Acquiring the teaching culture: how beginners embrace practices different from university teachings

Abstract

Factors and processes involved when beginning secondary school teachers modify or abandon practices learned at the university were investigated through participant observations and in‐depth interviews over a three‐year period. Teachers used a strategic adjustment strategy that included some characteristics of reflective teaching. They were active participants in their own socialization. Practices that were neither preferred nor based on university teachings were adopted. As thoughtful responses to workplace constraints, these practices were selected consciously and were modified on the primary basis of situational need rather than theoretical, personal, or authority preferences. Some workplace factors were viewed as barriers that precluded the use of preferred practices. Other factors were regarded as pressures but appeared to allow room for choice.