Conference Agenda

This symposium, consisting of two sessions (90 mins + 90 mins) is organized by the Network Project which has emerged within the Network 1 (Professional Learning and Development) of EERA. This network, operating as an integral part of the network NW 1 of EERA, is named Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME). Founded in 2021, the TIME network has so far met during NERA 2022 and ECER 2022 conferences, and the third in-person meeting of TIME is held during the ECER 2023.

The TIME network is in the process of publishing a European anthology, entitled European Perspectives on Teacher Induction and Mentoring. The anthology will be part of a TEPE book series (Teacher Education Policy in Europe Network), published by Brill Publishers.

An open call for proposals for this anthology was published in the fall of 2022. From the numerous proposals for the book, the editors chose eight for further development. These eight papers make up this two-part symposium in ECER 2023. So, this symposium will present unique and new research that has not been published anywhere else thus far. The presentations offer different perspectives on mentoring and induction of new teachers from different theoretical and empirical as well as national standpoints. Some presentations bring together broader reviews of mentoring that include multiple countries. Others, on the other hand, are focused more precisely on specific practices or, for example, on comparisons between two countries. Included in this symposium are perspectives from Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, and the UK, including Scotland and Gibraltar.

The aims of the anthology, are to: (1.) Theorise about the implicit understandings of teacher education and teacher development, thereby addressing the broad understanding of teacher education; (2.) Create insights into the foci that characterise European research in the field and the approaches that are drawn on to discuss the current research literature; (3.) Unpack the European concepts of induction/mentoring.

The chapters of the anthology offer insights to different theoretical frameworks and assumptions that underpin induction and mentoring in Europe. The chapters describe and discuss various European as well as global approaches and implications regarding how mentoring practices are understood and examined. One of the goals of the anthology is also to review the implications of local, national or international policies for induction practices and research on mentoring across different European countries.

The Part 1 of the symposium will start with an overall introduction to the aims of the project and provide an overview on the discussions on induction and mentoring of new teachers in Europe. The second presentation will introduce a comparative analysis on practices and policies of teacher induction and mentoring by using the concept of ‘curriculum ideologies’ as a theoretical lens. The third paper will introduce results of a literature review on European studies on teacher induction and mentoring. The fourth presentation will offer a Nordic view on mentoring and induction.

The Part 2 of the symposium sheds light on mentoring practices and their mutual interaction through four comparisons between two countries. The first paper outlines how the Finnish peer group mentoring model was implanted in Gibraltar and hybridized with the action research approach and how it adapted into and developed in a new kind of ecological niche in a new educational ecosystem. The second presentation compares the mentoring practices of neighboring Belgium and the Netherlands. The third paper is based on an Eastern European perspective, with Romania and Moldova as case examples. The fourth presentation compares mentoring practices in Austria and Israel.

This chapter is based on a case study of a customised mentoring programme for newly qualified teachers in Gibraltar, the main idea of which has been to hybridise action research with the peer group mentoring model adopted from Finland with the difference of only having beginning teachers and a facilitator as part of the group. The study aimed to investigate whether a programme based on these two approaches could better meet the needs of novice teachers. The study is based on an idea of practices as 'living things' which, like species in nature, are parts of a wider ecosystem, inhabiting their ecological niche. Accordingly, we suggest that practices can travel from one ecosystem to another and settle in a different environment if the surrounding conditions are favourable. Species can also interbreed, as in this case. The mentoring model developed in Gibraltar was based on the Finnish model of Peer Group Mentoring but the purpose was not to transfer the practice as such, but to adapt it to the specific ecological niche of the Gibraltar educational ecosystem. In this model, participants were guided to use the methods of participatory action research to identify areas in their own practice which might require attention. By combining these two approaches – peer group mentoring and action research - the study aimed to create collaborative spaces in which beginning teachers could identify areas of common concern and develop a critical understanding of their practice with a view to embedding reflective practice and self-directed professional development from the very start of their careers. The theoretical frameworks applied in this study are the theory of practice architectures and the theory of ecologies of practices (Kemmis 2022). Common to these theories is their emphasis on practices being rooted in the sites where practices happen. Transferring practices from one site to another is challenging, because practices are prefigured by the material-economic, cultural-discursive and social-political arrangements (practice architectures) which are special for each site. In terms of the theory of ecologies of practice, a species survives and flourishes in a new environment only if it finds an ecological niche that offers it favourable conditions. On the other hand, species can also change so that their characteristics adapt to the new environment. This induction programme offers insight into how changes to existing practices, and the deployment of these in a new environment, represent a kind of evolution of these practices.

