Navigating the early-career landscape: unpacking the role of induction in shaping beginning teachers’ intrinsic motivation, affection, and self-efficacy

Abstract

This study explored the role of induction arrangements in supporting beginning teachers through early-career challenges, focusing particularly on how these arrangements shape their intrinsic motivational and affective traits. It examined the effects of core induction elements and their comprehensive arrangements—characterised by varying quality, quantity, and length—on the development of beginning teachers’ intrinsic motivational-affective orientations. These intrinsic orientations include teachers’ professional meaningfulness, affection for teaching and for the subject, and self-efficacies for instruction, classroom management, and student engagement. A longitudinal survey involving 280 Dutch teachers was conducted at three time points during their first two induction years. Latent growth modelling revealed decreases in professional meaningfulness and affection for the subject, alongside an increase in self-efficacy in instruction. These changes were potentially attributed to the varying quantity and quality of workload reduction, enculturation, professional development, classroom observation and mentoring, as well as their comprehensive arrangements. Additionally, the influence of these factors varied across different teacher subgroups. These findings illuminate the complexity of the induction influence and emphasise the necessity of exploring induction properties and teacher heterogeneity in greater detail.