Teacher career development is at the core of our research. Research indicates that teachers’ quality and abilities are the most significant school-based factors contributing to student achievement and educational improvement. Therefore, we believe that much attention should be given to the personal, professional, and career development aspects of novice teachers’ work.

However, many beginning teachers, despite their initial enthusiasm, abandon the profession, depressed and discouraged, with the most talented beginning teachers among those most apt to leave. Research indicates that, despite their heavy financial and educational investments to enable their teaching careers, the majority of teachers quit the profession in their first two to five years; in some extreme cases, teachers drop out even before the end of their first year. Internationally, the argument is that the first three to four years after initial training are the most crucial in teachers’ decision whether to remain in the profession or not.