We have some of the same problem in Norway with new teachers coming to job and know «nothing» about whats going on in the classroom. Of course they have the theoretical from their education, but no one is standing ready to help them in their new school.
Every new teacher should have a mentor when they get started in a new school. Because every school is different and the students also are different.
Sandra Feldman, president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Federation of Teachers, says the same.
In a speech this March (2009) at the White House Conference on Preparing Quality Teachers, Feldman stated: «Most teachers, whether they came into the profession through an alternative path, or through a regular teacher education program — as do more than 80 percent of our teachers in the US — will tell you they felt unprepared when they entered the classroom.»
In the past, those who couldn’t cope with the challenges left teaching. Today the profession can’t afford to have newly credentialed teachers leave the field in frustration. «When there were ample people entering the profession and not as many about to retire, we could afford a high rate of attrition,» said Dougherty. «Now, we can’t afford to lose anyone.»
I would love to start mentorprogram for teachers worlwide, just find the money for it. This is a problem for a lot of countries and they have to realise it.