Introduction

With a focus on the debate on professional development within the field of teacher education, this theoretical essay aims to problematize the concept of teacher induction, a reflection conducted in a dialogue with the analysis of the possibilities and weaknesses that permeate the beginning of the teaching career. The subject has been addressed by research carried out over the past years, and we approach through a methodology that consists in searching bibliographic evidence (^{BELL, 2008}, p. 97).

The authors we dialogue with understand professional development as a continuous improvement activity, a process that can be facilitated or hindered. For this reason, they emphasize that the period of integration into work deserves special attention, and they refer to induction as a possibility to mitigate the various difficulties that affect the beginning of teaching.

We believe that problematizing the concept of induction is a significant exercise and a necessary one to build a theoretical framework that founds the beginning of teaching as an essential training stage for teachers’ professional development.

To that end, and based on previous research on teacher induction, we conducted this analysis, which is organized into the topics below.

2. Distinctions for Understanding the Web of Interactions and Meanings

References to the Portuguese terms inserção professional, which refers to the process of integration into work, professor iniciante and professor principiante, both of which are used in the Brazilian context to refer to beginning teachers, professor ingressante, which refers newly hired teachers, and indução docente, which refers to teacher induction, are increasingly recurrent in Brazilian research on teacher education.

As the interest in this discussion has grown, so has the indiscriminate use of these terms, thus suggesting, in our view, a false polysemy. On the other hand, the growing academic output addressing the subject reveals that it has attracted attention, mobilized researchers in different contexts, gained notoriety and agitated the debate in publications in the field of Education.

Among the theoretical interlocutors that stand out in this debate, in addition to Brazilian authors Emília Freitas ^{Lima (2004}, 2007), Marli ^{André (2012}) and Marilia ^{Mira and Joana Romanowski (2015}), are Iberian authors such as Carlos Marcelo Garcia (1993, 1999b, 2006), António ^{Nóvoa (1992}), Isabel ^{Alarcão and Maria do Céu Roldão (2014}); American authors such as Marilyn Cochran-Smith (2012) and Harry K. ^{Wong (2004}); and Latin American authors such as Denise ^{Vaillant (2009}) and Maévi Anabel ^{Nono (2011}). Obviously, their studies do not exhaust the subject, nor do they express conceptual consensus; however, we selected them based on our systematic readings on the subject.

At first glance, this concern with the distinction between terms may seem like over-refinement. However, their definition expresses the understanding built about these designations. In addition, the effort to discuss this understanding and the assumptions that permeate them allows us to understand their extension in the daily life of social practices and, particularly, in educational practice.

It should also be noted that, even with different connotations, the aforementioned terms are not dissociated, but are rather interconnected in a way that gives them specificity and is directly related to a crucial training stage in teachers’ professional development - the beginning in teaching.

Inserção Profissional - Integration into Work

Getting started is never easy, especially when it comes to a complex profession such as the teacher’s work, which, among other characteristics, is interactive, multidimensional and contingent. In this case, the Portuguese term inserção professional, which we will henceforth translate as integration into work, refers to one’s entry into professional teaching life (i.e., when one starts in the career) or even to the stage where one begins to “learn to teach” (^{MARCELO GARCIA, 1993}). The learning of teaching is a professional continuum that involves individual and collective investment and follows the teacher throughout life. This continuum pervades the teacher’s trajectory, in which initial education and, particularly, integration into the career are the foundations of his professional development.

It is a period in professional life we all go through, uneventful to some, less so to others; an intermediate period characterized by the transition from student to teacher (^{LIMA et al, 2007}) and which implies intensive learning, since it is during the first few years of integration into work that the teacher seeks to incorporate, understand and integrate more densely with the teaching culture, the school culture and to become familiar with the profession’s codes and norms. A decisive period in the teacher’s professional history and with decisive repercussions on his future and his relationship with teaching.

The first few years of teaching practice leave marks on how the profession is practiced, which means that failure in this phase can lead to quitting and to personal devaluation. According to ^{Veenman (1984}), that is also when teachers question the “missionary” side of the profession, usually built during initial teacher education.

Early-career teachers arrive at school and face a “reality shock” (^{VEENMAN, 1984}) due to the many challenges they need to face. That is when they put their repertoire of professional knowledge into action and need to create a relationship with their peers and management, as well as develop their professional identity. In addition, the beginning teacher must take on a role in each school as no two schools are the same, and each institution has its specific features. Therefore, the teacher’s arrival at school highlights aspects that can facilitate or hinder his integration into work (^{CRUZ, 2018}).

