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Learning to Teach: A Literature Review of Induction Theory and Practice
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What high quality mentoring IS | What high quality mentoring is NOT |
| Rigorous mentor selection based on qualities of an effective mentor Qualities may include evidence of outstanding teaching practice, strong interpersonal skills, experience with adult learners, respect of peers, current knowledge of professional development. | Choosing mentors based on seniority or 'who is available' Without rigorous selection, mentors may not have the capacity to engage in meaningful interactions with new teachers, or may perpetuate mediocre or poor teaching practice. |
| Sanctioned time for mentor-teacher interactions NYC recommends releasing teachers full time so they can focus entirely on new teacher development. Mentors and new teachers should have at least 1.25—2.5 hours per week for interactions. That time should be protected by teachers and administrators. | Meetings happening occasionally or 'whenever the mentor and teacher are available' Often both parties are so busy that meeting time gets relegated down the list of priorities. The brief meetings that do occur are typically insufficient for fostering real growth. |
| Intensive and specific guidance moving teaching practice forward, while also providing elements of emotional/logistical support Focusing on specific areas for instructional growth help teachers know concretely how to improve. Example: "Let's talk about what strategies will help you address the concern you had about reaching your struggling English Language Learner students." | Non-specific emotional/logistical support alone Emotional support is nice, but alone does little to improve teacher practice. Without specific instructional feedback, 'feel good' mentoring often prevails. Example: "You're doing a great job, Jane. Keep it up!" |
| Ongoing professional development for mentors Effective teachers don't automatically know what it is about their teaching that is effective. Many mentors are also surprised to find that conveying knowledge to students is not the same as conveying knowledge to adults. High quality and on-going training is needed to help mentors develop the skills to identify and translate the elements of effective teaching to new teachers. | No training for mentors Mentors sometimes think that their job is to clone themselves. Without training, these mentors will default to the 'watch-me-and-learn' strategy that too often fails to develop the skills or confidence teachers need to succeed. Effective mentoring provides collaborative guidance that helps new teacher ask the right questions and begin to take responsibility for finding answers. |
| Documentation and evidence of teacher progress Just like student learning, new teacher learning should be data-driven. To be effective, feedback to new teachers should be grounded in evidence about their practice. Tools to collect data about various components of their classroom practice and documentation of all mentoring conversations ensures a structure for focussing on instructional and continual growth. | Informal/non-evidence based feedback Program rigor may be compromised when interactions are based on informal conversation and "off-the-cuff' remarks. Without structure and evidence around good teacher practice, interactions may lead to 'feel-good' mentoring that does not lead to improved teaching practice. |
| Multi-year mentoring Mentoring should be intensive and ongoing (for at least two years) to move teacher practice forward in ways that help all students thrive. NYC suggests that most deep learning about instruction (through mentoring) happens in teachers' second and third year in the classroom. | Mentoring for first year teachers only One year mentoring programs are great at providing the support first year teachers need to survive, but they are not sufficient to help teachers reach their optimum level of effectiveness. |
Effective induction programmes have been shown to include a number of aligned and integrated components which contribute to what Britton, Paine, Pimm, and Raizen (2003) describe as "comprehensive" approaches to induction, as opposed to more "limited" and less effective approaches. Table 2 outlines the key features of limited and comprehensive approaches to induction.
Table 2 Key features of limited versus comprehensive induction programmes (Britton, Paine, Pimm, & Raizen, 2003, p. 2)
Programme features | Limited induction | Comprehensive induction |
| Goals | Focuses on teacher orientation, support, enculturation, retention | Also promotes career learning, enhances teaching quality |
| Policies | Provides optimal participation and modest time, usually unpaid | Requires participation and provides substantial paid time |
| Overall programme design | Employs a limited number of ad hoc induction providers and activities | Plans an induction system involving a complementary set of providers and activities |
| Induction as a transitional phase | Treats induction as an isolated phase, without explicit attention to teachers' prior knowledge or future development | Considers the influence of teacher preparation and professional development on induction programme design |
| Initial teaching conditions | Limited attention to initial teaching conditions | Attention to assigned courses, pupils, non-teaching duties |
| Level of effort | Invests limited total effort, or all effort in a few providers, activities | Requires substantial overall effort |
| Resources | Does not provide resources sufficient to meet programme goals | Provides adequate resources to meet programme goals |
| Levels of the education system involved | Involves some levels of the system, perhaps in isolation | Involves all relevant levels of the system in articulated roles |
| Length of programme | One year or less | More than one year |
| Sources of support | Primarily or solely uses one mentor | Uses multiple, complementary induction providers |
| Conditions for novices and providers | Usually attends to learning conditions for novices | Also provides good conditions and training for providers |
| Activities | Uses a few types of induction activities | Uses a set of articulated, varied activities |
Increasingly induction is being conceptualised as a stage in a continuum of teacher development that supports entry into a learning community (Carroll, Fulton, Yoon, & Lee, 2005). These authors define induction as both a period of time and "a network of supports, people, and processes that are all focussed on assuring that novices become effective in their work" (Carroll et al., 2005, p. 4) with induction conceptualised as a process that lasts up to three years, that includes key elements such as opportunities to observe and be observed by other teachers, common planning time, and participation in a network of teachers. New initiatives in initial teacher education such as the Scottish Teachers for a New Era programme, promote initial teacher education as the first stage of a six-year continuum of supported teacher development, which extends from a four-year degree programme into the first two years of practice in schools. Developers intend that this will be achieved through partnerships between the University of Aberdeen and local school authorities. 3
Bubb et al. (2002, cited in Totterdell et al., 2004a, p. 7) define induction as a process that can be seen to align well with expectations of New Zealand advice and guidance programmes:
The term induction is taken to mean supported and assessed entry to full professional teacher status. Induction programmes include designated release time from teaching; support from experienced colleagues; the setting of objectives and targets that are linked to continuing professional development activities and courses to meet the needs of the new teacher and assessment against performance standards. Generally speaking, additional support for NQTs (newly qualified teachers) is elicited from many quarters of the school and from others outside its confines.
Arends and Winitzky (1999, cited in Totterdell et al., 2004a), and Bartell (2005) reviewed and summarised research on existing beginning induction programmes in the United States. The characteristics of effective induction programmes are summarised as follows:
(From Bartell, 2005, pp. 65—66, and Arends & Winitzky, 1999, cited in Totterdell et al., 2004a, p. 32.)
The Australian Commonwealth Department of Science, Education and Training (2002, p. 11) suggests that the literature reveals a number of attributes of effective support programmes. These are summarised as a set of 10 key characteristics:
Whisnant, Elliott, and Pynchon (2005) drew together papers from several sources to come up with recommendations for the effective induction of new teachers. We have adapted these recommendations for the New Zealand context, and have included additional recommendations from other sources as identified in, in Table 3. We have also added two further categories: "Align induction programmes with existing school improvement approaches", and "Build systemic commitment, within and outside schools, to support all teachers' professional learning."
Table 3 Effective components of induction programmes from Whisnant, Elliott, and Pynchon (2005); Youngs, (2002); Arends and Winitzky, 1999; and Stansbury and Zimmerman (2002).
Component | Function/Structure |
| Orientation programme | Health and safety requirements Key people and their roles Mission and values Resources Written material for reference (e.g. expectations of Provisionally Registered Teachers and the advice and guidance programme) Support and encouragement from principals (Youngs, 2002) |
| Quality, structured mentoring | Select mentors according to rigorous criteria Train and support mentors (Arends & Winitzky, 1999; Youngs, 2002) Establish provisions for common time, and support Regularly scheduled meetings Ensure that mentor and Provisionally Registered Teacher have a common instructional focus Ensure that mentor and Provisionally Registered Teacher are located close to each other Personal and emotional support (Commonwealth Department of Education Science and Training, 2002; Stansbury & Zimmerman, 2002) Promote critical reflection on teaching practice (Stansbury & Zimmerman, 2002) |
| Common planning time | Focus on lesson design and curriculum Use student assessment data to guide planning Promote collaboration Reduced workload for Provisionally Registered Teachers (Arends & Winitzky, 1999) Release time for mentors(Arends & Winitzky, 1999; Youngs, 2002) |
| Intensive and on-going professional development for mentor and Provisionally Registered Teacher | Identify the teaching and learning needs of the Provisionally Registered Teacher and the mentor Help with building relationships with parents (Arends & Winitzky, 1999) Expand content knowledge Address diversity in learning and culture Expand pedagogical content knowledge |
| External teacher networks | Enable mentors and Provisionally Registered Teachers to gather in like groups Encourage reflective dialogue |
| Standards-based evaluation | Support demonstrations of effective teaching Provide focused feedback on teaching (formative assessment) Use relevant standards to judge capability (summative assessment) |
| Align induction programmes with existing school/centre improvement approaches | Include Provisionally Registered Teachers and mentors in school/centre development processes |
| Build systemic commitment, within and outside schools/centres, to support all teachers' professional learning | Develop school/centre leader understanding of effective teacher induction principles and practices (e.g. through Aspiring Principals and First-Time Principal Induction programmes Continue to strengthen workplace conditions that support teacher professional learning |
While it does not specifically focus on beginning teacher induction, the New Zealand Best Evidence Synthesis Characteristics of Professional Development Linked to Enhanced Pedagogy and Children's Learning in Early Childhood Settings (Mitchell & Cubey, 2003), summarises the evidence on approaches to professional learning in early childhood education that have been linked with changes in teacher practice and enhanced children's learning. We suggest that induction practices that emphasise the characteristics in the Best Evidence Synthesis would constitute powerful induction for Provisionally Registered Teachers. These practices are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Characteristics of effective professional development linked to enhanced pedagogy and children's learning in early childhood education settings
The professional development incorporates participants' own aspirations, skills, knowledge and understanding into the learning context
| The professional development provides theoretical and content knowledge and information about alternative practices
| Participants are involved in investigating pedagogy within their own early childhood settings
| Participants analyse data from their own settings. Revelation of discrepant data is a mechanism to invoke revised understanding
| Critical reflection enabling participants to investigate and challenge assumptions and extend their thinking is a core aspect
| Professional development supports educational practice that is inclusive of diverse children, families and whānau
| The professional development helps participants to change educational practice, beliefs, understanding, and/or attitudes
| The professional development helps participants to gain awareness of their own thinking, actions, and influence
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| The professional development takes on board participants' own aspirations, skills, knowledge, and understanding, and recognises the context for learning. This is a starting point: the programmes introduce new ideas and provide opportunity for participants to question their experiences and views, and not simply validate them.
| Theoretical and content knowledge related to effective pedagogy is provided. This may be generic or content specific, such as generic areas of co-constructing learning, scaffolding, learning dispositions as outcomes of Te Whāriki, and specific areas such as early literacy, mathematical and scientific understanding, creativity. Content knowledge is integrated with pedagogical knowledge. The theoretical and content knowledge expands participants' knowledge base. Information and knowledge about alternative practices are provided.
| The programme involves participants investigating real life examples of pedagogy within their own settings. Investigative methods, such as action research, are useful. Investigation by participants in issues within their own setting (e.g. interactions and behaviour) encourages work on issues that are important to participants and that make a difference to their own pedagogical practice. An external professional development adviser or researcher engages in the investigation.
| A key process in contributing to revision of assumptions and understanding is "creating surprise through exposure to discrepant data" from the participant's own early childhood service. Understandable data that reveals "pedagogy in action" and others' views is helpful in these investigations. Useful approaches to data collection include collection and analysis of video and audio-tape recordings, observations, surveys of others' views, and assessments of learning. The professional development programme supports data collection and analysis.
| Critical reflection involves teachers/educators in investigating and challenging their assumptions. This in turn encourages insights and shifts in thinking. This is particularly valuable in challenging deficit views associated with ethnicity, socio-economic status, child's age, parental knowledge, and gender. Some conditions that encourage critical reflection: 1) collaboration with others and being exposed to their views. These views include views of colleagues, professional development advisers, parents, and children; 2) using deeper or different theoretical understanding; 3) teachers/educators thinking about their own thinking, e.g. through use of journals and diaries.
| Professional development supports practice that is inclusive of all children, families and whānau. Its focus is on pedagogy that understands, values, builds on and extends the competencies and skills that every child brings to an early childhood setting. It supports participants to work closely with families so that both are better informed about and able to extend the child's experiences and learning. Professional development in support of inclusive practice helps participants analyse data obtained through close observation of relationships between children and people, use formative assessment, and offer curriculum differentiation.
| Professional development is linked to tangible changes in pedagogical interactions and this in turn is associated with children's learning in early childhood settings. The professional development helps participants to change educational practice, beliefs, understanding, and/or attitudes. Participants are encouraged to investigate ideas and practices that stand in the way of an equitable society. Participants may become aware of ways in which they disempower or limit groups or individuals.
| The professional development assists participants to gain greater awareness and insight into themselves, and a stronger appreciation of the power of their role as educators.
