What We Know about Professional Adaptation of Newly Hired Teachers: A Literature Review

This is a paper about the adaptation of the newly hired teachers based on the literatures and studies. It is intended to newly hired teachers, faculty members and school administrators. This paper presents a comprehensive review of current global and local literature and studies to provide an understanding of what we know about professional adaptation of newly hired teachers. The presentations of the insights from the readings are presented using thematic approach. The identified and unifying themes are presented one after another and then a synthesis is made that provide the grounds to launch this specific study, and its justification. The themes are: teachers' personal adaptability is important to effective adaptation process; teachers face multiple challenges in the professional adaptation process; workload complexity causes enormous beginning teachers' stress; negative work environment creates excessive stress for beginning teachers; positive emotional experiences strengthen teachers' professional adaptation; motivation to work at school influences the process of teachers' professional adaptation; teachers' personal qualities influence the process of teachers' professional adaptation; level of professional competence affects the process of teachers' professional adaptation; the interest in the profession and students facilitate teachers' professional adaptation; the effective communication facilitates teachers' professional adaptation; cooperation with the colleagues influence the process of teachers' professional adaptation; strong induction program for teachers is important to professional adaptation; and mentoring and administration support are important in overcoming the teachers' adaptation crisis.