14 when they were left alone with their challenges and start to fell ineffective, they
believe that they are not suitable for the profession and quit their jobs.
c. Problems faced by novice teachers
During their initial years of teaching, novice teachers face with many problems and challenges Pfister, 2006. The initial years of teaching is described
as the discovery and survival phase of teaching by Huberman 1993. Others describe this first years of teaching as the period of uncertainty as “a sink-or-swim
experience” since novice teachers are expected to take on many job responsibilities which they are not ready yet for Huling-Austin et al., 1989.
Odell and Ferraro 1992 describe this first period of teaching as vicious cycle during which novice teachers complain about the teaching workload.
Problems which might arise during the novice teachers‟ initial years of teaching are classroom management, the workload, the learning and teaching
process, motivating students, assessment and evaluation, insufficient and inadequate material, instructional planning and pacing Calderhead, 1991;
McCann Johannessen, 2004. There are five main areas of novice teachers concern identified by McCann and Johannessen 2004: 1 knowledge of
curriculum; 2 relationship with students, parents, colleagues, and supervisors; 3 workload or time management; 4 evaluation or grading; and 5 autonomy or
control. Similarly, Calderhead 1991 mentions that besides curriculum, teaching techniques, and methods, novice teachers usually face problems related to
relationship with other teachers.
15 Among those problems faced by novice teachers in their initial years of
teaching, working load and classroom management are the two most outstanding problems they struggle with Veenman, 1984, Clift et al., 1995, Alexander and
Galbraith, 1997, Crookes and Arakaki, 1999, and McCann and Johannessen, 2004. According to Veenman 1984 and Alexander and Galbraith 1997,
classroom management is one of the main concerns of novice teachers during their initial years of teaching. Veenman 1984 particularly mentions five issues
perceived by novice teachers in classroom management: 1 motivating students; 2 dealing with individual differences; 3 assessing students‟ work; 4 relations
with parents; and 5 organization of class work. Working load is another problem faced by novice teachers during their
first years of teaching besides classroom management. Crookes and Arakaki 1999 and McCann and Johannessen 2004 find that overwork associated with
lack of preparation time is the main problem faced by novice teachers during their initial years of teaching which make them having apprehensive attitudes towards
their professional development. Previously, Clift et al. 1995 also find that novice teachers are having so much heavy problems in their initial years since they are
usually given the most demanding assignment, such as teaching difficult groups and completing paperwork assigned by administration, as well as an overload of
teaching hours. Another problem faced by novice teachers when they enter their in-service
teaching for the first time is adaptation. Goodwin 2008 mentions that beginning teachers face challenge of understanding and fitting into the culture of their new
16 school. Similarly, Pfister 2006 says that besides the classroom-specific and
school problems, novice teachers also face problems with adjusting themselves to new situations.
d. Support for novice teachers
