NW 01 Project: Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME)

Network 1 Project: Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME)

Teacher induction and mentoring have been some of the key research areas of Network 1 since its inception.  Tens of sessions have been organized during the last couple of decades about mentoring with representatives from all over the continent and overseas. This interest in the professional development, induction and mentoring of new teachers has also taken the form of a network project within EERA Network 1, the purpose of which is to bring together European mentoring researchers and enable their research collaboration. This project is implemented in collaboration with EERA and Nordplus as well as several national universities that support the development of mentoring research.

What are ecologies of induction and mentoring?
The project name Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME) is used in the network as a broad umbrella term, referring to a pan-European education ecosystem within which we can identify different national, regional and local ecosystems. The creation of this network has also been prompted in part by the observation that research on the field has been dominated by Anglo-American literature. Given that this research tradition is not fully aligned to all the niches of the European educational ecosystem, European perspectives are called for. As an outcome, this European network for research on induction and mentoring is consolidated as a part of EERA NW 1.

Project meetings and symposia
The TIME project has organized meetings within the ECER conference program since 2021, first online and then in-person. The first in-person meeting was held on 6th June 2022 in Reykjavik. This meeting was funded by EERA and Nordplus, with 30 participants from 12 countries. The second meeting was held in Yerevan on 25th August 2022 as a part of the with 22 participants (13 in person and 9 online). The third meeting was held during the ECER2023 on 22nd August 2023 in the University of Glasgow with 56 participants. The fourth meeting will be held in the ECER2024 in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 27th August 2024. For more information, please see the EERA “Tuesday Morning Workshops” in the ECER 2024 program.

The network organises symposia on induction and mentoring every year as part of the Network 1 conference programme. In ECER 2024, there are 3 sessions with 11 papers under the TIME project, plus a number of other papers on the challenges of professional development and mentoring for new teachers.  

A European anthology on induction and mentoring coming soon
One of the outcomes of the network is the publication of a European anthology of research on induction and mentoring across Europe. The executive committee of the TIME network has been working on the anthology since 2021, and the plan has been further refined through the symposia held under EERA Network 1 within the ECER 2022 and ECER 2023 conference programs, with 44 paper presentations and more than 60 authors. The book is expected to be published in 2025.

Interested in joining?
An open invitation to participate in the upcoming year's symposium is sent each autumn to all those who have given a presentation under Network 1 at the previous ECER conference. To express your interest in participating in the symposium or to make other proposals for cooperation with the network, you can contact directly any of the Executive Committee members listed below.

The executive committee of TIME network

  • Hannu L. T. Heikkinen (Chair; EERA Network 1 convener), Professor in Education, Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
  • Eva Bjerkholt, Professor, University of South-Eastern Norway, Norway
  • Michelle Helms-Lorenz, Associate Professor, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
  • Helle Plauborg, Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark

NW 01 runs a mailing list and invites researchers to join. To join the mailing list, send a blank message to nw01-subscribe(at)lists.eera-ecer.de

Interview with Link Convenors 2019