Teacher Onboarding at Atlas
At Atlas, the Teacher Induction process familiarises new teachers with the school so they have a clear idea before they start teaching of how we work and what we expect of academic staff. Informing teachers of our key processes and procedures will hopefully not only help them settle in quickly, but also make them feel motivated to achieve excellent standards in their own teaching and professional conduct within the school.
The Teacher Induction process at Atlas has three stages. These are laid out in the Atlas Teacher Induction Pathway. All teachers joining Atlas, irrespective of qualifications and experience, go through Stages 1 to 3.
Stage 1: Pre-Arrival Online Induction Quiz (15 minutes)
Once a teacher has accepted a job offer and has received their Atlas Language School email address, they are sent a link to the pre-arrival Atlas Teacher Induction (Stage 1) quiz. They’ll need to refer to the school’s Teachers’ Manual to answer the questions.
Stage 2. On-Site Induction (2 hours)
Before starting work with Atlas, usually the Thursday before they start work, new teachers come into the school for the main part of the induction. They complete and sign all paperwork including:
- Contract
- Employee Information Form
- Garda Vetting Form
They are given a tour of the school, meet key Academic and Operations staff members, get an introduction to our Course Guides, run through a typical week at Atlas, and get a first look at the Teachers’ Rooms and the supports that are available when they start work. They’ll be given their teaching schedule for their first week, given all relevant class profile information and course materials, and be given an introduction to using an interactive touchscreen effectively.
Stage 3. Week One Check-In (30 minutes)
The purpose of this check-in meeting after the teacher has started work is to broaden and deepen their understanding of the complete range of Atlas policies and procedures and to ensure that they are implementing these consistently in class. In particular, we review the assessment and student tutorial procedures and discuss how teachers should respond in different situations that commonly arise in class.
We agree on three actions that the new teacher can take during the upcoming week to increase the quality of their teaching (e.g., schedule and hold student tutorials on Friday), and agree on a day and time for an initial observation.
We invite teacher feedback on the induction process so far and feed this into Improvement Board meetings for potential future changes to how we onboard teachers.
