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ABSTRACT.
In this article we report some of the findings of a study of the perceptions of secondary teachers about their experiences as full-time second-year teachers in urban public schools. The frustrations felt by this group of teachers emerged as a strong theme; it is the nature of these frustrations that we explore in this article.
POURQUOI LES ENSEIGNANTS DÉBUTANTS ÉPROUVENT-ILS DE LA FRUSTRATION FACE À LEUR PROFESSION?
RÉSUMÉ. Dans cet article, les auteures présentent quelques résultats d'une étude portant sur les perceptions d'enseignants du secondaire à la suite de leur deuxième année à plein temps dans une école publique urbaine. Beaucoup d'enseignants de ce groupe ont exprimé leurs frustrations et ce sont ces dernières qu'explorent les auteures dans cet article.
The objective of our study was, through inductive analysis, to establish themes, concepts, and propositions related to perceptions of second-year classroom teachers. Participants were chosen on a random basis as a result of an email sent to all eighteen full-time second-year teachers in one school division; those who volunteered became the participants. The mix of participants was balanced in terms of gender and level (both middle and high school). In total, five teachers, three women and two men, became part of the research group. All were teaching in the same secondary public school in which they began their careers.
A phenomenological approach, where perception and experience form the primary sources of knowledge, was used. Data collection relied on an initial one-on-one interview of 1 to 2 hours duration, a focus group discussion of approximately 2 hours, three months later, and after another three month interval, a final individual interview session of 1/2 to 1 hour. All of the individual interviews were audio-taped. When data from all of the sessions were coded, synthesized, and analyzed, recurring themes were noted. The teachers' level of frustration was one such recurring theme in the initial individual interviews, and became prominent during the focus group discussion. For the teachers in this study, frustration involved feelings of discouragement as well as feelings of being thwarted from accomplishing certain tasks. They spoke of frustration in their daily work with students, parents, and administrators. They felt frustrated by the politics and policies of the school system, and by the impact...