Novice teachers' perspectives on mentoring: The case of the Estonian induction year

This study explores Estonian novice teachers' perspectives on relationships with mentors and experiences of mentoring and mentors' tasks during their first year of teaching. The induction year with mentoring as one of the support structures was introduced into Estonian teacher education a few years ago. Experiences indicate that this is a valuable support, but there are areas of mentoring that need to be developed. The data are based on thematic interviews with sixteen novice teachers in the second half of their first year of teaching, i.e. the induction year. A content analysis revealed that the novice teachers experienced support for personal development and professional knowledge development, feedback, collegiality, reciprocity of the relationship, mentor availability and mutual trust as components of the mentor–mentee relationship. The study identified undeveloped potential in mentoring related to three main areas: 1) facilitation of reflection, 2) mentor training, and 3) integration of mentoring into the school community as a whole. The last area also includes matters pertaining to socialization and school leadership.     

Using developmental relationships in mentoring to support novice principals as leaders of learning

Mentoring is an established method of supporting principals as they begin their careers; however, early studies focus on how a veteran principal supports a novice principal in acquiring the skills to manage the school. As the role of a principal has evolved from a building manager to a leader of learning, the role of mentoring has also evolved. The purpose of this study was to explore the mentoring experiences of novice principals and their mentors in a school district’s mentoring program, and how developmental mentoring relationships support novice principals to be leaders of learning. The ?ndings suggest that a strong mentoring relationship can support a novice principal in developing skills to be a leader of learning by clarifying the mentor’s role as a leader of learning, focusing mentoring sessions to build the mentee’s capacity as a leader of learning, and a commitment to mentoring sessions that support teaching and learning.     

Experiences of beginning teachers in a school‐based mentoring program in Sweden

Even though teacher education has been successful in preparing students for their future profession, the classroom reality can differ greatly from the inservice training. Many novice teachers therefore find the transition from student teacher to inservice teacher overwhelming To support beginning teachers, mentoring programs—where more experienced teachers support novice teachers—have become commonplace in many schools worldwide. In Sweden, mentoring for beginning teachers has been a frequent feature of support since 2001. This study, conducted in Sweden, examines seven novice teachers and the impact the mentoring process had upon them during their first‐year teaching. Based on interviews, it was found that these experienced both professional and personal support from their mentors. The study also showed the significance of observant leaders within the mentorship program following up on the development of the mentor–mentee relationship.     

Exploring the dyad: the relationship establishment between a novice physical education teacher and his mentor

The retention of new teachers is a noteworthy issue among physical education teachers. One way to combat attrition is with the implementation of induction programs that have a strong emphasis on mentoring. Mentoring creates a growth-in-connection for the novice physical education teacher as well as the mentor. The relational cultural theory (RCT) develops relationships based in situational boundaries between the mentor and the mentee. RCT explores the nature of human development based on the individuals involved in these relationships. The purpose of the study was to explore the perception of the relationship between a novice physical education teacher and his mentor and to determine if the mentoring relationship between the participants reflected the RCT model. Observations, interviews, and the researcher’s journal were used as a means for data collection. In this study, meaningful relationships occurred in the working relationship, as well as the personal relationship. It was indicated that when meaningful relationships are established, novice physical education teachers are more confident in their teaching abilities and are more likely stay in the profession.     

College Women Mentoring Adolescent Girls: The Relationship between Mentor Peer Support and Mentee Outcomes

In this study, we examined the effectiveness of peer support for college women mentors who engaged in one-to-one and group mentoring with at-risk adolescent girls. Using data from 162 mentoring pairs, results suggested that mentor support positively predicted mentees’ self-reported improvement after a year of mentoring. An examination of mentees’ self-esteem outcomes revealed that mentor peer support was associated with higher outcomes only for those mentees who had higher pre-program scores; for those with below average pre-scores, mentor support was associated with lower self-esteem. Taken together, these results indicate that mentor support may serve as an important function beyond ongoing training, though its effectiveness may vary based on mentee characteristics. Implications are discussed.     

