I've been in schools where you would be in at 8.30 in the morning with no idea of what class you were going to have, no keys to the classroom and all the kids waiting to get in. It's the kind of thing that undermines you in the eyes' of the kids - and it undermines your confidence . . .

The experiences of Cleo Byrne, a science teacher, who is now in her second year at St Andrew's College in Booterstown, Co Dublin, are common to many young teachers. "Nerve-wracking" is how she refers to the days she spent in schools which did not provide any support for new teachers.

"It's a kind of a weird career in that you have to do the same job as those who have been teaching for years," she says. But she's lucky. She's now in a school where, as part of an induction programme, "you are given the books for every subject you are teaching, you are told what they did last year, you get a list of all the videos that are available . . .

"Everything is shared, which is great. Experienced teachers can often forget that you don't have very many resources when you're starting, but we work as a team here."

Schools which give first-time teachers a training course to help them adapt to the new job are rare. In spite of the need for this type of support, formal induction programmes are the exception rather than the rule.

In most schools, young teachers are expected to walk in on the first day and start teaching - they are shown the classroom, given a timetable and away they go. Sometimes they are given a school tour, sometimes they are given a coat peg or a locker, sometimes they are invited to knock on the principal's door if they have any problems - but, mostly, they are left to sink or swim with odd tips and support from helpful colleagues.

A few sink, but the majority learn to swim despite experiencing difficulty of some sort. "Young teachers are more prone to being bullied," says Billy Fitzpatrick, education and research officer with the TUI. "It's one of the very few jobs where a new employee is left almost completely on his or her own." The recently-launched TUI survey on bullying found 70 per cent of teachers affected by bullying said it was in the form of lack of acknowledgment for good work while 30 per cent were made to feel isolated and socially excluded.

Over the past two years, Frances Leahy has co-ordinated and shaped a number of ASTI in-service induction courses.

Meanwhile, the INTO will launch a pilot induction programme for new teachers next September.

Leahy says "Often schools forget that newly qualified teachers are not fully fledged practitioners...teaching is complex and demanding, yet on the first day of employment new teachers are expected to do essentially the same work as experienced teachers. They have to work in isolation within the confines of their classrooms - in other professions novices can observe colleagues, get assistance and guidance and assume full professional responsibility in a gradual way."

According to a proposed TUI charter on teachers' rights, new teachers should have a well-planned and structured induction programme when they start work. "It's better than it used to be when they take up a job," says Fitzpatrick, "but the induction courses are few and far between."

Leahy is confident about the rising awareness of the importance of this time in a young teacher's career. She feels "very positive about developments" in the area, with more and more schools allocating responsibility for the induction of young teachers to senior teachers.

"However," she says, "there's a lot of work still to be done. There's no doubt about that." She also stresses the importance of informal support from experienced colleagues.

Joan Kirby is one of three deputy principals at St Andrew's College, with special responsibility for new staff members. Over the past four years, with between six and 10 teachers arriving each year, ranging from H Dip student teachers, part-time teachers, substitute teachers and newly appointed full-time teachers, the school has run an induction programme.

"It's in the school's interest to support them," she says. "Classes are run more effectively, things go more smoothly and are improving all the time.

"You are just constantly affirming them. Teaching is the only profession where you are only just coming out of college and then you are launched into the classroom. You can't call someone." Young teachers, she explains, need a lot of support: "They're quite young - 21 or 22 years of age. What we have is an open door policy." Kirby explains: "It's a whole school approach really. A lot of informal work is done by friendly faces in the staffroom." She started teaching herself 22 years ago when the school was much smaller with just 30 on the staff. Today there are over 90 teachers with 900 pupils.

"The programme is evolving all the time. Every year you are adding to it. We have quite a good programme and we have it on paper at this stage."

Back-up definitely helps. "Teachers can feel very isolated standing in front of 24 students...It's not that we know everything but we can offer support and help."

In a study of community schools in Leinster a number of years ago, Frances Leahy found that 60 per cent of new teachers had joined large schools with over 700 students. Up to 92 per cent of "beginning teachers" were supported informally by colleagues, she says. However, no formal support existed in the majority of schools. Half of all new teachers had informal discussions with vice-principals and principals. Yet, she points out, induction is "part of the life-long process of being a teacher."

One third of the group felt their health was poorer in their first year, she found. About 65 per cent of new teachers surveyed found first year tiring. The principal areas of concern were discipline, differentiation of students' abilities and motivating students.

A 1991 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) described induction arrangements in Ireland as being " and incomplete." But Leahy says the demand from education centres for induction courses for schools has increased in the past year. And the ASTI in-service courses, catering for only the tip of the iceberg, have been fully attended to date. More importantly, she says, the White Paper on Education proposes an induction programme coinciding with teachers' probationary year for all primary and second-level teachers.