^{Huberman (1995}) points out that other challenges are part of this reality-shock stage, such as survival and discovery. It is discovery that mitigates difficulties, since “the initial enthusiasm, the exaltation from being finally in a position of responsibility (having one’s own classroom, students, program), from feeling part of a professional body” (Ibidem, p.39) are elements that provide motivation and allow beginning teachers to survive this period, thus contributing to their permanence in teaching. Similarly, ^{Alarcão and Roldão (2014}) refer to the beginning of teaching work as a period particularly marked by concomitant feelings due to the confrontation with professional reality.

Integration into work does not always unfold as a kind process, whether because it is a tense period in the face of the new social role the early-career teacher experiences, or because support is inexistent, insufficient or precarious to face the “scientific-pedagogical, bureaucratic, emotional and social difficulties”, as listed by ^{Alarcão and Roldão (2014}, p. 111). This is the stage when the beginning teacher starts to feel and experience internally - i.e., from a different perspective - the situations that pervade teaching, thus perceiving himself as the main responsible for facing them in the context of teaching.

The aspects highlighted so far reinforce integration into work as the period of professional initiation, i.e., a fundamental stage in teachers’ professional development, and yet, at least until now, the most neglected stage within the scope of teacher education policies (^{ANDRÉ, 2012}; ^{VAILLANT, 2009}).

Therefore, we consider that the concept of integration into work refers to the period that encompasses the teacher’s first few years in a new context of professional practice, a context usually marked by tensions resulting from the need to act and assert himself in an unknown work environment, which directly interferes in his professional socialization process.

Professores Iniciantes and Professores Principiantes - Beginning Teachers

We consider the Portuguese terms professor iniciante and professor principiante as synonyms, and we will henceforth translate both as ‘beginning teacher’. Both refer to those who start their professional careers no longer as students, i.e., those who are newly licensed and certified as teachers. These teachers are at the height of the learning to teach phase, which is the period of transition from student to teacher defined in the previous topic as integration into work.

Several specific features define the status of beginning teacher, which is strained, on the one hand, by the gradual and slow process of recognizing oneself as a professional responsible for one’s own decisions in the work context and, on the other, by the lack self-confidence concerning one’s ability to meet expectations about one’s teaching performance. Although the literature highlights didactic challenges as the main concern of beginning teachers, it is undeniable that the uncertainties and doubts that pervade their daily work are not limited to the act of teaching. As Marcelo Garcia (1999a, p. 115) says, it is necessary to adapt “to the environment where the teacher has to play his role in order to understand the needs presented by that environment and be able to suitably respond” to its demands.

The beginning teacher tends to invest much more energy, time and concentration to solve problems specific to his work, since his experiential knowledge repertoire is still limited, which makes him experience a cognitive, affective and emotional overload due to all the things he must learn. And it is in this process of growth, of reworking his professional knowledge repertoire, that he expands and consolidates his understanding and practices about his work and its specific features.

Professores Ingressantes - Newly Hired Teachers

Another Portuguese term that stands out in Brazilian academic output about the beginning of teaching is professor ingressante, a designation sometimes used as a correlate to beginning teacher, thus reinforcing the false polysemy mentioned earlier. We will henceforth translate it as ‘newly hired teacher’.

In order to set a distinction between beginning teacher and newly hired teacher, we propose using the latter to refer to those who start in a new school or institution and have previous experience accumulated at a private school or as a substitute/temporary teacher in the public education system, whether in basic or higher education. Thus, newly hired teachers, while experiencing a situation of integration into work, are not in their early experiences as teachers, which differentiates them from beginning teachers.

Although the newly hired teacher brings along more consolidated experience and knowledge, he experiences a process of integration into work by entering new work contexts. That is what some studies point out (^{MARCELO GARCIA, 1999}b; ^{LIMA, 2006}; ^{GIOVANNI, GUARNIERI, 2014}) on the subject, a situation illustrated in the account below by a Basic Education teacher as she examined her professional development trajectory:

Looking back on my professional trajectory during these 16 years of teaching, I consider that my professional career had two decisive milestones in building my professional identity, "my personal mark". First, my integration into a private school that provided me with theoretical and pedagogical support, thus making the process that Marcelo Garcia (1999b) and ^{Tardif (2014}) consider a “transition from being a student to being a teacher” more pleasant. The second one was my integration into the public education system, a period when I felt muddled and lost, even with ten years of teaching experience (^{RODRIGUES, 2017}, p. 20).

Faced with a new professional reality, the newly hired teacher, despite his relatively consolidated knowledge, experiences concomitant feelings (^{ALARCÃO; ROLDÃO, 2014}) and may feel indecisive, inexperient and in need of reinforcing his professional quality.

