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BY HARRY K. WONG, TED BRITTON, AND TOM GANSER

A

N EFFECTIVE teacher is perhaps the most im-portant factor in producing consistently high lev-els of student achievement.1 Thus the professionmust see to it that teachers are continually learn-ing throughout their careers, and that process be-gins with those newest to the profession. A newteacher induction program can acculturate thosenewcomers to the idea that professional learning

must be a lifelong pursuit.

A recent book edited by Ted Britton, Lynn Paine, David Pimm, andSenta Raizen provides a more detailed look at how five countries Switzerland, Japan, France, New Zealand, and China (Shanghai) ac-culturate their new teachers, specifically their science and mathematicsteachers, and shape their entry into the profession.2 In this article, we sharea brief summary of the findings reported in that volume.

The five countries studied provide well-funded support that reaches allbeginning teachers, incorporates multiple sources of assistance, typicallylasts at least two years, and goes beyond the imparting of mere survival

skills. For example, in Switzerland,new teachers are involved in prac-tice groups, where they network tolearn effective problem solving. InShanghai, new teachers join a cul-ture of lesson-preparation and teach-ing-research groups. New teachers inNew Zealand take part in a 25-year-old Advice and Guidance program

that extends for two years. Lessonstudy groups are the mode in Japan,while in France, new teachers workfor an extended time with groups ofpeers who share experiences, practices,tools, and professional language.

Before we go into more detail aboutthese programs, a basic definition ofinduction is in order. Induction is ahighly organized and comprehensiveform of staff development, involvingmany people and components, thattypically continues as a sustained processfor the first two to five years of a teach-ers career. Mentoring is often a com-ponent of the induction process.

The exponential growth in the num-ber of induction programs in the Unit-ed States attests to the value that staffdevelopers and other school leadersascribe to them. Educational leaders

What the World Can Teach Us

About New Teacher Induction

In the U.S., if new teachers receive any induction

at all, it is typically delivered by a single mentor

and is not well structured. The authors report

on the much more systematic approaches to

induction that five other countries have adopted.

HARRY K. WONG is a co-author of The First Days of School and ofNew Teacher In-duction: How to Train, Support, and Retain New Teachers. He lives in Saratoga, Calif.TED BRITTON is associate director of WestEds National Center for Improving ScienceEducation, Redwood City, Calif., and currently directs a study of the induction of math-ematics and science teachers in the U.S. TOM GANSER is director of the Office of FieldExperiences, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. He also serves as a consultant for thedesign, implementation, and evaluation of new teacher mentor programs. 2005, Harry K.Wong.

JANUARY 2005 379


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have eagerly adapted their approach-es to induction to reflect the manychanges in the teaching profession.3

But induction programs are a globalphenomenon, and here we offer U.S.leaders a summary of the best prac-

tices of the international programs re-ported by Britton and his colleagues.

SWITZERLAND

In the Swiss system, teachers areassumed to be lifelong learners. Fromthe start, beginning teachers are viewedas professionals, and induction focus-es on the development of the personas well as on the development of the

professional.Induction begins during studentteaching as teams of three studentsnetwork with one another. It contin-ues for beginning teachers in practicegroups of some half a dozen teach-ers and is carried forward in mutualclassroom observations between be-ginning teachers and experienced teach-ers. Thus induction moves seamless-ly from a teachers preservice days tonovice teaching to continuing profes-

sional learning.The Swiss philosophy explicitly re-

jects a deficit model of induction,which assumes that new teachers lacktraining and competence and thus need

mentors. Instead, in several cantons,there is a carefully crafted array of in-duction experiences for new teachers,including:

Practice groups.These are a formof structured, facilitated networking

that supports beginning teachers fromdifferent schools as they learn to beeffective solvers of practical problems.

St a n d o rt b e s t i m m u n g. Pr a c t i c egroups generally conclude with a groupStandortbestimmung a form of self-evaluation of the first year of teachingthat reflects the Swiss concern withdeveloping the whole person as wellas the teacher.

Counseling. Counseling is gen-

erally available for all teachers, but agreater number of beginning teach-ers take part. It can grow out of thepractice groups and can involve one-on-one mentoring of classroom prac-tice. In some cantons, counseling ismandatory for beginning teachers.

