Creative Education
2013. Vol.4, No.6, 363-375
Published Online June 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2013.46053
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. 363
Difficulties Experienced by the Arab Teacher during His1
First Year of Teaching as a Result of Personal and
Organizational Variables
Salman Ilaiyan
Academic Arab College for Education in Israel, Haifa, Israel
Email: salman@macam.ac.il
Received February 17th, 2013; revised March 17th, 2013; accepted April 23rd, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Salman Ilaiyan. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attri-
bution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.
This pioneer study deals with difficulties faced by the beginning Arab teacher. The theoretical framework
of the research is based on Veenman’s (1984) analysis, which indicates 24 difficulties faced by the begin-
ning teacher. These difficulties have been classified into eight categories ranked in order of importance.
The study seeks to identify the difficulties experienced by the beginning Arab teacher during his first year
of teaching and to predict his future dissatisfaction with teaching based on those difficulties. The ques-
tionnaire drafted especially for this study was completed by 130 participants (beginning teachers). The
responses were analyzed, yielding six factors of difficulty. The findings indicate difficulties involving: 1)
the interpersonal communication between beginning Arab teachers on the one hand and both students and
parents on the other, 2) overload, 3) didactic and disciplinary knowledge, 4) support and recognition, 5)
organizational climate (school culture), and 6) satisfaction. We examined the correlation between the be-
ginning Arab teacher’s difficulties and his dissatisfaction with his work. The research findings reveal that
the organizational climate (school culture) and overload factors significantly affect the satisfaction vari-
able. With regard to the relation between the beginning Arab teacher’s general background characteristics
and his difficulties in the first year, the background variable, specialization, was found to affect the factors
of difficulty.
Keywords: Support; Communication with Students and Parents; Didactic-Disciplinary Knowledge;
Difficulties; Beginning Arab Teacher; Dissatisfaction; Organizational Climate
Introduction
The beginning teacher’s first year of work in the school is
considered to be not only of great significance to his career,
but also extremely difficult and critical; in addition, it is ac-
companied by reality shock. During this year, the beginning
teacher has to cope both with the fact that he is a teacher in a
classroom and with the attendant responsibility. It is a time
when he examines his beliefs and ideas and challenges his
students (Kelchtermans & Ballet, 2002).
The teacher’s first year of teaching is characterized by
nervousness stemming from newness and novelty alongside
considerable complexity. Beginning teachers shift from the
status of students in the college hothouse, where they are
accompanied by teachers and instructors, to the status of
independent teachers: “They have to assume all the areas of
the teacher’s responsibility simultaneously: learn to behave
like teachers, prove their mastery of the subject matter and
the skills”, as Lazovsky and Zeiger claim (2004: p. 68). They
have to meet the expectations of the school environment
(Vonk, 1993), amass knowledge about their students, utilize
the knowledge both to shape their self-image as teachers and
to construct it, and develop tools that will help them impose
discipline and manage the class (Kagan, 1992).
The professional literature enumerates the stages in the
beginning teacher’s development (Berliner, 1988; Friedman,
2002; Fuller & Brown, 1975; Kagan, 1992; Katz, 1972; Ryan,
1986). The various studies show that the researchers all con-
sider the teacher’s first year of work to constitute an impor-
tant stage in his professional development. Researchers view
this year as a stage of survival in which the teacher attempts
to gain control of the class and acquire mastery of the con-
tents (Fuller & Brown, 1975), tries to study and process
every task element in the classroom that will assist him in his
teaching (Berliner, 1988), and seeks to internalize the pro-
cedures and patterns that will enable him to focus on the
student (Kagan, 1992). Friedman (2002) emphasizes that the
survival stage includes the need to stand in front of the class.
The beginning teacher sees himself as being put to the test
by his students, their parents, his colleagues, and the princi-
pal. Among other things, his ability to lead and teach a class,
his disciplinary knowledge, and his organizational ability are
also put to the test. At this stage, the beginning teacher is
preoccupied with survival, and expects to receive reinforce-
ment from those around him. He also yearns for empathy
with regard to his difficulties, and seeks signs of appreciation
1Despite the use of the masculine singular form, the author is referring
to male and female teachers equally.
S. ILAIYAN
of his skills as a teacher.
According to Vonk (1995), there are three main dimen-
sions that constitute the beginning teacher’s professional
development: 1) the personal dimensionthe teacher’s de-
velopment as a person, including the development of his pro-
fessional self-image; 2) the knowledge and skills dimension
development of the teacher’s professional knowledge and
skills in the contexts of pedagogical content and its adapta-
tion to the disciplinary content, classroom management, effi-
cient teaching in the classroom, construction of a learning
environment, time management, devising a variety of activi-
ties, evaluation, and tailoring ways of teaching to the pupils’
diverse needs; and finally; 3) the ecological dimension, whi-
ch is correlated to the beginning teacher’s adjustment to the
environment and to the organization and includes a conflict
with the school’s set of values, to new areas of responsibility
in his capacity as a member of the school staff, to written and
unwritten rules that may be obvious to the veteran staff mem-
bers, but not necessarily to the newcomer, and to the expec-
tations of colleagues, the administration, the students, and the
parents.
“Coping with the above obliges the new teachers to re-
formulate their orientation vis-à-vis both their self-perception
as teachers and the knowledge and skills they have already
acquired” (Reichenberg, Lazovsky, & Zeiger, 2000: p. 38).
What they have learned does not always suit the school in
which they work. The beginning teacher is subjected to a set
of pressures, feels isolated (Ensor, 2001; Pollak, 1996), and
is compelled to resort to adaptation strategies (Adler, 1996).
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The Difficulties of the Beginning Teacher
Although numerous studies on the teacher’s induction stage
—namely, his first year as a beginning teacher—have been
conducted in Israel and worldwide, the difficulties of beginning
Arab teachers in the Arab schools have not yet been investi-
gated in depth (Adler, 1996; Peleg, 1997; Sagee & Regev, 2002;
Talmor, Nabel-Heller, & Erlich, 1997).
The theoretical framework of our study is based on the ana-
lysis of Veenman’s classic article, “Perceived Problems of Be-
ginning Teachers” (1984). Veenman classified beginning tea-
chers’ difficulties into 24 problems that were ranked hierarchi-
cally in order of importance. The eight difficulties mentioned
most frequently are: 1) discipline, 2) students’ motivation, 3)
diversity among the students, 4) assessment of the students’
assignments, 5) relations with the parents and school staff, 6)
organization of the classroom activity, 7) lack of teaching ma-
terials and adjustment to a heterogeneous class, and 8) coping
with the cultural climate of the workplace.
The professional literature relates to various areas of diffi-
culty experienced by beginning teachers. Following is a list of
studies dealing with some of those difficulties, organized ac-
cording to Veenman’s ranking:
1) The discipline problem in the classroom is ranked first on
the scale of difficulties, and is discussed in many studies (Brock
& Grady, 1997; Bullough, 1989; Covert, Williams, & Kennedy,
1991; Hebert & Worthy, 2001; Kagan, 1992; Loughran, Brown,
& Doecke, 2001; Obersky, Ford, Higgins, & Fisher, 1999;
Smith, 1995).
