All in all, the emphasis on schooling instead of education has come about
through a neoliberal development in education which in practical terms has led to a
considerable shift in focus towards the pursuit of economic objectives. As Stephen
Kemmis ( 2014 ) puts it, the instrumental view pays little attention to what makes
human beings human or what the good life might be. In the neoliberal discourses
about accountability and effectiveness, there is little discussion of the aims or values
of education. It has actually been claimed that education has been reduced to
another element of production;‘producing people who are little more than the
bearers of useful skills of production, good consumers, and good providers and
clients of commercial and administrative services(Kemmis 2014 , 47)’. Drawing on
this, we may examine also the practices of teacher education, induction and pro-
fessional development of teachers in terms ofschoolingversuseducation. Induction
of new teachers in theschoolingsense has much to do with formal organization and
administration, arrangements and institutions, agreements and qualifications,
directives and formal standards as well as support systems, such as reduction of
teaching load or organization of support. Mentoring in the schooling sense focuses
mainly on the tools, methods and instruments of mentoring rather than its aims and
values. Consequently, this may also mean that mentoring in the schooling sense is
motivated by external aims and values, which can also make it non-educational or
even anti-educational. The global tendencies towards accountability, standardiza-
tion and neoliberalism underpinschoolinginstead of education in mentoring
practices as well as other practices in schools.
Teacher retention rate and educational system effectiveness are often measured
purely in terms of their impact on the economy. Teacher attrition, especially during
early career years, is a serious problem in many western societies, with problems in
the induction phase leading to increasing numbers of young teachers leaving the
profession. In the US, for example, it has been estimated that up to 50% of teachers
leave within thefirstfive years (Ingersoll 2003 ). The economic impact of this
problem seems to be the central motive behind various attempts to introduce
extensive induction programmes for new teachers (e.g. Bickmore and Bickmore
2010 ; Devos 2010 ; Howe 2006 ; Lambson 2010 ; Marvel et al. 2007 ; Nasser-Abu
Alhija and Fresko 2010 ; Scheopner 2010 ).
Theeducationelement of teacher induction, in contrast, involves teachers and
other educational professionals in reflection and discussion about the values and
aims of (teacher) education, i.e. human and professional growth. Mentoring in the
educational sense is rooted in communication and interaction between teachers and
other educational professionals. Induction and mentoring in an educational sense
has much to do with the aspiration for the good life and happiness, identity con-
struction and everyday social relations.
Induction and mentoring in the educational sense also means communication
and dialogue between more and less experienced workers. There is a major dif-
ference here between traditional mentoring and the modern approaches.
Traditionally, mentoring has been understood as the transmission of (explicit or
tacit) knowledge from a more experienced worker to a less experienced one.
Modern approaches, in contrast, are based on the idea that the relationship between
818 H.L.T. Heikkinen