Abstract
To ensure that education systems retain good quality educators, maintaining high levels of standards in their recruitment, retention, appraisal, and professional development is vital. Different types of schools face various levels of challenges in the recruitment and retention of novice educators. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these challenges. The primary aim of the present study was to explore the perspectives of School Management Team members on the recruitment and appraisal of novice educators during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. The specific objectives were to investigate what School Management Teams value in novice educators during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, understand how School Management Teams assess novice educators, and contrast the recruitment and appraisal processes during and post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the application of the Systems Theory as a theoretical framework, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with four School Management Team members from four different schools. The interviews were transcribed and validated through member checking. Data were analysed through open, deductive, and axial coding.
Given the focus of the study, this research explores what was valued during the recruitment of novice educators, how the actual recruitment took place during and post-COVID-19 pandemic, novice educators’ teaching practice during and post-COVID-19 pandemic, how these teaching practices were appraised, and how the recruitment and appraisal processes of novice educators differed during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. This study provides insights into the impact of the pandemic on teaching practices, recruitment, and appraisal processes.