2) Students’ motivation is ranked second on Veenman’s scale
of difficulties. Other researchers also specify the problem of
students’ academic motivation and the interest they display
(Bennett, 1991; Grossman, 1990; Kagan, 1992).
3) Coping with the students’ individual differences is ranked
third on the scale of difficulties. In their studies, Adler (1996),
Bullough (1989), Grossman (1990), and Peleg (1997) also spe-
cify problems of coping with individual differences among pu-
pils.
4) Problems of assessing the students’ assignments, which is
ranked fourth on the scale of difficulties, have also been inves-
tigated extensively. Among the researchers who have dealt with
this topic are the following: Borko, Eisenhart, Underhill, Brown,
Jones, & Agard (1991); Bullough (1989); Covert, Williams, &
Kennedy (1991); Gitomer (1999); Obersky et al. (1999); Veen-
man (1984).
Also connected with this topic is self-assessment, which is
discussed in studies examining the beginning teacher’s self-
image (Bullough, 1991; Cooledge, 1992; Goddard & Foster,
2001; Kagan, 1992; Kelchtermans & Ballet, 2002; Laboskey,
1991).
5) Communication with students and parents, which is
ranked fifth, is discussed in studies dealing, among other things,
with trust and respect as opposed to pressures and criticism
(Adler, 1996; Bullough, 1989; Covert, Williams, & Kennedy,
1991; Friedman & Krongold, 1993; McLaughlin, 1991).
In the context of communication, problems concerning the
relations between the beginning teacher and the school staff and
their interrelationship have also been discussed in the literature.
The central figures in the school’s organizational system are the
principal, the beginning teacher’s colleagues, and the parents
(Gold, 1996). The relations with the school principal have been
discussed by the following researchers: Amir & Tamir (1992);
Erlich (1992); Friedman (2002); Talmor, Nabel-Heller, & Er-
lich (1997).
The relationship between principal-teacher in the Arab sector
constitutes an issue that affects the beginning teacher’s position
and status because the principal conceives of his position in an
authoritative rather than a democratic way.
Many beginning teachers view the principal as the most im-
portant figure in the school. They expect to receive support and
instruction from him as well as to maintain open communica-
tion with him. Unclear expectations of the responsibility that
rests on the principal and his position with regard to the inclu-
sion of the beginning teacher in the school constitute important
causes of the new teacher’s lack of success (Brock & Grady,
1997).
Interrelationships are frequently established among the teach-
Copyright © 2013 SciRes.
364
S. ILAIYAN
ers in the school (Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, & Quinlan, 2001),
some of which are of many years’ standing. Cliques with dif-
ferent interests exist, and the colleagues’ willingness to support
and acknowledge the new teacher varies from one school sys-
tem to the next (McLaughlin, 1991). The beginning teacher’s
difficulties regarding interrelationships with his colleagues have
been widely discussed in the literature (Brock & Grady, 1997;
Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, & Quinlan, 2001; Covert, Williams, &
Kennedy, 1991; Hitz & Roper, 1986; Putz, 1992; Vonk, 1993).
The importance of the reflection and support the young tea-
cher receives from his colleagues has been discussed in the
literature (Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, & Quinlan, 2001). Putz
(1992) stresses the beginning teacher’s need for material sup-
port, assistance with lesson planning, an exchange of ideas, and
obtaining teaching materials and activities for his class. Others
(Brock & Grady, 1997; Ensor, 2001; Pollak, 1996) mention that
the absence of communication with adults and the feeling of
isolation that teachers experience in their classrooms may be a
source of frustration and confusion for the beginning teacher. In
many cases, his interlocutors are his students, and while at work,
he meets up with his colleagues only during the breaks. As a
result, the new teacher lacks the collegial discourse that engen-
ders a feeling of intellectual growth and belonging.
6) Ranked sixth on the scale of difficulties is the organization
of activities and contents, and, more broadly, everything asso-
ciated with didactic and disciplinary knowledge. Several studies
have discussed the difficulties involved in teaching skills (Sa-
gee & Regev, 2002; Vonk, 1995). Problems concerning lesson
planning and implementation, lesson procedure, description and
achievement of the goals according to the plan, and organiza-
tion of the relevant materials have been investigated by many
researchers (Covert, Williams, & Kennedy, 1991; Odell, Lou-
ghlin, & Ferrero, 1987; Sagee & Regev, 2002).
Researchers have discussed the problems of the beginning
teacher’s disciplinary knowledge (Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, &
Quinlan, 2001; Peleg, 1997; Veenman, 1984) and the problems
associated with planning time, namely, yearly, semester, week-
ly, and daily planning (Berg, Diane, Nagel, & Malian, 1989;
Cooledge, 1992). In addition, problems involving the beginning
teacher’s use of various teaching strategies have been discussed
(Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, & Quinlan, 2001; Shulman, 1987;
Vonk, 1995). Other studies indicate the school’s organizational
framework that occasionally prevents the beginning teacher
from trying out an innovative way of teaching and compels him
to teach according to the school’s accepted teaching schemas
(Ensor, 2001; Friedman, 2002; Puk & Haines, 1999).
7) Problems that arise as a result of difficulties in locating
sources of knowledge, curricula, teacher’s guides, and study
material (ranked seventh on the scale of difficulties) have also
been discussed in the literature (Covert, Williams, & Kennedy,
1991; Odell, Loughlin, & Ferrero, 1987; Putz, 1992; Veenman,
1984).
8) Ranked eighth on the scale of difficulties is the conflict
with the school’s organizational climate and with its prevailing
culture. Many studies report the difficulties experienced by
teachers in this domain, which includes adapting to the school,
its atmosphere, its rules (both apparent and covert), and the
customs and physical and organizational conditions that exist
therein (Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, & Quinlan, 2001; Ensor, 2001;
Kelchtermans & Ballet (2002); Odell, Loughlin, & Ferrero,
1987; Veenman, 1984).
The school atmosphere and its cultural climate extremely af-
fect the degree of success or failure in absorbing beginning tea-
chers in the Arab sector, which affects the process of absorption
positively or negatively.
Vonk (1995) mentions the beginning teacher’s adaptation to
the school climate and his environment as one of the main areas
of difficulty for beginning teachers. Gold, too, (1996) supports
this claim. The school is a bureaucratic institution (Kuzmic,
1994) and the requirement to be acquainted with it, to compre-
hend the procedures that occur within it, and to operate in a
micro-political reality is complex, impeding the beginning tea-
cher’s ability to function. “When a new teacher gets a job as a
teacher in a classroom with all the responsibility for the group
of pupils, he faces at the same time the challenge of finding his
place in the school’s organizational system” (Kelchtermans &
Ballet, 2002).
