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The teacher induction program has withstood the test of time. Through reorganizations, changes in personnel and leadership, and shifts in budgeting responsibility, the teacher induction programs have continued unabated. As important as individuals are to the success of teacher induction, the system is not dependent on individuals (with one notable exception). Since there is so much mobility in the NT, teacher induction is designed around positions, not individuals. The NT has built into the roles and responsibilities of many people throughout the system the requirement to support new teachers during their first year in the Territory. Both divisions have a human resource specialist position to revise and oversee the annual implementation of orientation and school support. The Territory has a personnel position to ensure that peer probation functions. Senior teachers clearly recognize that mentoring and advising new teachers is an important responsibility assigned to them. Principals in smaller schools advise and relieve new teachers so that they can observe other classrooms. Individuals also play an important role in the teacher induction program. An exemplary headteacher serves as both role model and trainer. A respected principal, who strongly supports school-based induction, creates a school climate in which the senior teachers can mentor effectively. With the mobility that exists in the NT, opportunities exist to spread both effective and ineffective models from school to school. The administration attempts to maximize the migration of effective models by explicitly considering the impact on teacher induction in their approval of staff transfers.
The sustained ability to support new teachers in the NT is based on the shared ethos to treat each new teacher as an individual and professional. Several respondents feared that the new performance appraisal system and demands for more quantitative-oriented information from human resource departments might drive the divisions to more standardized, non-individualized approaches, thereby negatively affecting the teacher induction program. Other respondents thought that the strong culture of support that exists in the NT is an effective counterbalance, for the time being.
Aboriginalization could present several challenges to the existing teacher induction program. As discussed earlier, Aboriginal-led schools do not fully implement peer probation for Aboriginal teachers. As more Aboriginal teachers enter the system (Batchelors College graduates 25 teachers a year), an increasing number of teachers in rural schools will not have been assessed. Since these teachers have community support, ways must be found to ensure that minimum standards are met. The current policies and procedures of peer probation are not compatible with Aboriginalization. Several staff in Operations South suggested renaming and orienting the policy from peer probation to peer support to better reflect the program aims and how the program operates. Although staff were not specifically addressing the issue of Aboriginalization, this change may permit greater application to Aboriginal teachers in Aboriginal-led schools.
Another aspect of Aboriginalization that could impact sustainability is the replacement of non-Aboriginal teachers with Aboriginal teachers. Currently, non-Aboriginal teachers (new and experienced) provide school-level induction support to new Aboriginal teachers. In the years ahead, if Aboriginalization continues to its logical end, few non-Aboriginal teachers will be in these schools. Without other forms of support, such as depending more on school-level personnel, curriculum and teaching could suffer.
At the same time that the government is promoting Aboriginalization of community schools, they are shifting funding away from Aboriginal primary education. For example, next year Batchelor College no longer will provide additional tutoring (8 hours a week per student) to Aborigines enrolled in the primary education program. Instead, DEET will fund Batchelor College students enrolled in adult and vocational education training programs.
CREATING AN ABORIGINAL-LED SCHOOLYirrkala community has a long-term plan for the school to be Aboriginalized, which means that most of the staff will be Aborigines. We are not sure that we want all the staff to be Aborigines for there may be some balanda [non-Aboriginal] staff who are able to contribute in full measure to the development of the school and the community. The Aboriginalization process really means that the decision-making in the school rests with us, the local people, and now that there are quite a number of trained and qualified local people, the community is very pleased to support the ideas that these staff provide....The process to date has not been without problems. We have found that some non-Aboriginal staff have not been supportive of the training and Aboriginalization programs. We know that these people are worried that the process may mean that they could lose their position, but we cannot let this stop us from seeking the best possible training programs. However, as I have already said, there are some balanda staff who are very supportive and who have assisted me greatly in this development. I have found that there are ...real conflicts between being an Aboriginal employee of the Department of Education, and being an Aboriginal member of my own community. Some examples... The clock rules life in the balanda way, but does this mean that better things happen at school? [Aboriginal teachers and students are often late.] We have to ask ourselves whether school is starting at the right time, and providing programs that will attract and keep the students. Cultural activities are the key to our existence and we have to ensure that they are accorded their rightful place. [All schools currently use the same curriculum in the NT.] For this to happen, we need to help parents understand the importance of school [truancy is high], and how it is organised to help the children. Nalwarri Ngurruwutthun, Principal-in-Training, |
Key to the adaptability of the NT's teacher induction program are jurisdiction and school culture of support. It is neither a one-shot exposure, which is a common form of orientation, nor focused on support being provided by a single mentor. This support culture exists within a fairly small and flat administrative structure. This flat structure reinforces all staff working together as colleagues and peers. The two divisions are small enough and deal with a reasonable number of new recruits so that everyone knows the new recruit personally--one is always dealing with individuals, and components can be and are adapted to personalities.
Reinforcing the culture of support is the principle, as one headteacher put it, that "good human management is communication." In the NT, this communication is two directional. Teachers are not passive regarding their induction, nor are they expected to be. Teachers do not expect to be told what to do. At the same time, other staff are always are accessible and approachable.
