The impact of socialization mechanisms on the problem-solving approaches of novice teachers

The transition period which beginning teachers experience as they move from teacher education into full-time teaching is often highly problematic. Many factors interact to influence the ways teachers respond to the problems they confront. Such factors, identified in this study as socialization mechanisms which integrate the novice into the profession of education, include preservice supervision, inservice induction, school context, and administrative practices.

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of socialization mechanisms on the problem-solving approaches of 20 novice teachers. Interview questions were designed to determine the significant problems encountered, the actions taken, whether these actions reflected a rationalized technique or a reflective problem-solving approach, the impact of identified mechanisms, and the relationship between student teaching evaluations and problem-solving.

Subjects were randomly selected 1985 graduates of the Elementary Education Teacher Training Program at San Diego State University. The sample was stratified to include 10 teachers who had been clinically supervised and 10 teachers who had been traditionally supervised during student teaching.

Findings revealed that the problem-solving approaches of these novice teachers indicated a developmental process of reflective problem-solving. Stage 1 of this process was characterized by the identification and application of standardized solutions. Stage 2 involved reflective experimentation in which standardized solutions were analyzed, evaluated, and modified to match the needs of the particular setting. Progression to stage 2 was influenced by the socialization mechanisms identified earlier. Respondents who received clinical supervision in preservice training and those who had mentors who shared a common educational ideology and recognized need for support reported a positive impact of these mechanisms on problem-solving. School context and administrative practices fostered or hindered reflective problem-solving based on the degree to which novice teachers were supported or isolated. In some settings Stage 3, that of mature reflection characterized by increased knowledge and experiential wisdom, was modeled by veteran educators and integrated into the problem-solving approaches of novice teachers. The findings of this study support the concept that problem-solving is a part of the process of learning to teach, a process that continues during the transition from preservice training into full-time teaching.