Topic 4 : Development Stages Of

Teachers
Learning outcomes
1. Explain the stages of development that had to go through by a teacher from
novice to expert status.
2. Describe the changes in the process of learning to teach experienced by teachers
in the early stages of the teaching profession.
3. Gain an overview of the teaching profession is that the movement of the
developmental process that requires a long period of time.
4.0 Introduction
How does one move from the pre-service teachers to a teacher who is mature,
confident and competent in the field of teaching? What happened in that period?
What knowledge and skills are needed?
You may see yourself in this situation and hope that you will become a respected
teacher and acclaimed student community. Along the teacher training program, you
have the opportunity gradually to experience the real situation of the school through
the School Based Experience (SBE) and then practice practicum in schools.
Cooperation and support provided by the teacher chaperones, teacher mentors,
management and administration of the school during the period of your functions as
a bridge to link theory with practice psychological and pedagogical practice. This
experience has also built confidence to stand in front of the class to implement the
lessons learned for the first time. Through a period of time, you become more
efficient in selecting appropriate teaching strategies, teaching and learning decisions
(T & L) are more intelligent and manage classroom routines more efficient. In other
words, you will continue to have the development in the ability to modify actions and
ability in the teaching profession.
The theory of stages of teacher development that are discussed in turn will help you
get a glimpse of the way of life of a teacher and your position as a teacher at this
point.
4.1 Theory of Development Stages of Teacher
From the beginning, the teacher educators interested in understanding the process
of creating one of the pre-service teachers to become a professional teacher. Most
teacher educators expect this process involves intensive training and teaching
practices that may take a long time.

Figure 4.1 Teachers Teaching in the Classroom

There are a variety of writing and discussion about how the teacher through a
change from the pre-service to the level of professional teachers.
When compared to various theories that discuss the stages of teacher development,
there are features in common, which is in the early stages of careers, teachers are
more concerned with the ability of himself before evolving into a more proficient level
(Cochran & Andrew, 1988; Fuller , 1969; Katz, 1972; Trotter , 1986). Researchers
concluded that, in general these stages occur in hierarchical and predictable pattern.
Even so, the characteristics of a concern than the combined number of levels can
also be shown at one time. The discussion in this chapter will focus on the theory of
the stages of teacher development presented by Fuller (1969) and lrotter (1986).
4.1.1 Theory of Thoughtfulness (Fuller, 1969)
Fuller (1969) is the initial teacher education researcher once put forward the theory
that suggests the functionality of teachers through these stages.
As a teacher educator, Fuller (1969) is particularly interested in studying the
problems faced by the teacher pre-service and in-service teachers. Through
research and personal interaction with teachers, he proposed Concern Theory that
attempt to explain the perceptions, concerns, problems, grievances and satisfaction
which faced by pre-service teachers when undergo training program during which
they followed.
'Concern' is defined by Fuller (1969) as 'the impression of teacher / something that is
considered to be a problem' or 'something that always thinks the teacher and would
like to make something about it'. Concern theory pioneered by Fuller and has been
strengthened by further researches such as by Fuller and Bown (1975), & Tombari
Borich (1997), Rogan et al. (1992) and Rutherford and Hall (1990).
There are three levels of concern for teachers starting from early stages of teaching,
where the teacher is concern about the ability of themselves. In the second stage,
the values of teachers focused on their task and so concern teachers on the third
level impacts associated with their teaching to the students. Available pre-service
teachers with the least experience of teaching is concerned to self reliance (survival),
while the teachers were exposed to the experience of teaching more concerned
about the impact of their actions on the achievement and learning.