Courses. Course offerings rangefrom obligatory courses to voluntarycourses available on a regular basis toimpulse courses, put together onshort notice to meet a short-term need.

These practices are supported withtraining for practice-group leaders,counselors, and mentors.

A professional team heads the wholeset of induction activities and is in

charge of the practice-group leaders.The group leaders, all active teachersthemselves, are the key to the qualityof the practice groups and other com-ponents of induction, such as class-room visits and individual counsel-

ing. These individuals are relieved ofsome of their teaching duties to maketime for their responsibilities as prac-tice-group leaders. They also receiveadditional pay and are themselves sup-ported by the central team. The groupleaders are trained for their respon-sibilities and take part in a wide rangeof professional development offer-ings to increase their competence asleaders.

CHINA (SHANGHAI)

The teaching culture in Shanghaifeatures research groups and collec-tive lesson planning. It is a culture inwhich all teachers learn to engage injoint work to support their teachingand their personal learning, as wellas the learning of their pupils. Theinduction process is designed to helpbring new teachers into this culture.

There is an impressive array oflearning opportunities at both theschool and the district level, amongthem:

welcoming ceremonies at theschool;

d i s t r i c t - l e vel workshops andcourses;

district-organized teaching com-petitions;

district-provided mentoring; a district hot line for new teach-

ers that connects them with subjectspecialists;

district awards for outstandingnovice/mentor work;

half-day training sessions at col-leges of education and in schools formost weeks for the year;

peer observation, both in andoutside of school;

380 PHI DELTA KAPPAN


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public or open lessons, withdebriefing and discussion of the les-son afterwards;

report lessons, in which a newteacher is observed and given com-ments, criticisms, and suggestions;

talk lessons, in which a teacher(new or experienced) talks througha lesson and provides justification forits design, but does not actually teachit;

inquiry projects and action re-search carried out by new teachers,with support from those on the schoolor district teaching research section orinduction staff;

district- or school-deve l o p e d

handbooks for new teachers and men-tors; and end-of-year celebrations of teach-

ers work and collaboration.In keeping with the collective and

collaborative focus of the teachingculture in Shanghai, a number of oth-er critical components play a role inthe induction process for new teach-ers.

Lesson-preparation groups. The heartof the professional learning culture is

the lesson-preparation group.Thesegroups engage new and veteran teach-ers in discussing and analyzing the les-sons they are teaching.

Teaching-research groups. A begin-ning teacher is also a member of ateaching-research group, which pro-vides a forum for the discussion ofteaching techniques. Each teacher, newor experienced, must observe at leasteight lessons a semester, and mostteachers observe more. It is very com-mon for teachers to enter others class-rooms and to engage in discussionabout mutually observed teaching.These conversations help new teach-ers acquire the language and adopt thenorms of public conversation aboutteaching, and that conversation be-comes a natural part of the fabric ofany teachers professional life.

Teaching competitions. Districts or-ganize teaching competitions with thegoal of motivating new teachers andencouraging the serious study of andpreparation for teaching. The com-petitions also identify and honor out-standing accomplishment. Lessons arevideotaped so that the district can com-pile an archive for future use. Teach-ing thus becomes community proper-ty, not owned privately by one teach-er, but shared by all.

NEW ZEALAND

In New Zealand, the inductionphase is called the Advice and Guid-

ance (AG) program. The AG programis seen as the initial phase of the life-long professional development of teach-ers. Every beginning teacher receives20% released time to participate inthe program.

Teachers and school-level admin-istrators are willing to invest in theeffort to support beginning teacherspartly because schools are required toprovide an AG program. Provisional-ly registered teachers must document

the AG support they received duringtheir first two years when they applyfor a permanent certificate. But manyof those who provide support for newteachers view their assistance as a com-mitment to the teaching profession.

The National Ministry of Educa-tion also provides limited regional re-sources for professional developmentservices to beginning teachers. Region-al meetings, which attract teachers fromdifferent schools, provide for the freeexchange of induction experiencesamong a wide variety of participants.Although there is a national hand-book outlining the goals of the AGprogram, the extent, nature, and qual-ity of the local programs vary widely.

At the local school, an adminis-trator or a staff member is typicallythe coordinator of the AG program.