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Overall, the literature on induction reported so far in this review highlights the need for induction programmes to be based on a clear rationale and purpose and for adequate resources to be provided to achieve the intended goals. Beginning teachers should have a reduced workload, and expectations for extra school- or centre-related work should not conflict with core teaching work. Programmes include, but are not restricted to, one-to-one mentoring, and provide structured opportunities for learning within and outside particular teaching contents. Ideally mentors will be people with the interpersonal skills, commitment, and knowledge to enhance the beginning teacher's practice, and they will be given professional development and support to help their beginning teacher to achieve the goals of the induction programme. Integral to effective induction programmes are opportunities for beginning teachers to observe models of good teaching practices, and to receive structured feedback on their own teaching. There is general agreement that induction programmes should be focused on the needs of each beginning teacher, as identified by observations, analysis of children's or students' learning, and discussion, all of which contribute to a formalised induction plan. They combine new teacher support, development, and assessment. Induction programmes are more likely to be productive when they occur in settings where more experienced teachers are committed to supporting their new colleagues, in cultures that foster openness, collaboration, and asking for help. New Zealand policies and recommended approaches to induction favour comprehensive approaches although not all sectors currently have the resources to support teachers and Provisionally Registered Teachers sufficiently.
The syntheses of literature on induction we have found so far focus entirely on the school sector. A new Eric search since the first draft found one reference only and it had little relevance to this review. One problem is that the term "early childhood" is defined differently in other contexts, and does not appear to include teachers of children aged from 0—3 years as in New Zealand. We do not assume that the literature from the school sector will apply to teachers in early childhood contexts, but until there is relevant literature, we have to use what currently exists.
Noble and Macfarlane (2005) present findings of a longitudinal study by Noble, Goddard, and O'Brien (2003) in Queensland that highlights significant differences in the timing of "burn-out" between teachers in the primary, secondary, and early childhood sectors. They identify problems of isolation for beginning teachers in some early childhood settings, resulting in fewer opportunities to develop their understandings of teaching with more experienced colleagues. They also identify heavy workloads as inhibiting opportunities to establish professional networks. The professional development that is available to early childhood teachers in Queensland is held with their primary school colleagues, a process which fails to address their own professional concerns.
We located little research that specifically addressed the induction of indigenous beginning teachers. A study of eight new Native American teachers (Figueira, 2000, cited in Demmert & Towner, 2003) reported:
From a tribal and Native American professional perspective, the creation of lifelong learning environments and meaningful educational experiences for both the young and adults of a tribal community requires a language and cultural context that supports the traditions, knowledge, and language(s) of the community as the starting place for learning new ideas and knowledge. There is a firm belief within many tribal communities and (among) Native educators that this cultural context is absolutely essential if one is to succeed academically and to build meaningful lives as adults. (p. 1)
In Figueira's study, despite the importance of a supportive cultural context for beginning Native American teachers, it was found that:
These case studies reveal that efforts to situate learning within the local context are often thwarted by factors within the teaching environments. The specific situations underlying this issue range from community dissonance regarding the place of Native language and culture in the school, to a lack of pedagogical knowledge, methodology and teaching materials, to the conflicting demands and pressures of state standards and federal mandates.
Certain other issues also emerged as prominent. The most frequently cited were the need for orientation, induction or formal mentoring at the school sites and the need for strategies to increase parent involvement and enhance communication with families. They additionally identified issues around discipline, motivating students, and lack of spare time, problems that are common to new teachers anywhere. (p. 1)
Figueira describes how mentoring supported beginning Native American teachers in identifying issues, prioritising goals, resolving problems and developing a reflective practice that responded to the needs of their Native students.
We found an unpublished masters thesis (Stewart, 2005) that explored the personal and professional identities of nine indigenous teachers in British Columbia, Canada. Stewart points out that little has been written about indigenous teachers, with the focus to date being on indigenous children and schools. Issues that may be relevant to the review include their perception that their programmes of initial teacher education were devalued as "easier" than mainstream programmes; expectations that they would act as "cultural knowledge brokers" for their colleagues as well as teaching students; and obligations to other indigenous teachers and school workers as well as to their communities. The teachers felt pressure to perform for their non-Native colleagues:
So, there is the expectation that we are role models in the community, and we are professionals all the time, even when we are treated badly by our non-indigenous colleagues (pp. 71—72).
The available research highlights the extra complexities inherent in indigenous settings, and points to the need for greater research attention to the sorts of induction experiences that would retain and enhance teachers in indigenous teaching contexts.
The relationship between the supportive process of induction and the judgemental process of assessment for registration is hotly debated in the literature (Commonwealth Department of Education Science and Training, 2002). However, both formative and summative assessment processes provide feedback on teaching and can contribute to effective induction programmes.
Formative assessment processes are those which help Provisionally Registered Teachers to identify what they are doing well, and pinpoint how they can develop their teaching. These processes can partially be achieved by individual teacher reflection on their work, but learning is richer when it is scaffolded by an informed "other" such as a mentor teacher. Information from formative assessment contributes to decisions about the sorts of professional learning that might benefit the Provisionally Registered Teacher (for example: assistance with planning, observing another teacher; videoing and jointly analysing their teaching; attending a short course in an area of identified interest or need). Engaging in formative assessment has the potential to support habits of self-reflection and career-long professional growth (Villar & Strong, 2005).
Summative assessment is the assessment that summarises a teacher's accomplishments at a particular point in time although it can also be used formatively to help a teacher develop in identified areas. It can also be used to determine that a Provisionally Registered Teacher has demonstrated the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to move to fully registered teacher status. Traditional ways of assessing teachers' competency in the United States for licensing decisions, such as tests of teacher knowledge, have been subject to much criticism for their lack of authenticity and predictive validity (Pecheone & Chung, 2006). Berliner (2005) also notes that in the United States, "despite many attempts to demonstrate the validity of the National Teacher Examination in predicting ratings of teaching competence and/or student achievement, no predictive validity could be found" (p. 208). Berliner contends that to validly assess teachers "will require highly discerning observers who spend their time watching teachers teach" (p. 208).
Traditionally, researchers have considered that formative and summative processes should be kept separate, because of a belief that it is difficult for the mentoring relationship when the mentor is also the assessor (Moskowitz & Stephens, 1997). Under the sub-title "Assistance not Assessment", The APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Teacher Preparation and Professional Development Study (1997) 4 states the following as one of its conclusions:
The absence of serious concern by all participants in the teacher induction program about meeting certification and registration requirements enhances the provision of assistance and support. Teachers do not feel threatened or even uncomfortable about being observed and asking questions that they fear will reveal professional inadequacies. However, in some other teacher induction programs, assessment is more formal and is primarily used to "weed out" unqualified teachers. In such cases, assessment is linked so closely to certification or registration that it is sometimes difficult for a program of teacher support to coexist with assessment. Some new teachers have difficulty accepting guidance from and feeling comfortable with a mentor who is also a formal assessor.
(http://www.ed.gov/pubs/APEC/ch6.html)
Some researchers suggest that mentoring partnerships are far more fruitful when novice teachers are treated as an equal in the relationship. Hargreaves and Fullan (2000, p. 3) comment on the importance of effective mentoring:
The reality in many schools today is that while assigned mentors may know more than new teachers about certain areas such as school procedure or classroom management, the new teacher may sometimes know more than the mentor about new teaching strategies. If the school assumes the mentor always knows best, even about teaching strategies, innovative new teachers might quickly experience the mentor relationship as an oppressive one.
Fullan warns against using assessment as a focal point of induction: "Assessment-based induction schemes run the risk of reducing teaching to less significant goals and of repelling the best teacher prospects and teacher-leaders" (p. 2). Fullan, however, does see a place for assessment in a supportive context where teachers grow through making mistakes and learning from them.
More recently there is a growing consensus that the most appropriate person to provide critical feedback is the person who is the most familiar with the context of the beginning teacher, and that it is often not feasible to carry out separate processes (Commonwealth Department of Education Science and Training, 2002). A paper on the Teachers College Record website (Yusko & Feiman-Nemser, in press) argues that formative assessment (assistance) and summative assessment can coexist, and with appropriate training and support it is possible for mentors to combine both processes while retaining the trust of new teachers and promoting their development and their students' learning.
The following section describes some well-researched programmes, and identifies how assessment contributes to the support provided to beginning teachers.
Based on a study set in Connecticut during 2000—2001, Youngs (2002) examined the impact (in terms of retention) of Connecticut's Beginning Teacher Educator Support and Training (BEST) programme in two school districts. The BEST programme provides beginning teachers with mentoring and other support, such as subject specific seminars that are designed to familiarise beginning teachers with the state's teaching standards and the portfolio requirements. Some of the seminars are now on-line.
Part of Youngs' report focused on how beginning teachers are supported and assessed. To ensure that mentors are prepared for both roles, they are required by the state to participate in three days of BEST training, provided by experienced mentors, teacher educators and/or BEST regional field staff.
Teachers-in-residence are seconded from schools for two-year periods to work in the BEST programme to design the content specific seminars for first and second year teachers, to respond to their queries, and to develop and score beginning teacher portfolios. Scorers attend two days of training, and work from 10 to 12 paid days in their summer holidays benchmarking and scoring portfolios.
At the end of their second year of teaching, teachers are required to submit several pieces of work from one or two teaching units, such as a description of their teaching context, lesson plans, two videotapes of their teaching the unit, samples of student work, and teacher commentaries on their planning, teaching, and assessment of student achievement. The portfolio requirements are highly structured and teachers are given detailed handbooks to support their preparation. A primary school teacher would complete a portfolio in "elementary education", whereas secondary teachers would complete a portfolio relevant to their subject specialism. Early childhood teachers are not included in BEST.
Connecticut's approach to assessing the portfolios has been characterised as "integrative and dialogic" (Moss, 1998, reported in Youngs, 2002). 5 Each portfolio is scored independently by two trained assessors who teach in the same content area as the beginning teacher whose portfolio they are assessing. They then moderate together. Initially, the assessors use a discipline-specific evaluation framework to judge the teacher's work, and then they summarise information across the portfolio as a whole against a set of guiding questions using a scoring rubric, as they determine overall performance. It takes four to five hours to score each portfolio. If teacher performance on the portfolio is judged to be unsatisfactory, they may resubmit a new portfolio in their third year of teaching. If they are unsuccessful this time, they are ineligible for licensure, and may not remain as teachers in Connecticut.
During the second year, the teachers-in-residence work with beginning teachers, sometimes in their schools, to help them to understand the state standards, use specific teaching strategies, and reflect on their teaching by examining student work. Many of the schools in the districts studied also include aspects of the portfolio process into their teacher evaluation processes, and principals have had a major role in the development of the standards. As a result of the district policy on mentor assignment, work conditions, and support for beginning teachers, in combination with effective principal leadership, Youngs (2002) concludes that new teachers experience comprehensive support and opportunities to learn to develop their teaching practice, and as a result the percentages of teachers who remain in teaching (around 90 percent) are higher than in similar districts elsewhere.
An example of another induction programme that has been demonstrated to enhance retention and enhance teacher capability is the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) programme (Villar & Strong, 2005). The principal goal of this programme is to create the professional conditions for beginning teachers that are most likely to keep them from leaving and to ensure their professional success (Fletcher & Barrett, 2003). This programme is available to all Californian beginning teachers, and typically features fully released mentors each with caseloads of 15 teachers. The mentors meet at least once a week for two hours with each beginning teacher to provide observation and coaching, emotional support, help with planning and classroom management, demonstration lessons and curriculum resources, and to facilitate communication with the principal. Beginning teachers also have some release time, and also attend monthly seminars designed to enhance teaching pedagogy and to embed them in a support network with ongoing professional dialogue with their peers.
