Abstract
The stories shared by the immigrant teachers capture some of their personal and professional lived experiences in their new teaching environment. The hermeneutic narrative approach of the study of seven immigrant teachers’ stories, as they compared their teaching experiences in their home country to their New Zealand teaching experience, offer insight into the teaching and learning context that they had come from and the transitional challenges they faced. Some of these challenges may be attributed to attitudes and beliefs, curriculum matters, and pedagogical approaches. These challenges, combined with their determination to pursue their teaching career in an environment that may be dissimilar to their own, provides the context for this study. The findings may not only inform overseas teachers that are contemplating a move to New Zealand about the adjustment challenges but also provide educators with understandings of the diverse teaching and learning backgrounds that immigrant teachers may come from.