(i) Personal Care Level / Personal Survival

In the early stages of teaching experience, preservice teachers is paying attention to
their personal survival, which is their ability to cope successfully teaching. They are
more likely to 'What can I do?' such ability in classroom management, comments
from teachers or lecturers mentor, whether they like students, parents and other
teachers. Teachers at this stage of the task facing the with multiple thought. The
question that always play in mind are:
'Does my students like me?'
Can I teach well when supervised later?'
'What will be said by parents about me?'
Often the concerns and fears of the capability of self will diminish after the first few
months of teaching. Even so, the time taken by a teacher to overcome this situation
is not the same. Maybe a teacher would require more time than other teachers.
Signs that show concern for themselves declining when the teacher started to give
more attention to the ways to handle the necessary tasks with good teaching.
(ii) Care Level Toward Task
At the level of concern for the task, teachers pay attention to the ways in which he
can handle the task with good teaching. The focus is on how to implement and
improve teaching and how to master the content of subjects including student
discipline, classroom management, student assessment, planning and preparation,
methods and strategies of teaching and so on. Teachers who reach the stage of
development are starting to have the confidence to tackle everyday tasks and can
overcome
the
problem
of
discipline
in
classrooms.
Lesson planning is no longer focused on the regulation of class discipline but
focuses on ways to improve teaching strategies and lesson content master. The
question is often asked to themselves including:
'Does teaching materials that I use is appropriate?'
'Do I have enough time to deliver this content?'
'What is the best way for me to teach this topic?'
There are teacher education researchers who used different terminology to explain
the 'mastery level' (Ryan, 1992) and 'stage of consolidation and exploration (Burden,
1986) and 'try and error level' (Sacks & Harrington, 1982).
(iii) Impact Level
At the impact level, the teacher began to give attention to the impact of teaching on
students learning. He saw his students as individuals with potential. Teachers are no
longer worried about his ability to control the classroom or on the effectiveness of
instructional delivery. Teacher concerns related to the effect or impact of teaching on
student learning and achievement. In addition, the teachers began to see students
as individuals with their own potentials. Teachers are more concerned about the
growth and development of students. Concerns related to such questions as:

'How can I create a sense of success in my students?'

'How can I meet the emotional and social needs of my students?'
'What is the best way to motivate my students?'
Summary : Development of Teachers' As Natural Process
Fuller Theory (1969), Fuller & Bown (1975) and Borich & Tombari (1997) tried to
conceptualising the development of pre-service teachers as a natural progression of
the way. If you are a teacher or pre-service teachers, thoughts and concerns will
focus on yourself first before you pay close attention to your students. The concern
you change from a focus on oneself to the task of teaching and thus to impact.
Emotional, social and physical support received by a teacher at every stage of
development plays an important role to ensure the survival of themselves and move
on to the next task to the level of impact. Inadequate knowledge or lack of emotional
support when conducting teaching practice can cause failure or delay movement of
the survival of themselves to the next level.
Fuller concern Theory (1969) also has other implications. A teacher on the job may
turn to oneself level if all of a sudden he was asked to teach a new subject or teach
at different grade levels, or switch to a new school. Therefore, the concern of
teachers is not only determined by the sequence of development. Teachers concern
were also influenced by contextual factors, the environment in which teachers are.
Time to shift from one stage to the other for the second time usually takes a shorter
period than the first time. Finally, all three levels of this concern does not necessarily
work in isolation. A teacher may have concerns in one stage at a high intensity and
at the same time at the other concern is at a lower intensity.
4.1.2 Five Development of Teachers (Trotter,1986)
Trotter (1986) has put forward the theory of the five stages of development for a
person to be an expert in his field of work. Studies have linked five developmental
stages were subsequently expanded by David Berliner (1988), other teacher
educators (Carter, Cushing, Sabers, Stein & Berliner, 1988) to obtain a thorough
understanding of the ways teachers novices and experts working in situations of T &
L. Five stages of development are:
The novice level
The advanced novice level
The efficient level
The skilled level
The expert level
Generally, one takes the interval between 10 and 15 years to shift from the novice to
become an expert in the field. Pre-service teachers in Teaching degree program may
be moved from the novice to the advanced novice and start heading to the efficient
level when they become teachers in school. Trotter (1986) argues that teachers need

