Abstract

This study deals with the challenges of novice teachers and their impact on professional performance. Moreover, novice instructors are those who are starting their careers and are in the learning stage. Furthermore, they have less than five years of experience and they face both internal and external challenges that have an impact on job performance. The population of the study comprises all novice teachers of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur. The sample of the study consisted of 210 novice teachers randomly selected from the population. Data was collected through a questionnaire and collected data was organized and interpreted as mean score, frequency score, and percentage. The main recommendation of the study was the supportive behavior of senior teachers and an encouraging job environment helpful in novice teachers' job performance.

Key Words

Novice Teachers, Professional Performance, Challenges, Conducive Environment

Introduction

The role of teachers is to build a nation by preparing the next generation of learners to meet the needs of society. No nation in the world can progress or thrive without the joint efforts of educators (Ahmed, Arshad & Munshi, 2019). Novice instructors must do their obligations like other teachers, on time and in a better manner, in order to achieve educational goals. They are viewed as educational institutions' greatest potential assets. After completing their pre-service training at teacher training institutions, they begin the teaching profession with high expectations, but they first need to overcome certain challenges in their early careers (Dayan, Parveen & Khan, 2018). Additionally, during their first few years of work, novice teachers in educational institutions face several challenges on a daily basis, which jeopardizes their jobs. It is made up of students acting disruptively, unsupportive senior instructors and university administrators, inadequate university facilities, poor working conditions, poor communication, high levels of stress and unrest, a lack of growth opportunities for students, emotional exhaustion, and anxiety (Harmsen et al., 2018).

In their early years of teaching, novice teachers faced a variety of challenges, particularly the lack of moral and physical support from their peers, which demoralized them and had a negative impact on their performance. Additionally, since new teachers are the architects of the nation and its prosperity, they perform better in cooperative learning environments with senior support. Finally, because they face numerous challenges in their early years of teaching that drive them to quit, they require early support to overcome these obstacles (Karlberg & Bezzina, 2020). There are many studies that show how difficult it is for new instructors to fulfill their tasks in university-level education, but the problem still exists and many novice professors would prefer to leave the teaching profession for good reasons.

It is imperative that educators have a productive and successful teaching-learning process that considers the individual needs of every student (Kubat, 2018). Novice instructors come from a variety of social backgrounds and possess a variety of professional and physical traits. Because they lack socialization and professionalism, they frequently treat teachers and students unfairly and carelessly. Conflict between students, instructors, the university administration, and parents subsequently arises as a result of this. They also left the teaching profession during their first years of service for compelling reasons, including extreme stress and professional isolation, which prevented them from adjusting to the work environment. A conducive working environment in educational institutions is also created by the availability and use of physical and instructional facilities, such as well-planned homes, light-filled classrooms, equipped labs, book libraries, enough furniture, audio-visual equipment, clean drinking water, kitchen sanitation, playground equipment, and related office supplies. These resources also support the development of novice teachers' work attitudes, job performance, and students' learning (Arshad et al., 2019).

Study Objectives

The study is about the challenges faced by novice teachers and

their impact on professional performance at the University level. So, the main objectives of the study were:

1. To identify the challenges of novice teachers at the beginning of their careers.

2. To examine the impact of challenges on the professional performance of novice teachers.




Research Questions

The following questions were asked of novice teachers;

1. What types of challenges are faced by novice teachers at the beginning of their careers?

2. What is the impact of these challenges on their professional performance?

Literature Review

It's common knowledge that teaching is a challenging, emotionally and physically taxing, and stressful career. In a similar vein, educators experience burnout due to the perception that their lives are emotionally taxing, potentially aggravating, and exceedingly demanding (M. H. Dali, Zainudin Abu Bakar, and J. Skudai 2012). Furthermore, substantial levels of stress and attrition are experienced by new instructors in the teaching profession during the start of their careers (Khan, Yusoff, & Azam, 2014). One's social and professional lives may suffer as a result of this vulnerability's effects on one's physical and mental health. Additionally, novice teachers reported feeling more professional pressure than their more experienced counterparts.

As they lack expertise, new instructors have a lot of tension and anxiety when doing their jobs. A variety of professional problems, such as unfamiliar teaching obligations, loneliness, unsupportive environments, problems with instruction, and insufficient teaching approaches, can also make the first year challenging. These difficulties exhaust inexperienced teachers' ability to carry out their responsibilities (M. H. Dali et al., 2012).

