Over the last decades, many countries invested in the development of induction initiatives and programmes, with the aim to support teachers in the early years of their career. Many teachers struggle in these years, resulting in high dropout rates, sometimes up to 30% (OECD, 2025). There is an urgent need for systemic interventions to enhance early-career teachers’ well-being and professional growth. This is a necessary step in battling the high attrition rate during the induction period, and work towards a more sustainable education workforce.

This symposium combines insights from a range of studies that report on initiatives and programmes during the induction period in 4 countries: Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Finland The symposium aims to uncover the type of learning of early-career teachers, and distill ingredients for successful induction programmes, in order to support schools, school-university partnerships, and starting teachers’ coaches/supervisors. ‘Successfulness’ in this context is conceptualized as supporting teachers’ professional growth, wellbeing and commitment, and ultimately avoid burnout and dropout during the first years of teaching and beyond.

In addition, induction programmes can also go a step further, and are an invaluable part of school improvement and an impulse for the quality of teaching. Early-career teachers not only need to grow professionally, but they also can be seen as resources (e.g. März & Kelchtermans, 2020), since they are a fresh pair of eyes, bring recent academic insights with them, and are often closer in age to students than their experienced colleagues. Recent studies have shown that teachers are more likely to retain when they feel that they are supported in their agentic endeavors, and feel that they can contribute to developments in their schools.

Each presentation provides in-depth insights into the nature and content of early-career teachers’ learning and development, and highlights catalysts and barriers to their development. The symposium combines experiences from 4 countries, each presenting data from their own – and thus different – contexts. This discussant addresses underlying patterns throughout the presentations and distills catalysts and barriers

Session Overview:

The Chair (5 min) starts by contextualising the objectives of the session and introducing the various studies. Then, presenters from 3 / 4 countries deliver focused 15-minute presentations each, offering headline findings related to early-career teachers’ learning and development during the induction period. These presentations will include a critical analysis of identified gaps and priorities within their respective contexts. The Discussant will take the analysis beyond the borders of the individual countries and actively engage the diverse experiences and perspectives present in the audience. The symposium closes with a dialogue with the audience, in which we reflect on the value and potential of induction programmes, from the perspective of (a) early-career teachers’ growth, and (b) school / educational development.

The following questions are central in the symposium:

Descriptive questions:

• How can schools and universities work together in providing induction experiences that help prevent attrition of early-career teachers?
• How do induction programmes account for the diversity among early-career teachers, such as age, first- or second-career teachers, type of contract, cultural diversity?

Analytical questions:

• What are catalysts that help early-career teachers grow, learn, develop?
• How can we understand barriers in enacting induction programmes, and how might these be dealt with?
• How can induction programmes work to encourage early-career teachers’ full potential as a resource in the school?

Together, the studies offer insights relevant to international debates on how induction can function as a lever for sustainable teacher retention.

März, V. and Kelchtermans, G., 2020. The networking teacher in action: a qualitative analysis of early career teachers’ induction process. Teaching and Teacher Education, 87 (4), 102933. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2019.102933. OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en.