many years of experience and shift to the skilled and only a handful of them will
achieve progress at the expert level.
(i) Novice Level
The first stage to achieve mastery in their respective fields is a novice level. This
stage begins when you are registered as a student teacher education (teacher
education students) in Teaching degree program. At this stage, the novices learn the
specific facts objectively and master the basic concepts and principles in action.
Novice teachers are learning and trying to form a holistic view to understand the
meaning of ' being a teacher '. They began to acquire some basic skills, master the
terminology, terminology related to his profession, and gather initial ideas about
teaching duties.
However, understanding the functions of novice teachers with a real sense of the
word is still not complete. Novice teachers do not have the skills that are required to
handle teaching in a classroom. Even so, we can summarize that novice teachers
have been able to form a cognitive map of the general duties of a professional
teacher through courses offered in their Teaching degree program as an introduction
to psychology and child development, educational philosophy and history of
education.
(ii) Advanced Novice Level
The second stage in the development of teachers' mastery is the advanced novice
level. At this stage, the teacher education students continue to collect and add
factual knowledge, recognize and correct facts not previously understood. In
addition, advanced novice also trying to add information related to the process of
learning, to enhance the knowledge of the terminology, principles and concepts
related to the profession.
At this stage , the exposure to the actual situation of the school through programs
such as School Based Experience and Practicum in which this extension novice
teachers help teachers gain experience in performing daily tasks. Experience and
exposure to the realities of school can help further deepen understanding of novice
teachers about the needs and demands of the teaching profession.
Advanced novice teachers have high spirits to practice whatever you have learned in
theory, but if the reality of the classroom was not as be expected, they may lose
heart and begin to question the ability of oneself. To ensure that novice teachers
continue to grow to the next level, mentoring and clinical observations to support and
help novice teachers develop confidence and skills to teach. Teachers experienced
as mentor and a positive attitude can help novice teachers face advanced stage
successfully.
(iii) Efficiently Level
The third stage is the stage efficiency (competence) in which a teacher to achieve
the skills in their respective fields. The teacher had a certificate or a degree in
teaching to meet the eligibility requirement. Efficiency (competence) actually is a
minimum for a function as a qualified educator. At this stage, teachers begin to

recognize more and more the principles and concepts out of context and elements
with respect to specific situations. In other words, the teacher is able to understand
the principles and concepts of learning in a variety of situations and special
circumstances.
At the end of this stage, teachers begin to have the ability to solve T & L problems
they face. Competent teacher can investigate their own practice through reflection
that may sound, "I have tried this, but the result is not what I want. What should I do
now?
'
Actually, this competent stage begins when you accept an offer of appointment as a
teacher. Often, teachers require between two and five years of teaching experience
and at the same time being open to new learning or ready to receive additional
training in service. If they leave the teaching profession before the five years of
service, chances are they did not even reach the level of competence.
(iv) Skilled Level
Teachers who reach the proficient level can be said to be in the best in the
profession. Only a small percentage of teacher who made it to this stage. Skilled
teachers always be remembered and honored by his former students as teachers
who have influenced their lives in a positive way and can leave a lasting impression.
Skilled teacher can easily identify the key elements in a task. Skilled teachers have
high cognitive ability to digest and analyze the learning environment in a creative and
distinctive. He exhibits a smooth style that enables decisions on intuition. This is
because, skilled teachers have enough experience and can help to understand the
situation he faces. Understanding of the task has been so deeply ingrained
/internalized in itself so skilled teachers sometimes face problems to explain to other
people's ideas or actions.
At this stage, skilled teachers exhibiting a distinctive teaching styles. Experience (not
training received) is the primary determinant of performance and quality of teaching
one skilled teachers. Skilled teachers have the ability to guide and mentor novice
teachers. They can share ideas, experiences and skills through forums, in-service
training courses, seminars, research, intellectual discussion and so on.
(v) Expert Level
At the expert level, the teacher is the star in its field. The supervision of expert
teachers use their experience on the skilled level but holistically. This means that he
can understand and deal with the many and varied information and still be able to
exhibit a smooth teaching style. Such case has yet to be shown by the teacher even
at efficient level. Anything done by a specialist teacher always successful than skilled
teachers sometimes get it wrong. Expert teachers can be regarded as authoritative
spokesmen or he who in his profession. Often, ideas and skills available in specialist
teachers can affect policies related to the conduct of classroom teaching.
4.2 Journey from Novice to Expert- Implications Toward Teachers
The teaching profession is actually a travel destination even if the destination is no
less important. Travelling along the journey is more meaningful if it is planned and

