Supporting early career teachers and kaiako: Experiences of mentoring, induction, and PLD Publications

Publication Details

This report explores the support that early career teachers | kaiako (ECT|K) in English-medium early childhood education, primary, and secondary centres need. It includes an examination of aspects of the mentoring process that are working well for both ECT|K and their mentors and suggests ways this support could be improved.

The data that inform this report were collected during July and August 2022.

This report also draws on a literature scan that was completed in May 2022. The findings from this scan are woven through the final section.

Author(s): Sophie Watson, Sally Boyd, and Teresa Maguire

Date Published: September 2023

Summary

The Ministry of Education currently funds a professional learning and development (PLD) service for provisionally certificated teachers (PCT) and overseas trained teachers (OTT) and kaiako. This service aims to support PCT and OTT to gain their full teacher certification.

The Ministry identified a gap in their understanding about the unique situation in Aotearoa New Zealand for ECT|K. NZCER was commissioned to provide the Ministry with information about the needs and perspectives of ECT|K and mentors in the English-medium early childhood, primary, and secondary sectors. The Ministry plans to use this information to help them think about the provision of PLD services for ECT|K into the future.

The following research questions guided this project:

  1. What are the critical needs of early career teachers and kaiako, including PCTs, OTTs, and teachers returning to the workforce, particularly within the first 2 years of teaching?
  2. Are there any gaps in our knowledge of this topic, and how could we fill those gaps?
    1. What is known about meeting the critical needs of early career teachers from national and international research?
    2. What does the literature tell us about how well current models are meeting the needs of early career teachers and kaiako in Aotearoa New Zealand?
    3. What do early career teachers, kaiako, and mentors tell us about how well current models are meeting the needs of early career teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand?
  3. How can mentors of early career teachers in education centres be supported to grow the capability of early career teachers and kaiako?

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