Inducting New Employees into Your School or Kura

What is induction?

Induction is the process of welcoming newly recruited employees and supporting them as they adjust to their new roles, working environment, and colleagues.

Induction helps new hires to “learn the ropes” of their new job.

There are usually two components to induction:

The first is a broad overview of the school or kura, including policies, procedures, and strategic plans. The second component focuses on the new employee’s roles, tasks, duties, and responsibilities.

The purpose and benefits of induction

For an employee to perform at their best, they must comprehend the purpose, functions, and tasks associated with their role.

An effective induction process goes further, initiating newcomers to the expectations, standards, structure, and culture of your school or kura.

To make it a complete package, ensure new employees read, understand, and accept your board’s policies and procedures (child protection, curriculum delivery, concerns and complaints, personnel, health and safety, etc.).

An effective induction helps a new recruit settle in, ensuring they meet their colleagues, feel respected, and have the knowledge and support needed to perform.

An effective induction also helps your school or kura by lowering employee turnover and absenteeism, opening lines of communication, and protecting reputations by setting standards and expectations.

Beginning Teachers

New Zealand’s education sector has expectations and requirements to be met when considering employing beginning teachers, overseas-trained teachers, and those returning to teaching after an extended period.

The Teaching Council has all the relevant information and resources to support schools, kura, and teachers to support the growth and development of these employees.

Find the links to this information in the resources section below.

The induction process

There are four main stages of new employee induction:

Pre-arrival – employer prepares for the new employee’s arrival.
Arrival (or “onboarding”) – new employee is welcomed and begins the induction process.
Training – completing specific required (or requested) courses or modules during the first few months. These may include things like Minimising physical restraintopen_in_new, PB4Lopen_in_new, First Aidopen_in_new, etc.

(This stage may also include affirming school values and standard processes such as leave requests and payroll matters.)
Follow-up – regular catch-up meetings demonstrate support and provide opportunities to make adjustments in areas where things are not working as intended.

A final induction evaluative meeting at the conclusion of the induction process will help you identify what went well, what could be improved, and any remaining gaps your new employee may have.

Employee Induction Checklist

A robust checklist should include topics such as health and safety, training requirements, policies and procedures, and any other relevant information that new employees need to be aware of.

Additionally, induction checklists should be tailored to the role and its specific needs.

We have developed an Induction Checklist templateopen_in_new as a starting guide. However, this can be adapted to include any specific elements that are important for a new employee to know about their new school or kura.

Templates, resources, and references

Click on the link(s) below to access the templates, resources, and references related to this topic.