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How to make sure that newly qualified teachers keep teaching? Research shows that their social informal learning and job satisfaction determines if (newly qualified) teachers dropout or not (Gerken, Beausaert & Segers, 2015). Job satisfaction is an indicator for the type of relationship with the principal and colleagues, the level of autonomy and the way in which employees think their job is interesting. Lack of support is an important explanation for a low level of job satisfaction. To increase job satisfaction and reduce dropout of newly qualified teachers, schools invest in formalized teacher support systems, such as mentoring. Teacher support systems are structured activities at school level to introduce and guide newly qualified teachers. Furthermore, beginning teachers are supported informally by their colleagues, who also provide them with practical information, help and feedback, but not every collegial network provides starters with equal learning opportunities. The characteristics of the collegial network needs to be taken into account as well, i.e. the accessibility of the network, the knowledge present in the network, appreciation of this knowledge by the member of the network and the psychological safety of the members (Cross, Parker, Prusak & Borgatti, 2001). Newly qualified teachers learns informally through the group of colleagues where they are part off. Depending on the characteristics of this collegial network newly qualified teachers will ask/get feedback, information or help. This study looked into two research questions: (1) How does the type of support system influences newly qualified teachers’ informal learning and in turn their job satisfaction? and (2) How do the characteristics of the collegial network influences newly qualified teachers’ informal learning and in turn their job satisfaction? A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted among 600 newly qualified teachers with less than 3 years of experience, teaching in the Dutch speaking community of Belgium. The data will be analyzed by doing path analysis in Amos, version 16. Results and implications for practice on how to better support the informal learning of newly qualified teachers will be discussed at the SIG11 meeting. To our knowledge this is one of the first studies that looks into the mediating role of informal learning between teaching support systems and the characteristics of the collegial network on the one hand and teachers’ job satisfaction on the other. Furthermore, this study is original since it studies the variables under study in a quantitative way. Cross, R., Parker, A., Prusak, L. & Borgatti, S.P. (2001). Knowing What We Know: Supporting Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Social Networks. Organizational Dynamics 30(2): 100-120. Gerken, M., Beausaert, S., & Segers, M. (2015). Working on professional development of faculty staff in higher education: investigating the relationship between social informal learning activities and employability, Human Resource Development International. Froehlich, D., Beausaert, S., Segers, M., & Gerken, M. (2014). Learning to stay employable. Career Development International.