Key Issues in Teacher Education: Policy, Research and Practice5 Making Sense of European Induction Mentoring Practices

This book introduces research on induction and mentoring practices across Europe, emphasizing new teachers as active, reflective professionals within educational ecosystems where mentoring is developed as a connected, evolving whole. How can we enable and encourage new teachers to realize their potential at the beginning of their professional careers? This book examines teacher induction practices across Europe and offers a new perspective on how new teachers learn, grow, and develop into autonomous professionals. This book challenges the traditional models of mentoring viewing new teachers as passive recipients of support and instead emphasizes their potential as reflective practitioners. Based on current and timely research, the book introduces the concept of "ecologies of practice," which refers to emerging, interdependent and diverse education ecosystems in which practices are intertwined and therefore need to be developed as a dynamic whole. This book is essential reading for anyone committed to nurturing the potential of the next generation of teachers to their full potential.