Teacher Induction Scheme
The quality of teachers has a key impact on the effectiveness of education. To enhance the professionalism of the teaching force, there is a need to establish an effective teacher induction scheme, in addition to good quality initial teacher education and continuing professional development for serving teachers.
Teachers’first year of experience is crucial to their career outlook. Induction helps beginning teachers settle in to teaching quickly and effectively. Successful experiences at the initial stage enhance new teachers’commitment, enthusiasm and positive feelings about the profession and equip them better to meet the increasing demands as their careers progress. Effective induction also helps retain early-career teachers in the profession.
Many schools have put in place various arrangements for induction and mentoring support for beginning teachers. To support school-based induction of beginning teachers, the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications (ACTEQ) recommends that each school should set up a system of teacher induction in order to provide their beginning teachers with a systematic, supportive and comprehensive environment conducive to their professional development.
ACTEQ has formulated a teacher induction framework, together with an Induction Tool Kit and a Pamphlet on the Teacher Induction Scheme, to facilitate schools in taking forward or refining their school-based induction systems. The framework and the associated tools are developed based on a 3-phase pilot scheme involving voluntary participation from schools in the 2005-08 school years. According to the feedback from school stakeholders and findings from research studies, schools have regarded the Teacher Induction Scheme as beneficial. Furthermore, positive impact has been found on the professional growth of both mentors and beginning teachers. We are delighted to see that the Scheme has helped encourage collegiality, interactive sharing of professional experiences and reflective practice.
In view of the benefits and positive impact as observed in the Pilot Scheme, we are opening up the Scheme and the related tools to all public sector schools for voluntary participationin the 2008/09 school year. The Induction Tool Kit and relevant resources on teacher induction have been posted onto this website, under the“Professional Development for Beginning Teachers”Section, for schools’free access and use. We encourage schools to exercise professional discretion and autonomy when referring to the induction framework and tools to develop their own systems for facilitating beginning teachers’learning. Wherever possible, the tools and processes suggested in the Induction Tool Kit should be integrated into the schools’existing practices, while the processes are to be kept simple.
We hope the Teacher Induction Scheme will not only enable beginning teachers to enjoy a pleasant start in their career but also strengthen teachers’collaboration within a school as well as accelerate the professional dialogues among practitioners through regular dissemination and sharing activities. What should be most valued is the positive impact of teachers’professional development on students’learning, the school and the teachers themselves.
CHEUNG Pak-hong
1 June 2008
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