A fragmented induction means limited access to mentoring and professional learning, and reduced capacity to meet accreditation requirements or build professional identity and belonging, the paper, produced by academics from Adelaide University, Western Sydney University, Griffith University, RMIT University and Monash University, has found.
Drawing on human resource development concepts for supporting new employees, the paper looks at how quality induction policies can benefit early career substitute teachers and support them to perform their jobs and develop in their careers.
The findings show however, that our induction guidelines are more tailored to teachers who have job security.
Indeed, substitute teachers remain largely invisible and marginalised in policy and practice, the paper found.
Researchers also examined AITSL's steps to address induction shortcomings and found that much more could be done by the organisation.
In a story last year in March, EducationHQ revealed that many beginning teachers are choosing insecure work because, while they love teaching and the prospect of a career in education, they are keen to avoid the workload and pressures that come with longer term appointments.
AITSL data indicates that approximately 23 per cent of early career teachers are employed casually, while 41 per cent are on limited term contracts – that’s 64 per cent of new teachers in their first couple of years that are employed on insecure employment arrangements.
The National Teacher Workforce Action Plan (NTWAP) was developed to address the teacher workforce shortage. Under the plan, AITSL was commissioned to develop national guidelines to support the induction of early career teachers.
“Induction for teachers who start their teaching career as day-to-day casual relief teachers (CRTs) is challenging,” AITSL says in its Guidelines for the Induction of Early Careers Teachers in Australia.
While many early career substitute teachers say they don’t receive an induction, or at best a limited induction, of the 36 per cent of early career teachers who are on longer term employment contracts, research lead author Professor Anna Sullivan says “there’s been quite a bit of work on the part of AITSL to support them and to frame that support”, but for others it’s almost non-existent.
AITSL CEO Tim Bullard says supporting casual relief teachers can be complex given the short-term or ad-hoc nature of it and, to supplement the Guidelines, AITSL developed an additional fact sheet that provides specific and practical tips for schools to help ensure casual relief teachers are properly supported.
“As the Guidelines and supporting materials have only been available since the beginning of 2024, they are still being embedded in systems and sectors, however we are listening to the profession to see if they are useful and to understand how they’re being used to support and encourage induction in schools, which will inform future iterations of the Guidelines," he tells EducationHQ.
Employment conditions are proving to be a problem, Sullivan, who is Dean of Research and a member of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion at Adelaide University, shares, because at present the responsibility of inductions is falling on principals in individual schools.
These principals don’t know if they’ll see these teachers again, and they haven’t the time nor the capacity to invest in them, she adds.
“This is a systemic issue and systems have to rethink the way in which they're supporting the induction of early career teachers,” South Australian academic Professor Anna Sullivan says.
“The systems have put enormous pressure on school principals to do this work, and that’s an unreasonable expectation,” Sullivan says.
“We don’t want any more pressure on principals – this is a systemic issue and systems have to rethink the way in which they’re supporting the induction of early career teachers.”
Bullard says AITSL recognises that casual relief teachers may be employed to teach day-to-day across several school settings or may undertake blocks of teaching and, given the diverse nature of the time a casual relief teacher spends in a school, the delivery of induction may require targeted or innovative approaches.
In March, Sullivan told EducationHQ that Australian policies and guidelines largely ignore the development of replacement teachers and as a nation we rely far too heavily on schools to assume responsibility for their human resource management.
The paper suggests induction could be coordinated at the system or sector level, rather than being the responsibility of individual schools.
“This coordination might involve centrally-funded induction hubs that provide onboarding, mentoring, professional learning and accreditation support for early career teachers, regardless of their employment mode, enabling substitute teachers to access consistent (and equitable) support as they move across schools,” the paper reads.
“Induction entitlements could be made portable, allowing professional learning, mentoring and accreditation evidence to travel with teachers rather than being tied to a single site.”
The paper has also presented a conceptual framework about what induction should do and new insights into how policy and practice might better support early career teaching.
“The framework has been pulled together based on research from the business world and human resource management,” Sullivan outlines.
“That research is pretty clear that there’s a number of things that need to happen to support workers when they start a new job, but also when they go into a profession.
“So for teachers, they’re not just starting a job, that’s one element, you’re trying to set them up successfully so that they perform well – but also for a long-term successful career.”
The study found there are three main elements of induction.
“One is onboarding,” Sullivan says.
“So what new employees need to know in terms of compliance, making sure they’re complying with policies and legal requirements and things that a school or a system need teachers to do.”
Part of onboarding is also clarification, she says, so making sure new teachers are really clear about what they have to do, how they have to do it, who they have to speak to and the ways in which things should happen within the school.
Socialisation – be it at school, district or department level – is important.
“Education departments, for example, want their teachers all doing some things the same way, or behaving in particular ways or implementing their policies in different ways that guide the way they teach and interact with people and those sorts of things,” Sullivan explains.
“It’s making sure that they’re well connected with other, more experienced teachers or leaders, but also so that they feel well connected and supported.
“So if you’ve got a teacher out in a country school and they’ve turned up for a week, making sure they’re not just shown the classroom, but there’s a wraparound approach in terms of the interactions and the sorts of things that should be happening.”
The last element is professional learning, which involves ensuring teachers have learning opportunities that are well structured and guided to help them achieve professional accreditation.
“And that’s normal, physios do it, accountants do it, all the major professions have that sort of professional learning that helps them get to their accreditation,” Sullivan shares.
There should also be training provided in areas like classroom organisation, engagement and behaviour management, for example.
“Those big three elements are really critical to support teachers to do their job ... and for their longer term career development, both of which are really important when we’ve got a teacher crisis. You know, we need teachers to stay!”
Ultimately, the paper suggests governments must recognise substitute teachers as an integral part of the workforce and assume system/state-level responsibility for their inductions.
While there’s been some interest from AITSL in terms of understanding Sullivan’s team’s research, so far there appears to be little appetite for serious engagement, she suggests.
“I’m not sure what the holdup is, but this is urgent,” Sullivan insists.
“We have a teacher crisis. We know that this is a significant part of the workforce, 64 per cent, that are being seriously impacted.
“We know the importance of induction to teachers and their feelings about being a teacher and staying in the profession. So let’s get on with it.”
Bullard says the key to AITSL’s way of working is to consult regularly and broadly on its work, and that the organisation is always keen to talk to experts in education.
“For the work that was developed around induction, we drew on the available evidence base and consulted widely, including with the Australian Council of Deans of Education, Network of Academic Directors of Professional Experience and Australian Teacher Education Association, among others,” he says.
“... however we are always looking at the value we can add to teaching and school leadership and would welcome an invitation from researchers to discuss our work with them.”
Click here to read the new paper: ‘Induction and the early career substitute teacher workforce: problems, confusion and possible solutions’.