The people involved most directlyin supporting beginning teachers aretypically the AG coordinator, depart-ment heads, buddy teachers, and,to a lesser extent, all other school staffmembers. In those schools that have

more than one beginning teacher, theAG coordinator will convene all thebeginning teachers every two weeksthroughout most of the year. Obser-vation of teaching is a key activity inschool-level induction programs andcomes in several varieties. As in Switz-erland, facilitated peer support is animportant induction strategy.

Ted Britton explains that one rea-son New Zealand was chosen as a sub-

ject for study was the contrast it of-fered with countries that place a greatdeal of the responsibility for assistingbeginning teachers on a single men-tor or on just a couple of people. (Hewas alluding to the United States.)Indeed, we were struck by the vari-ety of the sources of support in NewZealand and by how the schools makeuse of a range of induction activities.Throughout the education system inNew Zealand, there is a universal com-

mitment to support beginning teach-ers.

JAPAN

Teaching in Japan is regarded asa high-status occupation, a dignifiedprofession. New teachers receive a re-duced teaching load and are assignedguiding teachers. The guiding teacheris the key to success in the Japanesesystem.

In school. All new teachers typi-cally teach two or more demonstra-tion lessons in their first year, withthe lessons viewed by prefectural ad-ministrators, the guiding teacher, theschool principal or assistant princi-pal, and other teachers in the school.The demonstration or study teach-ing lesson, a traditional Japanese

JANUARY 2005 381


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method for improving teaching, is aformal public lesson, which is observedand then subjected to critique by col-leagues.

James Stigler and James Hiebertview these lessons and their subse-

quent public analysis as the core ac-tivity of in-school teacher educa-tion.4 To prepare for their public les-sons, the new teachers will have writ-ten and rewritten their lesson plans,practiced teaching the lesson withone of their classes, and modified thelesson with the help of a guiding teach-er. They might even call teachers fromneighboring schools, whom they knowfrom their university or prefectural

classes, and seek their help and ad-vice.In Japan, as in Shanghai, teaching

is viewed as a public activity, open toscrutiny by many. The induction processwelcomes beginners into that openpractice and provides beginning teach-ers with many regular opportunitiesto observe their peers, their guidingteachers, and other teachers in theirschool, as well as those in other schools.No special arrangements need to be

made, for schools and teaching areorganized to allow for such open ob-servations. Indeed, the method is souniversal that all teachers have experi-enced it, and all seem to see its wis-dom and believe in its efficacy. Themost critical factor is that it is the les-son that is criticized, not the teacher.

New teachers are also required tosubmit a culminating action researchproject, based on a classroom lessonthey would like to investigate. Thisproject is usually about 30 to 40 pagesin length and is to be handed in to theprefectural education office (thoughno formal feedback on it is provided).These projects are accumulated in theprefectural inservice offices and areavailable for other teachers to use.

Japanese teachers do not have theirown, isolated offices. Rather, teams or

even an entire staff will occupy onelarge room with individual desks andthe accompanying equipment andsupplies. Thus a new teacher receiveshelp from many teachers, since mostveteran teachers believe it is their re-

sponsibility to help new teachers tobecome successful.

Out of school. Most out-of-schoolactivity occurs under the guidanceof a city or prefectural inservice cen-ter. Such a center is usually housed ina rather large building, is well staffedwith specialists in most disciplines,and is dedicated to the inservice de-velopment of local teachers.

Induction is only the first phase

of a teachers professional learning.All Japanese teachers must participatein sponsored inservice programs five,10, and 20 years after their inductionprogram has been completed.

FRANCE

To become a certified secondaryteacher in France, one must success-fully pass a highly competitive na-tional secondary recruitment exam-

ination, both oral and written. A newteacher is referred to as a stagiaire,which translates roughly as someonewho is undertaking a stage of devel-opment or formation.

A pedagogical advisor, appointedby a regional pedagogical inspector, isprovided for all new secondary schoolstagiaires. When new teachers needadvice, the advisors give it, but theteachers are encouraged to proceedon their own. Stagiairesobserve oneanothers classes on numerous occa-sions.

Off campus, all new teachers arerequired to attend sessions several daysper week at the nearest IUFM (In-stitut Universitaire de Formation desMatres), an institution created in 1991specifically to handle teacher educa-tion and development. The main goal

of the IUFMs is to increase both theintellectual status of teacher educa-tion and the professionalism of teach-ers.