made preparations at an early stage. Exposure to the topic of teacher development

stages may help you to prepare yourself to go through the 'journey'.
As noted by Berliner (1988), only a handful of teachers successfully completed the
course of his teaching career to the level of expert teachers. The researchers of
teacher education and staff development training are very keen to identify what are
the features that distinguish the novice teachers and specialist teachers. The
question that trying to be answered is, ' Can the identify features that are sure to be
applied at an early stage of process (number of years) from the novice to the expert
simplified (or accelerated)?
'
Lee Shulman (1986, 1987), a leading researcher in the field of teacher education
poses a conceptual framework that is often used to guide teacher educators in
discussions relating to the quality of a competent teacher.
Efficiency of a teacher should consider the seven core knowledge, namely:
Knowledge of the content.
General pedagogical knowledge.
Curriculum knowledge.
Pedagogical content knowledge.
Knowledge of students and student characteristics.
Knowledge of educational contexts.
Knowledge of the philosophy, goals and values of education.
Knowledge of the pedagogical content knowledge is formed as a result of
synthesizing and integrating the three pillars of knowledge, the knowledge of
content, general pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of educational contexts.
According to Shulman and Grossman (1988), pedagogical content knowledge is only
possessed by the teacher alone. For example, between a science teacher with a
scientist , science teachers structure their science knowledge from the perspective of
teaching and the way the knowledge is used to help students understand science
concepts specifically. Meanwhile, a scientist restructure their science knowledge for
research
and
develop
new
knowledge
in
science.
'Pedagogical content knowledge is the category most likely to distinguish the
understanding of the content specialist from that of the pedagogue.'
(Shulman, 1987, hal.4)
Possession of pedgogical content knowledge is also clear distinction between novice
teachers with expert teachers. Comparison of teachers' pedagogical content
knowledge of novice and expert teachers:
Novice teachers
Knowledge is a discrete/ different content.
Pedagogical action is limited, leading to methods of imparting knowledge and
teaching performance.

Expert teachers
In-depth knowledge of the content and may associate with different contexts in an
integrated manner.
Action is broader pedagogy, interactive and diverse.
Teach to consider the way students learn, how students construct concepts in
cognitive structure representation. Focus on existing knowledge, student thinking
can modify the curriculum planning mentally to suit the needs of the context.
Some things need to be emphasized when you are in the process of transitioning to
the novice to the more advanced levels can be achieved smoothly and efficiently.
Among it are:
Support and guidance received during the program teaching (lecturer, tutor and
mentor teachers) in a comprehensive and intensive will facilitate the achievement of
mastery level of competence.
Exercise or activity should lead to the development of specific knowledge domain
(content, pedagogical content knowledge and general pedagogical) in order to
improve the skills of observation and representation make the process of learning in
the classroom practices.
The courses offered in teacher training program balances theory and practice as
practical to allow direct experience and active learning or hands-on.
To appreciate the classroom management, a novice hands on experience that is
planned (for example, case study analysis, scenario classroom), vicarious
experience (example, observing a mentor teacher to a class), simulation experience
(example, role play/ micro and macro) where the discussion can focus on the
problem of discipline or academic issues specifically. Through such activities, the
novice will begin to acquire a new understanding, as Shulman (2000) argues,
personally knowing something is different from that of any other person should know
and execute. Novice teachers need to continuously look for opportunities to increase
their skills to the expert teacher professionalism.
4.3 Summary
Teacher development theory discussed above is based on practical knowledge,
theoretical and empirical. Stages of teacher development presented by Fuller (1969)
and Trotter (1986), derived from actual experiences, research findings and thoughts
about developmental psychology. A new teacher who are provided with research
-based knowledge to help make wise decisions while facing the challenges of
teaching professionals.
Join activitiy
Have you ever seen a conducive classroom that makes you excited to be in
it? Share your experience.

References
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