Difficulties Experienced by the Arab Teacher during His First Year of Teaching as a Result of Personal and Organizational Variables
This pioneer study deals with difficulties faced by the beginning Arab teacher. The theoretical framework of the research is based on Veenman’s (1984) analysis, which indicates 24 difficulties faced by the beginning teacher. These difficulties have been classified into eight categories ranked in order of importance. The study seeks to identify the difficulties experienced by the beginning Arab teacher during his first year of teaching and to predict his future dissatisfaction with teaching based on those difficulties. The questionnaire drafted especially for this study was completed by 130 participants (beginning teachers). The responses were analyzed, yielding six factors of difficulty. The findings indicate difficulties involving: 1) the interpersonal communication between beginning Arab teachers on the one hand and both students and parents on the other, 2) overload, 3) didactic and disciplinary knowledge, 4) support and recognition, 5) organizational climate (school culture), and 6) satisfaction. We examined the correlation between the beginning Arab teacher’s difficulties and his dissatisfaction with his work. The research findings reveal that the organizational climate (school culture) and overload factors significantly affect the satisfaction variable. With regard to the relation between the beginning Arab teacher’s general background characteristics and his difficulties in the first year, the background variable, specialization, was found to affect the factors of difficulty.