DEVELOPING BEST PRACTICES OF TEACHER INDUCTION

Abstract

Problems and challenges faced by beginning teachers have been well documented in the literature and have created the need for teacher induction programs in all disciplines, including agricultural education. This paper used literature from inside and outside the agricultural education discipline to identify and describe best practices in teacher induction yielding a framework called the Best Practices of Teacher Induction for Agricultural Education. This framework is based on the work of Camp and Heath (1988), who identified four contributor groups responsible for teacher induction, and the work of Stansbury and Zimmerman (2000), who identified high and low intensity teacher induction activities. Within the framework, the roles and responsibilities of four contributor groups (local school districts, professional associations, state department of education, and teacher educators) have been described within the context of both high and low intensity activities.