An instructor who is just beginning out in their career is known as a novice. They are in the learning phase, and as a result of the instruction, they have numerous issues. Divergent opinions exist about the experiences of inexperienced teachers. Furthermore, they have more than two years of experience, in contrast to other studies with fewer than three years of teaching experience (Farrel, 2012). Furthermore, supplementary research indicates that novice educators possess fewer than five years of classroom experience (Kim & Roth, 2011). In addition, a novice instructor is a person who is instructing a class for the first time. In addition, someone who is teaching anything for the first time is referred to as a novice instructor. Furthermore, they require support from senior instructors and the administration in order to fulfill their responsibilities throughout the first few years of their employment, when they are in the teaching and learning phase. Moreover, novice educators possess diverse backgrounds and differing levels of motivation. Furthermore, the initial three years of their work are deemed more significant, and due to their inexperience, they face more challenges.

Novice teachers need professional assistance because they are still in the teaching-learning phase. The chairperson, administration, and senior instructors are among the department members who must fulfill specific standards for new teachers in order for them to deliver excellent education. Furthermore, all experienced educators have gone through similar phases as new ones, so supporting new educators at every turn is essential for the country's advancement (Byrne, 2017). Additionally, a collaborative atmosphere and a sense of community among coworkers provide them with the courage to openly discuss issues with one another and find better solutions (Flores, 2019).

As the main agents of the teaching-learning process, instructors' performance has a direct impact on students' growth. Moreover, performance is essential to the learning process since the quality of a teacher is determined by how well they can instruct. Performance evaluations ought to consider how to gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of various operations. This quantification can be expressed in both qualitative and quantitative ways. In the field of education, a teacher's effectiveness is vital (Madrid et al., 2019). Teachers must constantly strive to improve themselves since there is a strong correlation between their efficacy and the achievement of their students.

According to (Pearce, 2023), difficulties are the primary cause of stress, subpar work output, and dissatisfaction among novice educators. In a similar vein, motivation and job satisfaction have a big impact on professional success and goal achievement. Furthermore, in addition to mental disorders like stress, concern, sadness, burnout, feelings of humiliation, and rejection dread, bodily maladies including high blood pressure, ulcers, sleeping difficulties, migraines, neck and backaches, and poor resistance is also caused by job unhappiness.

Professional performance can be negatively impacted by a variety of issues, including uncooperative coworkers and administrators, a lack of resources, a wide range of student attitudes, behavioral problems resulting from different family backgrounds, excessive workloads, a lack of motivation, few opportunities for career advancement, and the rapid advancement of technology. Higher education instructors cannot do their tasks effectively if they are not happy in their positions. Furthermore, the difficulties teachers have encountered throughout their employment contribute to stress. Moreover, the challenges that educators face due to students and administrative inadequacies diminish their professional skills and abilities. They are frustrated because they are not provided with the resources they require to perform their jobs effectively. Furthermore, negative emotional states, including hopelessness, anxiety, concern, and annoyance, are examples of occupational stress, also known as job stress (Sebastian, Herman, & Reinke, 2019). 

Research Methodology

The major focus of the study is to find out the challenges of novice teachers and their impact on professional performance. The population of the study comprises all the novice teachers of the Islamia University Bahawalpur. In this current study, purposive sampling techniques were used, and the researcher randomly selected novice teachers for the collection of data.




Research Instrument

Novice teachers faced different challenges at the beginning of their careers that affected their performance. So the researcher aimed to identify the challenges of novice teachers at the beginning of their job and their impact on professional performance. The research was descriptive in nature. In this quantitative research design, a questionnaire was used to collect data from novice teachers of the Islamia University Bahawalpur. 

Data Analysis

Collected data was analyzed by using the SPSS data analysis sheet frequency, percentage, mean score, and standard deviation calculated and presented.

