Supporting Early Career Teachers: What’s the problem represented to be in England and South Australia?

Abstract The widespread acceptance of the importance of supporting Early Career Teachers (ECTs) through mentoring, induction, and coaching is reflected in the proliferation of support programs for ECTs across many educational contexts. However, the policies that govern these programs in England and South Australia prioritise utilitarian outcomes such as workforce retention, rather than relying on the evidence base for supporting ECTs in a strengths-based and purpose-driven way. Bacchi's (2009) ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) framework was applied to 19 policy documents across England and South Australia relating to supporting ECTs from 2008 to 2025. The comparative approach and novel adaptation of an hermeneutic approach enhanced the rigour of analysis. It was found that each system’s positioning of initial teacher education affects how ECT support is represented in policy and, therefore, how solutions are proposed. Notably, in both jurisdictions a deficit view of ECTs prevails among the revealed problem representations. By understanding the representations, it was possible to identify alternative strengths-based representations of the problem along with solutions that could be implemented.