Of necessity, the school culture is also correlated to bureauc-
racy, which engenders, among other things, a difficulty that
stems from an overload of work, from conflicts that arise be-
tween the various roles, and from problems associated with
assuming responsibility. Sagee and Regev’s (2002) study points
out the feeling of the beginning teacher’s overload, which in-
cludes bureaucratic difficulties such as extensive paperwork or
the organization of various activities such as ceremonies and
parents’ meetings. Researchers have dealt with the difficulties
that arise from the conflict between the various roles of the
beginning teachers, who are at the beginning of their profes-
sional and personal paths (Gold, 1996; Odell, Loughlin, & Fer-
rero, 1987; Ryan, 1986), and with their struggle against the
shortage of time for preparing lessons and checking the stu-
dents’ products (Berg, Diane, Nagel, & Malian, 1989; Cooledge,
1992; Putz, 1992; Veenman, 1984). The issue of maximizing
the strength required by teaching and accepting responsibility
for one or more classes, with everything that implies, has also
arisen in the literature (Kelchtermans & Ballet, 2002).
Gender- The issue of Gender in the Arab Sector is an impor-
tant factor in integration of new teachers in education. The
Arab society is still a traditional and conservative, and patriar-
chal society (al-Haj, 1996) and the male is the dominant and
prevailing power in its educational institutions. Consequently,
internal conflict takes place among female teachers, who learn
at training institutes, colleges and universities, whose policy of
education is based on democratic standards and equality. When
new female teachers come back to their villages and are ap-
pointed as teachers at the village schools, they find themselves
in a traditional atmosphere and environment, and soon realize
that the status of the male teachers is higher than the female
teachers (Ilaiyan, 2000; Eilam, 2002).
In the last two decades, a dramatic rise has taken place in the
percentage of female teachers in comparison with male teachers.
However, in spite of the small number of the Arab male teach-
ers at schools, they still occupy the central key positions at
school such as: administration, subject coordinators and level
coordination. This situation causes frustration and creates feel-
ings of injustice among the female teachers (The Central Bu-
reau of Statistics, 2012).
Specialization. In addition to that, the teachers face difficul-
ties that are related to “specialization” in a number of subjects.
Therefore, the number of teacher's specializations constitutes a
special difficulty among these teachers in the Arab sector.
Specialization in sciences. There is serious shortage in labs
and essential infrastructure. This situation compels part of the
teachers to conduct the Lab-Sessions in the Mother-Classroom
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S. ILAIYAN
or in one of the school basements (Report of the Follow-up
Committee of the Arab Education, 2010).
Location of the School Building: there is a decisive impor-
tance of the difficulties that the beginning Arab teacher en-
counters especially in those schools that are built in located in
the neighboring villages and suburbs.
It is important to state that 70% of the Arab population in Is-
rael lives in remote villages, away from the urban centers (Cen-
tral Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Education, Culture and
Sport, 2012).They suffer deficiencies in development and bud-
gets, and are characterized by over-conservativeness in their
concepts and attitudes (Toren & Ilaiyan, )2008.
The insecure infrastructure of the school buildings projects
badly on the language teachers who are supposed to teach in
classrooms that are suited for teaching according to 21st cen-
tury standards. This factor constitutes an obstacle to the lan-
guage teachers, who aspire to deal with all kinds of language
aspects including phonology, error analysis and correction, and
other foreign languages such as Hebrew and English (Report of
the Follow-up Committee of the Arab Education, 2010).
The teacher’s family condition: when the majority of the
teachers are married females, the burden of their position makes
it more difficult to fulfill their double commitment to their po-
sition and to their family. This creates a factor of internal con-
flict, and sometimes, turns into a confrontation between the
principal and the teacher (Ilaiyan, Zidan, & Toren, 2007).
In conclusion, the beginning teacher faces a wide network of
difficulties: He seeks support and recognition; he deals with the
feeling of isolation, with conflicts between his personal life and
professional demands, with problems involving his interrela-
tions with the school staff, with students, and with parents, and
with a feeling of pressure as a result of overload. These all con-
stitute some of the psychological problems with which the be-
ginning teacher has to cope (Gold, 1996; Odell, Loughlin, &
Ferrero, 1987).
Lack of Job Satisfaction
“Satisfaction expresses the individual’s situation from the
point of view of the social, material, and personal reward that
the job grants him, the ease with which he adapts to other peo-
ple, his relative status within the social group with which he
identifies, the nature of the job in relation to his skills, status,
and loyalty” (Levy, 2001: p. 94). In Levy’s opinion, one of the
important preconditions for the success of the teaching process
is the teacher’s satisfaction with his job.
Sagee and Regev (2002) believe that the beginning teacher’s
difficulties constitute pressure factors that predict the sense of
dissatisfaction with teaching. The beginning teacher’s expecta-
tions of his work environment and of the school as a profes-
sional workplace (Friedman, 2005) as well as the difficulty in
realizing these expectations (or at least some of them) may be
among the principal causes of teacher dropout during the first
years of work. Quaglia’s (1989) study shows that 20 - 25 per-
cent of the beginning teachers in the USA quit their jobs in the
first year. Other data reveal that some 50 percent of the teachers
in the USA leave the profession during the first five years of
work (Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, & Quinlan, 2001).
The findings in Israel are similar: While some 40 percent of
the graduates of teacher education institutions drop out after an
average of three years, most of them quit after the first year
(Lazovsky & Zeiger, 2004). Furthermore, there is an overrep-
resentation of good, talented teachers among the dropouts (Kfir,
Ariav, Fagin, & Liebman, 1997). In the Arab sector in Israel,
the picture is entirely different: Some five percent of the young
teachers drop out during the first five years of work (The Cen-
tral Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Education, Culture and
Sport, 2005). It should be mentioned that Arab students elect
the teaching profession because in the Arab sector, this profes-
sion is favored over many others (Ilaiyan, Zidan, & Toren,
2007). This fact also stems from the relatively limited employ-
ment options for educated Arab youngsters outside of Arab
society (Alhaj, 1996). For this reason, despite the difficulties
facing beginning teachers, there is a very low dropout rate from
teaching.
The present research constitutes a preliminary study that was
conducted in the Arab sector in Israel for the purpose of exam-
ining the reasons for the lack of satisfaction experienced by the
beginning teachers in this sector.
Satisfaction is a central concept in the research on organiza-
tions (Price & Mueller, 1992). Despite the plethora of studies
on organizational behavior, satisfaction is a controversial con-
cept (Neumann, Reichel, & Abu-Saad, 1988), and for this rea-
son, many questions regarding the nature of job satisfaction
have yet to be answered (Rice, Gentile, & McFarlin, 1991).
A definition accepted by many researchers describes satis-
faction as the worker’s positive attitude toward the workplace,
and expresses his desire to continue his employment in spite of
any existing motives for quitting his job (Benson, 1983; Muller,
1990; Neumann et al., 1988; Vroom, 1964).
The two-factor theory (Herzberg, Mansner, Cupwell, & Sny-
derman, 1971) posits that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are
factors that are not interdependent. Various attempts to identify
the causes of satisfaction indicate that it is necessary to differ-
entiate between internal factors that lead to satisfaction and
external factors that lead to a lack of both satisfaction and mo-
tivation vis-à-vis work. In most cases, the difficulties with
which the beginning teacher copes are considered to be external
ones.
