She was one of nine new teachers to start at the school last September. It was her first teaching post after completing the higher diploma in education.

"I found it very easy to settle in," says Deirdre Lyons, an Irish teacher at St Andrew's College, Booterstown, Dublin. "By the time I started in September, I nearly knew everything about the school. I had a list of names to help me out - otherwise, you've got to learn so much. We were given support and back-up right from the day of the interview."

A new teacher at St Andrew's with questions or difficulties has a number of options: "Even if you're just worried or confused about a topic, you can go to the subject co-ordinator or mentor - you can go for advice about an emotional or a personal worry, and you know from day one whom to go to. Sometimes it's only that you might be feeling low, and it's grand, it's comfortable."

The school's induction programme was "so valuable in hindsight," says Lyons, explaining that the first meeting was back in July when the new teachers were introduced to subject co-ordinators. "They went through the classes, the books, assessment procedures, the type of classes. You got to view various classrooms and to see where the resources were."

At this stage, the new teachers were given an information pack with "all the information that you need to know," Lyons explains. By the time the induction morning in August comes around, she had "read up on all the policies, the philosophy of the school, the ethos - it's excellent to have something in print."

At the induction morning the new teachers met the principal and the vice-principal. "It was very personal and relaxed. I was teaching in a convent school last year, whereas this school is an international school, so it was important to know what was different, to know not to go in and say a prayer, for example. It's a small thing but you could make so many mistakes."

Then there was a staff meeting for introductions. "There were so many of us it was great because you didn't feel like you stood out."

The meeting then split into the different departments. "Straight away, I got to meet the Irish department, and we discussed what we would do in the next four weeks so it got me started. The next day school started."

Without the meetings, the map, the printed information, the introductions, the question-and-answer sessions, the gradual introduction of staff members, Lyons says, "we would have been lost."

Proper induction makes for more effective teaching, says Lyons. "You should go in feeling confident, knowing everything you should know, including discipline procedures, how to deal with difficult situations, how to access resources.

"I don't think I've ever been unsure and, if I am, I can ask a question."

At the end of September last year the school had a social evening. "We felt much more comfortable then," she recalls. "You meet people with the same interests on the staff and you make friends and that's what it's all about."