'It feels like its sink or swim': Newly qualified teachers' experiences of their induction year

This study examined the experiences of a small group of Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) during their NQT year. A focus group was used to explore the NQTs' understandings of their role and the influence of the NQT year on the development of their professional teacher identity. Data were digitally recorded, transcribed and organised into themes. The data indicate that the participants had developed a strong sense of their own accountability for their own professionalism and for improving the academic performance of their pupils. They had been initiated into the discourse of performativity that is entrenched across the education system. Consequently, some, but not all, NQTs had rejected their personal educational philosophies and had embraced a socially assigned identity which embraced the principles of performativity.