Newly qualified teachers have to be supported during the first years of their careers. This support must be seen as a shared interest for the school (the workplace), the teacher training school, pedagogical guidance service and other external partners and therefore they have to work together intensively and complementary. In Europe there is a diversity of models of induction systems. The partners of the project don’t want to select one effective system but they want to develop several support measures and tools for school leaders and teachers so they can develop their own coherent system in the school, embedded in the existing structure and culture. It is important to know that the support will focus on three dimensions: the professional (teacher competences and skills), the social (becoming a member of the school and professional community) and the personal (professional identity/profile). The last two have not often been subject for research. Critical success factors to create this kind of support will be indicated and roles of stakeholders defined. We need to invest in the well-being and professional development of all teachers during the course of their career. We want to develop tools that will be an answer to the following needs/problems: • the praxis-shock, the clash between the environment of the teacher training school, the reality of the classroom and their own expectations; • the lack of policy and consistency in schools about professional development of teachers; it has to be a continuum from novice to expert; • the diversity of models and the effectiveness of impact of induction systems in Flanders and in Europe; • no intensive cooperation and a lack of coherence between the several organizations: school, guidance service and teacher training; • drop out of starting teachers: a large number of young teachers are leaving t We distinguish a direct and an indirect target group. As a direct target group we will reach pre-service teachers, newly qualified teachers, teachers and school leaders. School leaders play a key role in the professionalization policy of the school. The indirect target group are students, teacher training schools and other pedagogical guidance services. The cooperation in this partnership between schools, teacher training schools/universities and pedagogical guidance services is unique. - POV, a pedagogical guidance service for 60 schools - CLV, Cramlington Learning Village, a secondary school licensed to train 40 teachers a year (and guiding another 20 schools), - Het Perspectief, a teacher training school - The Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon - The University of Finland with sufficient and thorough research experience on teacher training, are committed to succeed in this project. POV is an umbrella organization for 60 schools which guarantees that POV as a coordinating partner can play a crucial role in the implementation and the dissemination of the project and the developed tools. The project will consist of 3 phases spread over the three school years. Year 1 is the conceptualization and development phase. Each partner commits to develop the concept and the tools described in the memorandum of understanding. These results will be discussed and adjusted during the 2 project meetings. Year 2 is the development and the test phase. Based on the feedback of the project meetings, the developed tools will be further adjusted as well as the quality instruments to measure the results. All developed tools will be tested by each partner in their own network. Year 3 is the dissemination and multiplication phase. In this year 2 international multiplier events take place as well as a teaching and training activity for NQT. In the last project meeting the project will be evaluated and each partner engages concerning the sustainability of the project. This last year also policy recommendations will be formulated. The expected results on longer term are • increased confidence of teachers • effective support to newly qualified teachers • new teachers delivering high quality lessons • the (further) development of a learning culture within the school, where refreshing and new ideas of newly qualified teachers are welcome • higher retention rates of teachers • learners in the care of new teachers will make more progress As intelectual output we will develop: • a research report: refining the needs of the target group • a policy document for schools (the concept) and a toolbox for schools to guide their new qualified teachers based on 3 basic kinds of support: professional, social and personal and starting from a 'talent'-approach. • a toolkit for teachers that will equip them with strategies for enhancing learning in the class-room and strategies for developing their confidence and resilience. • monitoring instruments • project website, social media, articles • policy recommendations
The project ONTP, outstanding newly qualified teacher programme, focused on the support of starting teachers during the first years of their careers. This support must be seen as a shared interest for the school (the workplace), the teacher training school, pedagogical guidance service and other external partners to work together intensively and complementary. Therefore the partners of the project developed and exchanged tools for three target groups, namely: • School leaders • Mentors/coaches • Starting teachers The expected results of this project on longer term were: • increased confidence of teachers • effective support to newly qualified teachers • new teachers delivering high quality lessons • the (further) development of a learning culture within the school, • higher retention rates of teachers • learners in the care of new teachers will make more progress At the start of the project (projectmeeting 1), all partners exchanged information and insight on the different models of induction in the partner countries. The purpose of the project was never to select one effective system but to develop several support measures and tools for school leaders and teachers so they can develop their own coherent system in the school, embedded in the existing structure and culture. During the course of the project all partners agreed upon developing next to tools for teachers and school leaders, tools for mentors and coaches. The development of the tools for teachers was based on three dimensions: the professional (teacher competences and skills), the social (becoming a member of the school and professional community) and the personal (professional identity/profile). The last two have not often been subject for research. Critical success factors for the development of the tools were indicated and roles of stakeholders were defined. All partners were and still are very much committed to invest in the well-being and professional development of all teachers during the course of their career. As a direct target group we wanted to reach pre-service teachers, newly qualified teachers, teachers and school leaders. School leaders play a key role in the professionalization policy of the school. The indirect target group, is the final and most important one, namely the students. Why did we want to do this project? Because we want to offer quality education to all students by offering tools for teacher training schools and other pedagogical guidance services to support starting teachers, mentors and school leaders. The cooperation in this partnership between schools, teacher training schools/universities and pedagogical guidance services was unique. The partners in this project had their own expertise and were: - POV, a pedagogical guidance service for 60 schools - CLV, Cramlington Learning Village, a secondary school licensed to train 40 teachers a year (and guiding another 20 schools), - Het Perspectief, a teacher training school in Belgium - The Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon - The University of Finland with sufficient and thorough research experience on teacher training, Professor Hannele Niemi The project consisted of 3 phases spread over three school years. Year 1 was the conceptualization and development phase. Each partner committed to develop the concept and the tools described in application form and used a memorandum of understanding to monitor the engagements. A vision on how the partners saw the project was written out in a manifest. The results, information, research and documents were discussed during the project meetings. The partners also wrote a policy document for school leaders and discussed the setting up of the website and developed a logo for the project. Year 2 was used to develop and test the tools and do the research. Based on the feedback of the project meetings, the developed tools were further adjusted as well as the quality instruments to measure the results. The partners tested the tools in their own network. In this year we set up a website www.ontp.org to assemble all the outputs created (research results, tools, manifest…). In year two, 2 partners (Finland and Belgium) engaged in participating in the TEPE conference in Malta. Year 3 was the multiplication year. 3 international multiplier events took place. The first and the last event were meant for school leaders, policy makers and university partners. The target group of the second multiplier event were starting teachers. During this last year of the project, policy recommendations were written and presented at the multiplier event in Portugal. The project aimed at being sustainable and will continue to maintain the website for the next 6 years (www.ontp.org). By using the developed tools and manifest in our daily work, as well as disseminating the project during the multiplier events, we can state that we worked all together to reach the impact we aimed for.