Teacher quality is essential for students’ achievements and performance. We also know that many NQT faces many challenges in the first years as a professional teacher. To qualify the NQT’s continuing professional development in a specific school context, many countries offers induction programs which seems to have a positive effect on NQT’s social, personal and professional development (fx. Greenfield, 2015; Schaefer, Long, & Clandinin, 2012; Wang, Odell, & Schwille, 2008). Research also shows that induction programs can enhance student achievements, job satisfaction, foothold and self-efficacy (fx. Johnson & Birkeland, 2003).

Wang and Odell (2002) also finds that induction programs has an effect on NQT’s professional development and therefore the quality of the teaching, but furthermore finds that the quality and the effect of the induction depends on the school culture (Wang et al., 2008). Wang (2008) also states that there is a lack of research analyzing and discussing the school cultures’ effect on the quality of the induction program and the mentoring of the NQT. One factor that is significant, is whether the school has a individualistic or a collaborative culture (Schaefer et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2008). Especially regarding NQTs, the collaborative culture is emphasized in promoting professional development, closely linked to a supportive and recognizing management (Shockley, Watlington, & Felsher, 2013; Wang et al., 2008). Concerning mentoring, Wang (2008) shows that mentoring has more influence on the NQT’s teaching, if there is a collaborating school culture.

In this presentation, we will seek to widen the knowledge on the connection between school culture and induction programs. Our research question is the following: Which characteristics can be identified in the empirical research the last seven years (2010-2016), that influences the NQT’s professional, personal and social development at the beginning of their career.  

We have sought to map publications from empirical studies in the period from 2010 to 2016 that analyzes and/or discusses school culture as a topic regarding induction and NQTs, based on our research question above. We have first conducted a literature search, screened for relevance and assessed quality of the publications. Secondly, we conducted a thematic analysis of the findings and subsequently a synthesizing. School culture is a broad term, and can be interpreted in many different understandings. Therefore, we initially conducted a broad search to include as many relevant perspectives as possible. After screening for relevance, we included the following search terms: professional learning communit*, collaborat*, network, collegial, professional agency, professional development and school culture. As we are interested in the school culture’s influence on NQT, we composed a search string of the following words: (beginning teacher* OR novice teacher* OR new teacher* OR newly qualified teacher* OR initial teacher*) AND one of the above mentioned search terms. We searched with the same search string in ERIC, PsycINFO, Teacher Reference Center and American Doctoral Dissertations. Our inclusion criteria were primary studies with school culture as a topic connected to induction and NQTs. We excluded subsequently on title, abstract and read-through. We ended up with 8 relevant publications (Bauml, 2014; Coldwell, 2016; Craig, 2013; Devos, Dupriez, & Paquay, 2012; Dillard, 2012; Kono, 2011; Menon, 2012; Patrick, Elliot, Hulme, & McPhee, 2010), that differed in both data and method. They were all assess for quality by credibility, transparence, and level of methodological reflection and systematic (Tanggaard, 2015; Walsh & Downe, 2005). We also searched Idunn.no for publications on school culture and NQTs within the selected period, but there were no findings. In our thematic analysis, we have identified four themes within school culture influence on NQT and induction.

We have identified four central themes regarding to school culture’s influence on NQT’s foothold and teacher induction programs: collaboration, mastery vs performance, atmosphere and career. A school culture where novice teachers collaborate with experienced teachers, discussing experiences from their teaching with a feeling of reciprocal equality, seem to be central to NQT’s learning and professional development (Bauml, 2014; Craig, 2013; Dillard, 2012; Patrick et al., 2010). However, our findings also shows, that it is too simplistic just to state if there is a collaborative school culture or not. It is equally important to define if the if the culture of collaboration is oriented towards mastery or towards performance, as this also influences the effect of the induction program and NQT’s professional development (Devos et al., 2012). The significance of a general atmosphere where a NQT is able to thrive is the third thematic finding in our study. It shows the importance for the NQT to feel safe to develop as a novice teacher, and the value of the feeling of belonging. The general atmosphere as an aspect of school culture points to the importance of the management’s support and focus on a friendly tone and collegiality at the school (Kono, 2011; Menon, 2012). The fourth theme in our findings, shows that already as novices NQT’s are oriented towards their long-term career, and a school culture where different kinds of career opportunities is possible, seems to have an effect on the NQT’s interest in a teaching career (Coldwell, 2016).

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