners an opportunity to meet colleagues, students and parents outside the formal context of the classroom. Such activities may be characterised by many learning opportunities (Paragraph 4.3.3.2).

• A good staff induction practice seems to be a rare practice in Community Junior Secondary Schools in Botswana. Conclusions made from the literature study in this dissertation reflect that schools do not have comprehensive induction programmes (Paragraphs 2.5 & 4.3.4).

This work demonstrates that induction does matter indeed. It further shows that there is a variation between initial teacher education and the realities of school life. Teacher education is continuous and certification marks only the beginning of a career in education. A meaningful induction experience has lasting effects on teacher quality and retention. Thus, policy makers and school management teams should use this and other induction research work to craft and refine their induction programmes.