Almost half of early career teachers in Australia do not receive a formal induction in the first two years of working, and even fewer are provided with mentoring.
The Australian Teacher Workforce Data (ATWD) report found just 55 per cent of early career teachers with up to five years’ experience received a formal induction in 2023 – compared with 61 per cent in 2019.
Why induction programs matter
A fundamental support for early career teachers is to provide them with a comprehensive induction.
“During a formal induction, early career teachers build on knowledge and experiences from their initial teacher education program, helping to develop their practice,” the report said.
“Formal induction is important because it can introduce early career teachers to the school community, working culture and teaching environment, as well as provide support to enhance their pedagogy, hone their professional identity and successfully manage the challenges of their role.”
The ATWD collates survey responses from higher education providers, teacher regulatory authorities and teachers across sectors on topics of crucial importance to the national teacher workforce.
The National Trends: Teacher Workforce Data 2025 identifies the characteristics of the teacher workforce and trends in demographics, employment conditions and specific workforce experiences.
Mentoring most useful
Among the issues identified as crucial for workforce sustainability are the prevalence, or otherwise, of mentoring and induction programs for early career teachers.
Teaching is highly complex, requiring a proficient selection of strategies and deployment of skills, often while dealing with demanding classroom or playground situations and responding to students with diverse needs.
When early career teachers commence their duties in front of a class, their capacity to acquire experience is limited by the need to respond appropriately to students from the first lesson.
Regular and structured access to experienced mentors and a genuine induction program can provide meaningful support while early career teachers gain experience, thus avoiding unnecessary burnout or other detrimental effects.
The report also revealed which induction activity early career teachers found the most useful (as a proportion of those who had received it), with mentoring (55 per cent) rated highest, followed by a reduction in face-to-face teaching time (51 per cent).
The opportunity to observe experienced teachers (32 per cent) and an orientation program (24 per cent) were ranked next most useful, with the remaining activities all less useful (3-12 per cent).
“A focus for induction programs, therefore, may be to increase the number of early career teachers receiving mentoring and allocating time for them to observe experienced teachers,” the report said.
Induction improvements essential
However, the report shows that access to induction and mentoring varies widely.
For many teachers, the experience of induction has been superficial and limited, lacking the structure and regularity needed for steady development of skills.
For early career teachers in either their first two years, or in years three to five of their career, the report found the only specific activities more than half took part in were an orientation program (77-78 per cent) and mentoring (66 per cent).
“It is possible that high work hours among the wider workforce, including leaders, and long hours spent on non-teaching duties have led to induction activities being deprioritised,” the report said.
“It may be that fewer induction activities can be offered in schools than in previous years.”
Teachers working in early childhood services are confronted by additional challenges resulting from complexities in the sector.
In its report, National Early Career Teacher Mentoring and Induction Support, the Australian Education Research Organisation recommended funding to ensure new teachers and their mentors have allocated time, expectations are clarified and professional development programs for mentors are established.
The IEU will continue to advocate for effective mentoring programs, including release time, professional development and remuneration for mentors, as integral elements of national policy that should be enshrined in industrial agreements.
Read IEU’s federal statement on the Australian Teacher Workforce Data report here.
This article was published in the August 2025 edition of Newsmonth.