Abstract:
Novice teachers need support if they are to survive the reality of school. A web of relationships
involving members of the school community, mentors outside the school community and a
university tutor has been shown to be an effective way of providing this assistance. This article
describes an extended web of assistance offered to a group of 11 teachers retrained to teach science.
As they made the transition to science teaching these teachers identified a need for guidance and
support in learning about a new subject and a new school environment. In some cases the school
community was able to provide this guidance and support but in other cases the retrained teachers
were met with scepticism by their fellow teachers and needed assistance from other sources. The
extended web of relationships they accessed included district consultants provided by the
employer, mentors located outside of the school, fellow graduates and a university tutor. All
retrained teachers were also assisted in their development as reflective teachers by the production of
a portfolio. The addition of an online component to the portfolio, allowing the sharing of ideas
between the retrained teacher and the university tutor coordinating the program is proposed as a
valuable component of the mentoring network.
