• 01Your formal entitlements — release time and reduced load3
• 02Assigned mentor versus informal coaches — you need both4
• 03What good mentoring looks like — and what to do if it doesn't5
• 04The wider support system — programs, budgets, networks6
• 05How to be a good mentee — driving the relationship7
• QFrequently asked questions — quick answers8

Schools offer far more structured support than most graduates use, mostly because no one hands you a list of it, so a lot of it lapses unused. Several systems write beginning-teacher release and mentoring into formal entitlements, but the detail varies by state, sector, and agreement, so check your own. Four government systems make good worked examples.

Two kinds of support will shape your early years, and they are not the same thing.

Your assigned mentor is the person the school has formally allocated, often with a role in your accreditation: observing your teaching, signing off evidence, and guiding the formal process. Your informal coaches are the colleagues you gravitate to because they are good at something you want to learn, the teacher whose classroom runs beautifully, the one who is brilliant with parents.

You need both. The assigned mentor handles the formal pathway; the informal coaches are where most of your real day-to-day learning happens. Cultivate the second group deliberately rather than waiting for them to be assigned, because they never will be.

Good mentoring has a few hallmarks: regular, protected time that does not get cancelled the moment the term gets busy; observation that runs both ways, so you watch your mentor teach as well as the reverse; specific, actionable feedback rather than vague reassurance; and a relationship safe enough that you can admit what you are finding hard.

Sometimes you will not get that. Your assigned mentor might be overloaded, frequently absent, or simply a poor fit. This is common, and it is not a reason to give up on support.

Beyond your mentor, a whole layer of support is available if you go looking.

None of these are automatic. They reward the teacher who asks.

Support is a two-way relationship, and you get far more from it when you drive it well. The strongest early-career teachers use their mentors deliberately.

Above all, reframe how you think about asking for help. In teaching, actively seeking support is a marker of professional competence, not a confession of weakness. It is precisely what the standards expect of an early-career teacher. The colleagues who try to prove themselves by coping alone are not more capable; they are just getting less help.

It varies by state and sector, but typically includes release time for mentoring, an assigned mentor, induction programs, professional-learning funding, and union support. NSW provides a Beginning Teacher Support Entitlement; Victoria runs Career Start; Queensland runs Starting Successfully; WA runs a Graduate Teacher Induction Program. Check your own agreement.

Timetabled time away from face-to-face teaching, on top of normal preparation time, so beginning teachers can be mentored, observe colleagues, and develop their practice. NSW provides it through the Beginning Teacher Support Entitlement; Victoria through Career Start; Queensland through additional non-contact time. Amounts vary by system.

An assigned mentor is allocated by your school, often with a formal role in your accreditation. Informal coaches are colleagues you choose to learn from because they are good at something you want to develop. You need both: the mentor for the formal process, the coaches for day-to-day learning.

Come with specific questions, ask to be observed on a focus, observe them, and act on feedback. If your mentor is overloaded or a poor fit, cultivate informal coaches, ask the executive to reallocate or supplement, and use system programs. A poor match does not cancel your entitlement.

No. In teaching, actively seeking support is a marker of professional competence and exactly what the standards expect of an early-career teacher. The colleagues who try to cope alone are not more capable; they are just getting less help.

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