Conference Agenda

The induction period bridges teacher education and professional practice, serving as a key socialization process into teaching. Research highlights the role of organizational context in supporting novice teachers’ integration, showing that effective organizational socialization enhances satisfaction, belonging, and retention (Symeonidis et al., 2023; Van der Pers & Helms-Lorenz, 2021).

Many teacher induction programs have been developed and implemented in recent years across diverse educational contexts. These programs vary along several dimensions, including primary responsibility (e.g., state supervision, local authorities, or individual schools), regulatory status (compulsory or voluntary), and duration, ranging from a few months to three years (Howe, 2006; Ingersoll & Strong, 2011). Despite this variation, induction programs generally aim to provide a structured process of professional development that supports novice teachers in their transition toward effective professional practice (Reeves et al., 2022; Symeonidis et al., 2023). Support mechanisms commonly include mentoring, collegial assistance, and professional workshops. However, although the beginner phase is generally acknowledged to span 3-5 years, most research on teachers’ induction has focused on the first year

This study intends to examine the mechanisms within the induction period that foster teacher retention. Focusing on novice teachers’ experiences during their first two years in the profession, the study conceptualizes the entry phase through a reception-integration model that offers a holistic understanding of how induction contributes to the decision to remain in the profession.

The first-year centers on the reception phase into the education system and has been widely examined in research on induction effectiveness (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011; Kutsyuruba et al., 2019). This stage is often described as a “survival phase,” marked by the challenges of navigating school contexts. Accordingly, the reception process aims to familiarize novice teachers with organizational culture, relationships, and procedures, thereby supporting their initial integration into the school setting.

The second year of induction focuses on the integration process into the education system. Although this stage remains challenging, teachers enter it with greater professional maturity, having acquired familiarity with the school environment, organizational culture, pedagogical practices, and key professional partners, including students, parents, and colleagues. During this phase, they still need support. Following the job demands-resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007), integration involves the interplay of two psychological processes: job motivation and job strain. Job motivation is shaped by the satisfaction of basic psychological needs: autonomy, belonging, and self-efficacy (Deci and Ryan, 2000), while job strain is associated with stress and burnout (Pyhältö et al., 2021). The model suggests that adequate resources and support enhance motivation, reduce burnout, and promote successful integration and teacher retention. Another indicator of teachers’ organizational integration is their intention to assume leadership roles, reflecting professional commitment, responsibility, and interest in long-term career development within the education system (Avidov-Ungar, 2016).

Drawing on organizational socialization theory and the job demands-resources model, the present study examines how second-year novice teachers’ reception experiences, reflected in satisfaction with the support received, and their integration into educational organizations, as indicated by motivation, burnout, and interest in leadership roles, interact to predict intentions to remain in the profession.

Research questions:

1. How do second-year novice teachers perceive their reception and integration experiences during the first two years of teaching?
2. Are the reception and integration experiences directly associated with second-year NQTs’ perseverance intentions?
3. Do the integration experiences serve as mediators between the reception experiences and the intentions to persevere?

The shortage of teachers has been gaining increasing visibility as a challenge to be faced in various countries. Reports recently issued by international organizations underscore that a high number of primary and secondary teachers are needed to ensure quality education for all, both in developing and developed countries (Flores, Oliveira & Ponte, 2024). Currently, the majority of education systems in Europe struggle with teacher shortage due to various reasons such as motivation, recruitment, retention, training and working conditions.

In Portugal this complex problem arises in the aftermath of mass retirement of teachers and a decline in the number of teaching candidates over the last 15 years (Flores, Oliveira & Ponte, 2024). The entrance of new teachers into the profession is a pressing issue that requires rethinking models of teacher education and processes of professional development. Thus, induction has been pointed out as a crucial response to face the current challenges of training, recruiting and retaining the needed teachers in the Portuguese educational system.

New teacher’s induction is not a new topic since programmes and practices have existed in certain countries for decades. Studies about the programmes and practices are traceable in North America since the late XX century (for example Huling-Austin, 1988; Serpell & Bozeman, 1999; Youngs, 2002) focusing on its characteristics and effects. In general the authors conclude that research data supports the idea that induction programs can be successful in achieving multiple goals linked to the improvement of teaching performance, the retention of beginning teachers and their personal and professional well-being, as well as satisfying mandated requirements related to certification and transmitting the culture of the system to beginning teachers. Similar conclusions are highlighted by scholars reviewing more recent research about induction programmes and practices in other parts of the world, comprising not only North America but also Asian and European countries (Darling-Hammond, 2017; Frederiksen, 2020).

Moreover, induction arises as a central issue within teachers’ education and professional development across time and across structured educational systems in different parts of the world. Within that broader scenario induction might be approached from quite different perspectives and understood as “the fundamental link between initial and in-service teacher education with implications for retention, professional knowledge and the development of the professional identity” (Flores, 2021, p. 124).

The analysis of the Portuguese case is particularly stimulating to enrich the debate about new teachers' induction, offering a view from a small country in a peripheral location. In this country, new teachers’ induction gained enormous visibility recently attached to a serious crisis of lack of teachers in the context of an educational system highly centralized and bureaucratic, especially in what concerns teachers recruitment and careers. The induction period in teachers' careers seems to be non-existent in the country (Flores, 2021) as a recognised phase within the continuous professional development process. Nevertheless, the National Teaching Career Statutes Law establishes a probationary period since 2015 aimed at certifying teachers in their first year of practice and managed by the national Ministry of Education that each year publishes a list with the name of all the teachers that must fulfill this requirement.

