Keeping New Educators in the profession

After attending the National New Educators Conference with the AEU last October I was left with the concern that many new educators leave their careers due to the behaviour of their students. I found this to be quite confronting as the reason many of us choose to become a teacher is for the students, now we’re leaving because of them.

The 2009 New Educators Survey Results and Report states that the top professional concern at 61.8% is behaviour management, before workload at 60.4%, class size at 53.9% and pay at 48.4%.

As a new educator I began my teaching career at a school that is considered by many as one of the toughest schools in the state. I will admit that like other new educators, behaviour management was my main concern whilst teaching at this school. Over the year I made it a focus of mine to improve my skills in managing behaviour so that I could keep my sanity. I worked with my colleagues to find out about the home lives of these students, as we all know that their virtual school bag – the "stuff" they bring with them each day –  is the main influence on daily behaviour. I also attended workshops on Classroom Management run by the AEU. I found that combining the knowledge and experience of others with techniques taught to me at the Classroom Management course effectively helped me to survive my first year.

I believe that all new educators need intense training on managing challenging behaviours during their first years of teaching. In reality, many of us struggle to cope as we begin our careers in often tough and disadvantaged schools. As we refine our teaching craft we need this support to take the stress off the daily behaviour issues we face. Without this many of us will continue to struggle through each day.

I believe that all of my experiences last year helped me to successfully start the year at a new school. While I am still teaching students with challenging behaviours I feel that the training I received last year has set me up well. I can now get through the curriculum with very few behaviour distractions! I look forward to keeping up-to- date with these skills over the next few years, as behaviours are continuously changing and we need to keep up with them in order to survive and thrive in our chosen careers.

Janna Lewis
Teacher, Mark Oliphant College