Values and Dispositions of Omani Novice Teachers as Perceived by School Principals and Assistant Principals

Abstract

Equipping teacher candidates with values and dispositions has become an important part of the conversation about effective teaching and teacher preparation programs are increasingly expected to integrate dispositions in their agenda. The purpose of the present study is two-folded. It aims at investigating the kind of dispositions of novice Omani teachers as perceived by school principals and assistant principals. It also aims to identify the type of factors that affect the shaping of novice teachers’ dispositions/values. Interviews were conducted with ten school principals and five assistant principals from various public schools in two different directorates of education in Oman. Data of the interviews were analyzed qualitatively by identifying the most emerging themes in terms of the most and least developed dispositions as well as factors shaping them. Findings revealed that dispositions related to ambition and flexibility were highly observed among novice teachers while dispositions related to sense of belonging and commitment and responsibility were less observed. The study also showed that there was a range of factors shaping the development of novice teachers dispositions ranging from broader macro factors such as how the society views a teacher and the appointment situation in Oman to more micro institutional factors such as the huge demands of the job and the type and level of support that schools provide to novice teachers. The paper makes recommendations relevant to both teacher preparation programs and the Ministry of Education.

Between Two Worlds: Indonesian Novice Efl Teachers’ Tensions and Needed Supports During Pandemic

“…Thus, it is urgent for school leaders to distribute the labor more equally across all teachers or even consider hiring more teachers if the workforce is still felt lacking. Furthermore, a more heart-to-heart approach to ease the tensions and improve novice teachers' well-being can be conducted, for example by providing a continuous mentoring program (see Seyabi, 2020), sharing with fellow teachers (Kwon & Choi, 2022), or simply showing respect and appreciation for their efforts (Dabrowski, 2021).…”

Pre-service Teacher Training Program at Yarmouk University: Mixed methodology Evaluation Study

“…Al-Rawashdeh, Ivory, and Writer (2017) emphasized the importance of considering dispositions to help student teachers effectively prepare for the classroom. They asserted that TPPs must play a role in helping teacher candidates to become conscious of their dispositions and must therefore create learning environments and circumstances where students can begin this development transformation.Emphasizing that the attitudes and dispositions of pre-service teachers depend on the type of preparation they get, Al Seyabi (2020) recommended that the ethical values and dispositions of the job should be integrated into two university courses and pre-service training experience.…”