Another aspect the excerpt above allows problematizing is that the term newly hired teacher is sometimes directly associated with the idea of ​​entering the public education system, a connection we consider improper. Teachers with previous teaching experience may have been hired for the first time by public or private schools. A great many cases may be listed to evidence this point, such as the higher education teachers who were first hired by public institutions and have lately been hired by private ones due to their early retirement driven by the Pension Reform. Likewise, there are teachers who leave private schools, as in the excerpt above, and go through some selection process to enter the public basic education system.

Based on the arguments above, the concept of newly hired teacher refers to those who are hired by public, private or community schools or education systems, whether in basic or higher education, and who are not necessarily early-career teachers. Thus, the beginning teacher is always a newly hired teacher, but not all newly hired teachers are beginning teachers.

The distinctive elements above also allow recognizing that the meanings attributed to beginning teacher and newly hired teacher define them as teachers in a situation of integration into work. They also indicate that beginning teachers are the ones who require monitoring most, given the complexity surrounding the beginning of their careers.

Indução Profissional Docente - Teacher Induction

The Portuguese term indução profissional docente, henceforth translated as teacher induction, refers to the process of monitoring of beginning teachers or mainly during their integration into work.

Considering that integration into work is a differentiated period in the path to becoming a teacher, Marcelo Garcia (1993, 1999b, 2006) stands out in the literature for his advocacy of teacher induction as a period of acquisition of knowledge and professional competence by beginning teachers, who need systematic actions to monitor and support their teaching work, whether through induction programs via public policies, or other actions aimed at this purpose. According to Garcia, it is the induction programs that will establish strategies that can help reduce or reprocess the effects of the so-called reality shock.

Induction represents the systematic training specifically provided for beginning teachers during their integration into work. However, there is no absolute consensus regarding this concept in the educational community, i.e., some disagree about term itself, and there are also discrepancies concerning the concept’s epistemic and ideological basis.

Even though it is not our purpose to thoroughly examine these distinctions, we believe it is worth stressing that a critical understanding of the concept cannot be dissociated from questions related to the objective and subjective conditions experienced by teachers. That is because the concept of teacher induction cannot be summarized as a way of inducing early-career teachers to continue teaching even without the proper conditions; it is rather a construct that recognizes their need for a space that provides support and guidance for their teaching. It is from this perspective that we argue that this is a ‘combined’ reflection in that it must start from the elements that inhibit and hinder beginning teachers’ integration into work, and elements that generate possibilities of strengthening of these professionals’ potential qualities in their early years in teaching. An authentic dialectical pair.

Having clarified the concepts of integration into work and teacher induction, we present below a summary of the authors, arguments and studies that underpin the analysis of both processes, both of which concern the beginning of the teaching career.

3. Conceptions of Teacher Induction

Based on the outline provided on the previous topic about teacher induction, we approach, in this section, a few conceptions of teacher induction.

Our systematic studies on the subject allow us to determine that some conceptions of teacher induction revolve around the need for:

Considering the scope of this discussion, we will dwell on the contributions of ^{Alarcão and Roldão (2014}), Marcelo Garcia (1993, 1999b), ^{Wong (2004}) and Cochran-Smith (2012).

^{Alarcão and Roldão (2014}) argue that a more effective view of induction would involve joint efforts by both the training institution and the schools that make up the work context and locus of professional socialization, as with initial education internships. They also argue that at the core of any successful professional development process (in the case of induction), there should be other aspects besides professional socialization, even if that socialization is the predominant aspect in the feelings of beginning teachers. They maintain that it is the construction of professional knowledge that will allow the emergence of the mark of professional distinction, which can “dynamically transform the teacher's praxis, in a continuous path of sustained professional development” (^{ALARCÃO; ROLDÃO, 2014}, p. 120).

For these Portuguese authors, the induction period is associated with the development of professional competence, thus being characterized as a training process for teachers who have just completed the requirements to attain their teacher license. In the Portuguese case, induction is linked to the probationary phase, i.e., it takes place in the first year of service, in which the teacher takes on the responsibilities inherent to his work, and by the end of which he must demonstrate he has developed the basic professional skills that are necessary for teaching.

In addition to reaffirming the difficulties experienced by early-career teachers and pointing out the relevance of institutional support for induction programs, ^{Alarcão and Roldão (2014}) also emphasize the school as the locus where beginning teachers exercise their profession, in a clear logic of training in the work context and of responsibility of the school for the training of its actors.

In discussing induction as the transition of the teacher-in-training to a point where he is an autonomous professional, these authors highlight three areas that should be considered with regard to induction programs: the personal dimension, the contextual dimension and the dimension of knowledge and scientific-pedagogic and didactic competences.

