Beyond formal expectations, there are many informal routines and customs that are even more difficult for new teachers to learn. This complaint was most common among those who left teaching early. The effects of such raiding on beginning teachers can be frustrating and harmful. When teachers are most in need of quality instructional resources and materials they often have the worst in the school. Others would like to offer assistance to new teachers but feel their efforts would be viewed as interference.
Many experienced teachers feel that the principal alone is responsible for assisting new teachers.
Beginning teachers contribute to their own isolation when they hesitate to ask for help. Many consider seeking help an admission of failure and incompetence. It is true that growing numbers of adults in their late twenties, thirties, and beyond are now entering or reentering teaching, but the majority of beginning teachers continue to be young adults. Conflict often exists between the roles of teacher and young adult. The new teacher may be living away from home or the safety of college for the first time and may have just moved to a new community.