The programme includes a formative assessment system aligned with district expectations for performance management, and content standards and student needs. A support provider/assessor assesses the performance of each beginning teacher with one or more complex measures at the onset of the programme and at multiple points during the induction programme to document progress over a period of time. Each assessment is based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession. The assessment information is used to determine the scope, focus, and content of professional development activities that are the basis of the beginning teacher's Individual Induction Plan. New teachers may move forward in their professional practice in a variety of ways, developing at different rates in different areas of teaching.
Villar and Strong (ibid., p.9) claim that the features of the programme are consistent with Smith and Ingersoll's (2004) highest level of induction support; that is, "basic induction, plus collaboration, plus teacher networks, plus extra resources". Their research shows that the programme is associated with high retention, and student achievement in reading is at the same levels as those taught by experienced teachers. In addition, the benefits and costs of mentoring over five years "demonstrates a societal return of 1.50 distributed among teachers, districts and students for every dollar invested in new teacher induction".
Thompson, Paek, Goe, and Ponte (2004) compared teachers who had a high level of exposure to the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) programme and the California Formative Assessment and Support System for Teachers (CFASST) to teachers who had little or no exposure. They found that high-level exposure teachers were better at planning, were more likely to ask their students higher-order questions, and were more likely to provide substantive, specific formative feedback to students. Students of teachers with high engagement with the programme outscored the students of the low-engagement teachers by an average of .25 standard deviations across six standardised tests. Though these differences were not statistically significant, the authors concluded that the consistency of the results suggests that BTSA/CFASST has a positive impact on student achievement.
In Canada, where there is no federal Ministry of Education, education and the preparation of teachers is a provincial responsibility. The most common reason cited for new teachers leaving the classroom is lack of support to adjust to the demands of the classroom (Ontario College of Teachers, 2006). The BTIP in New Brunswick began in 1995 and has been evaluated on a yearly basis. The most recent evaluation of the programme, in 2004-2005, involved 336 beginning teachers in 153 schools working with experienced teachers who acted as mentors for the school year. The programme lists the following as its ultimate goals:
Each pair of participants is allocated $500 from the Department of Education to go toward professional development activities for new teachers. Activities may include release time to visit each other's classroom and to engage in meetings to go over report cards and meetings with parents. The Teachers' Association contributes a fixed amount of money to be used when the $500 allocation runs out. The funding is minimal compared with New Zealand funding for induction.
Assessment is not a focal part of the programme and is not related to a teachers' certification or registration. While formal evaluation is not a mandate of the BTIP, the annual evaluations of the programme commonly refer to the controversial nature of evaluation. In the 2004-2005 evaluation of the BTIP, Gill studied the propensity of those being mentored to participate in "high risk activities" as described by Scott in his evaluation of the BTIP programme in 2001. Scott writes:
Activities [that] place higher emotional and professional demands on the participants may be termed higher-risk activities. This is because traditionally teaching has been an isolated activity which one performed alone, except for occasional supervision from a principal or supervisor. Perhaps because of its association with supervision and possible criticism, many teachers are reluctant to invite colleagues into their classroom. (p. 19)
Both Scott and Gill, in their respective studies, note the tensions surrounding the observation and evaluation of teaching. Interestingly, Scott finds that an alarming percentage of mentors (39.5 percent) in 2001 were unwilling to allow new teachers to observe their teaching. Scott writes:
This is a tendency which the steering committee has previously interpreted as counter to the goals of BTIP. This behaviour has been discussed before at the provincial level and would expect that the co-ordinators have emphasised at their workshops how important it is for mentors to allow their partners to observe them teaching as well as to observe the beginning teachers, but apparently their appeals have either been muted or fallen on deaf ears. (p. 19)
Gill also stresses the importance of informal evaluation. "Observing other teachers teach and being observed and receiving feedback are important strategies for developing teaching skills and strategies". She goes on to cite Mugglestone (2004) who conducted a follow-up study to the 2003 BTIP. Mugglestone reported that the former beginning teachers, upon reflection, wished they had been observed more and been given more extensive feedback.
The Ontario Ministry of Education introduced a mandatory New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) in 2006 for its roughly 6,500 new teachers in response to low teacher retention and a climate where new teachers felt overwhelmed. The NTIP funds school boards to develop and implement programs at a board and school level that comprise three key elements: orientation to board and school; professional development on new Ministry initiatives and priorities; and one-on-one mentoring. The NTIP does not stress evaluation as part of its mandate (Ontario College of Teachers, 2006).While mentors are expected to provide feedback and suggestions to new teachers, vice-principals and principals remain responsible for their formal evaluation. The induction programme commenced as a mandatory requirement to be administered by all school boards in the 2006/2007 academic year. The Ministry of Education has also funded a province-wide evaluation of the NTIP which is being conducted by a research team from Ottawa University led by Professor Ruth Kane.
Rippon and Martin (2006) describe the new Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) introduced in 2002, replacing the system that had been in place since 1965. The main intention is to ensure that all new teachers experience consistent induction. Previously teachers may have had a series of short-term appointments which worked against consistency, and it took an average of three and a half years to complete what was then a two-year probationary period (Draper, O'Brien, & Christie, 2004). Since 2002, when teachers graduate from initial teacher education, they are "placed" in schools as "probationer teachers" for a year, on 0.7 of a teaching workload and a slightly reduced salary. The school gets 0.1 time allocation for induction support (Martin & Rippon, 2005). By contrast, in England the division is 90 percent teaching, and 10 percent for professional development (Draper et al., 2004). At the end of the induction period there is no guarantee of a permanent teaching position. Each probationer teacher is assigned an "induction supporter" to carry out support and assessment roles in accordance with guidance provided by the General Teaching Council Scotland. The induction supporter is usually from the same school as the probationer teacher.
Each week the probationer teacher meets with the induction supporter to receive feedback on their progress, and to plan developmental targets. They are formally assessed monthly, against the Standard for Full Registration. The Standard comprises "23 general statements augmented by 96 more specific illustrations of professional practice" (Draper et al., 2004, p. 205).
While the authors are supportive of the intent of the induction scheme, they point out that the changes are structural or procedural and their success depends on the contexts already existing in schools. They quote Flores (2001), who asserts that teachers usually experience individualistic rather than collaborative work cultures, with teachers who are too preoccupied with their own classroom demands to devote much time to support new teachers.
The construction of new teachers as "probationers" who will be around for a short time only also appears to carry risks that they are not treated as having full status in their schools, or are expected to conform to established school norms. They report the experiences of Gemma, a composite identity constructed from accounts of several probationer teachers:
Hierarchical relations, the avoidance of 'technical talk', a cult of individualism, and the need to conform may be things Gemma has to kowtow to if she is to be accepted. Ironically, in seeking the acceptance of her colleagues to gain a sense of identity she may prevent her idealized teacher identity from emerging. The quest for real teacher identity becomes a contributing factor in the promotion of conformist school culture. (Rippon & Martin, p. 321)
They also comment that in some schools in Scotland, there is reluctance on the part of teachers to work with new teachers and to allow them to observe their teaching. There is no systematic programme of support and training for induction supporters. A weakness of the Scottish system appears to be its reliance on one-to-one mentoring by untrained mentors.
Victoria is the only Australian state that directly funds local delivery of induction programmes (Commonwealth Department of Education Science and Training, 2002). In the majority of states, new teachers have the same teaching hours as their experienced colleagues. In Victoria, schools have responsibility for induction, and they are required to link the assessment of "probationary" teachers to school performance management cycles. A "Performance and Development Handbook" includes professional standards for beginning teachers, based on five dimensions of teaching. Nineteen professional standards act as indicators of performance. According to the Department of Education Science and Training publication, An Ethic of Care (2002, pp. 43—44)
The standards are an integral part of a performance and development cycle. The cycle begins with discussion about the standards and expectations of performance, and is followed by a mid-cycle review. The process culminates with teachers completing a 'performance and development pro-forma' in which they must demonstrate 'that they are developing the skills and competencies needed to become an effective classroom practitioner.' This leads to a review by the principal and an assessment against the five dimensions, each of which must be achieved for a satisfactory review outcome. There are matching standards for experienced teachers.
New assessment processes for Provisionally Registered Teachers were trialled and evaluated for the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) in 2003 by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) (Kleinhenz & Ingvarson, 2005; Wilkinson, Beavis, Ingvarson, & Kleinhenz, 2005).
As part of the full registration process Provisionally Registered Teachers were required to complete a portfolio with three components: an analysis of teaching and learning; a record of collegial activities; and a list of, and commentary on, professional development activities undertaken. Each of these is discussed below.
An analysis of teaching and learning
This task required the Provisionally Registered Teacher to describe and reflect on a sequence of class lessons, with particular attention to the learning of two representative students. The task had five components:
It was suggested that documentation of planning and reflection be about five pages in length, and that it include student work samples.
A record of collegial activities
This task required evidence of classroom-based activities and support from mentors, including at least three classroom observations and feedback, and reflection by Provisionally Registered Teachers on their learning.
For each, there would be a pre-observation discussion to discuss:
The focus for the observation
The planned learning activities and outcomes
Contextual information
The mentor would observe the class and take notes, relating the graduate teacher's performance to the relevant standards. After the observation, the mentor and graduate would have another conversation, in which the mentor would provide the graduate with feedback. This feedback, together with the graduate's own reflections, was to be recorded on pro-formas developed by ACER and the SPLB team. (ACER, 2004, p. 4)
A list of, and commentary on, professional developmental activities undertaken
This component required teachers to submit a list of the professional development activities they had undertaken and include a commentary on how at least three of these activities have assisted their professional learning.
The decision about the acceptability of the portfolios as evidence of suitability for full teacher registration, rested with the principal and a school-based panel assessment. Provisionally Registered Teachers submitted their portfolios to a panel comprising their principal, a colleague of their choice, and a mentor for a Provisionally Registered Teacher (not their own). Although most Provisionally Registered Teachers rated the process as fair, the evaluation, however, doubted "that the summative assessment processes for making the crucial recommendation for full registration were sufficiently rigorous, valid, fair and consistent to provide reliable guarantees of graduates' eligibility to gain full registration and entry to the profession" (ACER, 2004, p. 27).
In 2004, the Victorian Institute of Teaching implemented the new registration procedures for all Provisionally Registered Teachers. It included two days of professional development for mentors, two afternoon sessions for Provisionally Registered Teachers and two principal briefings. There was a range of supporting documentation for all groups including a CD-ROM for Provisionally Registered Teachers to use in preparing their portfolios. ACER conducted an evaluation with Provisionally Registered Teachers, mentors and principals (Wilkinson et al., 2005). The evaluation used surveys of provisionally registered teachers, mentors, and principals to gather perceptions of the new registration procedures in Victoria. The evaluation found that although primary Provisionally Registered Teachers were more positive about the new registration procedures than their secondary colleagues there was general support for the process, with stronger support reported from principals and mentors than from the Provisionally Registered Teachers themselves.
The report highlighted the desire of Provisionally Registered Teachers for decisions about their entry to the profession to be taken seriously:
Clearly, many graduate participants in the project expected a much more demanding summative assessment than they actually experienced. Most were unsure of how the assessment would be carried out. Because it had never been done before, they did not have precedents on which to base expectations of rigour or lack thereof. Many graduates invested large amounts of work and effort to produce portfolios of excellent quality, in the belief that there would be a rigorous assessment. They were disappointed that they did not receive more formal recognition of a kind that matched the seriousness with which they prepared their portfolios. They also would have welcomed more detailed feedback on their development and progress. (ACER, 2004, p. 27)
In New Zealand, there is an expectation that Provisionally Registered Teachers will be assessed and provided with feedback throughout their induction period. There has been no research specifically on how the assessment of Provisionally Registered Teachers operates in practice in New Zealand, although primary school principals tend to report that they are happy with the performance of their beginning teachers (Cameron & Grudnoff, 1993; Grudnoff & Tuck, 2002; Renwick, 2001a). Grudnoff and Tuck (1999) describe the appraisal of primary teachers in New Zealand as involving "fuzzy standards and leaps of faith. The leap is quite substantial, from the written amorphous open criteria to the actual appraisal of an instance of teaching practice" (p. 9).
More recently, Grudnoff and Tuck (2003, p. 1) contend:
New Zealand has also been a fertile breeding ground for the creation of lists of statements defining the characteristics of the good teacher. In the latter part of the last century the Teacher Registration Board (1997) published criteria for identifying the "satisfactory teacher", the New Zealand Qualification Authority set out "standards" of teaching (Gibbs and Munro, 1993; McGrath, 1996), the Education Review Office (1998) published the defining characteristics of the "capable teacher", and last but not least the Ministry of Education (1998) published "interim standards" for teachers in primary schools. The cynic familiar with the literature will not be surprised at the problematic nature of the defining characteristics of a good teacher. As Stones (1994, p 236) commented, "Consensus on the critical attributes of competent teaching does not exist".