Marcelo Garcia (1993) has long underscored that a period of integration into work should be accompanied by an initiation (induction) program to help beginning teachers overcome the role transition from student to teacher. His proposition consists in an advisory service aimed at providing the beginning teacher with information, guidance and supervision by means of a decrease in his work hours during a particular period, in the context of the first few years of professional practice. The author studied programs of this type in different contexts and found a number of strategies that converge in the Idea of mentoring. The mentor figure, in this case, is a sort of supervisor of the beginning teacher.

In general terms, the induction concept advocated by Marcelo Garcia (1999b) builds on the definitions of various authors, such as that by ^{Vonk (1996}), a Dutch author for whom induction corresponds to a period that pervades the teacher-in-training’s transition to an autonomous professional. From this perspective, induction corresponds to a part of the continuous movement of professional teacher development. From this quite broad conception, Marcelo Garcia (1999b) resorts to English author ^{Bolam (1995}), whose definition of induction points to a training process during the first few years of teaching that is anchored in the idea of professional development.

Moving forward, based on ^{Maanen and Schein (1979}), Marcelo Garcia (1999b) argues that the induction period can materialize a process through which new teachers internalize the norms, values, conduct and principles that characterize the culture of the profession and that of the school they will teach at. It is, therefore, a process through which the teacher acquires the knowledge and social skills that are essential to occupy a role in the professional organization.

Formulations from the American context, more specifically those by ^{Wong (2004}), also contribute to the exercise of conceptualizing induction by characterizing it as a process - a comprehensive, consistent and detailed process of professional development that is also coherent and continuous - which is organized by a school district to train, support and retain new teachers and make them progress on a lifelong learning program. According to the author, without a carefully designed professional development program, it becomes more difficult to train teachers who can contribute to students’ performance.

Thus, the author argues that induction goes beyond mentoring. Both devices are aimed at promoting professional teacher development, with induction being a broader training process that aims, in a consistent, comprehensive and continuous manner, to drive teachers’ integration into work. Thus, induction focuses on career learning and requires multiple support from professionals and the education system, which is why it requires comprehensive, detailed and sustainable training policy and program. In contrast, mentoring tends to focus on support to help beginning teachers survive the reality shock, thus corresponding to a particular phase and with limited resources.

^{Wong (2004}) points out that there are several common components underlying induction programs, and he believes that no two induction programs are exactly the same; each program addresses a school’s individual culture and specific needs. Thus, he insists on the concept of induction as a comprehensive, multi-annual process designed to provide systematic training over a period of two to three years.

The idea of ​​induction advocated by ^{Wong (2004}) may, on the one hand, be aligned with the precepts of a reformist, liberal educational policy and, therefore, with a productivist appeal in which the concern with efficiency and effectiveness standards predominates. On the other hand, it allows evoking the principles of collaborative work, in line with what teacher learning communities emphasize.

Also in a context of collaborative culture, there is the concept of teacher training by American researcher Cochran-Smith (2012). In examining the cases of two teachers in a situation of integration into work with professional induction, she sustains that professional development occurs throughout life, and learning to teach is a process, rather than an event, which occurs over time and can be better conduced when new teachers work with more experienced ones, who also continue to learn to teach. Thus, the author advocates the Idea of a teacher learning community as a proficuous time/space for professional socialization and development, and she highlights a few special conditions, among which is the need to deprivatize teaching.

One of the main characteristics that are mentioned by research on integration into work is the isolation of beginning teachers. This isolation is facilitated by school architecture, working conditions, professional devaluation, work hours, but also by a feeling of loneliness, since teachers often face the task of teaching all by themselves, and students are the only witnesses of their teaching.

Since loneliness and isolation have been viewed as complicators of integration into work, collaboration is referred to as a strategy that can help promote beginning teachers’ permanence in the career, since by organizing and communicating with peers they can share experiences, which allows students to better understand the content.

In this context, Cochran-Smith (2012) uses the construct “deprivatization of practice” to advocate the need to end teaching as a private act. "Deprivatization" occurs through various approaches and processes that open up teaching to others, thus encouraging the cooperation of those who are also engaged in the effort to make their work public and open to criticism. Thus, to "deprivatize" professional practice is to work from a perspective of collaboration in which teaching is understood as a process of continuous, systematic investigation by everyone involved in the teaching-learning process.

