Training Needs for New Qualified Teachers in the Context of the European Digital TA Project: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This article develops a systematic review of the existing scientific literature related to the needs and challenges of newly qualified teachers in the context of the European Digital TA project, particularly from the 5 countries associated with it: Belgium, Ireland, Czech Republic, Poland, and Spain. The justification of the project is given by the high levels of dissatisfaction expressed by teachers during
their first years of practice, which translates into various problems such as malpractice and attrition, with negative consequences for the education system. After searching for available information in three academic and specialized databases—Google Scholar, EBSCO, and ERIC—using keywords, a synthetic version of the PRISMA method for systematic reviews was applied, and then a screening was carried out using different inclusion and exclusion criteria, from which 34 selected articles were selected and analyzed. The main results show that, although the challenges and training needs of the newly qualified teachers are diverse and complex, they can be placed in the following categories: differentiation, individual learning needs of students, classroom management/behavior management, special education needs, inclusion, workload, collective support and collaboration among teachers, mentoring, teacher efficacy, extrinsic characteristics of the job, teaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and planning.