Grudnoff and Tuck have studied cohorts of primary teacher education graduates during their first two years of teaching since 1999, and as part of this research have attempted to assess their teaching. They found that none of the "plethora of official promulgations of sets of descriptions of standards of teaching" (2003, p. 1) had scoring rubrics and objective appraisal processes, so they developed their own set of written statements of standards and assessment procedures in consultation with principals, tutor teachers and beginning teachers. They consider that "to a large extent the credibility of standards rests with the credentials of those who write the initial descriptions of accomplished practice, and those who make the ultimate judgement of whether particular standards have been met in a particular context" (p. 3). They think it unlikely that principals and educational leaders will be able to translate the current standards into consistent assessments of teaching.
They acknowledge difficulties in developing performance indicators for the dimensions that are able to be used by people who were not part of their construction, and report an unpublished study by Haigh and Tuck (1998) which found that correlations between initial teacher educators' and classroom teachers' judgements of student teachers' teaching were low or insignificant. The main reason for different judgements, they contend, was that the teacher educators and classroom teachers had not collaboratively developed shared understandings of what the "standards" looked like in practice.
Grudnoff and Tuck (2003, pp. 2—3) go on to explain:
Standards setting finally comes down to credible judges making judgements according to transparent rules in specified contexts, and the objectivity of their judgements is in part dependent on the nature of the written standard. Consider a national Olympic committee selecting runners for inclusion in the national team as sprinters. The standard set is likely to be unequivocal, e.g. if you run 100 metres in less than a certain time as measured by specified instruments and specified judges, on a level track, with a following wind less than a certain speed then you will be nominated for the team. If you do not run it in this time under the specified conditions then you will not be nominated. Consider if the above standard for nomination had been written as follows:
'To be nominated the athlete must run quickly'
There is now considerable room for interpretation as to the nature of the context and what is to count as running quickly. Virtually all of the standards in the literature on effective teaching are of the "running quickly" type, e.g.
'Adequately explores opportunities and uses knowledge to...'
'Identifies a relevant range of resources...'
'Researches a range of issues...'
'Describes adequately...'
'Presents findings cogently...'
The labelling of such written descriptions as 'standards' has been criticised by New Zealand writers on the grounds that it confuses a standard manner of describing learning outcomes or activities with the process of setting standards or making judgement about standards of performance (Elley, 1995; Tuck, 1994, 1995).
Grudnoff and Tuck (2003) and Cameron and Gunn (1999) emphasise that effective assessment of teaching practice needs to be part of a coherent process with a shared purpose and direction, with evidence of effective practice evolving as part of a collective discourse best achieved over time as opposed to one-off checkpoints.
There are currently few opportunities for New Zealand teachers to learn how to undertake formative and summative assessments with their colleagues, and current approaches to teacher appraisal have been shown to have vague goals and to focus on teacher practices without exploring connections between these practices and student learning (Sinnema, 2005). In their study of 57 third-year primary and secondary teachers, Cameron, Baker and Lovett (2006) found while two-thirds of the primary teachers reported that feedback on their teaching as part of school appraisal processes helped and motivated them to improve their teaching, only 40 percent of the secondary teachers agreed that appraisal observations were helpful and motivating. These studies suggest that further opportunities may be required for New Zealand tutor teachers/supervisors to develop greater expertise in having discussions about teaching with their Provisionally Registered Teachers that focus them on the links between their teaching and their children's/students' learning, and that encourage them to further advance their pedagogical approaches. While the current Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions indicate that Provisionally Registered Teachers might "reflect on teaching with a view to improvement", they do not suggest that teachers might use evidence of student learning to guide their reflections. The Teachers Council has begun a review the Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions; if they are to be used as the basis for registration decisions, they will need to be developed collectively, as were the current dimensions, with attention to the design of appropriate assessments, alongside their development.
There is some evidence of a lack of consistency in the provision of both formative and summative assessment to beginning teachers, particularly in secondary schools (Cameron et al., 2006; Goold, 2004; Kane & Mallon, 2006). Cameron et al., (2006, p. 53) concluded from their study of 57 new teachers:
Given that some beginning teachers were not provided with mentors and did not have their teaching assessed, we cannot be confident they all met requirements for full teacher registration. While they may be satisfactory teachers they are unlikely to have made optimal progress.
Shaw et al., (2006) contend that schools and centres tend to use the Ministry of Education standards as default standards rather than using the Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions set by the profession. Having two sets of "standards" appears confusing, and may limit the role of the Teachers Council in setting and maintaining standards in the profession. The survey phase of the induction research will explore the assessment of Provisionally Registered Teachers in New Zealand.
Shaw et al. (2006) also express concern about the lack of moderation of judgements about decisions that Provisionally Registered Teachers are ready to be awarded full registration. Until their abolition in the late 1980s, school inspectors each judged and classified beginning teachers, and there was a moderation system in place.
There is also some concern from within the early childhood and secondary sectors with the audit process used by the Teachers Council to check that applicants for full registration have engaged in an advice and guidance programme during their period of provisional registration. In a recent paper to its annual conference, the Post Primary Teachers Association (2006) claims that the audit process reflects a low trust model, because it does not accept the recommendation of the school principal.
The Auckland Kindergarten Association has several concerns with the process of awarding full registration, especially for Provisionally Registered Teachers who may have stepped out from employment for several years, before continuing with the registration process, as it considers that evidence of teacher reflections throughout the induction period was not required several years ago.
The main points from this overview of assessment can be summarised as follows:
The research points to a common core of practices that have been shown to lead to important outcomes for newly registered teachers. Essentially, effective induction programmes appear to have multiple components, and be provided by a range of people, in a range of circumstances that are focussed on teachers' and children's/student learning. High-quality induction programmes are coherent: the varied activities are logically connected and aligned. Mentoring is an important component of induction, but tutor teachers/supervisors require training and support to equip them to provide feedback that assists beginning teachers to focus on the learning needs of those they teach. This requires that tutor teachers/supervisors have sound knowledge and understanding relevant to the teaching context of their Provisionally Registered Teacher. In practice this would mean that the tutor teacher of a secondary science teacher of Year 9 and 10 students would have knowledge and expertise in teaching science concepts meaningfully to this age group, skills in evaluating students' understanding of these concepts, and the ability to assist the Provisionally Registered Teacher to develop these skills. Similarly, a primary school teacher is best mentored by an experienced teacher with current knowledge of the curriculum and pedagogies for the level the Provisionally Registered Teacher is teaching. The practice of primary teachers mentoring early childhood teachers because of a lack of fully registered teachers in the ECE sector is a stop-gap practice at best. Tutor teachers in Māori medium contexts need a complex mix of skills: competency in te reo Māori and kaupapa, and curriculum and pedagogical knowledge relevant to their teaching context.
Perhaps the most important message that emerges from the literature on induction is: it is what teachers are inducted into that is critical. Targeted funding, training, and resources are necessary but not sufficient to impact on teacher practice. In 2003, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future held a summit of teachers, superintendents, teachers, union leaders, legislators, principals, teacher educators, and researchers to consider the elements or components necessary to embrace new teachers into a culture of support (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003) and would move them towards accomplished teaching. Participants stressed that support needs to extend beyond mentoring, and that induction should be into a collaborative professional learning community that emphasises their relationships with colleagues, with strong expectations that they will continue to learn and grow throughout their careers. Participants emphasised how:
We cannot talk about the first years of teaching in isolation. We must talk about the profession of teaching. We must have a vision of what we want the profession to look like in order to know how to effectively introduce beginners into that profession.
We must have a vision of the career path for all teachers in order to have a clear vision of where that path begins.
We cannot talk about the daily work of novice teachers without also talking about the daily work of all teachers. If the daily work of beginning teachers changes, the daily work of every teacher in the schools [and centres] in which they work will be impacted.
If effective induction of teachers means making teaching work more public and subject to shared reflection among all practitioners in a school/centre, that would change the culture of the schools. Any change in culture would impact teachers, as well as principals, parents, and, of course, students. (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003, p.4)
Overall, the components recommended in the New Zealand documentation on advice and guidance programmes for Provisionally Registered Teachers comprise a number of the elements of the comprehensive induction practices recommended in the literature. The next section will examine the research on mentoring.
Just as all students deserve caring and competent teachers, all beginning teachers deserve caring and competent mentors. Well-prepared mentor teachers combine the knowledge and skills of a competent classroom teacher with the knowledge and skills of a teacher of teaching. (Feiman-Nemser, 2001, Teacher learning during the induction phase, para. 46)
The second research question was:
What knowledge, preparation and support do mentoring teachers require to work effectively with Provisionally Registered Teachers within a structured advice and guidance programme?
Responses to this question of the knowledge, preparation, and support needed by mentors if they are to effectively support Provisionally Registered Teachers depend on the purposes that mentoring is intended to achieve. Not surprisingly, given the steepness of the learning curve in the first year of teaching, new teachers are likely to emphasise the affective dimensions of mentor support. Moir and Gless (2001) stress that the success of any support programme depends on a strong, supportive, and sustained relationship between the mentor and new teacher. A recent person specification generated by Scottish student teachers, shown in Table 5, illustrates the importance to new teachers of emotional support, relevant practical and professional knowledge, and time to help them adapt to their individual work contexts and cultures. (Rippon & Martin, 2003).
Table 5 Person specification for a mentor teacher (induction supporter) from Rippon and Martin (2003, p. 224)
Induction supporter | Essential attributes | Desirable attributes |
| Approachability | ||
| Inclination | Willing to work with *Provisionally Registered Teachers | Expresses a desire to work with Provisionally Registered Teachers and demonstrates a keen interest and knowledge of issues associated with them |
| Time | Use time available to deal with Provisionally Registered Teachers ' concerns | Makes time to spend with Provisionally Registered Teachers to support, guide and discuss issues with them as they arise |
| Listening | Willing to spend time listening to Provisionally Registered Teachers ' views and concerns | Demonstrate the desire to listen actively to Provisionally Registered Teachers, taking account of their views and concerns in practice |
| Empathy | Have an appreciation of the apprehension felt by most Provisionally Registered Teachers | Show understanding in areas of concern to Provisionally Registered Teachers and ability to find out about personal and professional concerns of individuals. Willing to advocate for Provisionally Registered Teachers . |
| Partnership | Have the skills to work with Provisionally Registered Teachers as professional colleagues | Have a genuine interest in collaborating with Provisionally Registered Teachers in an equal partnership, to consolidate and challenge personal and professional practice. |
| Teaching credibility | ||
| Teaching competence | Be a positive teaching role model | Be a positive role model in your relationships with children and young people*, in the delivery of the curriculum and in terms of organisation of your own teaching programme. Be able to share and explain your teaching practices with others. |
| Teaching reputation | Be well regarded by children, and young people, colleagues, managers and parents | Have a proven track record of high achievement as a teacher, staff member and mentor. |
| Professional Knowledge and Authority | ||
| Educational knowledge | Possess an up-to-date educational knowledge and skills | To possess up-to-date educational knowledge, be able and willing to share it and the underpinning philosophies and/or principles with others. |
| School[or centre*] knowledge | Be aware of wider workplace* issues and procedures | Be able and willing to explain workplace policy and procedures to Provisionally Registered Teachers, and guide them to relevant sources of information or personnel. |
| Motivational skills | ||
| Observation | Have an awareness of key professional teaching skills | Able to identify and evaluate professional abilities and personal qualities. |
| Feedback | Able to give sound advice and direction to Provisionally Registered Teachers | Able to establish a genuine, honest dialogue about performance, balancing courage with consideration for the Provisionally Registered Teacher. |
| Enthusiasm | Able to demonstrate a love of teaching | Able to collaborate with others, generating an enthusiastic and confident approach to teaching. |
| Other | ||
| Be honest | ||
| Be fair | ||
| Have a personal identity as well as a professional identity | ||
| Have a sense of humour | ||
| Respect others and their feelings |
*Terminology changed to reflect New Zealand context
Teachers in the Teachers of Promise study (Cameron et al., 2006) also emphasised the value of mentor knowledge, and willingness to respond to requests for technical assistance in their early days as teachers:
She was the teacher in charge of the year one and two teachers and she was one of those fantastic women that you could trip up in a corridor and she would give you immediate advice, how to rectify a behaviour problem or how to, you know, get that done in the most efficient way, and she was great, like she was always available. (Secondary teacher, quoted in Cameron et al., p. 38)
Other researchers have identified lists of attributes that mentors should ideally possess. Bartell (2005, p. 76) quotes a list of mentor characteristics originally provided by Odell and Huling, 2000. Mentors should:
Fletcher and Barrett (2003, pp 4—5) have identified further skills for effective mentoring:
Other writers consider that lists of mentor characteristics do little to assist mentors to know what to do to assist a new teacher. The National Center for Research on Teacher Learning (NCRTL) publication Learning from Mentors — Study Update (1995) focuses on mentoring practices and the contribution of mentor teachers to novice teachers' learning. Although this is an early study, the issues raised are still relevant and are reflected in subsequent approaches to mentoring:
These practices would help to develop a "culture of mentoring" where mentor teachers work together to improve their teaching and mentoring.
