The issues faced by Beginning Teachers (BTs), that is those within their first three years of starting their careers, have been of widespread interest to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers across Europe (OECD, 2009). This interest is based upon the significance given to this career phase with regard to a range of issues including; teacher retention (OECD, 2005), the quality of teaching (Jensen et al 2012), professional socialization and enculturation, and identity development and self-efficacy (Flores and Day, 2006). Concerns have also been raised that this early career stage can have a formative impact upon attitudes to professional learning and longer-term effects on professional growth (Timperley, 2013).

Research on the professional learning experiences of Beginning Teachers has generally been set within a ‘transition’ paradigm. A transition with regard to not only them moving from being novices towards becoming experts but also in the nature of their learning experiences. Beginning Teachers agency as learner is constructed as being in transition as they move from being students on initial teacher education programmes to practitioners learning in the social contexts of schools. A transition which is often facilitated by formal and informal induction  processes (Howe, 2006; Wang et al 2008) within which very different mentoring and support roles may be enacted by school based colleagues and external mentors (Hobson et al 2009; Ingersoll and Strong, 2011; Richeter, 2013; Kemmis et al 2014).

This paper explores the nature of the transitions in BTs professional learning from a somewhat different perspective. It is based upon a study of some 1,400 BTs enrolled in a masters Level Programme, provided by an alliance of 4 HEIs funded by the Welsh Government, the Masters in Educational Practice (MEP). The MEP was designed to be inquiry based, and, in order to be delivered cost effectively on a national scale, to use a ‘blended’ learning approach. This blend involved teaching materials hosted on a virtual learning environment which supported a degree of on-line interaction, school-based mentoring by a team of over a hundred specially trained external mentors, and a limited number of face-to-face sessions.

The team responsible for the programme adopted a number of design principles.  Firstly, it was to be based on teachers’ developing their ability to self-direct and manage processes through which they created professional knowledge and improved their decision making (Timperley, 2011). Secondly, inquiry would be integrated into the programme via a series of increasingly complex practice change sequences. This would allow time for the developments in teachers’ knowledge and beliefs to arise from critical reflection on outcomes as well as from engagement with new theories and ideas. Thirdly, the programme would be adaptive to the teachers’ needs and interests at the level of practice. Finally, the blended approach addressed not only different mediums for learning but also to how to blend different modes of learning.

The overarching research questions that frame the paper are:

• What was the nature of the Beginning Teachers engagement with key elements of an inquiry based approach to professional learning such as critical reflection, integration of formal theories, and use of data?
• What was the changing nature of the role adopted by the external mentors and how did this affect Beginning Teachers engagement in professional learning and practice innovation?
• What appeared to be the key contextual influences upon Beginning Teachers engagement with the MEP and broader professional development activities?

These questions will be answered within the context of a Welsh education system marked by concerns over the quality of initial teacher education, the depth and rigour of school based induction processes, and the availability of appropriate professional development opportunities. 

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