The Pedagogical Content Knowledge and beliefs of newly hired secondary science teachers: the first three years

Abstract

The first years of teaching are often discussed with reference to all teachers. More studies focusing onearly career content specialists are needed in order to ensure that teachers are supported adequatelyas they learn to teach in their content area. In this study, we followed 76 newly hired secondary scienceteachers to determine how their teaching beliefs and knowledge changed over a three-year period.This study used qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques. Interviewsand classroom observations were collected and analyzed quantitatively using teachers as a group andthe teachers’ induction programs as a subgroup. The findings from this study suggest that over timenew teachers are more influenced by their school cultures than by their induction programs. However,from the data it is evident that beliefs and practices are malleable, but that they are impacteddifferently and by different factors. As a result of this study, we suggest new directions for scienceteacher educators in their work and potential research regarding newly hired science teachers.