The first years of teaching are particularly challenging, and newly qualified teachers (NQT) place priority on survival and control (McGarr & McCormack, 2015). Alarming numbers of beginner teachers leave the profession before 3 years, while many remain in the system but become demotivated. The transition from initial training to school and teaching is often difficult, largely due to mismatched expectations. Teachers must cope with a hard transition: the transition from learning to teach, to teaching to learn (Herrington, Herrington, Kervin, & Ferry, 2006). This is a significant step for most young and inexperienced teachers.

This oral presentation, framed in the European project “Digital Academy in teaching practice for a seamless transition from pre-service to in-service” (DIGITAL TA, Erasmus +, 2022-2025), allows participants to understand the training needs of New Qualified Teachers -NQT- in 5 European countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland, Ireland and Spain), in order to establish first, similarities and differences (project first phase), and then a possible response thanks to the development of a digital support for NQT needs, with digital mediation (project second phase).

DIGITALTA aims to improve the practical training of student teachers and young school teachers in EU countries, reducing professional burnout. In the first phase of the project (September 2023-April 2024) 460 NQT from 5 EU countries participated in the pilot, and a list of their needs was established, in order to build a response for better training during the second phase of the project (July 2024-February 2025). For this first phase, the project’s research methodology combines the use of questionnaires, interviews and focus group techniques, in order to understand the needs of NQTs. After the field work, done with the participation of 460 European NQTs, the main training needs were defined: classroom management, support for individual teaching, soft skills (communication, time and stress management), digital technologies, professional collaboration, school culture understanding, curriculum and planning support.

Research conclusions indicate that good social relations with colleagues play a dominant role in the learning process at the workplace. People who make up a school are the most important element that determines the quality of work and learning in the workplace, which allow the project's team to develop in a second phase a digital platform for a community of learning focused on giving support to teachers in transition.

Keywords: Emergent Technology, Teacher Attrition, Newly Qualified Teacher, Transition, Teacher training.