Recently, teachers’ motivation and satisfaction have been
widely discussed. The literature reports teachers’ dissatisfac-
tion with their work as well as the large number of teachers
who have left the system. It has been found that the good tea-
chers are the ones who leave the school, and that a negative
correlation exists between the number of years of experience
and the level of job satisfaction (Heller & Clay, 1993).
The goal of the present study is to identify the beginning
Arab teacher’s difficulties and to predict his lack of satisfaction
with teaching based on the difficulties he encounters during his
first year of work.
The research hypotheses are as follows:
Significant correlations will be found between general back-
ground variables of the beginning Arab teacher and the difficul-
ties he will encounter in his first year of work.
Significant statistical correlations will be found between the
difficulties of the beginning Arab teacher and his lack of satis-
faction with his job.
Method
Research Tools
The research tool is a close questionnaire which is built spe-
cifically for this research.
Copyright © 2013 SciRes.
366
S. ILAIYAN
The Process of Building the Questionnaire
1) An open question was addressed to 172 male and female
beginning Arab teachers, graduates of Arabic- and Hebrew-
medium universities and colleges, who hold at least a third of a
job in the Arab education system in the Haifa and Northern
regions, and who participated in a specialization workshop at
the Arab Academic College of Education in Haifa during the
2003-2004 academic year. The question was formulated as
follows: “List the difficulties you encountered during your first
year of work as a beginning teacher.” One hundred and forty-
seven teachers responded to the question and listed the difficul-
ties they had encountered during their first year of work.
2) The participants’ responses were sorted and the recurring
difficulties deleted, leaving 49 items describing 49 different
types of difficulty.
3) Once the list of difficulties had been formulated, it was
presented to teacher educators, pedagogic advisors, and lectur-
ers from the field of education and teaching, who were asked to
express their opinions.
4) The expert opinions led to alterations in the formulation of
several items (different types of difficulty).
5) Based on the difficulties that were surveyed, a closed
questionnaire comprising 49 items (different types of difficulty)
was built. The response scale consists of five ranks, with 1
expressing an absence of difficulties, 5 expressing constant
difficulty, and 2, 3, and 4 expressing interim degrees of diffi-
culty.
6) This questionnaire was distributed to 156 beginning
teachers who were specializing at the Arab Academic College
of Education during the academic year 2004-2005. Of them,
130 returned the questionnaire having related to all of its items.
See Table 1.
Table 1.
Distribution of the research subjects according to background data.
% N Category Variable
17% 18 Science
Languages 28.3% 30
Early Childhood 18.9% 20
Special Education
Early Childhood
Specialization
35.8% 38
20.8% 22
Elementary 16% 17
30.2% 32 Secondary
33.0% 35 Inter-track
Track
76.4% 81 State
23.6% 25 Private
Type of school
76.4% 81 Village
23.6% 25 Town
Settlement
17% 18 Male
83% 88 Female
Gender
36.8% 39 Married
63.2% 67 Engaged
Family Status
100% 130
Total
7) The questionnaire underwent a Varimax factor analysis,
yielding six factors that together explained 63 percent of the
variance. In each factor, the aspects whose loading coefficient
was greater than 0.4 were chosen. The criterion for the number
of factors was an Eigenvalue (before rotation) greater than 1. It
should be mentioned that items that did not meet the loading
criterion were deleted from the questionnaire, leaving 36 types
of difficulty in the final version.
The final questionnaire (see below, at the end of the paper)
was composed of two sections:
Section 1 contained questions concerning the research par-
ticipants’ background data: gender, age, specialization, track,
location of the school and its type.
Section 2 contained 36 items relating to difficulties encoun-
tered by teachers during their first year of work. Every teacher
was asked to report the extent to which he had encountered
each difficulty on a scale of 1 - 5 (1 = did not encounter it at all,
2 = encountered it infrequently, 3 = encountered it occasionally,
4 = encountered it frequently, and 5 = encountered it all the
time). See Table 2.
Findings
In a careful examination of Table 3 the difficulties were
ranked in a descending order in relation to the factors. It was
found that “communication with the students and their parents”
and “teaching overload” were ranked at the highest level, “di-
dactic and disciplinary difficulties”, “support”, and “satisfac-
tion” were ranked at a medium level, while “organizational
climate of the school and the prevailing culture” were ranked at
the lowest level.
The Sample
The research sample consisted of 130 beginning teachers.
Prior to examining the research hypotheses, a series of ana-
lyses of variance was performed in order to determine whether
there were differences between the various difficulties accord-
ing to the background data. Significant differences were found
only in relation to specialization and track, and they are pre-
sented in Tables 4 and 5.
A significant difference in the “organizational climate and
Table 2.
Factors, component items, and Cronbach’s alpha constant reliability va-
lue.
Cronbach’s
alpha value
Component items Factor
1, 14, 18, 21, 30 692.
Organizational climate
and school culture
.843
Communication with
students and parents
2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 16, 17, 20,
26, 32, 36
8, 12, 28, 33, 34, 35 Teaching overload 602.
6, 25, 27 Support 498.
5, 11, 13, 19, 22, 23,
24, 29
Didactic disciplinary 687.
7, 15, 31 Feeling of satisfaction 459.
926. 1 - 36 General difficulties
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S. ILAIYAN
Table 3.
The difficulties in descending order in relation to the factors.
Standard
Deviation
Average
Prominent
statements
Factor
0.77 2.07
Organizational climate and
school culture
1.34 2.46
1
1.10 2.25
21
1.21 2.20
18
1.22 1.85
14
0.95 1.59
30
Communication with students
and parents 0.71 2.39
1.14 2.78
9
1.25 2.70
3
1.37 2.61
10
1.13 2.59
2
1.34 2.55
4
1.41 2.42
16
0.98 2.31
20
1.22 2.30
32
0.98 2.19
26
1.16 1.95
17
1.07 1.86
36
0.67 2.34 Teaching overload
1.46 2.99
8
1.20 2.84
12
1.05 2.42
33
1.04 2.12
35
1.09 2.07
28
93. 1.62
34
0.90 2.13 Support
1.36 2.92
25
1.42 2.42
6
1.26 2.13
27
0.61 2.20 Didactic-disciplinary
1.18 3.34
11
1.36 2.92
24
1.20 2.84
13
1.31 2.42
5
1.05 2.17
19
90. 1.95
22
1.09 1.89
23
91. 1.85
29
90. 2.13 Satisfaction
1.32 2.38
15
1.28 2.26
7
91. 1.71
31
prevailing culture” factor was found among the teachers in the
various specializations (F(5,105) = 2.74, p < .05); a Bonferroni
test revealed a significant distinction between the science
teachers and the special education teachers, and between the
latter and the early childhood teachers.
A significant difference was found in the “communication
with the students and their parents” factor among the teachers
in the various specializations (F(5,105) = 6.47, p < .05); a Bon-
ferroni test revealed a significant distinction between the sci-
ence, language, and early childhood teachers on the one hand,
Table 4.
Analysis of variance for examining the difference in difficulties ac-
cording to teacher’s specialization.