Department for Education (2021). Early Career Framework. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/978358/Early-Career_Framework_April_2021.pdf Heikkinen, H., Jokinen, H. &. Tynjälä, P. (2012). Peer Group Mentoring for Teacher Development. Abingdon: Routledge. Lima, E. (2022). An Induction Programme Based on Peer Group Mentoring and Action Research for Newly Qualified Teachers in Gibraltar: A Case Study. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Gibraltar. October 2022. Olsen, K.R., Bjerkholt, E.M. & Heikkinen, H.L.T. (2020). “New teachers in Nordic countries: Ecologies of mentoring and induction”, Cappellen Damm Pennanen, M., Heikkinen, H.L.T. & Tynjälä, P. (2018). Virtues of Mentors and Mentees in the Finnish Model of Teachers’ Peer-group Mentoring, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 64(3), 355-371. Tynjälä, P., Pennanen, M., Markkanen, I. & Heikkinen, H. (2020). Finnish Model of Peer-Group Mentoring: Review of Research. Annals of New York Academy of Sciences (Special issue “Mentoring: Theoretical Background, Empirical Findings, and Practical Applications”), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14296

Induction and mentoring are nested within municipal, regional (van der Pers & Helms-Lorenz, 2021), national and international educational professional development policies (Helms-Lorenz et al., 2019). To deepen our understanding of the conceptualization and manifestation of induction across countries within Europe, this paper sets out to identify and compare the macro-, meso- and micro-level factors that influence the manifestation of induction practices of two neighboring countries in Europe: Belgium and The Netherlands. While both countries prioritize and acknowledge the importance of induction, they reveal different manifestations (from the policies to their enactments in schools) of induction practices. The comparison of these manifestations provides a rich opportunity to analyze different perspectives towards Teacher Education and induction. The manifestation of Teacher Education and induction in these two countries’ policy documents, relevant literature and school documents will be analyzed by using two theoretical frameworks, i.e., the ecological principles put forward by Heikkinen (2020) and that of the organizational socialization approach rooted in organizational sciences (Chao, 2012) and contextualized recently to the teaching profession (Coppe et al., 2023). According to Heikkinen, mentoring practices inhabit a given ‘ecological niche’ in each education ecosystem. Niches are evident for the distribution of resources and for individuals to thrive in systems they fit in best. Building on this ecological approach enables us to understand how the macro-, meso-, and micro-level factors are rooted in a country-specific “vision” of what induction is or should be. According to the organizational socialization literature, entering into a profession implies an induction process facilitated by organizational strategies (i.e., formal manifestations) and/or socialization agents (i.e., informal manifestations). Each is prioritized or balanced depending on the work context and the needs of the newcomer (Wanberg, 2012). Building on this theoretical lens enables us to understand how the “vision” aforementioned is enacted in the school organization and what the consequences are of this enactment in terms of induction practices. Our method of inquiry aims to contribute to the “ontological synchronization – i.e., continuous tuning to what is happening and matters at hand, and what future is being generated, including what values and judgements (practitioners, researchers, policymakers) perpetuate in society” (Akkerman, Bakker & Penuel, 2021). The central research questions we address are: 1. What are the similarities/differences in manifestations of induction and mentoring between Belgium and The Netherlands? 2. How can the differences/similarities in manifestations be understood?

