FIGURE 1. Models of Teacher Induction
Goals
Induction as
Temporary Support
Ease transition into teaching.
Reduce stress and address problems
of beginning teachers.
Induction as Individualized
Professional Development
Foster new teacher development.
Promote more effective teaching and
learning for all students.
Induction as
Cultural Transformation
Reduce teacher isolation.
Incorporate new teachers into an
integrated school community that
supports the continuous learning of
all teachers.
Promote more effective teaching and
learning for all students.
Reduce the achievement gap.
Components
Reduced workload.
Orientation to school and community.
Informal buddy system, offering advice
and emotional support.
Orientation to school and community.
Reduced workload.
Curricular guidance.
Serious mentoring for at least two
years (sanctioned time, initial training,
ongoing development, appropriate
matches).
Administrative support.
Reduced workload or team teaching
assignment.
Serious mentoring (see details above).
Intergenerational learning teams.
Administrative involvement.
Outcomes
Teacher survival and retention.
Improved teaching and learning.
Teacher satisfaction and
retention.
Continuous learning of all
teachers.
Collective responsibility for
teaching and learning.
Quality learning environment for
students.
Increased student achievement.
Rewarding career path for
teachers.
teacher preparation program. Novices
and experienced teachers share the expectation that new teachers will learn from
all the other teachers in a school. (Fulton,
Yoon, & Lee, 2005, p. 15)
The gap between this vision and what
goes on in most schools is wide, which
explains why most teachers still work
alone in self-contained classrooms.
Still, cases of cutting-edge schools and
districts in which teachers across expe-
rience levels work together to promote
the learning of all students demonstrate
that such transformation is possible
(Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004;
Johnson et al., 2005; Moir et al., 2009).
Inducting new teachers into these inte-
grated professional environments not
only reduces the problem of teacher iso-
lation, but also fosters learning with and
from colleagues and promotes a sense of
collective responsibility.
A Catalyst for Change
Given the high rates of attrition among
new teachers and the high costs of
teacher turnover, it is understandable
that researchers, education leaders, and
policymakers want to know whether
induction improves teacher retention.
But retaining teachers without attending
to the quality of their teaching and their
students’ learning is shortsighted.
