Beginning teacher network: the design of an online community of practice for beginning teachers in Australia

The high attrition rate of teachers in their first five years of teaching coupled with an ageing teacher profile necessitates innovative approaches to beginning teacher support and professional development. This paper argues for the development, implementation and evaluation of an online community of practice that involves cross-sectoral collaboration and which is linked to professional standards. The online community allows new teachers to be mentored by expert teachers and to communicate with peers, and provides access to a range of resources including lesson plans, videos of exemplary teaching, annotated lists of useful websites and frequently asked questions. Such access may help to lessen the feelings of isolation and lack of support felt by many beginning teachers, and provide a link between the practical realities and constraints of the classroom and the more innovative, research-based methods and strategies teachers learn while at university.