Beginning secondary drama and English teaching

Volume 2 Number 1 May 2003

Michael Anderson (University of Sydney, Australia)

This paper explores the pre-service and beginning teaching experiences of secondary teachers of drama and English. The attrition rates for teachers are generally high but evidence (Anderson, 2002) suggests that there are special strains on teachers who teach drama and English. This paper uses Hargreaves and Fullan�s (1992) tripartite schema to arrange and explore the two teachers� experiences of beginning drama and English teaching. The teachers identify subject identity, pre-service preparation, practicums and their contexts as important in their development as beginning teachers. The paper concludes with a discussion of the complex forces that encourage and discourage English and drama teachers at the beginning of their professional lives and suggests changes to improve their training and induction to teaching.

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