The paper explores the situation of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) and their opportunities to become, thrive and develop as professional teachers in and across the Nordic countries and Estonia. Using a mixed-methods design, it combines qualitative narrative interviews with a quantitative questionnaire to broaden insights beyond a single-method approach (Roberts et al., 2024). Mixed methods provide a deeper understanding of how and why things work for NQTs in complex contexts (Ponce & Pagan-Maldonado, 2014). Previous NTI projects show that conceptions of quality induction and mentoring vary across countries due to differences in funding, policy, research-based knowledge, and priorities (ECER, 2025; Windsor et al., 2025). High-quality induction and mentoring are essential for the well-being, professional development, and retention of NQTs (Olsen et al., 2020; Ingersoll & Strong, 2011). This study examines how NQTs experience and interprets opportunities for professional growth, with or without support, during their first and third year, and how they envision their future. The qualitative component invites NQTs in their first and third years to share their “life story” and experiences, enabling their flourishing and becoming during the induction years across the region. This relates to the time, relationships, and context in which they became teachers, the kind of teacher they aspire to be, and their professional development goals. Interviews, scheduled for spring 2026, are context-sensitive and involve collaborative meaning-making (Clandinin, 2006). The quantitative survey, piloted and refined, captures variables related to induction programs, mentoring, support mechanisms, and teacher background. It will be administered in 2026 to max 3000 early-career teachers per country. This presentation focuses on how the interview guide and questionnaire evolved from initial drafts to final versions through collective analysis and discussion after piloting, and how this process fostered a shared interpretative framework among researchers. The concepts of “flourishing” and “becoming” guided the development of questions. The collected data will undergo both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis to identify trends, national differences, and cross-regional similarities in induction practices. This analysis will explore the relationships between program structures, support experiences, and indicators of professional satisfaction and engagement.

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