Special
Education
Early
Childhood
Languages ScienceSpecialization
FS.D.MS.D. M S.D. MS.D.MFactor
*
2.74.661.79.76 2.26 .79 2.17 .862.27
Organizational
climate & school
culture
**
6.47.612.03.57 2.50 .76 2.56 .692.75
Communication
with students &
parents
*
3.03.592.12.57 2.30 .76 2.48 .692.62Teaching overload
1.46.762.32.93 2.47 .96 2.58 .632.80Support
*
2.62.582.01.47 2.21 .63 2.28 .702.46
Didactic
disciplinary
1.78.791.86.78 2.27 1.04 2.28 .912.29Satisfaction
Table 5.
Analysis of variance for examining the difference in difficulties ac-
cording to track.
IntertrackSecondary Elementary
Early
Childhood
Specialization
FS.D.MS.D. M S.D. M S.D.MFactor
1.76.661.84.87 2.14 .76 2.14 .742.28
Organizational
climate & school
culture
**
5.48.632.03.69 2.64 .65 2.60 .712.45
Communication
with students &
parents
2.49.602.13.73 2.47 .66 2.60 .642.28Teaching overload
1.22.792.32.79 2.66 0.83 2.67 .982.42Support
1.52.582.03.68 2.34 .63 2.33 .522.16
Didactic
disciplinary
1.81.821.871.08 2.30 .78 2.25 .762.21Satisfaction
and the special education teachers on the other.
A significant difference was found in the “teaching over-
load” factor among the teachers in the various specializations
(F(5,105) = 3.03, p < .05); a Bonferroni test revealed a significant
distinction between the science, language, and early child- hood
teachers on the one hand, and the special education teachers on
the other; and between the science teachers and the early
childhood teachers.
A significant difference was found in the “didactic and disci-
plinary” factor among the teachers in the various specializations
(F(5,105) = 2.62, p < .05); a Bonferroni test revealed a significant
distinction between the science, language, and early child- hood
teachers on the one hand, and the special education teachers on
the other; and between the science teachers and the early
childhood teachers.
A significant difference was found in the “communication
with the students and their parents” dimension among the tea-
chers in the various tracks (F(5,105) = 5.48, p < .01); a Bonferroni
test revealed a significant distinction between teachers in the
elementary track and teachers in the inter-track track; and be-
Copyright © 2013 SciRes.
368
S. ILAIYAN
tween teachers in the secondary track and teachers in the inter-
track track.
The first research question related to the correlations between
general background characteristics and types of difficulty that
the teacher is liable to encounter during his first year of work.
In order to examine these correlations, multiple linear regres-
sion analyses were performed.
The predictive variables are specialization, track, type of sch-
ool, type of settlement, gender, age, and marital status, and the
criteria consist of the different types of difficulty.
In a careful examination of Table 6, the regression analysis
shows that the group of general background variables fails to
furnish a meaningful explanation for the variance of the diffi-
culty concerning the school’s organizational climate and pre-
vailing culture; only the specialization variable contributes sig-
nificantly to the explanation of the variance. The science and
early childhood teachers reported a higher level of difficulty
than the language and special education teachers.
Table 7 indicates that the regression analysis shows that the
group of general background variables is not significantly cor-
related to the level of difficulty of communication with the
pupils and their parents; only the specialization variable con-
tributes significantly to the explanation of the variance. The
science, language, and early childhood teachers reported a
higher level of difficulty than the special education teachers.
The regression analysis in Table 8 shows that the group of
general background variables is not significantly correlated to
the level of difficulty of the teaching overload; only the spe-
cialization variable contributes significantly to the explanation
of the variance. The science and language teachers reported a
higher level of difficulty than the language and special educa-
tion teachers.
An examination of the regression analysis in Table 9 shows
that the group of general background variables is not signifi-
cantly correlated to the level of difficulty of support; only the
specialization variable contributes significantly to the explana-
tion of the variance. The science teachers reported a higher
level of difficulty than the language, early childhood, and spe-
cial education teachers.
The regression analysis in Table 10 shows that the group of
general background variables is not significantly correlated to
the level of difficulty of the didactic and disciplinary field; only
the specialization variable contributes significantly to the ex-
planation of the variance. The science teachers reported a high-
er level of difficulty than the language, early childhood, and
special education teachers.
The regression analysis shows that the group of general
background variables is not significant to the explanation of the
variance in the level of the teachers’ satisfaction; no variable
contributes significantly to the explanation of variance.
Table 11 indicates that the regression analysis shows that the
group of general background variables is not significantly cor-
related to the difficulties in general; only the specialization
variable contributes significantly to the explanation of the
variance. The science teachers reported a higher level of diffi-
culty than the language, early childhood, and special education
teachers.
The second research question related to the correlations be-
tween five of the types of difficulty that were yielded by the
factor analysis and satisfaction with teaching. In order to ex-
amine this correlation, a multiple linear regression analysis was
performed. The independent variables were types of difficulty
Table 6.
Results of a multiple regression analysis for examining the effect of the
general background data on the organizational climate and school cul-
ture.
R2
t
(df = 104)
β B
Independent
variable
0.051 2.37* .23 .16 Specialization
041. 1.38 .15 .14 Track
0 09. 01. 016.
Type of
school
003. 56. 055. 105.
School
location
001. 314. 031. 063. Gender
004. .645 .63 .16 Age
0011. .373 .037 .058 Family status
R2 = .087
Adjusted
R2 = .022
F = .1336
Table 7.
Results of a multiple regression analysis for examining the effect of the
general background data on the communication with students and par-
ents.
R2 t (df = 104) β B
Independent
variable
144. 3.53* .365 .231 Specialization
049. .75 .08 .05 Track
003. 348. 036. 06.
Type of
school
0 12. 012. 022.
School
location
002. 914. 095. 173. Gender
0 242. 025. 005. Age
003. .493 .051 .076 Family status
R2 = .160
Adjusted
R2 = .10
F = 2.65*
Table 8.
Results of a multiple regression analysis for examining the effect of the
general background data on the teaching overload.
R2 t (df = 104) β b
Independent
variable
082. 2.81* .30 .18 Specialization
013. 274. .03 018. Track
006. 307. 033. 052.
Type of
school
004. 896. 095. 16.
School
location
001. 70. 075. 134. Gender
0 41. 044. 008. Age
013. 507. .055 076. Family status
R2 = .101
Adjusted
R2 = .036
F = 1.565
(the school’s organizational climate and prevailing culture,
communication with the students and their parents, teaching
overload, support, didactic and disciplinary dimension); the de-
pendent variable was the level of satisfaction.
In Table 12, the regression analysis shows that the group of
types of difficulty is significantly correlated to the level of
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. 369
S. ILAIYAN
Table 9.
Results of a multiple regression analysis for examining the effect of the
general background data on the support given to the beginning teacher.
R2 t (df = 104) β b
Independent
variable
040. 2.31* .248 .186 Specialization
003. 689. 076. 057. Track
008. 197. 021. 042.
Type of
school
023. 1.71 183. 384.