At the IUFM, groups of stagiairesmeet, and their work is directed by

theirformateur, an experienced teach-er educator who teaches in the class-room part time and is employed parttime by the IUFM. Formation is thename given to the process a new teach-er undergoes to become a memberof the teaching profession, and theformateuris the person who providesformative experiences.Formation trans-lates roughly as development or shap-ing. A typical day for a new teacher

might include: preparing several lessons, teach-ing the lessons, and marking the pu-pils homework;

tutoring a smaller group of pu-pils;

observing the pedagogical advi-sor teach and discussing features ofthe lesson;

observing, participating in, anddiscussing lessons taught by a teach-er in a different school in the same

town; and working on aspects of teaching

for a day and a half at the IUFM.A professional memoir, written

under the guidance of a memoir tu-tor, is required of every new teacher.The memoir is a report on some de-tailed exploratory work relating tosome aspect of teaching practice orto an academic issue. It can be doneeither individually or by a pair of sta-giaires.

The compulsory learning oppor-tunities for stagiairesare varied. InFrance, first-year teaching and learn-ing about teaching take place in a num-ber of settings, and a certain amountof flexibility is required, as stagiairesmove between institutional settings.The French view working with dif-ferent teachers as ideal forformation,



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because these experiences bring thestagiairesinto contact with a consid-erable number of different people invaried roles: theformateurs; the peda-gogical advisors; the school staff in

different schools, including adminis-trators and teachers of various subjects;

the memoir tutor; different groupsof pupils; parents; and possibly theregional pedagogical inspectors. Thelist is very long.

Stagiairescan come to think of thegroup with whom they work at theIUFM as a tribe, a group of same-subject teachers working together intheir joint area of specialization. Andthe notion of tribe is an importantone. Various things support the in-tegrity of a tribe: shared experience,

shared practices, shared tools, andshared language.

To an outsider, this process mightlook like induction that ends after thefirst year of teaching. But the Frenchview it as simply part of teacherfor-mation; it is the method by which thesystem takes in new members.

APPLICATION TO NORTHAMERICAN SCHOOLS

Although the approaches to theinduction of new teachers in the fivecountries discussed above differ fromone another, they do have three ma-jor similarities that can provide use-ful ideas for staff developers respon-sible for induction programs in theU.S. First, the respective inductionapproaches are highly structured, com-

prehensive, rigorous, and seriously mon-itored. There are well-defined rolesfor staff developers, administrators,instructors, mentors, orformateurs.

In contrast, the professional de-

velopment programs in the UnitedStates are often sporadic, incoherent,

and poorly aligned, and they lack ad-equate follow-up.5 The amount of timedevoted to professional developmenton a given topic is most commonlyabout one day during the year forany given teacher.6

Second, the induction programs

of the five countries focus on pro-fessional learning and on deliveringgrowth and professionalism to theirteachers. They achieve these ends withan organized, sustained professionaldevelopment system that employs a

variety of methods. These countriesall consider their induction programsto be one phase or a single part of atotal lifelong professional learningprocess.

In contrast, in more than 30 states,the nearly universal U.S. practice seemsremarkably narrow: mentoring pre-dominates, and often there is littlemore.7 In many schools, one-on-onementoring is the dominant or even

the sole strategy for supporting newteachers, and it often lacks real struc-ture and relies on the willingness ofthe veteran teacher and the new teach-er to seek each other out. Many men-tors are assigned to respond to a newteachers need for day-to-day survival

JANUARY 2005 383

Although the induction approaches in the fivecountries differ from one another, they have threemajor similarities they are highly structured,they focus on professional learning, and theyemphasize collaboration.


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tips, and so they function primarilyas a safety net for the new teachers.

Third, collaboration is the strengthof each of these five induction pro-grams. Collaborative group work is

understood, fostered, and acceptedas a part of the teaching culture in allfive countries surveyed. Experienc-

es, practices, tools, and language areshared among teachers. And it is thefunction of the induction phase toengender this sense of group identi-ty in new teachers and to begin treat-ing them as colleagues.

