NW 01 Project: Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME)

Network 1 Project: Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME)

Network 1 Project: Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME)

Teacher induction and mentoring have been some of the key research areas of Network 1 since its inception.  Tens of sessions have been organized during the last couple of decades about mentoring with representatives from all over the continent and overseas. To support this broad-based and long-term work, a project has been launched with the support of EERA, the purpose of which is to bring together European mentoring researchers and enable their research collaboration. This project is implemented in collaboration with Nordplus and several national universities that support the development of mentoring research.

The project name Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe (TIME) refers to a pan-European education ecosystem within which we can identify different national, regional and local ecosystems. These small ecosystems and all the ecological niches within them are part of a wider European entity. The research on the field of mentoring has been dominated by Anglo-American literature. Given that this research tradition is not fully aligned to all the niches of the European educational ecosystem, European perspectives are called for. Researchers are invited from all parts of Europe (including UK and Israel) to this network project. As an outcome, a European network for research on induction and mentoring will be consolidated as a part of EERA NW 1. Plans have been made for future collaboration, including publications and applying for funding for joint research and development projects from various European donors.

Project meetings and symposia

The TIME project has organized online meetings since 2021. The first in-person meeting was held on 6th June 2022 in Reykjavik. This meeting was funded in collaboration with EERA, Nordplus and universities, and there were 30 participants from 12 countries.

The second meeting was held in Yerevan on 25th August 2022as a part of the Network 1 annual meeting during the ECER2022 (ECER Plus) conference with 22 participants (13 in person and 9 online). The network also organized a series of symposia in the conference, with 4 x 90 min sessions, 16 presentations and 44 authors. There have been a number of symposia also in the previous ECER conferences as a part of the Network 1 program, and has been planned that the network will share research results on this platform also in the future.

The third time the network will meet face-to-face will be 22nd August 2023 in Glasgow as an EERA “Tuesday Morning Workshop”.

The executive working group of TIME network project

  • Hannu L. T. Heikkinen (chair; EERA Network 1 link convener), Professor in Education, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
  • Eva Bjerkholt, Professor, University of South-Eastern Norway, Norway
  • Michelle Helms-Lorenz, Associate Professor, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
  • Helle Plauborg, Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark

 

Interview with Link Convenors 2019