School
location
006. 1.21 130. 291. Gender
004. 473. 051. 011. Age
01. 519. 056. 098. Family status
R2 = .096
Adjusted
R2 = .032
F = 1.489
Table 10.
Results of a multiple regression analysis for examining the effect of the
general background data on the didactic-disciplinary dimension.
R2 t (df = 104) β b
Independent
variable
070. 2.604* 059. .152 Specialization
008. .019 060. .001 Track
0 .365 154. .056
Type of
school
002. 937. 163. 153.
School
location
0 652. 175. 114. Gender
002. 1.285 018. 023. Age
0 .758 137. .104 Family status
R2 = .081
Adjusted
R2 =.015
F = 1.232
Table 11.
Results of a multiple regression analysis for examining the effect of the
general background data on the difficulties in general.
R2 t (df = 104) β b
Independent
variable
10. 3.08* .325 .174 Specialization
029. .332 .036 .019 Track
003. 096. 010. 014.
Type of
school
004. 856. 090. 135.
School
location
003. 961. 105. 167. Gender
0 246. 026. 005. Age
002. .291 .031 .039 Family status
R2 = .119
Adjusted
R2 = .056
F = 1.898
satisfaction, with the school’s organizational climate and pre-
vailing culture as well as the teaching overload contributing
significantly to the explanation of the variance in the level of
satisfaction.
Discussion
The analysis of the questionnaire yielded the following six
Table 12.
Results of a multiple regression analysis for examining the effect of the
types of difficulties on the teacher’s satisfaction.
R2 t (df = 104)β B
Independent
variable
429.
*
3.784 395. 460.
Organizational
climate & school
culture
208. 1.308 160. 202.
Communication
with pupils &
parents
397. *3.557 373. 496. Teaching overload
159. 663. 054. 057. Support
237. 1.426 .150 .219
Didactic
disciplinary
R2 = .544
Adjusted
R2 = .522
F=23.889**
factors: 1) didactic and disciplinary knowledge, 2) the school’s
organizational climate and prevailing culture, 3) communica-
tion with the students and their parents, 4) support of the staff
members and recognition of the new teacher, 5) the overload
imposed on him, and 6) the level of satisfaction he experiences.
The Factor, “Communication with the Students and
Their Parents”
This factor was ranked highest in importance of all the fac-
tors. It should be mentioned that in the factor analysis, this
factor received 11 statements at high loadings—more than any
other factor. The following statements gained particularly high
loadings:
Problems concerning behavior, discipline, and controlling
the class;
Coping with violence;
Parents’ responsiveness and cooperation.
Many beginning teachers report discipline problems in the
classroom. In addition to such problems, which have been dis-
cussed in many other studies (Brock & Grady, 1997; Loughran,
Brown & Doecke, 2001; Hebert & Worthy, 2001; Veenman,
1984), the beginning Arab teachers suffer from another prob-
lem. This problem stems from the cultural tension resulting
from the conflict between the rules of behavior in the patriar-
chal family in which the children behave courteously toward
adults and operate within a framework of strict rules of disci-
pline, and the accepted and different norms of behavior in the
schools, where the laws of the land are enforcedamong them,
the Child Protection Law. Nowadays, children are aware of
their rights, and they threaten teachers who attempt to impose
discipline in the classroom by means of an iron hand. It is when
the beginning teacher seeks to solve discipline problems that
his impotence comes to the fore. In addition, the teacher en-
counters difficulties as a result of communication problems
among the children as well as disputes that break out among
themdisputes that they expect an authoritative teacher to
resolve. Furthermore, the beginning teacher frequently fails to
earn the support of the parents, and as a consequence, the level
of discipline in his class is lower than in other classes. It should
be pointed out that according to the findings of the present
study, there is better communication between special education
teachers and the children and their parents.
Beginning teachers’ problems concerning their relationships
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370
S. ILAIYAN
with pupils and parents have been widely discussed in research
studies (Adler, 1996; Brock & Grady, 1997; Friedman &
Krongold, 1993; Veenman, 1984), according to which commu-
nication problems, among other things, manifest themselves in
the fact that some of the parents consider bargaining to be a tool
in what they see as a struggle to protect their children’s rights in
the face of the school rules and those of the entire education
system. On the one hand, parents who do not cooperate with the
teacher and the school sometimes exhibit indifference with
regard to anything to do with their children’s education (Ilaiyan,
2000). On the other, over-involvement of parents can reach the
point of severing relations with the teacher and appealing to
higher ranking individuals, such as the principal or supervisor,
and exploiting connections. The importance of relationships
with the parents and their support of the new teacher has been
investigated in various studies (Adler, 1996; Bullough, 1989;
Covert, Williams, & Kennedy, 1991; McLaughlin, 1991; Veen-
man, 1984).
As mentioned previously, the beginning Arab teacher’s pro-
blem is intensified as a result of the cultural context in which
Arab society in Israel finds itself, namely, in the process of
transition from a patriarchal to a democratic society (Alhaj,
1996). Problems correlated to the clash between the two cul-
tures are manifested powerfully within the school walls. This is
attributable to the fact that during his academic studies at a
university or a college, the beginning Arab teacher has ab-
sorbed democratic culture, while the parent behaves according
to the traditional cultural patterns (Eilam, 2002). This problem
is particularly acute when the beginning teacher is assigned a
teaching job in a school that is far away from his place of resi-
dence and whose cultural patterns are alien to him.
The problems concerning communication with students and
parents were ranked highest by the students in the science spe-
cialization, while they were ranked lowest by the students in the
special education specialization. This can be explained by the
fact that the special education students at the college receive
enrichment lessons that furnish them with tools for coping with
communication problems better than in the other disciplines
(The Arab Academic College of Education in Israel Haifa,
2006-2007). However, this also stems from the nature of the
educational work in the special education track that involves
working with parents, who play a crucial role in their children’s
treatment. Moreover, it is important to take into account the
individual activities that are conducted in this specialization.
The School’s Organizational Climate and Prevailing
Culture
The factor of the school’s organizational climate and pre-
vailing culture occupies the lowest rank in a descending order
in relation to the remainder of the factors. The prominent state-
ments regarding this factor are as follows:
A problematic school climate;
Difficulty in cooperating with the teaching staff and the
principal;
Adapting to the school and its rules.
The school climate factor includes the school’s organiza-
tional culture, the customary approach regarding anything to do
with adopting (or rejecting) innovations, the nature of the rela-
tions between the teachers and the principal and among the
teachers themselves, and the teachers’ relations with the stu-
dents and parents (Ensor, 2001; Friedman, 2002; Puk & Haines,
1999). Shared values, social beliefs, and social standards exist,
and it is necessary to adapt to the school rules (Anderson, 1982).
Vonk (1995) mentions the beginning teachers’ adaptation to the
school climate and to their environment as one of their main
areas of difficulty; Gold (1996) supports this assertion as well.
