**4. Results of the research investigation**

A paradigmatic model (**Figure 2**) was drawn up on the basis of the analysis described above, which indicates that the way novice teachers viewed teaching experience and observation of lessons established the degree of shock arising from encountering the reality of school. Reality shock therefore became the integrating element of the entire research project in the form of intervening conditions, on the basis of which it was possible to identify additional variables in addition to teaching experience, which could increase or, vice versa, suppress this reality shock. The paradigmatic model (**Figure 2**) arising from the above data subsequently became a basis for creating the framework of the analytical narrative.

Subsequently, the paradigmatic model was reconstructed, in accordance with the qualitative methodology according to [32], into a causal model. It reflects the categories of the paradigmatic model, in particular, the influence of shock from reality and professional level on more or less successful coping with school reality and the views of the observed beginning teachers on undergraduate training shaping their identity.

The respondents were distinguished by different amounts of experience. The majority of them had taught before finishing their degree, which means that not all of them had the same conditions when they began work, as indicated by Marek for example. "*The way my other classmates had no idea what they were doing when encountering practical work for the first time, that was me about three years earlier …* . B*ut they*

*had no idea, just like I didn't at the time! This means that they did not progress at all in the three years they studied at university … ..Because, what do we learn for the first three years? Specialised subjects. There may be some didactics included, I don't want to wound anyone, but not enough to help with practical work*." All the teachers who had experience in education before completing their degrees identified with the opinion that actual teaching experience outside undergraduate preparation or practical work that the student of pedagogy organises himself in addition to undergraduate preparation and teaching experience, at his own initiative, gave the teachers more than the pedagogic practice organised within the terms of undergraduate preparation.

Differing amounts of experience predetermined individual teachers to be in different initial phases of professional development and possibly predetermined the various speeds of professional growth. At the same time, experience indirectly affected the expectations of novice teachers compared to reality and resulted in reality shock in the event of divergence between expectation and reality. The most frequent and most serious cause of reality shock was the lack of discipline in pupils, particularly at primary schools. "*I basically thought that I would start working at school, and everyone would be happy that there was someone there … .to pass on knowledge, skills … .But they don't want that, they test you, to see what you can stand, what you will permit, how strict you are …* " (Klára); " … *you somehow manage to teach and I am not prepared for situations when someone suddenly starts shouting and fuming … . …* " (Kristýna); "*And just keeping the children's attention, it is more about bringing them up than educating sometimes*." (Jitka).

Assessment of the importance of teaching experience and observation of lessons is therefore the result of the ability of novice teachers to come to terms with potential reality shock, with regard to skills (not) learned during teaching experience (see **Figure 3**).

Reality shock and phases of professional development are therefore the main factors forming the framework of our analysis.

It emerged from the analysis of the above that the common cause of this failure/ success was the more or less (un)realistic expectations of novice teachers in relation to school practice, and thereby the degree of reality shock, or big/middle/low "theory – practice" gap. This was based on the form of undergraduate preparation and also any other teaching experience novice teachers obtained outside undergraduate preparation. It was this experience that was the reason why teachers of the same professional age found themselves in different phases of professional development, which subsequently resulted in different opinions of assessment of undergraduate preparation, including teaching experience.

The more professionally experienced novice teachers were, the more confident they were in teaching and the more critical towards the method of teaching, the less they were interested in the pedagogic-psychological importance of teaching experience and the more important they considered improvement of didactic skills.

From the above, it is evident that the views of beginning teachers on undergraduate training are influenced by the experiences they have or do not have in addition to teaching practices provided by the university. This knowledge should be taken into account, especially when evaluating the quality of the training of future teachers at individual universities.

#### **4.1 Analytical narrative and the validity of the presented results**

As stated previously, the expectations of novice teachers are formed on the basis of their own experience with the reality of school and presentation of school reality

#### *The Influence of Undergraduate Preparation on Professional Beginnings in School Practice… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112309*

during their university education during undergraduate preparation. Some novice teachers also contribute to their "portfolio of situations in school practice," which they use to synchronise their expectations to reality, they also contribute with their experience outside undergraduate preparation, by teaching at primary or secondary schools while still studying at university. Depending on the form of education and the range of additional experience obtained outside it, a larger or smaller gap is created between expectation and the actual reality of school after completing undergraduate preparation, which is also reflected in a larger or smaller "theory-practice" gap.

This fact is graphically depicted by the diagram in **Figure 4**, where these two areas represent two opposite and mutually overlapping triangles. The range of mutual overlap corresponds to the amount of experience that the novice teacher has before completing undergraduate preparation, which reflects the actual reality of school. The greater this overlap, the small the reality shock from reality that the teacher can experience when he begins actual school practice.

In **Figure 4**, we can compare two marginal situations – A and B. Situation A can depict tuition reflecting school reality to a lesser degree and also the absence of experience outside this preparation. On the contrary, the amount of experience increases in situation B, either as a result of tuition offering more realistic school situations, more own experience outside education or a combination of both. In situation B, area III, depicting the degree of reality shock after starting work is less than in situation A. In addition to this, we can also observe the different starting positions of teachers in situations A and B in school practice (II) after starting work, when novice teacher A has farther to reach the teacher standard than teacher B.