Akkerman, S. F., Bakker, A., & Penuel, W. R. (2021). Relevance of educational research: An ontological conceptualization. Educational Researcher, 50(6), 416-424. Chao, G. T. (2012). Organizational socialization: Background, basics, and a blueprint for adjustment at work. In S. W. J. Kozlowski (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of organizational psychology, Vol. 1, pp. 579–614). Oxford University Press. Coppe, T., März, V., & Raemdonck, I. (2023). Second career teachers’ work socialization process in TVET: A mixed-method social network perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 121, 103914. Heikkinen, H. L. T. (2020). Understanding mentoring within an ecosystem of practices. In K.-R. Olsen, E. M. Bjerkholt & H. L. T. Heikkinen (Eds.), New teachers in Nordic countries – ecologies of mentoring and induction (Ch. 1, pp. 27–47). Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk. Helms-Lorenz, M., van de Grift, W., & Maulana, R. (2016). Longitudinal effects of induction on teaching skills and attrition rates of beginning teacher. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 27(2), 178-204. Van der Pers, M., & Helms-Lorenz, M. (2021). The Influence of School Context Factors on the Induction Support as Perceived by Newly Qualified Teachers. In Frontiers in Education (p. 373). Frontiers. Wanberg, C. (Ed.). (2012). The Oxford handbook of organizational socialization. Oxford University Press.

Empirical evidence consistently highlights mentoring as a supportive strategy for beginning teachers (European Commission, 2010). However, there is considerable variety in conceptualising what "mentoring" is or how "induction" functions as a social practice (Kemmis et al., 2014), defining onto-epistemologies with significant ethical and political implications. Studies considering these aspects have increased in recent years (Shanks et al, 2020), although most of this scholarship primarily engages voices from some areas of Europe and less from others. In this chapter, we examine the theoretical and practical framings that underpin induction and mentoring in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, where how these notions are discursively constructed is rarely, if ever, the topic of critical analysis. In both countries, the concepts of mentoring and induction were given formal recognition by being inserted in the laws governing education around the same time (Law 1/2011 in Romania and Law 152/2014 in the Republic of Moldova). In the following ten years, however, at best, induction/mentoring activities' operationalisations have been sporadic (World Bank SABER Country Report, 2017). Nevertheless, as of 2020/2021, there is a resurgence of interest in induction and mentoring in policy discourses in both countries. By comparing these two national settings, we aim to deepen our understanding of the relationship between meaning-making and participation in mentoring and induction into the teaching profession. To this end, we address the research question: How are the concepts of induction and mentorship, their function, and their relationship to teacher education and continuing professional learning and development conceptualised at the levels of policy, research, and practice? Using the theory of practice architecture (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) and positions theory (Davies & Harré, 1990), we examine the specific material-economic, social-political and cultural-discursive arrangements that prefigure the enmeshment of internationally recognisable conceptualisations of mentoring and induction in these two national contexts. Conceptual and processual factors affording or constraining conceptualisations of mentoring and induction in the three dimensions of intersubjective space: semantic, physical and social (Kemmis et al., 2014), are identified. We contend that large-scale policy plans presuming that semantic, physical, and social change in mentoring and induction is of a linear process-product sort (Heikkinen et al., 2012) are bound to fail or produce unanticipated effects. The data for this comparative analysis consists of policy documents, reviews of research literature in each country, and national and international reports documenting teachers’ participation and approaches to mentoring and induction in the two national contexts.

Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the theory of social behaviour, 20(1), 43-63. European Commission (2010). Developing Coherent and System-Wide Induction Programmes for Beginning Teachers: A Handbook for Policymakers. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. Heikkinen, H.L.T., Jokinen, H. and Tynjälä, P. (2012). Peer-Group Mentoring for Teacher Development, Routledge, New York, NY. Iucu, R., & Stîngu, M. (2013). Training induction mentors: alternative policy scenarios of Romanian educational system. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 76, 931-934. Kemmis, S. & Grootenboer, P. (2008). Situating praxis in practice: practice architectures and the cultural, social and material conditions for practice. In s. Kemmis & T.J. Smith (eds.) enabling praxis: Challenges for education (pp. 37 -64). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Kemmis, S., Heikkinen, H. L., Fransson, G., Aspfors, J., & Edwards-Groves, C. (2014). Mentoring of new teachers as a contested practice: Supervision, support and collaborative self-development. Teaching and teacher education, 43, 154-164. Shanks, R., Attard Tonna, M., Krøjgaard, F., Paaske, K.A., Robson, D. & Bjerkholt, E. (2020). A comparative study of mentoring for new teachers, Professional Development in Education, 48:5, 751-765. World Bank (2017) SABER Teachers Romania country report. Downloaded from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/29775/125889-WP-PUBLIC-SABER-Teachers-Romania-Country-Report-2017.pdf

Mentoring for novice newly qualified teachers is considered essential. Many researchers have pointed to the concepts of mentoring, coaching, and supervision as “ill-defined, poorly conceptualized and weakly theorized” (Colley, 2003; Skagen, 2014; Attard-Tonna et al., 2017), yet internationally, mentoring remains a common concept and practice (Olsen, Bjerholt & Heikkinnen, 2020). Researchers also point at teachers’ need for training to help them become effective mentors (Schatz-Oppenheimer, 2017), and indeed, as part of the increasing professionalization in teacher education, mentors’ training programs proliferate. Many European countries support such mentoring programs and sometimes even make them mandatory (Caena, 2014). These programs are often run by academic institutions, placing researchers in a pivotal position as those responsible for nurturing future generations of mentor-teachers. It is, therefore, not only interesting but also of great importance to discuss pervasive academic perceptions regarding mentoring, which may serve as the undergirding logic for mentors’ training programs and influence their design. One crucial issue to consider is researchers’ attention and responsiveness toward the context in which mentoring is enacted. Therefore, this study aims to unpack the academic discourse regarding teacher mentoring, and reveal its major constituting concepts and premises while contrasting two different contexts. We focus on the academic literature on mentoring from two countries, Austria and Israel. From these considerations, we come to the following leading research questions: 1. How does academia in Austria and Israel frame the discussion about teacher mentoring? 2. What are the similarities and differences between those framings? To answer these questions, we first focus on the academic discourse regarding teacher mentoring in each country separately and then compare the two. Our corpus includes Austrian (n=32) and Israeli (n=28) academic papers that discuss teacher mentoring. Analyzing these allowed us to reveal their dominant trends and expose their framing of desired mentoring practice and its implications for training. Overall, we find many similarities, and despite the few differences between the two discourses – that of Austria and that of Israel – we question researchers’ attention toward cultural differences.

Attard-Tonna, M., Bjerkholt, E., & Holland, E. (2017). Teacher mentoring and the reflective practitioner approach. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 6(3), 1–18. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJMCE-04-2017-0032/full/html. doi:Doi 10.1108/IJMCE-04-2017-0032 Caena, F. (2014). Initial teacher education in Europe: an overview of policy issues. European Commission. ET2020 Working Group of Schools Policy. Consultado en http://ec. europa. eu/education/policy/strategic-‐framework/expert-‐groups/documents/initial-‐teacher-‐education_en. pdf.‏ Colley, H. (2003). Mentoring for social inclusion: A critical approach to nurturing mentor relationships. London and New York: Routledge Falmer. Olsen, K.-R., Bjerkholt, E. M., Heikinnen, H. L. T. (2020). New Teachers in Nordic Countries – Ecologies of Mentoring and Induction. Cappelen Damm Akademsik. DOI https://doi.org/10.23865/noasp.105 Schatz-Oppenheimer, O. (2017). Being a mentor: Novice teachers’ mentors’ conceptions of mentoring prior to training. Professional Development in Education, 43(2), 274–292. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2016.1152591 Skagen, K. (2014). Kunnskap og handling i pedagogisk veiledning. (2nd ed.) Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.