In the proposed paper we draw on international reports which include data about induction and references to Portugal, namely Education at a Glance (OCDE, 2021 and 2022), Eurydice (2018 and 2021) and TALIS (2019 and 2025). Overall, the analysis intends to enrich the discussion about the complexity of induction in practice for teachers, schools and educational systems. In addition, it features the Portuguese case and contributes to the international debate about new teachers’ induction related to its various understandings as probation, professional development or response to teachers’ shortage.

Too many early career teachers (ECTs) leave the profession too early because they feel not enough prepared for their jobs or receive too little support and guidance during the first years of their careers (HelmsLorenz et al., 2013). This is problematic, especially in the light of the continuously increasing teachers shortages schools are facing worldwide (OECD, 2018).

Educational institutes thus increasingly implement induction programs, referring to bundles of activities and remedies aimed at accelerating teachers’ professional development and enculturation in their schools (Green, 2015). These remedies comprise optimal working conditions (like workload reduction) as well as rich learning opportunities (e.g. availability of a personal coach).
Induction programs appear effective; these indeed accelerate ECTs’ competence development, increase their self-efficacy and job satisfaction (Harmsen et al., 2019).

However, support and guidance are not the only factors that guarantee a ‘smooth landing’. That is, the way ECTs experience their jobs is, for example, also influenced by the recruitment and selection procedures, offered career opportunities and payment. Hence, retaining ECTs is also a matter of good personnel policy (Kutsyuruba et al., 2019). The current paper therefore explores how induction can be embedded in HRM (human resources management) policies and practices which are explicitly targeted at attracting, retaining, developing and rewarding teachers in such a way that it results in optimal teacher and school performance (Runhaar, 2017).

During the presentation, we will first explain how induction can be conceptualized as part of HRM. We hereto base ourselves on the AMO theory of performance (Appelbaum et al., 2001), which states that employee performance is a function of: their abilities (A); their motivation (M) and the opportunities they are offered to exert their expertise (O). We will present a set of thirteen indicators schools should take into account in the appointment of ECTs, such as: a timely recruitment and selection; strict distinction among their guidance and performance assessment; differentiation among ECTs. The underlying assumption is that HRM is only effective in case different HRM practices are aligned to each other (see, for example, Boselie et al., 2021).

Secondly, we will present data gathered by means of an online reflection instrument (called the Startwijzer; see Runhaar et al., 2024) containing the above mentioned set of indicators. This instrument was spread across primary, secondary and vocational schools in The Netherlands and filled out by different actors: e.g. the ECT’s themselves, their coaches, team leaders, HR officers etc. The instrument thus not only enables schools to get an insight into how the landing of their ECTs can be smoothened by improving and aligning certain HRM- and induction-related aspects, but also into how these aspects are perceived by different actor groups.

The latter is important given that HRM is only effective if the perceived HRM (in our case ECTs' and their coaches' experiences with induction and other HRM practices) aligns with the intended HRM (referring to the induction programs and other relevant HRM practices such as recruitment and selection as developed by HRM officers) and the implemented HRM (i.e. the execution of HRM practices, often done by school- or team leaders) (cf. Nishii et al., 2018).

The paper focuses on the following research questions:

1. How do respondents rate the thirteen indicators of a smooth landing of ECTs?

2. What explanations do respondents provide for their ratings?

3. To what degree (a) and how (b) do different actors differ in their ratings and explanations?

Entering the teaching profession is widely recognised as a critical phase in teachers’ professional development, characterised by intensive workplace learning, early exposure to complex instructional and organisational responsibilities, and the gradual construction of a professional identity (Huberman, 1989; Feiman-Nemser, 2001). Research on teacher induction shows that experiences during the first years of teaching are decisive for teachers’ well-being, instructional practices and long-term retention (Johnson & Birkeland, 2003). Despite this, induction processes in many education systems remain weakly structured and unevenly implemented across schools.

Recent studies increasingly emphasise the organisational and relational dimensions of induction, highlighting how school-level conditions, professional communities and mentoring practices shape early career teachers’ opportunities for professional learning (Warren Little, 1999; Darling-Hammond, Hyler, & Gardner, 2017). From this perspective, induction can be understood as a process of organisational socialisation through which newcomers acquire norms, practices and relational resources enabling meaningful participation in professional life (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979). Importantly, mentoring and induction practices are not neutral or homogeneous, but often take the form of contested practices situated within specific organisational and cultural contexts (Kemmis et al., 2014).

This paper contributes to these debates by presenting findings from an exploratory qualitative study conducted in upper secondary education in the Canton of Ticino (Switzerland). The study examines how early career teachers experience their entry into the profession and how organisational conditions within schools shape their professional learning during the first years of teaching. Upper secondary education provides a particularly relevant context, as induction arrangements are only partially formalised and largely depend on local school practices and informal collegial relations.

Drawing on an ecological perspective, induction is approached as part of a broader constellation of practices, actors and institutional arrangements that structure teachers’ learning opportunities in the workplace (Heikkinen, 2020). The paper addresses three research questions:

1. How do early career teachers describe their experiences of entering the teaching profession in upper secondary education?
2. Which organisational conditions do they perceive as supportive or challenging during this phase?
3. How do these conditions influence their professional learning, sense of belonging and perceptions of work sustainability?

By foregrounding teachers’ perspectives, the study provides empirically grounded insights into how induction is enacted in everyday school practices. Rather than proposing a normative model, the paper documents how organisational arrangements structure early career teachers’ learning trajectories and discusses implications for professional learning and school leadership, contributing to ongoing discussions within Network 01 and current European debates on teacher induction and mentoring.