Table 5 Challenges related to the context of school and/or district
From: Moving from surviving to thriving: a taxonomy of beginning science teacher challenges
Category | Description |
|---|---|
Class length too short | Challenges related to the length of class periods or the number of instructional days and how that limits what can be taught and how it can be taught |
Class size too big | Challenges related to large class sizes making classroom management and activities difficult to implement |
Concerns about student population | Challenges related to perceptions about the overall student demographics in the school (e.g., crime, SES, and self-efficacy) |
Curriculum mandates and constraints from staff or school | Challenges related to formal or informal mandates from staff and administration on what content is taught, how content is taught, and for how long |
Issues with administration | Challenges related to interactions with administration that cause job dissatisfaction |
Issues with district | Challenges related to issues within the district |
Issues with staff | Challenges related to conflicts with other staff |
Lack of equipment and resources | Challenges related to a lack of proper equipment and resources to teach science |
Lack of local induction supports | Challenges related to a lack of induction supports such as lacking content-specific mentors or conflicts with content-specific mentors |
Other assignments within school day | Challenges related to demands on time and energy due to assignment or to additions of teaching beyond science within the school day |
Poor facilities | Challenges related to poor facilities (i.e., in which teacher has to move classrooms frequently or are in spaces not conducive to learning science) |
School structures | Challenges related to the school structure (or lack thereof) as it relates to policies, staffing levels, and programs |