Induction activities supporting new science teachers' professional identity as science teachers

In the paper the first results are presented from a Design Based Research project developing induction activities for new science teachers. Based on a scoping literature review and focus group interviews with new science teachers the preferable subject specificity of mentoring and the need for support concerning the practical experimental approaches in science are among the issues highlighted. The need for supporting professional identity as a science teacher is emphasised in recent research, and the new science teachers who are interviewed mention that they struggle both with classroom management and with the transition of the science teaching they have worked with in teacher education to a concrete everyday school context. Induction activities at two sites have been designed as respectively on-site and online facilitated dialogues. The participating teachers discussed among other things the large difference in the degree of and framing of the mentoring they have been offered. The scaffolding of the dialogues with cases/utterances from other new science teachers developed from the interview material are experienced to be supportive to balance the dialogues and include both positive experiences and challenges, some of the latter in a quite emotional way. Therefore, ´trust´ is an important issue in the groups.