In contrast, isolation is the com-mon thread and complaint amongnew teachers in U.S. schools. Newteachers want more than a job.Theywant to experience success. They wantto contribute to a group. They want

to make a difference. Thus collegial

interchange, not isolation, must be-come the norm for teachers.8

Indeed, the most successful U.S.induction programs go beyond men-toring.9 They are structured, sustained,

intensive professional developmentprograms that allow new teachers toobserve others, to be observed by oth-

ers, and to be part of networks or studygroups in which all teachers share withone another and learn to respect oneanothers work. Michael Garet andhis colleagues confirmed this find-ing when they showed that teacherslearn more in teacher networks andstudy groups than with mentoring.10

In their examination of over 30new teacher induction programs inthe U.S., Annette Breaux and HarryWong also found the inevitable pres-

ence of a leader.11 These leaders havecreated organized and comprehensiveinduction programs that stress col-laboration and professional growth.Teacher induction programs that relyon networking and collaboration canbe found in such places as the Flow-ing Wells Schools in Tucson, Arizo-na (the Institute for Teacher Renew-al and Growth); the Lafourche Par-ish Schools in Lafourche, Louisiana(the Framework for Inducting, Re-taining, and Supporting Teachers pro-gram); and the Dallas Public Schoolsin Dallas, Texas (New Teacher Initi-atives: New Teacher Support and De-velopment Programs and Services).

The district staff developer andthe building principal are the keysto establishing the commitment toteacher improvement and student

achievement. But the bottom line re-mains: good teachers make the dif-ference. Districts that provide struc-tured, sustained induction, training,and support for their teachers achievewhat every school district seeks to

achieve improved student learn-ing through improved professionallearning.

1. Eric A. Hanushek, John F. Kain, and StevenG. Rivkin, Why Public Schools Lose Teachers,

Working Paper 8599, National Bureau of Eco-nomic Research, Cambridge, Mass., 2001; and

Aubrey Wang et al., Preparing Teachers Aroundthe World(Princeton, N.J.: Educational TestingService, 2003), available at www.ets.org/research/pic.

2. Edward Britton et al., eds., Comprehensive

Teacher Induction: Systems for Early Career Learn-ing(Dordrecht, Neth.: Kluwer Academic Pub-lishers and WestEd, 2003), available at www.

WestEd.org.

3. Tom Ganser, The New Teacher Mentors: FourTrends That Are Changing the Look of Men-toring Programs for New Teachers,AmericanSchool Board Journal, December 2002, pp. 25-27; and Tom Ganser, Sharing a Cup of CoffeeIs Only a Beginning,Journal of Staff Develop-ment, Fall 2002, pp. 28-32.

4. James Stigler and James Hiebert, The Teach-ing Gap (New York: Free Press, 1999).

5. Wang et al., op. cit.

6. Basmat Parsad, Laurie Lewis, and ElizabethFarris, Teacher Preparation and Professional Devel-opment, 2000(Washington, D.C.: National Cen-ter for Education Statistics, 2001).

7. Edward Britton et al., More Swimming, LessSinking: Perspectives from Abroad on U.S. Teach-er Induction, paper prepared for the NationalCommission on Mathematics and Science Teach-ing in the 21st Century, San Francisco, 2000.

8. Harry K. Wong, Collaborating with Colleaguesto Improve Student Learning, Eisenhower Na-tional Clearinghouse, ENC Focus, vol. 11, no. 6,2003, available at www.enc.org/features/focus;and idem, Induction Programs That Keep Work-ing, in Marge Scherer, ed., Keeping Good Teach-ers(Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervisionand Curriculum Development, 2003), chap. 5,available at www.newteacher.com click onPublished Papers.

9. Annette L. Breaux and Harry K. Wong, NewTeacher Induction: How To Train, Support, and Re-tain New Teachers(Mountain View, Calif.: HarryK. Wong Publications, 2003).

10. Michael Garet, What Makes Professional De-velopment Effective?,American Educational Re-search Journal, Winter 2001, pp. 915-46.

11. Breaux and Wong, op. cit. K


Isolation is the common thread and complaintamong new teachers in U.S. schools. Newteachers want more than a job.They wantto contribute to a group.


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Harry K. Wong, Ted Britton, and Tom Ganser, What the World CanTeach Us About New Teacher Induction, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 86,No. 5, January 2005, pp. 379-384.

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