Recent studies have used the notion of "empowerment" to describe individuals who assume a more critical and personally active approach toward the teaching profession. "Empowered" teachers are committed to providing thoughtful and challenging educational experiences for children and encouraging their pupils to develop personal talents and creativity. Little is known about the way in which potentially empowered novice teachers are socialized into their chosen profession, and there is a need to understand the factors that have a significant impact on the professional development of potentially empowered beginning teachers. This paper investigated the socialization of "potentially empowered" novice elementary teachers. Phase one of the research examined the experience of 19 student teachers during their student teaching semester. The findings presented in this paper reflect the field work of the second phase of the research which occurred during the teachers' first semester of inservice teaching. After outlining the sampling procedures and research methods, the paper first portrays key factors regarding the teachers' efforts to put their empowering goals into practice as they began teaching. Factors that had a significant impact upon the teachers' process of becoming, or not becoming, an empowered teacher are presented. Implications for the induction programs in elementary school teaching are discussed in the light of the study's findings. (JD)