The transition of early career teachers into the teaching job has been a major topic of interest for researchers as well as policy makers over the past three decades. The transition has been described as challenging and posing particular problems (hence ‘practice shock’). As a consequence, in many countries specific support initiatives (professional development) have been set up. However, the issue has not been solved (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011). Both research and support initiatives have been criticized for not being effective and even counterproductive, due to the deficit approach they represent (early career teachers are most often conceived of as individual professionals lacking particular competencies which need to be remedied)(Kelchtermans, 2019). Furthermore, significant numbers of early career teachers continue to leave the profession only shortly after entering it, thus intensifying the teacher attrition and aggravating teacher shortage in many countries (see a.o. Craig, 2017).

Both the insights from research and the practical experiences with support programs for early career teachers have shown that surviving the transition into the job and the immediate practice shock in relation to running one’s classes is only part of the issue. The challenges of the induction phase clearly go beyond teachers’ individual competencies in the classroom (i.e. classroom management, didactics and teaching skills). There is growing research evidence that the complexities of becoming a member of the school as an organization are at least as challenging, if not more: negotiating one’s position in the school team and the organizational culture of the school, dealing with the school leadership and different colleagues, carrying the burden of complex and time-consuming administrative work that comes with the responsibilities for one’s students. All this while at the same time developing  expertise and sense of identity, keeping up  moral commitment and dealing with the emotions and power processes that go with the job. In other words, to properly understand and conceptualize teacher induction, more research is necessary that seeks to unpack the complex interplay between the individual early career teacher and the working conditions (social, infrastructural, cultural, micropolitical). Furthermore, this research should also include more longitudinal methodological designs to document, analyze and understand these processes as they develop over time.

All papers in this symposium aim at contributing to deeper understanding of the contextualized nature of teacher induction, conceiving of context both in its spatial and its temporal dimension. All of them make a contribution to unpacking the complexities of teacher induction and as such contribute to a more valid and appropriate knowledge base to design and implement induction support (professional development).

The papers represent a wide variety of national contexts (Belgium, Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden), as well as a diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches to teacher induction. At the same time they also exemplify cases of international collaboration. As a discussant, Anna Sullivan, not only brings yet another national perspective to the matter, but also her solid expertise, overviewing the international research (see a.o. Sullivan et al., 2019).

Craig, C. (2017). International teacher attrition: Multiperspective views. Teachers and Teaching, 23, 859-862. Ingersoll, R., & Strong, M. (2011). The impact of induction and mentoring programs for beginning teachers: A critical review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 81, 201–233. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311403323. Kelchtermans, G. (2019). Early career teachers and their need for support: Thinking again. In: A. Sullivan et al., Attracting and keeping the best teachers. (pp. 83-98). Springer. Sullivan, A. et al. (2019). Attracting and keeping the best teachers. Issues and opportunities. Springer.