NARRATIVES OF THREE NOVICE IN-SERVICE SCIENCE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS: THEIR JOURNEY OF ACHIEVING TEACHER AGENCY AND TEACHER BELIEF

Abstract

This study explores the phenomenon of 'school adaptation of novice primary school teachers' in the process of entering their actual primary school field. This study also studies the achievement of teacher agency and their teacher belief establishment procedure as novice teachers, not only in the actual teaching context but also as teachers who faced a special situation where their given role was different from what they learned from their university life. This study used a 'narrative' methodology. Narrative inquiry starts with 'researcher's narrative', which begins with the researcher's own story. The participants joined in interviews and submitted their teaching diaries. The participants of this study were three novice in-service teachers who were newly assigned to their primary schools. The research results are as follows. First, the novice primary school teachers achieved teacher agency while adjusting themselves to the school for a year. Second, novice primary school teachers did their best in terms of preparing for their classes in the process of being familiar with their schools’ culture and system. This study highlighted the need for dual support of teaching and administrative tasks for novice primary school teachers. Keywords: designing science lesson, novice teacher, science education, teacher agency, teacher education