Promoted staff stress the importance of these activities being monitored to ensure that the new lecturers are undertaking the activities, and that questions which arise are answered. Informal help Almost all new lecturers experience some kind of informal help from colleagues. The help is usually obtained from a more experienced lecturer in the form of answers to questions posed by the new lecturer on specific matters, or by the experienced lecturer asking new lecturers how they are coping. The advantages of informal induction are that it is immediate and addresses problems which are of direct concern to the new lecturer. Disadvantages are that some new lecturers may miss out completely, others may receive only partial information, and that there is no way of checking that the information being given is always correct.
Informal induction plays a large part in the induction of new lecturers.
It reinforces a feeling of belonging, and many new lecturers find it much more helpful than formal induction. Informal induction provides more opportunities for new lecturers to shape the induction to their needs through involvement in decisions about the content. Mentors can provide a focus for this informal help. New lecturers are faced with a wide range of individual problems, many of which arise without prior warning and immediate solutions to these are sought. They valued the immediacy of informal help, and its authenticity, coming from colleagues who are seen by the new lecturers to be involved in teaching.