Table 1

Sr. no.	Statements		Yes	No	MS	SD
1	I face challenges in interacting with students	F %	111 46.1	130 53.9	1.54	.499
2	I have conflicts with colleagues	F %	59 24.5	182 75.5	1.76	.431
3	I face challenges due to the non-cooperative behavior of  HOD	F %	19 7.9	222 92.1	1.92	.270
4	I face non-cooperative administrative behavior	F %	46 19.1	195 80.9	1.81	.394
5	I face difficulty in classroom management	F %	56 23.2	185 76.8	1.77	.423
6	I feel difficulty in time management	F %	57 23.7	184 76.3	1.76	.426
7	I have psychological challenges	F %	40 16.6	201 83.4	1.83	.373
8	My department has an autocratic environment	F %	63 26.1	178 73.9	1.74	.440
9	I have a lack of communication skill	F %	47 19.5	194 80.5	1.80	.397
10	I have an inadequate salary	F %	126 52.3	115 47.7	1.48	.501
11	I have to face an accommodation issue	F %	87 36.1	154 63.9	1.64	.481
12	I face Instructional challenges	F %	75 31.1	166 68.9	1.69	.464
13	Lack of technological information	F %	67 27.8	174 72.2	1.72	.449
14	Lack of infrastructure	F %	109 45.2	132 54.8	1.55	.449
15	I have  over workload	F %	144 59.8	95 39.4	1.41	.510

 In Table 1, data about “challenges faced by novice teachers at the beginning of their career" is Presented. It is evident that the majority of the respondents (53.9%) disagree with the statement that they faced challenges in interaction with students. Moreover, a large number of the respondents (75.5%) disagree with the statement that they conflict with colleagues. Furthermore, most of the respondents (92.1%) disagree with the statement that they face challenges due to the non-cooperative behavior of the HOD. The table also shows that the majority of the respondents (80.9%) do not agree with the statement that they face non-cooperative administrative behavior. Furthermore, the majority of the respondents (76.8%) disagree with the statement that they face difficulty in classroom management. 
Most of the respondents (76.3%) disagree with the statement that they feel difficulty with time management. Moreover, a large no of the respondents (83.4%) disagree with the statement that they have psychological challenges. Similarly, most of the respondents (73.9%) disagree with the statement that my department has an autocratic environment. Furthermore, many of the respondents (80.5%) disagree with the statement that I lack communication skills.  
The majority of the respondents (52.3%) agree with the statement that I have an inadequate salary. Furthermore, a large no of the respondents (63.1%) disagree with the statement that they have to face a lack of accommodation issues. The table also shows that most instructors (68.9%) do not agree with the statements that they face instructional challenges. Furthermore, a large number of the respondents (72.2%) disagree with the statements that they face challenges due to a lack of technological information. Moreover, a large number of respondents (54.8%) disagree with the statement that they face challenges due to a lack of infrastructure. Similarly, many of the respondents (59.8%) agree with the statement that they have a heavy workload.

Table 2

Sr.no	Statements                                                      Challenges Order		F	%	MS	SD
	Challenges impact your professional performance order them:
1	Un-attractive pay packages	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	33 11 15 9 11 42 12 14 33 71 241	13.7 4.6 6.2 3.7 4.6 17.4 5.0 5.8 9.5 29.5 100	4.54	3.256
2	Professional attitude	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	23 21 18 6 19 40 19 30 49 16 241	9.5 8.7 7.5 2.5 7.9 16.6 7.9 12.4 20.3 6.6 100	4.98	2.852
3	Over workload exhaustion	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	15 9 25 30 15 35 22 37 21 32 241	6.2 3.7 10.4 12.4 6.2 14.5 9.1 15.4 8.7 13.3 100	4.89	2.698
4	Family problems	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	23 13 14 24 20 49 30 27 18 23 241	9.5 5.4 5.8 10.0 8.3 20.3 12.4 11.2 7.5 9.5 100.0	5.20	2.649

 Table 2, "Challenges impact on professional performance," orders and presents data about the challenges of an unattractive pay package, professional attitude, overwork load exhaustion, and family problems. According to the participant's responses, the unattractive pay package got the 6th position out of the 10th, whereas the challenge of professional attitude got the 8th number. On the other hand, respondents face the challenges of overwork load exhaustion in the 8th position and family problems in the 7th position out of the 10th.

