New teachers need a chance to learn as well!

Paul A. Kirschner & Mirjam Neelen

The first few years as a teacher are critical with respect to both their teaching as well as retention. According to the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), for example, “nearly half of new teachers leave the classroom in their first five years, including 9.5 percent in the first year alone.” With respect to their teaching and teacher knowledge, a teacher may have learned all kinds of things during their teacher education, but the reality of the classroom can be very different. Jan van Driel, Nico Verloop and Wobbe de Vos (1998) showed that, learning how to teach (they called it the acquisition of a teachers’ craft knowledge) actually takes place in the school where the novice teacher works, after completing teacher education.

The researchers defined teachers’ professional knowledge as

integrated knowledge that represents the accumulated wisdom of teachers in relation to…