New teacher learning: substantive knowledge and contextual factors

This article brings together an overview of ideas about teacher learning from both teacher education and workplace learning literature, and examines what and how newly qualified secondary school teachers learn in the early years of their career. We discuss the types of knowledge new teachers encounter and present a typology of teacher learning. The article also draws on a three‐year longitudinal study, presenting findings from surveys of new and more experienced teachers together with analysis of interviews with ten new teachers during the first two years of their teaching career. We present findings about how these new teachers have learned in their first two years of teaching and explore the importance of the school context and other learning factors. Suggestions for future research are also included.