Reality shock

The transitional stage from the institutes or universities; from being students of teaching to teachers of students may represent a traumatic period in beginner teachers‘ lives. This phase is categorized as a sort of ―reality shock‖ (Farrell, 2008a ; Kelchtermans, 2002 ; Veenman, 1984). Reality shock is defined by Veenman as ― the collapse of the missionary ideals formed during teacher training by the harsh and rude reality of

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everyday classroom life‖ (1984, p. 143). It is apparent that almost all beginner teachers experience such shock when they are assigned total responsibility for planning and delivering instruction for the first time. This phase may continue throughout the first year even into the early part of the second year of teaching, depending on the teachers themselves and the teaching environment. Likewise, this shock seems to be associated with the realization of beginner teachers that they lack the appropriate training and preparation to meet the increasing demands of teaching as a profession. Hence, it may be manifested in frustration, despair and failure as the dominant feelings, which in turn may lead, a substantial number of beginner teachers to abandon teaching entirely if they cannot find any means of support through all of its manifestations. For instance, Sabar (2004) found through interviewing the participants in her study in Israel that they experienced such feelings. In addition and as a result of such feelings, according to Sabar (2004), a considerable number of beginner teachers experience the feeling of losing confidence at certain stages in their early days in the teaching profession. Such a situation may have an impact on their teaching, and general life.

However, Veenman (1984) disagrees with using ―reality shock‖ as a term. He argues:

It is a somewhat inappropriately used term, because it suggests that it is only a very short shock which one has to pass, like a swimmer who must acclimatize to cold water. In fact, the reality shock deals with assimilation of a complex reality which forces itself incessantly upon the beginning teachers, day in and day out. This reality must be mastered continually, especially in the first period of actual teaching (1984, p. 144).

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It is believed that this shock is not merely a temporary period that quickly passes. On the contrary, it may last longer and may stigmatize the life of those teachers; its impact can influence further decisions taken by teachers. Beginner teachers cannot avoid it but they may utilize certain strategies to cope with it differently. A number of reasons may interfere and contribute to the extent and intensity of this shock and the results may often not be very positive. New teachers‘ capacity to tolerate this shock and its consequences tends to vary according to certain personal characteristics, such as motivation, interest in the profession itself and the ultimate desire to succeed in a teaching career.

Müller-Fohrbrodt, Colette, and Dann (1978) cited by (Veenman, 1984, 144) identified five indications of reality shock:

 Perceptions of problems: includes complaining about personal problems, psychological and physical fatigue.

 Change of behaviour: indicates changes in teaching behaviour opposing to one‘s belief.

 Change of attitude: refers to a shift in teaching methods.  Changes in personality: refers to emotional changes.

 Leaving the teaching profession: indicates quitting teaching as a career.

These aspects outlined above can be generally experienced by a large number of beginner teachers, but not necessarily all. Those teachers stated that they attempted to adapt to a more democratic style of teaching at the beginning of their professional lives, and then changed their behaviour from student-centred teaching behaviours into a more authoritarian way in their attitude towards handling students in the classroom. For instance, the beginning teachers in Pennington and Richards‘ study understood that such activities are ―against what they have been taught in their BA course(s)‖ (Pennington &

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Richards, 1997, p. 168). They realized that those activities are unfeasible. A broad shift from idealism to realism usually happens in the early stage of entry to teaching (Farrell, 2008a). As a result of the shock, a considerable number of teachers complain that they were not provided with the knowledge base needed for teaching and ―handling student discipline problems and classroom-behaviour disturbances‖ (Friedman, 2002). Other teachers may change their methods of teaching; they find that what they presumed to be effective, does not work with their students. The shift of methods occurs as a result of replacing the ideals with concerns about one‘s survival as a teacher (Farrell, 2008a). (This will be dealt with when I discuss socialization stages). Almost all of the aspects mentioned above were experienced by the teachers involved in this study. This will be explored later on in (3.7, 3.7.1, 3.7.2).

In addition, Veenman in a review of literature (1984, p. 155) attempted to make a comprehensive classification of the perceived problems ranked as most serious and frequent by beginner teachers:

 Classroom discipline  Motivating students

 Dealing with individual differences  Assessing students‘ work

 Relation with parents

 Insufficient materials and supplies  Organization of class work

 Heavy teaching load resulting in insufficient preparation time  Dealing with problems of individual students

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 Relation with colleagues or principals or administrators  Planning lessons and school days

 Effective use of different teaching methods  Awareness of school policies and rules  Determining learning levels of students  Knowledge of subject matter

 Burden of clerical work  Dealing with slow learners

 Dealing with students from different cultures and deprived backgrounds  Effective use of textbooks and curriculum guides

 Lack of spare time

 Inadequate guidance and support

 Large class size (Kurtz, 1983 cited in Frye, 1988)

These classified perceived problems may be encountered by almost all beginner teachers everywhere. They can apparently be placed under three major areas: classroom management, dealing with students and relationships with colleagues and administration. Mackinnon (1987) has limited the challenges to relationships with students and classroom management which in turn cover sub-concerns such as teaching materials, and teaching methods at the early stage. He claims that teachers focus on other issues later on when their main concerns are directed to their teaching performance, their students‘ learning and their teaching and their learning as teachers (Farrell, 2008a).