As ^{Campelo and Cruz (2019}) explain, “deprivatization” is a training strategy that takes place in the context of groups who are in different stages in their professional life cycle, who develop knowledge about teaching based on problematization and investigation of everyday skills and practices. These are intentionally shared by means of records, analyses and experiences, so as to provide sources for building a repertoire that helps with professional teacher development . Thus, “deprivatization of practice” consists in “a training strategy that allows investigation and problematization on teaching, and involves a set of presuppositions about the learning of teaching” (^{CAMPELO; CRUZ, 2019}, p. 173).

Even though “deprivatization” is a strategy recognized as a mechanism to end teaching as a private act, the proposals about how to share the teaching work, thus allowing beginning teachers to feel more confident, still vary as to their propositions. For Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1999), teacher learning communities are a powerful alternative intended to facilitate overcoming the culture of teacher isolation. In their view, the necessary knowledge to teach is the result of systematic questioning about teaching, students, content, curriculum, schools, and that knowledge is collectively built within local and broad communities. Such communities are an intellectual, social and organizational space that provides support for the professional development of its members, where teachers who are new, experienced or in training can talk, think, read and write about their work in a contextualized manner. They are organized to last at least one school year, with a stable attendance, and include debates, discussions and reflections about teaching situations and texts. They are aimed at improvements in professional teacher practice, school culture and communities.

In order to set up a learning community, the authors indicate a few key characteristics, such as time management; the structuring of speech and texts; a shared goal. Regarding time management, it is important to allot enough time to work; time must be also considered in the long term; attendance should be stable, although it may change. Over time, a more trusting relationship may be built between participants, who will then bring more delicate issues. In this regard, experience shows that it is from this continuous duration that teachers create common stories and a shared culture of experiences, discourses, procedures and milestones.

As seen above, teacher learning communities, which are based on the ideal of “deprivatization of practice”, represent a powerful methodological path for professional induction. However, other possibilities, whether isolated or interconnected, may be conducive to effective monitoring programs for beginning teachers during their integration into work.

According to Marcelo Garcia (1999b), beginning teachers may be helped by others in getting didactic material, less work hours, positive feedback from students and peers, support from family, friends and their former teachers, knowledge of the school’s policy, opportunities to observe peers, support from a mentor. In addition, the author recognizes that other factors can influence the socialization process, such as biographic experiences, the influence of role models and the contexts of integration into work. School climate, supervision and institutional support are also factors to be taken into account.

In this direction, and based on ^{Wong (2004}) and Marcelo Garcia (1999b), we can see that, from a methodological perspective, induction may involve different actions, among which the following stand out: study groups where new teachers can build relationships and a collaborative work with support from the school management team; training activities for mentor teachers; mentoring between teachers with specific training and beginning teachers; constant interaction between beginning and experienced teachers; workshops for beginning teachers before and throughout the school year; visits to demonstration classrooms. These initiatives require well-designed goals, the support of the school management team, a decrease in the work hours for beginning teachers and mentors; regular and systematic meetings between beginning teachers and their mentors; time for beginning teachers to observe more experienced teachers.

Integration into work and teacher induction, as we sought to demonstrate, are concepts that, albeit different, are closely connected. The former refers to the period of professional socialization that involves the initial learning of teaching practice. The latter refers to systematic monitoring actions for the early-career teacher’s work (induction programs by means of public policies and other actions with that purpose).

4. Teacher Induction Policies

Based on the studies of ^{Vaillant (2009}), ^{André (2012}), ^{Mira and Romanowski (2015}), ^{Marcelo and Vaillant (2017}), we can say that there are few institutionalized programs for supporting teachers during their integration into work, particularly in the Latin American context. Chart 2 below shows the programs found.

Chart 2 confirms that the policies and programs for teachers’ integration into work in Latin America are incipient and isolated. It is worth stressing that the mentioned programs and policies differ with regard to their features and their concepts of what a teacher induction program or policy may be.

In the case of Brazil, research on the subject does not indicate the existence of any induction program arising from a policy at the national level. The programs in the chart are the specific actions of a few education systems and, therefore, the studies start from particular initiatives carried out at the state or municipal level which are intended to meet the demand of teachers going through integration into work.

5. In Conclusion: For a Concept of Teacher Induction

Considering the distinctions we outlined, the conceptions we presented and the policies and programs we found, teacher induction may be understood and advocated as the training process that involves monitoring the beginning teacher during his period of integration into work.

By recognizing induction as training for the beginning teacher during his integration into work, we can see its movement as a catalyst of essential professional teaching knowledge and its role as a mediator between initial teacher education and the immersion into work context with a view to autonomy and professional development

Induction is thus defined as directed monitoring for the teacher in a situation of integration into work, based on a collaborative aid, support and mentoring project which translates into being together and present through listening and sharing, as well as through narratives and analyses.