The school is a bureaucratic institution (Kuzmic, 1994), and the
beginning teachers have to learn to make their way in it. They
are required to become acquainted with the system of “mi-
cropolitical reality” (Kelchtermans & Ballet, 2002), to compre-
hend it, and to operate within it; this is an extremely complex
ability. The difficulty and complexity impair the beginning
teacher’s ability to function, and since it is a traditional society,
Arab society places even more difficulties in his path. It should
be mentioned that the organizational climate that prevails in
most of the Arab schools is closed and inflexible (Ilaiyan,
2000). The management does not delegate authority to the posi-
tion holders; in other words, the management system is totally
centralized. Moreover, suspicion and hostility reign between
teachers and management, between management and teachers,
and among the teachers themselves, and this fact is reflected in
the relations between teachers and pupils, too.
Some 90 percent of the schools in the Arab sector are
crowded institutions that contain crowded classrooms housing
a large number of pupils (see the Statistical Yearbook, 2006). In
addition, Houri-Casbari’s (2002) study shows that the organiza-
tional structure of the school in the Arab sector is closed for the
most part (because of the crowded classrooms, among other
things), while an open school climate is quite rare in that sector.
The regression analysis indicates a significant contribution of
the school’s organizational climate and prevailing culture to the
beginning Arab teacher’s difficulties. In contrast, it should be
mentioned that the general background variables only exert a
minor effect on the school’s organizational climate and pre-
vailing culture. Only the specialization variable significantly
affects the school’s organizational climate and prevailing cul-
ture (with a moderate intensity), with the science and early
childhood teachers reporting a higher level of difficulty than the
language and special education teachers. As mentioned above,
the science teachers who teach in the middle schools, which are
sometimes very large schools, report problems in this area. It is
reasonable to assume that kindergarten teachers have problems
with the kindergarten’s organizational environment. In recent
years, most of the female college graduates are accepted for
work in private kindergartens or charity kindergartens, and they
report problems that arise as a result of the educational envi-
ronment, very little and unsuitable equipment, the absence of
appropriate safety measures in the playground, and so on.
These problems resonate in the present study as well.
The Teaching Overload Factor
The teaching overload factor is ranked second in a descend-
ing order of factors (see Table 4). The prominent statements
regarding this factor are as follows:
Expending effort in yearly and daily planning;
Combining college studies with the duties of the beginning
teacher;
The load of school duties imposed on the beginning teacher.
This factor includes difficulties, some of which stem from
dealing with administration, for instance, extensive paperwork,
some of which result from the teacher’s role as a home-room
teacher who organizes various activities, some of which are
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. 371
S. ILAIYAN
correlated to the various tasks in the school, and some of which
result from the teaching itself, and what it entailsfor example,
planning lessons, employing alternative teaching methods, and
preparing illustrative media. These difficulties create such an
overload for the beginning teacher that the discrepancy between
his expectations and those of his superiors triggers mental stress
(Gordon, 1991; Weldman, Niles, Magliaro, & McLaughlin,
1989). In addition to all the above-mentioned difficulties, it
should be remembered that the beginning teachers are still
fourth-year college students who have to prove themselves in
this domain as wellespecially in view of the fact that many
of them are planning to pursue M.Ed. studies. Many of the new
female teachers marry during this year, and some of them be-
come pregnant with their first child, meaning that the burden of
taking care of a home and family also rests on their shoulders.
The weight of all these roles is liable to be too heavy for the
beginning teachers to bear.
The analysis of variance to examine the difference in diffi-
culties according to the teacher’s specialization reveals that the
science teachers specify a feeling of a greater overload than the
other groups of teachers. This can be attributed to the fact that
an additional element exists in the science specialization, name-
ly, laboratory work, which entails setting up and performing
experiments, preparing materials in advance, and asking the
laboratory assistant to assign laboratory time (Ilaiyan & Hujirat,
2006). Science teachers are required to display expertise in the
material as well as teach in a more individual manner. They are
also required to adapt themselves to the students’ level, even
though the discrepancy in the standard among the pupils is
particularly great in the Arab sector, in which the classes are
heterogeneous (Shulman, 1987).
The special education teachers have a less of a feeling of
overload as a result of the work method dictated by the Law of
Special Education that does not permit competition among the
staff as regards achievements. This is a method of individual
work as opposed to the work in a normal heterogeneous class-
room. The feeling reported by the special education teachers is
interesting since their work is apparently the most difficult of
all the existing specializations (they also receive a salary that is
10 percent higher than that of the rest of the teachers in the
system); in spite of this, they do not feel the overload as much
as the rest of the teachers.
A multiple linear regression analysis for examining the effect
of the general background variables on the feeling of the teach-
ing overload reveals that only the specialization variable con-
tributes significantly to the explanation of the variance of the
type of difficulty in teaching. As explained above, this may be
attributed to the greater expenditure of effort and thought ne-
cessitated by certain subjects (Gold, 1996; Odell, Loughlin, &
Ferrero, 1987; Ryan, 1986).
The Support Factor
The support and satisfaction factors, which were awarded
similar degrees of difficulty, rank fourth in the descending or-
der. The prominent statements in the support factor are:
Absence of instruction in the field;
Lack of knowledge of the teacher’s rights;
Absence of high-quality instruction on the part of the men-
tor teacher.
The problems relate to the following aspects: expectations of
emotional support (Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, & Quinlan, 2001),
expectations of collegiality on the part of their fellow teachers
and the administration (Friedman, 2005), and expectations of
professional support and of the impartation of information con-
cerning professional rights. Similar to Putz’s (1992) study, the
beginning teachers in our study also point out the need for in-
terrelations with colleagues that include professional and prac-
tical support, as well as an exchange of ideas and materials for
activities and teaching in the classroom. Moreover, the severity
of this problem is exacerbated by the fact that the mentor tea-
cher could be expected to assist in solving these problems. Ac-
cording to the teacher education program in Israel, the Ministry
of Education appoints a mentor teacher for every beginning
teacher during his year of specialization (which is his first year
of teaching, on the basis of at least a third of a job). The mentor
teacher works in the same school as the beginning teacher. Our
research shows that many of the beginning teachers are dissat-
isfied with their mentor teachers, reporting problems in this
area.
A multiple linear regression analysis for examining the effect
of the general background variables on the support factor did
not yield a significant finding. It should be pointed out that
despite the tendency toward team work in recent years, the tea-
chers prefer to work individually, with each teacher isolated in
his classroom (Sagee & Regev, 2002); they are not in the habit
of consulting with one another with regard to problems that
arise in the classroom. These work patterns prevent the new
teacher from requesting his colleagues’ assistance in general
and that of the veterans in particular in order to help him solve
problems in his classroom. Hidden laws exist in the school,
determining what may be discussed and what should be con-
cealed. Insignificant personal matters are discussed in the tea-
chers’ room. Furthermore, it is acceptable to complain about
the students and the school in general, but it is unacceptable to
discuss classroom problems with colleagues (Pollak, 1996). In
Arab society, the cultural value inherent in the respect for one’s
elders also prevents the beginning teacher from addressing the
experienced teacher, who is almost certainly older than he is. In
addition, a large proportion of the classrooms in the Arab sector
are not even located on the school premises, which means that
the teachers who teach in them are far away from the teachers’
room and the rest of their colleagues. The same is true for the
kindergartens that are scattered throughout the neighborhood –
a fact that intensifies the sense of isolation and lack of support
(Ensor, 2001).
