A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EARLY-CAREER EXPERIENCES OF NOVICE TEACHERS AND EXPERIENCED TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF QUETTA DISTRICT

Abstract

A qualitative comparative case study was conducted to analyze the experiences and perceptions of novice and experienced teachers in the public schools of Quetta District, Balochistan, regarding the structuring of classroom practices throughout their careers. Utilizing a multi-case-study design, twenty teachers from the government schools of Quetta District were interviewed; ten novice teachers having served for one to two years in the government schools (Case One), and ten experienced teachers having served for twelve years to twenty-two years in the government schools (Case Two). The data collected were analyzed utilizing a process of initial (open) coding, focused coding, theme development, within-case analysis, and cross-case synthesis. The results of the study revealed that while both groups had to function under almost the same set of conditions (large classes, multilingual students, scarcity of resources, multigrade instruction, examinations, ongoing curricular reforms, and lack of formal induction), they had very different relations with respect to time and cognition towards these structural constraints. Experienced teachers had converted many recurring situations into anticipatory judgment, durable professional infrastructure, longitudinal assessment practice, critical curriculum mediation, and generative mentoring of newer colleagues. The central cross-case finding characterizes professional growth as a movement from costly calibration to generative expertise under persistent constraint, with expertise remaining domain-bound, context-specific, and renewable whenever genuinely novel demands arise. The study

concludes that experience becomes expertise only when it is recognized, retained, tested, and organized, and recommends structured, context-specific induction and mentoring systems that formalize the tacit professional knowledge that experienced teachers currently provide informally and without institutional recognition.