The validity of this general diagram can be proven by means of specific examples on the basis of four mutually interconnected indicators—the degree of previous experience corresponding to school practice, which indicates the degree of different expectations determining the degree of reality shock and the estimated professional maturity. Unrealistic expectations and the highest degree of practice shock were described by students of pedagogy from the first group, whose only experience in teaching was teaching experience organised within the terms of undergraduate preparation. Problems, such as lack of discipline in pupils and lack of time for preparation, which they described after starting work, are typical problems experienced by

#### **Figure 4.**

*Scheme modelling the clash of school reality with undergraduate training. The difference in the size of area I. is based either on the different degrees of reflection upon of school situations during university studies or on the different amounts of experience of students of pedagogy from parallel teaching experience, obtained at their own initiative while studying.*

teachers at the beginning of their career. A clear similarity with diagram A can be seen on the basis of the above.

If we summarise the above, then novice teachers who were employed part-time as teachers while studying or who described their undergraduate preparation as practical and striving to describe the actual reality of school as complexly as possible, either by simulation, micro-teaching or in-depth reflection of school situations seen at schools within the terms of teaching experience, stated that they entered employment with fairly realistic expectations and without being seriously shocked by anything. These teachers appeared professionally more mature and although they doubted their skills, their problems consisting of correct realisation and selection of teaching methods and forms corresponded to later phases of development, as diagram B also shows.

### **5. Discussion**

The research described above indicates that the portfolio of situations from school practice, which intersect with real school situations, may prevent development of reality shock. This may indirectly support earlier and also better-quality development of teacher skills in actual school practice according to [33].

With regard to the fact that normal school situations cannot be resolved on just the basis of skills from the pedagogic-psychological component or only the didactic component of undergraduate preparation, it seems best to interconnect these two areas with pedagogical practice.

Novice teachers realise that it is not possible to experience all pedagogical situations only in the later stages of their professional development, as can also be seen from the study by [10]. Novice teachers therefore propose an increase in subsidies for pedagogic practices, or such university teaching, for example, through experiential methods (see experiential education), micro-teaching and discussions on real school situations, or linking theory and practice through stories and instructions, especially on how to deal with unruly pupils, is a description of the proposals for the updated undergraduate training can also be derived from the literature, see the introductory part of the text.

However, from the statements and analysis of the research, we deduce a deeper confrontation of the undergraduate teaching of beginning teachers in relation to the smooth beginning of novice teachers in real practice. It is necessary to emphasise that the effort to make the transition as smooth as possible between undergraduate training and school practice is all the more difficult because, although there are standards describing the binding structure of teacher study programmes [34], there is no binding standard of competences of teacher graduates, with the help of which it would be possible to direct the teaching of future teachers and at the end of the preparation to assess the extent to which the given competencies have been acquired by the teacher student [35].

This will be verified only in the first years in the school practice of novice teachers. Competencies should correspond to the skills and knowledge that will help the beginning teacher to successfully overcome the shock of reality after his entry into practice, which will allow for a faster establishment of effective teaching in his classes.

### **6. Conclusion**

In this chapter, we dealt with the question of how novice teachers perceive the influence of undergraduate training on the course of their first years in real school

#### *The Influence of Undergraduate Preparation on Professional Beginnings in School Practice… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112309*

practice. The results of this work show that pedagogical practices are considered by beginning teachers to be one of the most beneficial areas of their training.

Novice teachers therefore suggested increasing pedagogical practices, possibly lesson observations [17], and at the same time called for their inclusion in undergraduate training as soon as possible, ideally from the first years of study. They also suggested more frequent inclusions of effective tips and ideas for action in certain situations, which they could be inspired by [10, 25] and which they could follow up in their own school practice.

Although there are many systemic obstacles that can complicate the reform of the education of future teachers, based on the results of the presented study, we find it relevant to bring the preparation closer to the needs of teacher students, even with minor changes within individual educational areas. The aim should be to present school reality to teacher students as faithfully as possible, to support reflective teaching wherever possible and to strengthen autonomy in viewing, evaluating and choosing the optimal solution to school situations, which should reduce the shock of reality, speed up the process of professional growth, thus supporting the effectiveness of teaching or eliminating the "theory-practice" gap.

Although we are aware that a teacher's professional growth does not end with graduating from university, due to the already extensive coverage of the topic, we deliberately omitted the issue of support for beginning teachers within the schools that the observed beginning teachers joined after completing their training. However, we are aware that this can be considered a limitation of the research. The data thus remain a stimulus for further studies, in which it would be possible to unravel the influence of support on the smooth start of teachers in school practice.

### **Acknowledgements**

We would like to thank all the novice teachers who gave us their time and confidently answered our questions. The authors are grateful for the support by the Charles University project UNCE/HUM/024 "Centre of didactic research in natural sciences, mathematics and their interdisciplinary connections" and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports: Institutional Support for Long-term Development of Research Organisations – Cooperation HUM/" General Education and Pedagogyand integrate with the school reality " – Charles University, Faculty of Education (2022).

### **Conflict of interest**

The authors declare no conflict of interest.


**A.** 

**Appendix**


*The Influence of Undergraduate Preparation on Professional Beginnings in School Practice… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112309*

**G**



**Table A1.**

*Retrospective grounding of three groups of novice teachers with regard to how they deal with reality shock.*

*Education Annual Volume 2023*