The Didactic-Disciplinary Factor
The prominent statements emerging from Table 3, which
presents the difficulties in descending order, are as follows:
Discrepancies between the theoretical material studied at
the college and its application in the school;
Difficulties in dividing up the lesson time;
Lack of experience in conducting laboratory experiments.
In his first year of work, the beginning Arab teacher has to
combine theory and practice, and implement everything he has
learned during his three years at the college. He has to cope
with the discrepancy between the theory and its application in
the classroom (Darling-Hammond, 1994). On the one hand, the
Arab teachers who study at universities and colleges in Israel
serve as agents of social change. They are exposed to the west-
ern-democratic culture of the Jewish majority (Azaiza &
Ben-Ari, 1997), which encourages individualism, criticality,
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and original thinking. On the other, they live in a traditional
culture and in a community that encourages collectivism and
tradition (Eilam, 2002). The clash between these values is also
reflected in the beginning Arab teacher’s attempt to apply di-
dactic and disciplinary knowledge that is grounded in democ-
ratic western society, some of which is rejected by the tradi-
tional culture of the school staff and the pupils. This generates
serious conflicts within him as regards the performance of his
role.
The beginning teachers mention problems as regards divid-
ing up the lesson time. These problems have been discussed in
previous studies (Berg, Diane, Nagel, & Malian, 1989; Cool-
edge, 1992; Putz, 1992).
A multiple linear regression analysis for examining the effect
of the general background variables on the didactic-disciplinary
factor revealed that only the teacher’s specialization makes a
significant contribution to the explanation of the variance. The
science teachers mention didactic-disciplinary difficulties more
than the teachers in the other specializations, while the special
education teachers mention fewer difficulties than the teachers
in the other specializations.
It appears that the school science curriculum is different from
the college curriculum as a result of the integration of science
into the middle school, where the science subjects are called
“Nature”, while the science specialization at the college is di-
vided into disciplines. In other words, the individual who is
specializing in physics, chemistry, biology, or mathematics is
supposed to teach the general subject called “Nature” in the
middle school. This creates difficulties for the beginning
teacher who, at the outset of his career, has to master a curricu-
lum in which he did not specialize at all during his studies. The
beginning teacher’s problems concerning disciplinary knowl-
edge have been discussed in the literature (Chubbuck, Clift,
Allard, & Quinlan, 2001).
The Satisfaction Factor—The Beginning Arab
Teacher’s Manifestations of Satisfaction
As mentioned previously, satisfaction and support, which
were awarded similar degrees of difficulty, both rank fourth in
the descending order. The prominent statements in the satisfac-
tion factor are:
Unsuitable remuneration in relation to the effort expended;
Inability to realize oneself;
Lack of satisfaction with the physical conditions in the
workplace.
The lack of satisfaction stems, among other things, from
problems related to the beginning teacher’s professional self-
image. These problems have been discussed in several studies
(Bullough, 1991; Goddard & Foster, 2001; Kelchtermans &
Ballet, 2002). It appears that these problems are also correlated
to the fact that the beginning teacher in his first year, which,
according to Friedman (2002), constitutes a stage of survival in
his professional development, makes an effort to fit into the
school, into the prevailing culture, and into the community, and
his expectations of serving as an agent of change, which are not
realized at this stage, cause him personal disappointment.
Beginning teachers indicate a lack of satisfaction with the
physical conditions in the school. As a result of a high birthrate
as well as the low budget allocated by the Ministry of Educa-
tion, the infrastructure of the schools in the Arab sector is char-
acterized by a serious shortage of classrooms and by their being
scattered among different locations (namely, rented rooms in
private homes). This makes things difficult for the teacher, who
is compelled to move from one location to another during the
day (Alhaj, 1996). The laboratories are poorly equipped from
the point of view of apparatus and work materials, and it is
therefore problematic for teachers in general and beginning
teachers in particular to realize the full potential of the lesson.
Flores (2001) and other researchers mention the conditions of
the workplace as affecting the quality of beginning teachers’
work.
A multiple linear regression analysis for examining the cor-
relation between types of difficulty and the beginning Arab
teacher’s satisfaction reveals organizational climate and teach-
ing overload to be the two factors that significantly contribute
to the explanation of the variance in satisfaction. The research
literature shows that these factors predict situations of burnout,
a sense of failure, unwillingness to expend effort on one’s work,
and a feeling of alienation from the school system; they create a
situation characterized by a lack of satisfaction with the physi-
cal conditions in which the studies are held and with the teach-
ing (Farber, 1991; Friedman, 1995, 1991; Hobfoll, 1989).
One may ask why most of the beginning Arab teachers, de-
spite their dissatisfaction, hold on to their jobs as teachers. The
answer apparently resides in their motives for choosing teach-
ing as a profession—first and foremost, the desire for intellec-
tual development, creativity, a feeling of enjoyment, satisfac-
tion, and social commitment (Ilaiyan, Zedan, & Toren, 2007).
In addition, the fact that only a few employment opportunities
in Israel are open to educated young Arabs cannot be ignored
(Alhaj, 1996).
Conclusion
The present research is a pioneer study dealing with the dif-
ficulties of the beginning Arab teacher. The need to conduct
this research resulted from the dissatisfaction of the Arab Edu-
cation System and the Arab society with the level of education
of the beginning teachers who receive their training at colleges
of education and universities (Toren & Ilaiyan, 2008; Ilaiyan,
2000; Friedman, 1991, 1995; Hobfoll, 1989; Farber, 1991). Its
goal was to identify the latter’s difficulties and to predict his
lack of satisfaction with teaching, based on the difficulties he
encounters during his first year of teaching.
For the purpose of the research, a questionnaire was drafted,
the responses to which were analyzed into factors, yielding six
difficulty factors. The research findings indicate difficulties in
the areas of interpersonal communication between beginning
teachers and students and parents, teaching overload, didactic
and disciplinary knowledge, unfulfilled expectations of support,
the school organizational climate and prevailing culture, and
the teachers’ level of satisfaction.
The correlation between the beginning Arab teacher’s diffi-
culties according to the first five factors mentioned above and
his lack of satisfaction with his work (the sixth factor) was exa-
mined. The research findings reveal that the organizational
climate, the prevailing culture in the school, and the teaching
overload factors significantly contribute to the explanation of
variance in the level of satisfaction.
With regard to the correlation between the beginning Arab
teacher’s general background characteristics and the difficulties
he experiences during his first year of teaching, the only back-
ground variable found to be correlated to the difficulty factors
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. 373
S. ILAIYAN
was the specialization.
Pursuant to the difficulties that emerged, and the problem of
the lack of knowledge that passes like a shining thread through
the various areas, we propose that during the theoretical lessons
at the colleges and universities, the manner in which the theory
should be applied in the classroom should also be stressed. In
addition, courses should be added at the colleges of education
in order to encourage the personal growth of the beginning
teachers and guide them as to how to study and teach alone as
well as assume greater responsibility for their professional de-
velopment.
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