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However, such problems may not necessarily be encountered by all beginner teachers everywhere in terms of order and intensity. Various contexts, cultures and forms of education could contribute in formulating such challenges. What the teachers bring into the classroom in terms of knowledge and experiences, the context of teaching and the distinctive characteristics of the particular teacher can all determine what sort of problems are to be faced (Bullough, 1989). There might be other sub-problems encountered in contexts other than those searched in the survey conducted by Veenman (1984) and others. Although the problems may seem obvious, when they overlap, the impact might be heavy; quitting teaching as a career generally seems to be one potential decision on the personal side and teacher attrition on the institutional side. The impact of this decision may constrain some schools to employ or hire less qualified teachers to compensate for the shortage of teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2003; Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). One possible consequence of hiring or employing such teachers is the detrimental effect on the students‘ achievement since those teachers might lack the pedagogical and content knowledge required for teaching. The current study aims at investigating other issues encountered by EFL beginner teachers which might not have been identified in the previous studies. The other point to make here is that the current study attempts to investigate the extent to which those perceived problems may persist and other associated problems that might emerge from a new post-conflict context. Another issue of significant importance is the impact of conflict on NGTs and how their experiences differ from what is identified in the literature and which have not yet been fully investigated. Investigating post-conflict teacher experiences is significant and contribution to knowledge.

Veenman (1984) has also attributed the phenomenon of reality shock to certain personal factors; these include the wrong choice of teaching as a profession, unsuitable personal characteristics, lack of attitude and motivation. Some other situational factors can interfere too such as lack or shortage of training, and poor school discipline. The transition from being a student to bearing the burden of responsibility of a new

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professional life from the very first day can be another cause of reality shock. Such factors are given great consideration in the present study. In-depth interviewing of EFL beginner teachers in the context of this study enabled them to articulate the reasons for choosing to be teachers and allowed exploration of the different options they had considered. This could reveal other psychological, social and other factors that contributed both to their choice and their shock. For the first time, this study attempts to clarify the dimensions of the reality shock from the perspectives of EFL teachers in the new Libyan context.

This study examines the statement ―that the student learning must be postponed until novices work through other concerns (Feiman-Nemser, 1999, p. 10). It seems that these factors cannot be ignored since they are almost always encountered by those teachers right from the beginning of their actual teaching, and addressing them cannot be postponed. If such teachers might overcome these problems successfully, they might then adjust themselves to teaching, learn from their own experiences and consequently this will reflect on their teaching. Teachers who fail to overcome the trauma of the shock are likely to experience intense strain which can lead to complete fatigue, depression and sometimes subsequently quitting teaching entirely, as Sabar (2004) and Varah et al. (1986) have mentioned. Others may continue under severe pressure that affects their whole life and they are unlikely to be able to teach effectively (Feiman-Nemser, 1999), while some seriously consider other career paths (Scherff, 2008).

What makes the situation even worse is the fact that some beginning teachers are sometimes assigned the most difficult classes or less able ones (Gordon & Maxey, 2000). Those teachers find themselves responsible for large classes, more difficult students to handle and long, difficult syllabi to cover within a certain time. This issue can be attributed to the stereotyped impression that that ―new (beginner) teachers‘ skills are taken for granted and thus they are given full responsibilities from the first day of work‖ (Farrell, 2003, p.107). Farrell adds that the participants‘ comments and notes collected

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through semi-structured interviews, journal writing in his qualitative study in Hong Kong indicated that beginning teachers ―can end up in such stressed out states that they abandon the profession after only a short time‖ (ibid). Ulvik et al. (2009) found that their participants (new teachers) in their study indicated that they need to accept what the experienced teachers have chosen or left in terms of classes, and proficiency level of students. Other duties might be added such as substituting for other teachers and preparing and marking other teachers‘ examination papers. They are expected to fulfil all these duties professionally. This finding was supported by the studies of Chubbuck et al. (2001), Sabar (2004) and Scherff (2008). Moreover, Veenman (1984) mentions these issues as being among situational causes of the reality shock. Encountering such extra problems, could contribute to overloading the adjustment of beginner teachers to their schools.