Wang, Odell, and Strong (2006) discuss how novice—mentor discussions based on observed lessons are thought to help novices teach more effectively, and develop attitudes and skills for analysing and transforming their teaching. The theoretical basis for this belief is that all knowledge is situated in and grows out of a particular context (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989), and that experienced mentors know how to pitch their assistance at the level required by new teachers. Working together and talking about common experiences is thought to provide access to mentors' more developed knowledge and ways of doing things (Lave & Wenger, 1991).
[She gave me] a lot of help with planning: we'd do a lot of planning together, so we [both] knew where we were going. I had a Year 5 class; she had a Year 6 in the same syndicate . . . We'd do all our goal setting, things like that together. She was basically just there, and I always felt that she was there when I needed her and she always knew when I needed her too. Sometimes she could just tell by talking to me that 'Okay, you need a bit of help here.' (Primary teacher, quoted in Cameron et al., p. 42)
Some researchers such as Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1999) caution that mentors can reinforce conservative practices. Certainly, mentoring that occurs in the context of individualistic school cultures is unlikely to maximise new teacher learning, as there is limited access to collaboratively developed approaches to practice. Kardos, Johnson, Peske, Kauffman and Lui (2001) found that new teachers in integrated professional cultures experienced an environment where there was ongoing interaction between experienced and new teachers about teaching and learning. There was a shared responsibility for the school's students and for each other, and beginning teachers did not have to rely on a sole dedicated mentor as their sole source of support; they were in fact embedded in a rich and professionally nourishing professional culture.
I am really lucky to be in the junior syndicate 'cause everybody looks after one another and it's just fantastic. I had a really good tutor teacher who I was able to go to but it wasn't just her, it was, you know, it was any of the teachers in the syndicate I could go to for help, so I didn't just solely rely on my tutor teacher for assistance. (Primary teacher quoted in Cameron et al., 2006, p. 39)
Mentors also need personal understandings and skills to assist new teachers to teach in ways that reflect contemporary research on specific content areas. Williams, Gore, and Cooper, (2004) consider that the ability to focus on pedagogy is insufficiently emphasised in the mentoring literature; they believe that student learning is at the heart of teaching practice, so mentoring programmes should assist teachers to deliver "good pedagogy" (p. 3). Roehrig and Luft (2004), in a study of beginning secondary science teachers, contend that teaching science as enquiry requires teachers to know about the processes and nature of science as well as the facts and principles of their subject, and they need to have a strongly interconnected and readily accessible knowledge about their subject to teach it meaningfully to students. They point out (2004, p. 21) that "without support teachers will enact instruction that best serves them and not the students". Williams, Gore and Cooper (2004) note that "The decisions teacher make about what they teach and how they teach it, and then specifically how that learning is planned, programmed, assessed and tested are central to students' achievement" (p.2). Thus the quality of the teaching is what matters most in the classroom, and a focus on pedagogy and teacher and student learning is central to effective mentoring practice.
Wang et al., 2006 point out that most studies rely on interview and survey data collected in traditional mentoring contexts without direct observation of novice—mentor conversations in settings where participants are committed to newer approaches to teaching effectiveness. Their study of the pre-lesson conversations of three mentoring pairs showed that few how and why questions were posed by mentors, with attention typically focused on the activities that students were going to do, rather than the teaching strategies the teacher was intending to use. This finding resonates with those of Timperley (2001) and Sinnema (2005) who also found that conversations between supervisors and teachers were largely concerned with immediate issues of practical performance and advice giving, rather than assisting teachers to inquire into the rationale and impact of their teaching decisions.
Mentor teachers also require skills of problem analysis in order to assist Provisionally Registered Teachers to address problems of practice. For example, Achinstein and Barrett (2004) note that researchers and school administrators frequently identify classroom control as paramount in new teacher concerns. New teachers who are having difficulties with behaviour management, therefore, are advised to focus on rules and routines. Achinstein and Barrett (ibid.) point out Feiman-Nemser's (2001) view that behaviour problems "may have more to do with curriculum and instruction, and an ability to engage diverse learners in meaningful and challenging tasks, than with discipline" (p. 717). Thus, a mentor, faced with a Provisionally Registered Teacher and an out-of-control class, requires a number of sophisticated skills that allow them to diagnose the problem(s) and assist the Provisionally Registered Teacher to address the problem(s).
Achinstein and Barrett (2004) have described how teachers and mentors tend to use particular frames to explain what they perceive to be occurring in their classroom contexts. A managerial frame, for instance, emphasises relationships between teachers and students in terms of the importance of the teacher being in charge, and being explicit about rules and expectations. The classroom would be "efficient" and "organized"; teachers operate as managers, and students as workers. A human relationships frame would highlight meeting students' needs, with "caring" environments where learners are valued both as unique individuals and collaborators with others. They suggest that mentors can assist teachers to reveal their assumptions about teaching and learning, and help them to "reframe" their thinking about their own roles and/or those of their students. Feiman-Nemser (2001) describes these practices as "educative mentoring".
However, as we have reported earlier, it has not been part of the culture of teaching to uncover and explore rationales for teaching decisions. Timperley (2001) uses the term "learning conversation" to describe the particular kind of interaction that promotes student-teacher learning, although the model is applicable to beginning teachers too. Timperley emphasises that this task is particularly challenging because it requires mentors to know how to talk about teaching principles in ways that promote others' learning about their practice and how to improve on it. Robinson (1993, p. 55) contends that those giving feedback to others need to be able to express their views clearly, give reasons for these views and check whether the recipient agrees or disagrees with their interpretation. These skills are not readily learnt without specific training and ongoing support.
Mentors also need to know how to gather, interpret, and use data to inform teaching. Using the earlier example of a Provisionally Registered Teacher with "behaviour-management" problems, the mentor may learn, in discussion with the Provisionally Registered Teacher, that she believes that at Year 9 all of the students in her class should be able to follow her instructions to read and answer questions from an assigned article. The mentor may suggest that it is possible that the article is too difficult and contains too many complex ideas for the group of students who are "off task" and disengaged. How then, will she test this assumption? Can she and the Provisionally Registered Teacher come up with a strategy that will ascertain if indeed the task is too advanced for some of the students? She may suggest that they use the services of the school's Resource Teacher in Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) to assess the students' reading and comprehension skills; she may suggest that they check the data sent from the previous intermediate school; or suggest they ask the students themselves why it is they are not engaging with the suggested work. These possible responses use data rather than opinion to generate approaches to addressing problems.
Similarly, a mentor needs to have personal understandings of how to interpret student data to identify who is having difficulties in specific areas, and how to use this information to target future teaching and learning experiences, for individuals or groups of children or students, in order to assist a Provisionally Registered Teacher. Until relatively recently, there have been inadequate tools or professional development to support these approaches, so it is likely that mentor teachers would benefit from professional learning related to assessment.
Mentoring requires skills that are additional to those of a teacher who works well in her own classroom or centre, and the literature consistently advocates that teachers need training and support to do these roles well.
The literature on mentoring indicates the importance of selecting mentors carefully and of providing them with training, resources and support to provide mentoring that aligns with the "vision of what we want the profession to look like". Opportunities for mentors and beginning teachers to participate in school based professional development appear to provide experiences where collective expertise and sharing of practice can be extended (Cameron et al., 2006). Greater research on the kinds of mentoring practices that strengthen new teachers' pedagogical content knowledge is indicated.
The next section will explore New Zealand research with a view to providing insights about the extent to which the recommended practices are reflected in New Zealand teaching contexts.
The third research question investigated in this literature review is:
What is the nature of existing practices, including assessment processes, of advice and guidance programmes accessed by Provisionally Registered Teachers in a range of settings in New Zealand?
While New Zealand does not have an extensive literature on teacher induction, there has been an ongoing research focus over the past 15 years to assess stakeholder views of the support provided to new teachers. There have been four national studies on the professional support provided to beginning teachers in the school sector. The first (Mansell, 1996) surveyed first- and second-year primary and secondary Provisionally Registered Teachers about their advice and guidance programmes and their use of the 0.2 release time. Most respondents were positive about their advice and guidance programmes, although primary teachers were more positive, and had more opportunities to learn from their more experienced colleagues. Most of the Provisionally Registered Teachers reported meeting regularly with an identified supervisor with whom they set up regular meetings as well as support from other teachers.
The second national study (Renwick, 2001) investigated the perceptions of a random sample of primary and secondary Provisionally Registered Teachers in relation to their advice and guidance programmes. This study supported the findings of Mansell (1996), highlighting differences between primary and secondary teachers in their perception of the amount and effectiveness of the support they received. Overall, primary teachers were more likely to have a designated tutor/supervising teacher who provided regular support, and to consider that their advice and guidance programme was effective.
Dewar et al. (2003) interviewed staff in 20 secondary schools, and found that advice and guidance programmes appeared to be ad hoc rather than implemented on a formally scheduled basis. Many Provisionally Registered Teachers wanted, but did not get, systematic mentoring, and had insufficient opportunities to observe other teachers. Some Provisionally Registered Teachers were reluctant to add to the workload of their colleagues by asking for help. Because the 0.2 time allowance was used to reduce their workload, other teachers did not have access to release time to provide the sorts of support they would have preferred to provide.
In 2005, the Education Review Office (ERO) conducted an evaluation of the quality of guidance and support provided by schools to Provisionally Registered Teachers in their second year of teaching in conjunction with their scheduled school reviews (Education Review Office, 2005). The study involved 119 primary beginning teachers in 79 schools and 79 secondary teachers in 32 schools, about 8 percent of the beginning teachers in New Zealand schools. The Provisionally Registered Teachers had been in the same school for both years of their provisional registration. The evaluation took place between February and May 2004, which means that the beginning teachers had completed half or slightly more of their induction period.
ERO used its own indicators to design the questions and judgements of effective practice, focusing on the beginning teachers' subject knowledge and engagement of students in learning, and schools' effectiveness in facilitating the further development of the beginning teacher's knowledge, skills and values as a teaching professional.
The reviewers carried out classroom observations of beginning teachers and their tutor/supervising teachers, interviewed the Provisionally Registered Teacher, tutor teacher, and principal in each school, and examined evidence from school and classroom documentation alongside evidence from the school review. Although the reviewers attended training sessions to prepare for their roles, measures of inter-rater reliability to assess the degree to which different observers gave consistent judgements for their observations were not established. Table 6 summarises the percentage of beginning teachers who met or exceeded ERO's expectations for beginning teachers.
When ERO examined individual teachers' attainment of ERO's expectations of effectiveness, it found that, of beginning teachers in their second year, only 65 percent of primary and 52 percent of secondary beginning teachers met all expectations. ERO concluded:
On the basis of the findings of its evaluation ERO recommended:
Table 6 ERO evaluation of primary and secondary second year beginning teachers and the advice and guidance provided by their schools
Evaluative question/area | Percentage of beginning teachers meeting or exceeding ERO's expectations | |
| Primary % | Secondary % | |
| 1. To what extent does the Year 2 beginning teacher have the subject knowledge to teach effectively in assigned areas of responsibility? | 77 | 77 |
| 2. How effective is the Year 2 beginning teacher in engaging the students in learning? | ||
| 2.1 Pedagogical knowledge and skills for promoting student achievement | 80 | 77 |
| 2.2 Extent to which students are effectively engaged in learning | 79 | 72 |
| 2.3 Diversity: the extent to which the beginning teacher uses a range of approaches and resources effectively to meet the needs of all students | 71 | 73 |
| 3. How effective is the school in facilitating the further development of the beginning teacher's knowledge, skills and values as a teaching professional? | ||
| 3.1 School policies and practices link with a facilitate effective professional development opportunities for the beginning teacher | 84 | 80 |
| 3.2 The school's guidance programme meets the individual development needs of the beginning teacher | 80 | 68 |
| 3.3 The school effectively promotes the teacher's development of constructive professional relationships within the school community. | 86 | 75 |
According to an unpublished telephone survey of tumuaki in kura kaupapa Māori schools by the Teachers Council (New Zealand Teachers Council, 2006), while there is strong commitment to have qualified and fully registered teachers in kura kaupapa Māori, there are barriers to this happening. These include the scarcity of suitably qualified tutor teachers and the capacity of those available to meet their needs. Some schools may have only one fully registered teacher. For example a tumuaki reported:
As the tumuaki I've been the only tutor teacher. I had 4 beginning teachers at one time and there was no financial recognition.
