Session Information
01 SES 04 A, European Perspectives on Teacher Induction and Mentoring (Part 1)
Symposium to be continued in 01 SES 06 B
Contribution
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of teacher induction practices and the situation of mentoring for new teachers in the Nordic countries and Estonia. The chapter will identify what is unique within a broader European context and also what, if anything, is significantly different. This chapter arises from a longstanding collaboration between teachers' trade unions, teacher educators and researchers on mentoring and induction which includes partners from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This chapter will report on the current research and development project named Nordic Teacher Induction - Sustainable Ecosystems of Mentoring (NTI-SEM) which is funded by Nordplus Horizontal. This paper will begin with six summaries of the current state of mentoring and induction from each of the partner counties. The summaries will include a short historical account about the development of induction and mentoring, and then the most up-to-date status from each country will be introduced. Following this, a comparison of the various contexts for teacher induction will unpack each nation’s policies as they relate to induction and mentoring, and discuss the implications for induction and mentoring practices and research. In this comparison concepts drawn from the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis et al., 2014) and ecologies of practice (for example Kemmis, 2022) will be used. The final part of this paper will reflect on the unique collaboration that this network has sustained for nearly two decades; that between teacher educators, researchers, teachers and teacher unions. This collaboration has already resulted in important conference symposia, publications including two anthologies titled: “Newly Qualified Teachers in Northern Europe – Comparative Perspectives on Promoting Professional Development” (edited by Fransson & Gustafsson, 2008) “New Teachers in Nordic Countries: Ecologies of Induction and Mentoring” (edited by Olsen, Bjerkholt & Heikkinen, 2020), as well as in a series of “Road Show Events” in each of the countries. The multi-stakeholder collaboration has not only provided a mapping and comparison of mentoring and induction practices for newly qualified teachers across the Nordic region, it has also provided impetus for change in policy and focus in the educational landscape in relation to mentoring and induction in each of the countries.
References
Fransson, G. & Gustafsson, C. (Eds.) (2008). Newly Qualified Teachers in Northern Europe – Comparative Perspectives on Promoting Professional Development. University of Gävle. Kemmis, S. (2022). Transforming Practices. Singapore: Springer. Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P., & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing practices, changing education. Springer Science & Business Media. Olsen, K.-N., Bjerkholt, E. & Heikkinen, H. (Eds.) (2020). New Teachers in Nordic Countries: Ecologies of Induction and Mentoring. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
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