Mentoring and induction for new staff

Most public sector jobs start with a corporate induction (policies, IT, mandatory training), then a local induction in your team. Several professions add a structured programme for people new to the work: statutory induction for early career teachers, preceptorship for newly registered nurses and allied health professionals, the ASYE for newly qualified social workers and the Care Certificate for new healthcare support workers. Each pairs you with a named mentor or supervisor and gives you protected time to learn.

Corporate and local induction

A new starter should get a corporate induction covering the organisation’s structure, values, main policies and how to raise concerns. Mandatory and statutory training usually follows, often online, on subjects such as safeguarding, information governance, fire safety and equality. Your manager then runs a local induction on your role, team, workplace and systems, and you go onto a probation period with planned review meetings.

The guides to mandatory training and probation periods go into more detail, and your first week in a public sector job covers the first few days.

Early career teachers

Teachers in England who gain QTS must complete statutory induction to work in maintained schools. It lasts the full-time equivalent of two school years, usually six terms, and is pro rata for part-time teachers. Academies, free schools, independent schools and FE colleges are not legally required to provide it, though many do.

During induction you get a reduced timetable compared with other teachers and a named induction tutor who monitors your progress and carries out formal assessments. A mentor, usually a different person, meets you regularly and supports your development. A structured training programme based on the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework runs alongside both.

At the end you are assessed against the Teachers’ Standards. The guide to ECT induction covers the details, including what happens if you move schools part way through.

Newly registered nurses, midwives and AHPs

NHS organisations offer preceptorship to newly registered nurses, midwives, nursing associates and allied health professionals. It is a structured period of support while you move from student to registered practitioner. A national preceptorship framework for nursing sets out what employers should provide: a named preceptor, protected learning time and a programme of development. Your registration is already in place, so preceptorship carries no extra assessment.

Ask at interview how long it lasts, how protected time works in practice and whether the band progression point depends on completing it. Some trusts link progression from band 5 entry to finishing the programme.

Newly qualified social workers

In England, newly qualified social workers usually do the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE). You get a protected caseload, more frequent supervision, development time and a final assessment against professional standards. The guide to supervision in social work covers how supervision should work during and after the ASYE.

Healthcare support workers

New healthcare assistants and other support workers in the NHS and care sector usually complete the Care Certificate, a set of standards for the basics of safe, compassionate care. You work through it in your first weeks while a senior colleague assesses your knowledge and practice. It is not a qualification, but it travels with you, and a new employer can recognise it if you move.

Civil Service and councils

Civil Service departments run induction programmes for new joiners, often with a buddy in the team and online learning through Civil Service Learning. Graduate schemes such as the Fast Stream, and apprenticeships, have structured development built in.

Councils differ. Larger ones run corporate induction days and mentoring schemes for new managers and graduates. Social care, housing and planning teams often have their own structured induction because of the legal frameworks involved.

What good mentoring looks like

Mentoring works when you meet regularly, set an agenda together and can say what is not going well. Sessions usually cover what has gone well, what has been hard, what you want to learn next and any practical problem you need help with.

If your mentor is too busy to meet, or your protected time keeps disappearing, raise it early with your line manager, induction tutor or practice education team. For ECTs, the appropriate body that quality assures your induction can step in when the school is not providing what the statutory guidance requires.

When induction does not happen

The first year in a profession is hard, and employers have agreed standards for supporting it. If yours is not happening, write down what you were promised and what you have received, then raise it. Your union, your professional body and, for ECTs, the appropriate body are all routes if the employer does not respond.