Preparing teachers for professional learning: is there a future for teacher education in new teacher induction?

Abstract

Today the quality of teachers is held to be increasingly important yet there continue to be doubts about whether teacher education programs graduate teachers ready to meet the challenges of their initial years of teaching. In some jurisdictions, other agencies (Ministries of Education, school districts, and private providers) are supplementing the work of teacher education through the introduction of new teacher induction programs which have become favoured policy initiatives to enhance new teacher transition, retention and quality. Evidence suggests that induction and mentoring increase teacher retention and ensure more effective socialisation of new teachers into the school culture. In spite of their growing popularity, the degree to which induction programs complement teacher education and/or impact new teacher professional learning remains unclear. In this paper the authors report a secondary analysis of data from an evaluation of the New Teacher Induction Program in Ontario, Canada to consider the implications for the future of teacher education by asking: What are the challenges facing new teachers? In what ways does the induction program support new teacher professional learning? What are the major implications for the future of teacher education?

Keywords:

• mentoring
• new teachers
• teacher education
• teacher induction
• teacher professional learning

Acknowledgements

The evaluation of the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education.

Notes

1. New teachers are defined as all teachers certified by the Ontario College of Teachers (including teachers prepared in jurisdictions other than Ontario) who have been hired into permanent positions (full or part time) by a publicly funded school board for the first time.

2. For copies of the interview protocol for new teachers see Appendix 1.