Table 3

Sr.no	Statements                                          Challenges Order		F	%	MS	SD
	Challenges impact your professional performance order them:
1	Students disrupted behavior	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	14 13 15 25 26 49 19 38 18 24 241	5.8 5.4 6.2 10.4 10.8 20.3 7.9 15.8 7.5 10.0 100	4.99	2.530
2	Lack of knowledge	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	23 25 14 14 19 30 21 28 28 39 241	9.5 10.4 5.8 5.8 7.9 12.4 8.7 11.6 11.6 16.2 100	4.95	3.017
3	Technological skill	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	28 23 21 13 20 22 24 30 21 39 241	11.6 9.5 8.7 5.4 8.3 9.1 10.0 12.4 8.7 16.2 100	5.16	3.082
4	Autocratic environment	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	35 5 19 34 14 24 25 34 16 35 241	14.5 2.1 7.9 14.1 5.8 10.0 10.4 14.1 6.6 14.5 100.0	5.22	2.979

 Table 3 represents data about student disrupted behavior, lack of knowledge, technological skills, and an autocratic environment. According to the respondents' opinion, they face the challenge of student disrupted behavior on the 6th number out of 10th, and on the other hand, the challenge of lack of knowledge on the 10th number. Moreover, technological skills on 10th, and an autocratic environment on 1st out of 10th.

Table 4

Sr. No.	Statements	Level of agreement	F	%	M	SD
1	Poor management	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	32 18 30 18 26 29 11 26 21 30 241	13.3 7.5 12.4 7.5 10.8 12.0 4.6 10.8 8.7 12.4 100.0	5.57	3.001
2	Lack of motivation	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total	39 22 15 16 14 44 16 23 19 33 241	16.2 9.1 6.2 6.6 5.8 18.3 6.6 9.5 7.9 13.7 100.0	5.51	3.085

 Table 4 presents data about poor management and a lack of motivation. Data shows that participants face the challenge of poor management in the 9th position and a lack of motivation in the 6th position out of the 10th.

Discussion

According to the first objective, identify the challenges encountered by novice teachers at the beginning of their careers. The results of the current study describe that novice teachers are newly appointed teachers. They are in teaching teaching-teaching-learning phase, and due to a lack of experience, they face different challenges such as an unattractive pay package, a lack of basic facilities, students' disrupted behavior, non-cooperative colleague behavior, over-workload, long distance, an autocratic environment, a lack of infrastructure, a lack of accommodation, technological issues, psychological issues, classroom management, time management, pedagogical issues, etc. (Iqbal, 2019).

According to the second objective, the impact of challenges on the professional performance of novice teachers result of the current study describes that new instructors confronted many challenges, and these challenges affected teacher performance. In the beginning period of their job, novice teachers are confronted with a variety of challenges (Davis, 2017). These challenges create hurdles in teaching and professional life and become causes of stress and anxiety. Moreover, these challenges cause a lack of confidence, divert attention, and lack of motivation. Furthermore, due to the non-cooperative behaviors of teachers and administration, they remain isolated (Castro, Kelly, & Shih, 2010). Furthermore, in overcrowded classes with a lack of facilities, the teacher is unable to devote individual attention to each student in the classroom. Furthermore, maintaining discipline and carrying out educational tasks in overcrowded classrooms is quite challenging, increasing responsibilities and decreasing performance (Dayan et al., 2018). Similarly, overwork loads create difficulty for new teachers, increasing stress and reducing classroom management effectiveness. Moreover, administrative responsibilities, particularly a lot of paperwork, annoy them and make classroom management difficult. 

Conclusion

According to the result of the study, due to a lack of experience, the beginning years of a novice teacher's job are more challenging. New teachers faced different problems at the beginning of their job, such as students' disrupted behavior, an autocratic environment, the non-cooperative behavior of colleagues, classroom management, pedagogical issues, overwork, a lack of motivation, and family issues. Moreover, these challenges affect the professional performance of teachers. Furthermore, teachers cannot fully concentrate on their teaching and are unable to devote the individual attention of students in the classroom. Similarly, these challenges increase stress and reduce efficiency. Moreover, due to the non-cooperative behavior of colleagues' novice teachers, they remain demoted. In addition, new teachers are in teaching teaching-learning stage; therefore, they need the support of colleagues to handle these problems.

Recommendations

The study suggested that pedagogical training should be provided at the beginning of a career. Moreover, a supportive environment should be provided to cope with these challenges. Furthermore, seminars and workshops should be arranged to provide information regarding the latest technology and develop confidence, and self-sufficiency. Similarly, teacher training programs should be conducted for their professional skills and student development. 

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