The teacher induction program requires teachers to self-assess and seek out support. It also requires administrators to tailor components to the situations and needs of individual new teachers. In cases where communications between the new teacher and key support personnel break down, the NT teacher induction program falters unless communications are reestablished (such as by counseling participants, transferring personnel, quickly replacing an individual on a peer probation panel, or protecting a teacher from inappropriate demands from a headteacher or principal). The effectiveness in implementing the NT program depends on the willingness and ability of participants to communicate. This means that personnel must feel "safe" in asking for assistance and bringing problems to the attention of supervisory and administrative staff.
The requirement that teachers with experience teaching elsewhere yet new to the NT participate in all teacher induction components substantially increases the number of teachers receiving services. In the NT, this requirement appears justifiable. In interviews, with few exceptions, one could not distinguish the inexperienced from the experienced new NT teacher. In many teacher induction programs, only inexperienced teachers are included; or if experienced teachers are included, they participate in a greatly reduced support program. Combining inexperienced and experienced new teachers in the NT creates an additional support mechanism, particularly in the area of preparing lesson plans and organizing daily schedules.
This form of support requires a great deal of personal commitment on the part of all staff. Staff must be willing to provide support as needed. The holistic nature of teacher induction in the NT is time consuming. Frequently, school support and peer probation occur after school hours. In the NT, most teachers do not have long commutes from their schools; many are either single or, if coupled, without children, and in remote areas, they have few diversions. Providing this level of support in places outside of Australia's Northern Territory, where diversions and competing demands on individuals' time may be greater, may be difficult.
Most APEC members have an orientation component in their teacher induction program. Few are as extensive as the basic orientation and orientation recall found in the Northern Territory. Implementing an NT-type orientation would probably not require many adjustments, since the principles and goals behind orientation programs tend to be similar. However, adjustments would probably be required in implementing peer probation and school support in APEC members where the central authority provides greater direction and schools are expected to implement a uniform teacher induction program.
Other adaptations may be necessary to accommodate differences in communication modes between teachers and administrators. Most teachers in the NT are not reticent to assert a position. Teachers in other APEC members may be more reactive and expect to be told what to do.
Adaptation also may be necessary in APEC members that have a long tradition of assessment of new teachers as the basic strategy of teacher induction. Just as the Aboriginal teachers, coming from a different culture than that which develops and promotes the NT teacher induction program, have difficulty viewing the peer probation panel as both guidedog and watchdog, changing from an assessment to a fully supportive approach may be difficult in situations where assessment and certification requirements are more rigorous.
Orientation requires scheduling and paying new teachers for one additional week, prior to the school term. In addition, rural recall removes new teachers from the classroom for an additional week (three days of recall and two days of travel), requiring substitutes (if possible) or other teachers to cover enlarged classes. With the exception of central-office program development specialists and resource specialists, few additional resources are earmarked for induction. As noted previously, personnel consider providing induction support as either a part of their job descriptions or professional responsibility. In both cases, time allocated often falls outside "normal work hours." One cannot easily separate the willingness of so many to "donate" time from the commitment to maintain the culture of support that pervades Operations South, in particular, and the NT more generally. Illustrative of this deep-seated willingness to participate: During the time that the site work was undertaken for this case study, NT teachers were involved in a long-standing labor dispute that involved working to rules. Under such a policy, teachers would not participate in preschool or after-school activities not specified in their contract. Yet even teachers who mentioned during their interview the labor dispute, continued to participate fully in the teacher induction program.
DO YOU FEEL THE TEACHER INDUCTION PROGRAM HAS HAD A POSITIVE IMPACT?"It was most successful at providing support; least useful at providing critical assessment." "The social aspects and friendships that I made were critical." "I was ready to quit several times. Once I even packed up my stuff. An ESL specialist and another teacher convinced me to hang in until the year ended. I'm glad I did." "Yes, but they don't pay enough attention to urban teachers." "It gave me confidence. I was able to apply what I was shown at Basic and Recall, and it worked." "Many wouldn't survive without it. I taught twelve years in a rural area of Victoria, and I benefited from the support." "Orientation gave me an immediate support group. This was more important than the content. The information on Aboriginal family relationships has proved invaluable. I would have been lost without it." "We've never had such a welcome." |
Building from a culture of support and strong personal commitment on the part of its leadership, the program focuses on making new teachers feel welcome and providing access to a wide circle of specialists, peers, and supervisors who can and want to support them. The program combines a basic orientation (whose focus, however, is more targeted to cultural awareness than typically found in other orientation programs); an orientation recall (to build a peer network and provide curriculum training); an assist and assessment component (peer probation that is weighted heavily toward assistance); and a year-long school-based support system.
Teacher induction support in the Northern Territory begins before the new teacher arrives in Alice Springs or Darwin for basic orientation and occurs continually throughout the year. Throughout the year, Division staff are working to see that all new teachers receive support and nurturing.
[Chapter 4: "The Training Year": Teacher Induction in Japan]