This paper reports on findings from a small empirical study of graduate teachers’ experiences during the induction phase of their transition into professional practice. We know from the available research that the process of teacher induction, often presented as a program of orientation, mentoring, and supervision, is mostly haphazard, intermittent or even non-existent in many schools. Few studies have deliberately explored the exercise of power relations during teacher induction nor the ways graduate teachers are disciplined by themselves and others to be the teacher they want or should be.

The academic and organisational literature and research findings favoured to inform teacher induction policy and practice in Australia has been from North America. Continental philosophy, via the work of Foucault, informs the theoretical framework of this study. This work shifts away from a dominant North American view and employs literature and research from the European field of knowledge, in particular the UK and Scandanavia.

This study then was designed to develop an understanding of the experiences of a small group of graduate teachers as they entered the profession as qualified practitioners, to put forward ideas to inform the conceptualisation, theory, policies and practices of teacher induction, and to further develop and explore induction as/and professional development. Three research questions were conceived to direct the study and form the foundation of the research problems:

• What are the personal experiences of graduate teachers as they enter schools in the induction phase?
• Do university studies in pedagogy (and specifically in productive/quality pedagogy) support their attempts to teach well in their first years?
• What school level contextual factors impacted on their conceptions of their work and pedagogy during induction?

The problems the research seeks to explore then are:

What do graduate teachers experience during induction to the profession and how do these experiences influence their development? Do teacher education studies focused on high levels of good pedagogy support graduate teachers’ classroom and assessment practice and how they interpret their teaching capacity? How did their formation of relationships with others influence them and their teaching?

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