Other barriers for the provision of quality induction in the kura kaupapa Māori sector were identified by those interviewed as:
Small-scale independent academic research exploring teacher induction and beginning teachers' experiences in schools and the early childhood sector has been undertaken over the past 15 or so years, with heightened interest in the past five years.
Mahmood (2000) and Renwick and Boyd (1995) identified the importance of workplace conditions and support in the first year of teaching for early childhood teachers. Both studies found that dissatisfaction with their work was often related to working conditions, including role expectations unrelated to teaching, particularly for those working in early childhood services other than kindergarten.
More recently, Aitken (2005) examined the experiences of a group of eight newly registered early childhood teachers and found that practices and relationships within centres impacted on their transition to teaching. The demands and responsibilities associated with government policy initiatives were more strongly felt in education and care centres; Aitken considered that "this seemed to be directly related to the availability of qualified and more experienced teachers within the kindergarten setting" (p. 100). She reported that some of the teachers were required to work long hours, and were expected to carry too much responsibility too early in their careers, including supporting other staff and relievers, which led to teacher attrition. Some of the teachers had been unable to begin the full registration process during their first year because of a shortage of fully registered teachers in their centre, and their inability to find a supervisor.
Mitchell, Royal Tangaere, Mara, and Wylie (2006) also found that some teachers in education and care centres had difficulty in accessing a local registration supervisor. This was especially evident in rural localities. Teachers in Pasifika early childhood education centres could not always access an appropriate registration supervisor who understood their language and culture. There were also some concerns that the quality of advice and guidance was variable.
A small-scale project by Marshall (2005) focused on the professional development needs of three Provisionally Registered Teachers in kindergartens in their first month of teaching. During this time, teachers attended an induction workshop provided by the Auckland Kindergarten Association. Support within centres was identified as critical, including being formally welcomed into their centre. One Provisionally Registered Teacher was welcomed only by a message on the board. Differing levels of support from their professional services manager were identified. The three teachers considered that the induction workshop by the association would have been improved by more practical information about areas such as funding, and the roles and work of kindergarten committees. They identified their need for more formal feedback on their practice, dedicated time to work on registration folders and meetings assigned for registration with tutor teachers.
A small scale internal evaluation of 325 Provisionally Registered Teachers with a response rate of 18 percent showed that those replying had found their induction support to be very helpful. The most helpful component was the opportunity to network with other teachers (Hay, 2006).
Lang (1999) explored beginning primary teachers' experiences and found that both personal and professional factors impacted on their ability to "survive" their first year of teaching. The school-based factors included collaborative planning, and support from their tutor teacher. A second study (Lang, 2002) also highlighted the importance of supportive personal and professional relationships to new teachers.
Smales (2002) identified adequate and appropriate support within their working context as the key factor in enabling 30 first-year primary Provisionally Registered Teachers to evolve their image as a teacher and develop effective and satisfying teaching practices.
Trevethan (2006) interviewed four primary beginning teachers and their tutor teachers at the beginning and end of 2004 from a sample of graduates from Dunedin College of Education. In 2005, the process was repeated with another three beginning teachers. Advice and guidance programmes included formal and informal meetings, release time, observation in other classes, formal observations by tutor teachers, written feedback, working alongside other colleagues, formal appraisal, recording, reflective diary writing, planning checks, and written reports on teaching. Provisionally Registered Teachers and tutor teachers identified characteristics of effective tutor teachers almost entirely in terms of provision of personal and emotional support, although the tutor teachers identified the need for tutor teachers to have taught at the level as their Provisionally Registered Teacher, to be enthusiastic about teaching and to be a competent experiences classroom teacher. Both tutor teachers and Provisionally Registered Teachers emphasised that tutor teachers need adequate time and support to perform their roles, a finding also reported by ERO (Education Review Office, 2005).
The only study we found about the induction of teachers in kura kaupapa Māori settings was that of Stucki, Kahu, Jenkins, Bruce-Ferguson, & Kane (2006), who reported anecdotal evidence that Māori teachers in mainstream, bilingual and total immersion settings are more likely to leave than other teachers, because of unreasonable expectations on their time and resources, and a lack of structured support. Teachers in their study found it difficult to secure teaching positions and the authors note "There is evidence to support the contention that these mainly Māori beginning teachers from an identifiably Māori provider who was also new in the sector had more difficulty than most in successfully finding employment on the basis of age and the unknown nature of the wānanga (Stucki et al., 2006, p. 24). Like the Native American teachers reported in Stewart (2005), some teachers may have been disadvantaged in their search for employment because of perceptions that their programme of teacher preparation was less adequate than that of mainstream providers.
The study tracked 12 of 27 graduates of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Korowai Akonga programme in 2004 and found, like other studies, that graduates experienced varying degrees of support in their first year of teaching. All of the beginning teachers in this study found that it was up to them to ask for assistance, with the following comment illustrating the lack of comprehensive induction support:
It feels like I am hinting all the time. I am the one who is going to have to do all the extra mileage to go out and find these things out. No one is going to or. . . some do help out, but you are on your own. (Stucki, Kahu, Jenkins, Bruce-Ferguson, & Kane, 2006, p. 19)
It is unclear in the study whether the teachers were employed in mainstream or Māori medium teaching contexts. There is clearly a major gap in the literature in relation to induction in kura kaupapa Māori settings.
A recent thesis (Goold, 2004) used focus groups to explore the support received by 19 first or second year Provisionally Registered Teachers from five secondary schools in Auckland. Three of the five schools ran an orientation programme that adequately prepared the new teachers for their start in teaching, although a fourth school provided 15 minutes on the day teaching began, and in the fifth school new teachers did not meet until the fourth week of the first term. Basic orientation practices were missing in some schools. For example, some teachers expressed concern that they had not been issued with keys to their classrooms, or key information such as fire-drill procedures and school discipline policies. One teacher said:
We didn't get keys until about week three. I felt like being a student teacher, having to run in and say 'Can I borrow your keys?' You don't feel like you work there. We didn't go on an orientation around the school. We had a little map but it didn't make a lot of sense and you felt, kind of like an idiot when you were walking around with this map. I also found I had heaps of staff ask me if I was here to enrol on my first day. 'No, I'm a teacher not a student!' And what do I do when someone comes in with incorrect uniform into my class? (p. 58)
A teacher who had not been told how to fill out the class register said:
It would be quite nice to know before the end of term that you are meant to add your register up and make it balance instead of finding out when you're the only one left and everybody is leaving. (p. 60)
The developmental support provided for these teachers varied greatly, although generally support within their subject departments was perceived to be good. Only four Provisionally Registered Teachers in Goold's study had regular opportunities to observe other teachers.
Two teachers who had responsibility for a small subject area reported that there was no one to help them. The issue of isolation for teachers who are the only teacher in their subject area was also identified in Cameron et al. (2006).
Many Provisionally Registered Teachers in Goold's study did not receive a systematic induction that developed their teaching. The area of greatest need for support was identified as pedagogical content knowledge, particularly in ensuring that content was appropriate to the understanding of students. The need for mentors to possess the skills to focus on improving pedagogy has been reported in the literature (Williams et al., 2004). A few teachers reported that in their departments teachers were reluctant to share their pedagogical knowledge: "the problem has been competition. You feel like you're in a competition".
Provisionally Registered Teachers also reported that they needed advice on working with classes of mixed ability, and low ability classes. None of the Provisionally Registered Teachers identified any professional development support with regard to understanding the learning needs of students. Only one school supported teachers in reporting to parents.
Teachers in three of the schools commented on the personal or psychological support they had received from their colleagues and the support that they provided to each other, an experience also identified as valuable by ERO (2004). Teachers in one school referred to the example of geese flying in formation, supporting each other and "honking" their encouragement to others.
It's amazing how many times you see somebody and they look a little bit down and you go up to them and go 'honk, honk" and they end up laughing and it makes such a difference. (p. 79)
Three of the first year Provisionally Registered Teachers had not received any assessment of their teaching by their supervisor by the start of the third term and were unsure about the assessment processes. They were unclear about the aims of the induction programme and what they were meant to get out of it. The failure of some secondary schools to meet their responsibilities to Provisionally Registered Teachers suggests that principals' recommendations for full registration of Provisionally Registered Teachers without observations of their teaching do not provide sufficient assurance that registration requirements have been met.
Concerns about the retention, quality and availability of New Zealand trained secondary school teachers, prompted Hansen, Ashman and Haigh (2003) to conduct a case study of two Provisionally Registered Teachers and one recently fully registered teacher employed in a semi-rural co-educational state secondary school over a period of a teaching year. Interviews were conducted with the three teachers and colleagues who contributed to their advice and guidance programmes. Observations and document analysis were used to explore the challenges and dilemmas encountered as they worked towards full registration. All teachers interviewed saw the first year of teaching as inevitably something to merely "survive". One teacher recalled:
I did believe that my first year would be hard, I just knew I had to get through it. . .I had developed a determination and a desire to beat the system.
All teachers identified a lack of formal support from the senior management team, which at times contributed to insecurity in their roles, and overall "did not find that the school's systems for induction and mentoring were particularly helpful" (Hansen et al., 2003).
Pettigrew (2004) also conducted a qualitative study of five secondary teachers for a masters thesis. Her sample was restricted to first career teachers as she thought that career changers may have brought different "levels of resolve and different life skills", which could have assisted them to cope with early career challenges. At the time of the interviews the teachers were all employed in co-educational schools, and had taught between three to eight years. Pettigrew found that these teachers placed considerable importance on having supportive people within the school for their early years of teaching. Most support came primarily from within their departments, and their need for subject and pedagogical related help echoed Goold's (2004) data. For this reason teachers considered it essential that their mentor be from the same department, although it did not necessarily have to be their head of department, whose workloads they noted with "alarm and dismay". None felt particularly well supported by school leaders whom they described as "remote". They identified a need to be "noticed and valued". They considered that assistance was usually responsive rather than proactive or planned, which further supports Renwick's (2001) argument that the professional development needs of supervising teachers require research.
The beginning teachers felt that observations of their teaching practice were usually for summative purposes rather than to improve their own teaching.
They viewed the 0.2 non-contact time used for administration and planning as critical to their success, although one of the teachers had not received the time allowance. Only one teacher had observed other teachers in their school, and none had observed teachers outside their own schools.
The pressures of extracurricular requirements and a heavy workload were identified as unhelpful aspects of their work. They described extracurricular activities as a "catch 22" situation, especially when they were an extension of their teaching subject, such as the creative arts and sport. While there were positive aspects, such as the building of positive relationships with students, the hardest aspects were the time it required and the conflict it created for their families, as well as the lack of school recognition.
Pettigrew suggested that induction should be centred on the school site and on factors that support good teaching (p. 22). She recommended that mentors be selected with care, and that they be provided with time, training, and some financial reward to support Provisionally Registered Teachers. She also recommended that schools acknowledge the novice status of Provisionally Registered Teachers in all aspects of their role such as the appropriateness of their teaching programme, their teaching space, class composition, and expectations outside the classroom. She considered it essential that Provisionally Registered Teachers are not exposed to a workload that would diminish their chances of success.
She recommended that advice and guidance programmes begin with a generic component for all Provisionally Registered Teachers in a school with an initial focus on the nuts and bolts tasks such as rolls, fees and routine tasks. Once this stage was completed, the advice and guidance programme would be planned in consultation with Provisionally Registered Teachers, to ensure they are given timely help with topical issues such as report writing, talking to parents, and managing difficult students. Other teachers' expertise should contribute to the induction programme. She urged that Provisionally Registered Teachers be nurtured and cared for, as part of a supportive school culture, modelled by school leaders in the first instance. Principals should take notice and acknowledge all Provisionally Registered Teachers.
