Comparing perceptions: The competence of novice teachers and the expectations of school principals

This paper compares the perceptions of school principals with those of novice teachers on the competence of such newly qualified members of staff. Findings suggest that the school principals and the novices both had similar perceptions regarding the satisfactory performance of the novices, although the novices tended to rate their own performance at a higher range than the school principals did. Moreover, the principals considered teacher competence items to be more important than that of the perceived performance of the novices. Drawing on the findings, a number of teacher competence items in which novices need to improve is revealed, including that of classroom management and assessing students’ learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of four dimensions of the educational significance of the study. Copyright © 2004 Education Research Institute.