Comprehensive Teacher Induction

What does it take to meet the wide-ranging needs of beginning teachers? Based on a three-year study, the authors describe how comprehensive teacher induction systems can not only provide teacher support but also promote learning more about how to teach. Induction programmes in Shanghai, France, Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland have provided well-funded induction support that reaches all beginning teachers, incorporates multiple sources of support, typically lasts two or more years, and goes beyond survival skills to promoting learning about teaching. With National Science Foundation funding and under the auspices of WestEd's National Center for Improving Science Education and Michigan State University, researchers conducted in-depth case studies of induction programs. They particularly focused on novice mathematics and science teachers. This book calls for re-thinking what teacher induction is about, whom it should serve, what the "curriculum" of induction should be, and the policies, programmes, and practices needed to deliver it.