Both Goold's and Pettigrew's studies are supported by Cameron et al. (2006), who are conducting a longitudinal study of 57 primary and secondary teachers from their third year of teaching. Teachers in their study experienced one of three different types of induction. The first group of teachers (over half) recalled systematic and supportive induction experiences. A second group of teachers taught in schools that provided minimal or unsupportive induction, leaving them to survive by their own efforts. The third group of teachers was given guidance in an ad hoc way, usually from individuals, but had no planned advice and guidance programme. Teachers in primary schools generally reported more positive induction experiences than their intermediate and secondary colleagues, with the majority describing structured and supportive programmes, compared with around a third of secondary teachers. Almost half of the secondary teachers considered that they were provided with minimal or unsupportive induction.
Teachers in low-decile schools almost all experienced supportive induction. This finding contrasts with overseas studies that have found that many schools serving low-income students do not provide new teachers with the support they need to do their jobs well (Johnson, Kardos, Kauffman, Liu, & Donaldson, 2004). Similarly, in Squirrel Main's doctoral research, 60 percent of the 202 Provisionally Registered Teachers surveyed in decile 1 and 2 schools, "agreed' or "strongly agreed" with the statement "My school has an exceptional advice and guidance programme"; only 13 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed (Main, personal communication, 8th Nov, 2006).
Primary teachers in Cameron et al. (2006) appeared to have more opportunities both within and outside their schools to develop greater subject specific expertise, as well as to build deeper understandings of areas such as formative assessment, and evidence-based pedagogy than did their secondary colleagues. Participation in school-based professional development contracts appeared to support the professional learning of primary teachers, and encouraged shared understandings of evidence-based practice to develop across the school. Well-supported teachers also tended to report greater satisfaction with teaching at the end of their third year of teaching.
Cameron, Baker & Lovett (2006, p. x) found that supportive and systematic induction practices tended to:
Ruth Kane (University of Ottawa) and Glenda Anthony (Massey University) and their team from a number of colleges and universities have been awarded a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative grant to examine beginning secondary teachers' experiences of initial teacher education and induction, the views of those responsible for their mentoring, appraisal and supervision, and factors that promote or hinder teacher capability and retention. Alongside this project, a doctoral scholar, Kate Ord, is undertaking a pilot study in early childhood education. It aims to understand how early childhood education student teachers experience and make sense of their teacher preparation programme and their sense of preparedness to teach as they are about to graduate, and to describe that sense of preparedness 6 and 12 months later. Its purpose is to make explicit how being prepared as an early childhood teacher is experienced and understood from the perspective of the student teacher, and how students' sense of preparedness impacts on them in their first year as a newly-qualified teacher. Student perspectives are located within institutional and official discourses of initial teacher education. The participants in the study are six graduates of a pre-service initial teacher education programme, six graduates of a centre-based (field-based) initial teacher education programme, and the co-ordinators of each programme. The two teacher education programmes are offered by different institutions.
Frances Langdon, from the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland, is investigating beginning teacher professional development and learning in primary schools. The study seeks to understand the conditions and discursive practices of schools that were perceived to offer sound induction programmes for beginning teachers. The study is intended to provide information on programmes and practices that support the professional development and learning of beginning teachers; the extent that they give meaning to teacher practice; how these meanings inform a particular construct of the beginning teacher, and the tensions, accommodations and implications for beginning teacher learning and induction.
Lexi Grudnoff, also from the University of Auckland, is focusing on the transition from student to beginning teacher. The study will identify factors that enable or limit teachers' professional learning during their first year of teaching. Of particular interest is an understanding of how their pre-service teacher education programme, contextual features of their school and their own beliefs and biographies influence and impact on their transition to teaching and their development as first year teachers.
The research focus is on how the transition from student to teacher is experienced, interpreted and understood by beginning teachers. Questions guiding this research are:
Squirrel Main, from the University of Auckland, has analysed survey responses from 191 of 467 beginning teachers in decile 1 and decile 2 primary schools in New Zealand about the frequency and utility of current induction practices in their schools. A paper from her PhD has just been published on the New Teacher Center Website (Main, 2006). Initial results from the survey show that teachers frequently experienced and derived benefit from a number of induction activities, including meeting with a tutor teacher, networking with other teachers, analysing student data, and developing curriculum with other teachers. Teachers reported, however, that documenting their record of their advice and guidance programmes was less beneficial than other frequently occurring induction activities. Observing their tutor teacher teaching, although valued, occurred with lower frequency. Beginning teacher meetings were perceived to be less helpful than other induction activities. Contrary to recent trends in Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, the teachers reported infrequent use of video analysis of lessons, and found this to be less helpful than other induction activities.
Overall, the dissertation is arguing that New Zealand is leading other countries in shifting from a solely pastoral to a pastoral—pedagogical model of induction, and that low decile schools can have strong expertise in the area of teacher support. The second year of this dissertation project will involve case studies of four exceptional low-decile primary induction programmes.
Given the complexity of teaching, the resources invested in initial teacher education, the diversity of New Zealand learning environments, and the potential consequences for children's and young persons' learning, there are compelling reasons to adopt more systematic approaches to the induction and assessment of beginning teachers.
The literature on teacher induction in New Zealand indicates that many teachers experience a wide variety of induction activities that appear to contribute to their growth as teachers. The professional learning cultures within the Provisionally Registered Teachers' working environments appear to be the major factor in the quality of the advice and guidance given to beginning teachers. Educational leaders who provide access to knowledge and information and opportunities to enhance teachers' growth of knowledge are, at the same time, strengthening the supports for effective induction.
However, there is inconsistent provision of comprehensive induction, and an identified need to ensure that all Provisionally Registered Teachers thrive as well as survive. Hatch, White, and Capitelli (2005) contend that current supports for teacher learning in general are "far too meagre" and "Teachers today are more likely to develop their understanding about good teaching despite the conditions in which they work, rather than because of them" (pp. 323—324).
The next phase of the research will provide a comparative analysis of the process of induction across all sectors, with attention given to specific gaps in our knowledge, such as if or how Provisionally Registered Teachers and tutor/supervising teachers use the Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions to guide their practice, the ways in which they consider that formative and summative assessment processes contribute to their growth in teaching, and the sources of evidence they use to demonstrate that they meet requirements for full registration. The study will also compare the opportunities provided in the different sectors for beginning teachers to develop their professional learning. We will also attempt to link teachers' induction experiences with their current levels of satisfaction as fully registered teachers.
The overarching aim of this review has been to address a series of questions on teacher induction posed by the Teachers Council by reviewing the international and New Zealand induction literature and outlining the key recommendations for "advice and guidance" programmes in New Zealand documentation. This review is the first of three stages of the Teachers Council research programme on induction that is intended to inform policy development and identify and share successful induction practices in New Zealand. The review has informed the development of survey instruments sent to 2803 second-year Provisionally Registered Teachers on the Teachers Council database in November, 2006 and which will, in turn, lead to deeper exploration of successful induction practices in a series of focus groups to be held early in 2007. The third stage of the research programme will be case studies in selected early childhood, kura kaupapa Māori and school settings during 2007.
While the international literature on induction is extensive, the author of a major review (Allen, 2005, p. 119) cautions that there are few studies that are sufficiently robust to allow for strong conclusions to be drawn about the specific components that contribute to successful induction. In addition, little of the New Zealand literature on induction has been published in peer-reviewed journals, so any conclusions we have presented in this review are preliminary.
Although induction programmes overseas were originally developed to address serious problems of early career teacher attrition, there is growing awareness that induction programmes should do more than assist new teachers to survive. Increasingly, induction programmes both support new teachers to cope with their new responsibilities and roles as teachers, and help them to learn how to teach in ways that promote the successful engagement and learning of all of their children/students.
Feiman-Nemser (2001), Totterdell et al., (2004a) and Carroll, Fulton, Yoon, and Lee (2005) emphasise that induction should be part of a continuum of teacher professional learning, instead of a one-off event occurring early in a teacher's career. Therefore graduating teachers should be aware of their requirements and entitlements in relation to their advice and guidance programmes, and their induction programmes should build on the knowledge and skills that have been developed in programmes of initial teacher education.
Fundamental to the success of induction is intensive, sustained support from a skilled mentor (Moir & Gless, 2001). Induction programmes are more likely to impact on teacher attitudes and practice when they are part of professional learning environments that support and challenge all teachers to use evidence to inform their teaching decisions. In their view, induction programmes should develop or change the ways that teachers think about their work, and assist them to provide more effectively for their children/students, as well as helping them to develop and maintain confidence and competence.
Mentoring should contribute to comprehensive induction, rather than being the only component of an induction programme. Britton, Paine, Pimm and Raizen (2003) use the term "comprehensive induction" to describe induction programmes that:
By contrast, "limited" induction programmes tend to be restricted to guidance from one person, treat induction as an isolated phase, fail to provide sufficient resources, are for a short period of time (one year or less), fail to provide training and support for mentors and offer a limited range of induction activities.
A number of studies identify factors that contribute to effective mentoring:
The work of New Zealand researchers, Timperley (2001) and Sinnema (2005), demonstrates that teachers and supervisors tend to emphasise issues of practical support and advice rather than helping teachers to enquire into the rationale and impact of their teaching decisions.
Achinstein and Barrett (2004) have identified the need for mentors to have problem analysis knowledge and skills, including how to collect and interpret data, and use it to inform teaching
Internationally, earlier approaches to teacher assessment, such as multiple choice examinations of teacher knowledge, are being seen as inauthentic measures of teacher performance (Pecheone & Chung, 2006; Berliner, 2005).
A number of researchers (e.g. Villar & Strong, 2005) contend that ongoing formative assessment that helps teachers to improve their teaching is essential to effective induction. Yusko and Feiman-Nemser (in press) maintain that with appropriate training and support, mentors are the most appropriate persons to provide both formative assessment (assistance) and summative assessment (i.e. determine that criteria have been achieved).
There are differing approaches to the summative judgement about whether a teacher has met criteria to be awarded full registration. Increasingly, beginning teacher portfolios are being used to determine if a beginning teacher has met state teaching standards (Youngs, 2002). This approach requires that beginning teachers are strongly supported to learn how to document evidence of their achievement of state standards. It also requires that those judging the portfolios are trained for their roles, that assessment is moderated, and a generous allocation of time to assess the portfolios (4—5 hours). By contrast, ACER (2004) doubted that the practice of "within school" assessment of beginning teacher portfolios in Victoria was sufficiently fair, valid, consistent, or rigorous to provide reliable guarantees of their eligibility to gain full teacher registration. ACER also reported that many teachers expected a more demanding summative assessment, given the large amount of work and effort they had invested in their portfolios. Thus the issue of who is making summative judgements, and how the judgements are made, is critical to the credibility of the assessment process.
While portfolios can be both a vehicle for documenting professional growth, and demonstrating achievement of teaching standards, they risk being a collection of documents if the process is insufficiently guided, and if there are no clear standards to work towards. Grudnoff and Tuck (2003) criticise current New Zealand descriptions of teaching "standards" as lacking scoring rubrics and objective appraisal processes. The Teachers Council revision of the Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions appears timely, and the tensions identified by Bartell (2005) are relevant:
The survey of the literature found little research on the induction of Provisionally Registered Teachers in early childhood settings. Research by Aitken (2005), and Mitchell et al., (2006) points to difficulties for Provisionally Registered Teachers in education and care centres in locating fully registered teachers to provide advice and guidance programmes.
A Teaching and Learning Research Initiative-funded study by Stucki, Paora, Kaha, Jenkins, Bruce-Ferguson, and Kane (2006) of beginning Māori teachers from one provider identified inconsistent levels of support in their schools.
Research on induction in the school sector has been ongoing since Mansell's first study (1996) on the use of the 0.2 time. Subsequent research (Renwick, 2001; Dewar et al., 2003; Goold, 2004; Pettigrew, 2004; and Cameron, Baker, & Lovett, 2006) contributes to a picture of uneven induction practices in schools. While examples of practices that align well with the international literature on effective induction can be found in both primary and secondary schools, beginning teachers in primary schools are more likely to experience comprehensive and supportive advice and guidance programmes. Beginning teachers who were well supported tended to work in collaborative contexts that were focused on teacher learning at all levels in the school, where decisions about teacher learning were based on evidence of teacher or student need; and where observations and discussions about learning and teaching were part of everyday work practices.
