Preparation and competence of intending and beginning teachers in Malta

Abstract

The transition from training to practice and the early years of their career are particularly difficult in Malta because of the lack of professional support provided to teachers in their beginning years of teaching. This study investigates the relationship between training and teaching competence as viewed by intending and beginning teachers. The relationship between perceived levels of preparation and competence was investigated through a survey conducted among the whole population of final year students and recent graduates of the BEd (Hons) degree course run by the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta. Teaching skills included in the survey are those which deal with the teaching of specific subject areas of the school curriculum, general teaching skills specific to the classroom situation and those which involve wider pastoral and interpersonal skills. The interplay between perceptions of preparation and competence for both student and beginning teachers is examined. The beginning teachers' competence in the teaching skills specific to the classroom situation and the teaching of the subject areas of the school curriculum was found to be closely related to their preparation. Those skills which involve wider pastoral and interpersonal skills seem to stem more from their classroom experience than from the preparation they have received. Perceptions of preparation change with increasing experience, as does teachers' sense of competence in different aspects of the task. There is relatively high congruence between the observed teaching ability by experienced education officers and the self-perceptions of beginning teachers.