The life of new teachers

New teachers struggle with many aspects of the job: learning countless names, trying not to go to the toilet, writing clearly on whiteboards. However, one of the most consistent struggles for new teachers is managing poor behaviour. Just how many people struggle on a given day? A year ago, we set out to find out. Our app, Teacher Tapp, gives daily surveys to teachers across England (and many other countries). Each day at 3.30pm, their phones ping and they answer three short questions before seeing the daily results and getting a recommended read. Last September we decided to track behaviour in the last lesson of the week. Among new teachers, over half said that teaching and learning was interrupted in their final lesson of the week due to poor behaviour. This was markedly different to feelings found among those in the profession for over 20 years: their rate was just 20 per cent. Behaviour management is therefore a huge deal for teachers in the early stages of their career (Teacher Tap