The Education Review Office (2005) found that the quality of schools' induction, and the quality of the tutor teacher/Provisionally Registered Teacher relationship were significant factors influencing the quality of Year 2 beginning teacher's teaching.
The New Zealand literature currently provides no information about how teachers document evidence of their progress towards full registration. The survey phase of the research programme will provide more information on the sources of evidence that are used to ascertain that teachers have met the requirements for full registration as a teacher.
Most researchers accept that induction programmes should enable new teachers to develop confidence and teaching expertise, in order to meet specified criteria for registration, and to establish a solid foundation for future professional learning.
Most studies recommend a broad number of components in induction programmes that collectively promote consistent and aligned teacher professional learning. The professional learning communities in which teachers work are fundamental to effective induction. Teacher induction practices recommended by the New Zealand Teachers Council appear to meet many of the criteria for comprehensive induction, although resources differ in different sectors. Currently, the research suggests that activities such as joint planning, observation of other teachers, feedback on teaching, and opportunities to work with other teachers are more likely to occur in primary schools.
Studies have identified a wide range of personal, interpersonal, and professional skills required for mentors to focus new teachers on their classroom practice, and move it forwards. Researchers frequently emphasise that mentors need training and ongoing support to do this effectively. There is emerging evidence that professional development contracts in New Zealand primary schools are developing capabilities in teachers to examine and learn from classroom observations and evidence of student learning. Further training for mentor teachers could build upon this knowledge base, and provide opportunities for the development of a shared mentoring culture.
There is a need more systematic research into the goals, content, and approaches that tutor teachers currently use when mentoring Provisionally Registered Teachers, as well as knowledge about the kinds of professional learning environments that support the learning of mentors and Provisionally Registered Teachers. This would provide a basis for the design, piloting, and evaluation of mentor training and support programmes.
Research has identified a number of tensions in assessing beginning teachers. The evidence points to the need for valid and credible approaches that promote high quality teaching, without creating extra work for teachers that does not contribute to their learning. Research also indicates that those judging evidence of teaching effectiveness require significant time and training to work fairly and in valid ways. Assessment of beginning teachers requires a shared understanding of what good teaching looks like, and knowledge of how to judge evidence of teaching practice.
The research on induction of Provisionally Registered Teachers in New Zealand shows that many teachers, particularly in primary schools, appear to be well supported in their schools, although school culture is the major factor in the quality of support that they receive. Little research exists on induction in early childhood and Māori medium settings. The forthcoming survey of Provisionally Registered Teachers will provide further information on patterns of provision within and across the different sectors.
ACER. (2004). Evaluation of the Standards and Professional Learning Project 2003. Retrieved 4 October, 2006, from http://www.vit.vic.edu.au/files/documents/490_acer_eval.doc
Achinstein, B., & Villar, A. (2004). A spectrum of mentoring relationships and new teacher learning: collaboration and complexity. Journal of Educational Change, 5, 311—344.
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The following features of advice and guidance programmes are identified in the handbook Towards Full Registration: A Support Kit, (2005, 2006) (available at www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz) jointly produced by the Teachers Council and the Ministry of Education.
Generic features relevant to early childhood, school, and kura kaupapa Māori settings
Provisionally Registered Teachers must be made aware of their responsibilities, which the handbook lists as:
The Auckland Kindergarten Association registration handbook includes a template for teachers to frame their reflection using the four cycles. Auckland Kindergarten Association guidelines emphasise that the process is participant driven, with Provisionally Registered Teachers expected to carry responsibility for ensuring that they are meeting registration requirements.
Kura kaupapa Māori sector
The Towards Full Registration handbook indicates that the aim of the advice and guidance programme is a programme of planned professional learning that assists beginning teachers 6 to meet the criteria necessary to achieve full registration. The elements of induction practice that are recommended for teachers in this sector are:
Primary and secondary school sectors
The Towards Full Registration handbook indicates that when a school appoints a Provisionally Registered Teacher it "accepts the responsibility of providing you with an advice and guidance programme that will support your progress towards becoming an effective fully registered teacher" (Section Four, p. 3). The handbook then suggests how primary schools and secondary schools, in consultation with their Provisionally Registered Teacher might use the beginning teacher time allowance provided to support induction. Although there are separate lists, the suggestions are essentially the same for both contexts and are broadly similar to those outlined in the generic section. Other recommended elements include:
NZEI provides a booklet for Provisionally Registered Teachers (NZEI, 2006a) which covers much the same information as that in the Towards Full Registration handbook. This booklet emphasises using the strengths of teaching colleagues as a source of advice, guidance and information, including taking the opportunity to observe their teaching and discussing it with them, as well as keeping touch with (YMN) the network for young, new and student members within the union.
| Special Circular 2006/02 To: all primary and area schools
|
400.15
430.12
February 2006
INFORMATION FOR
Tutor Teachers
about
Provisionally Registered Teachers
Key Points:
The role of a tutor teacher is a crucial one as the support and mentoring of beginning teachers can greatly influence the success of the induction of new members to the profession.
This circular provides information to assist tutor teachers with their roles in supporting Provisionally Registered Teachers.
Similar circulars have also been provided for the Provisionally Registered Teachers, and for the principal, at your school.
Actions:
Worksite Representatives
Please copy this circular for each of the tutor teachers in your school.
Tutor teachers
Read through the information contained in this circular.
Meet with your principal to clarify the expectations of you in your role as tutor teacher.
Discuss the circular with your Provisionally Registered Teacher at your next meeting.
Enquiries:
Please direct any enquiries to your field officer or Phillippa Ward at National Office,
Tel: (04) 382 2759 or fax: (04) 384 9401, or email phillippa.ward@nzei.org.nz
New Zealand Educational Institute PO Box 466, Wellington 6015. Telephone: (04) 384-9689. Fax (04) 384-9401 NZEI website: www.nzei.org.nz
|
Your acceptance of the role of tutor teacher is to be applauded. You have recognised the responsibility of members of the teaching profession to support and mentor beginning teachers as they start their career. Your school has recognised your leadership and ability to carry out this important role. Your work will help to ensure that new teachers know what they are expected to do, the standard required and that they are valued and welcomed. This circular is intended to assist you in accessing the information you may need in your tutor teacher role.
1. NZEI Te Riu Roa membership
Discuss NZEI membership with the Provisionally Registered Teacher (PRT) and check that they know how to join, and are aware of the collective agreement. The worksite representative can be part of this discussion, or you may like to arrange a meeting between the Provisionally Registered Teacher and the worksite representative.
NZEI provides Provisionally Registered Teacher seminars in many areas, designed to provide industrial, employment and registration information for new teachers. You should encourage the Provisionally Registered Teachers to attend these days. Details are sent to the Provisionally Registered Teachers by NZEI regional offices once dates are set.
2. Teacher registration
Check that the Provisionally Registered Teacher has completed an application for registration with the Teachers Council. The legislation states that a person may not teach for more than twenty half days without registration. Forms can be accessed from the Teachers Council website. Use Form TC1.
As a tutor teacher, you must hold full registration for the period of the advice and guidance programme. Check your own practising certificate, or look at the Teachers Council website for the register to ensure that your registration fits this requirement.
3. Key resources
The Teachers Council and Ministry of Education folder "Towards Full Registration" (sent to all schools in 2004; a revised version is due in schools in March 2006). This contains vital information for you in your role as tutor teacher as well as information about advice and guidance programmes.
The Teachers Council website www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz
The NZEI website www.nzei.org.nz.
4. Advice and guidance programmes
The guidelines and requirements for documentation of advice and guidance programmes are outlined on the Teachers Council website and in the revised version of the Towards Full Registration folder, due in schools in March 2006.
Key points to note are:
An advice and guidance programme is a collaborative approach between you, in your role as tutor teacher, and the Provisionally Registered Teacher from the start of the Provisionally Registered Teacher's employment, and throughout the two years of the programmes.
It is crucial that the programme is closely linked to the Teachers Council's Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions.
The advice and guidance programme must be documented throughout the two years of the programme.
While it is the Provisionally Registered Teacher's responsibility to keep the documentation (because the Provisionally Registered Teacher applies for full registration), it is important that you, as the tutor teacher, have some involvement in the documentation. The school should keep a record of the advice and guidance as evidence of its commitment to the resourcing and content of the advice and guidance programme. This is essential for later decision making on whether or not the Provisionally Registered Teacher should move to full registration.
If the Provisionally Registered Teacher has come from another school, ask to look through a copy of documentation from that school, so that you and the Provisionally Registered Teacher can ensure that the advice and guidance programme at your school builds on the previous programme.
5. Tutor Teacher Information
You will be eligible for the Tutor Teacher Allowance. The rate for 2006 is $2000, and the school must apply for this.
The Teachers Council recognises that your work as a tutor teacher will ensure you have opportunities for professional learning. Therefore the Council allows you to use the role to help meet the Council's "suitable professional development activity" requirements for the renewal of your own practising certificate. (See Form TC3 for renewal of a practising certificate)
6. The Beginning Teacher Time Allowance (BTTA)
This allowance is available from the Ministry of Education to boards employing teachers who are within their first twenty four months of teaching.
In primary schools, the time allowance must be used by the school to support the advice and guidance programme for the Provisionally Registered Teacher. The time is allocated to the school, not to the individual teacher. Schools should have policy clarifying the use of the BTTA for those involved with the advice and guidance programme. Many schools will allocate some of the BTTA to the tutor teacher for use in their mentoring role.
In areas schools, there is a contractual right for the teacher to receive a time allowance for their advice and guidance programme.
Beginning teachers who are eligible for classroom release time (CRT) must receive this CRT allowance in addition to release associated with advice and guidance programmes.
7. Appointments, job description and salary
New employees should be provided with a letter of employment from the Board of Trustees which covers their job title, starting salary and whether they are in fixed-term or permanent employment.
The salary scale is laid out in the collective agreement booklet. Provisionally Registered Teachers may be able to get credit for their previous work experience, but must claim this credit within their first year of teaching.
If you wish to help your Provisionally Registered Teacher with these employment issues, more information is available in the collective agreements, on the NZEI website, from the worksite representative, or your field officer.
Tutor Teacher Checklist
This checklist summarises the suggestions in the NZEI Special Circular 2006/02.
Tick | Actions | Resources to assist |
| Encourage the Provisionally Registered Teacher to join NZEI as a full member | www.nzei.org.nz.get/5 | |
| Ensure that the Provisionally Registered Teacher has - a letter of appointment - a job description - salary reflecting qualifications and previous work experience | Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement Part 5
Area Schools' Collective Agreement
www.nzei.org.nz/get/17 | |
| Check that the Provisionally Registered Teacher is registered, or that the school has applied for extension beyond the 20 half days allowed | www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/registration/view
| |
| Check that your own practising certificate is current and for full registration | www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/registration/view | |
| Check that the school has applied for the Beginning Teacher Time Allowance policy on the use of BTTA to support the advice and guidance programme clear expectations for your role as tutor teacher | www.minedu.govt.nz /goto/resourcingforms | |
| In collaboration with the Provisionally Registered Teacher, develop and document the advice and guidance programme, ensuring the requirements of the Teachers Council are met | www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/registration/how/
Teachers Council Folder "Towards Full Registration" (use the 2006 version) | |
| Ensure the school has a system to hold documentation of the advice and guidance programme | ||
| Check that the principal has applied for the Tutor Teacher allowance | www.minedu.govt.nz /goto/resourcingforms | |
| Encourage the Provisionally Registered Teacher to attend the NZEI seminars which assist with the induction programme |
Further information is available from NZEI Te Riu Roa field staff, the NZEI website and on the Teachers Council website.
This circular is available on www.nzei.org.nz.
2006 Special Circular 02
2 In the piloting of survey instruments for the next stage of the Teachers Council research project on induction, we found that some teachers considered that the term “induction” referred to the short orientation provided at the start of a new teaching position.
3 See http://www.abdn.ac.uk/stne/ for information about the Scottish Teachers for a New Era initiative.
4 The study looked at induction in its member countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, United States).
For details go to: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/APEC
5 The BEST programme has been described comprehensively and further details are available at http://www.state.ct.us/sde/dtl/t-a/
6 The term “provisionally registered teacher” is not used in this section of the handbook; the term “beginning teacher” is used to describe teachers in their first two years of teaching.
