A Qualitative Analysis of the Impact of Induction Assistance on First-Year Physical Educators

The purpose of this study was to provide induction assistance to beginning physical education teachers and to investigate the impact of the assistance on the teachers. Two beginning physical educators who were employed at an elementary and a middle school participated in this study. The data were collected by weekly observations, videotape analysis, interviews, and field notes. A case narrative was compiled for each participant according to the emergent themes in each teacher’s case. The results indicated that continued supervision had a positive impact on first-year teachers. The visitations offered the opportunity to receive regular feedback and support so that the teachers began to plan age-appropriate activities, became more efficient managers in the classroom, and increased their instructional feedback. The induction assistance encouraged accountability to the knowledge attained in the teacher preparation program, in addition to making the teachers more reflective and analytical about their teaching.