Teacher induction program: First experience in Turkey

Abstract

Perspectives on beginning teachers’ possible problems and their reasons force many of the countries to develop teacher induction programs. Teacher induction programs are extensive, consistent and ongoing professional processes aiming to train, support, and protect novice teachers. In Turkey, the process of “teacher induction program” which has been initiated in 2016 is a regulation to train novice teachers for six months. The rationale of the program for the novice teachers is to have more practical experience and in turn to teach effectively in their classrooms. As each new regulation can be accompanied by some obscurities, scientific research will serve to increase the quality of the processes and practices in teacher induction programs. In this sense, the current research aims to determine the views of 357 novice teachers on the goal achievement of the teacher induction program. A questionnaire form was developed to collect the data consisting of 43 questions one of which is an open-ended question. Results suggested that preservice education and teacher induction program have similar contributions in regard to the goal achievement of the teacher induction program. Moreover, considering the process as a whole, the mentor has an important role in the development of novice teachers.