Learning to mentor: unravelling routine practice to develop adaptive mentoring expertise

While studies have shown that mentoring is central to new teacher development, few investigations have examined what mentors learn about themselves as mentors. The purpose of the study was to illuminate mentor learning. The article reports on two case studies that investigated the development of mentoring expertise over a two-year period. During this period, the two mentor participants were engaged in a professional development intervention focused on fostering mentoring expertise. Data sources included transcribed professional conversations, interviews and action research documentation. Analysis of these data found that despite good intentions, mentors’ preconceptions of their role were difficult to change. Where substantive change was evident, there was a conceptual shift from a focus on mentee and student learning to include mentor learning. The study suggests that the development of mentor expertise is complex and cannot be assumed. The complexity associated with letting go of deeply ingrained beliefs and practices to develop mentoring expertise is illuminated in the dynamic interaction between the school context, the mentor’s preconceptions and re-conceptualisation of their role along with the on-going assessment of professional learning opportunities.     

How an Evolution View of Workplace Mentoring Relationships Helps Avoid Negative Experiences: The Developmental Relationship Mentoring Model in Action

In this paper, we explore how the use of a specific mentoring model focusing on the evolution of the relationship between mentor and mentee, may influence the incidence of failure. In our research we employed a case study methodology to examine a regional public service mentoring scheme in the UK where a developmental relationship mentoring model had been developed and used to guide practice. Findings indicated toxicity and negative outcomes may be positively influenced by mentor motivation and emotional intelligence, and can be avoided when there is awareness of how relationships develop and evolve. For example, the use of contracting in the early stages can limit the mismatched expectations that provoke disappointment, but equally mentor actions at other stages play key roles in reducing potential failure. Our study has implications for the enhancement of mentor training and scheme coordination as well as contributing to the understanding of negative mentoring relationships.     

Portraits of Our Mentoring Experiences in Learning to Craft Journal Articles

Tenure demands for scholarship and publication are increasing, with relatively little research on mentoring junior faculty and less on mentoring to craft journal articles. This qualitative self-study of mentoring experiences of three junior faculty members and their experienced mentor used portraiture methodology to address the research question, How did the mentoring experience, from both mentor’s and mentees’ perspective, reshape our thinking and understanding of the journal article writing process? Portraiture was employed somewhat differently, with mentor and mentee “painting” each other. Five emergent themes were found in the dyadic portraits written by protégés and mentor: beginnings, relationships, fears and worries, support and scaffolding, and outcomes. The mentoring relationships evolved from traditional to more collaborative, simultaneously becoming less hierarchical and involving cognitive and affective aspects. Crafting journal articles involved finding focus, backwards design, iteration, problem-finding, affirmation, and support. Eleven implications offer guidance for mentoring in university contexts and for future research.     

Sometimes a novice and sometimes an expert: mentors’ professional expertise as revealed through their stories of critical incidents

Drawing on the methodology of critical incidents, this study sets out to explore the perspectives that 20 experienced in‐service mentors in Israel adopt towards critical incidents in their work, as they account for how they reason about and act upon these incidents. Mentors’ stories of critical incidents shed light on the complex nature of mentors’ professional expertise, reflected in the finding that experienced mentors’ reasoning and behaviour constantly fluctuates between a novice and an expert stage, depending upon the nature of the situation and the type of mentor–mentee interaction that the mentor is confronted with. The study supports the more dynamic, discontinuous and interactionist view of the acquisition of expertise, highlighting the regressions and progressions that play out when experienced professionals take up an additional role, such as in the passage from teaching to mentoring.     

Forming the Mentor-Mentee Relationship

A positive mentor–mentee relationship is essential for the mentee’s development of teaching practices. As mentors can hold the balance of power in the relationship with preservice teachers, how do mentors develop positive mentor–mentee relationships? This multi-case study involved: (a) written responses from over 200 teachers involved in a mentoring professional development program, (b) nineteen mentor teachers with written responses and audio-recorded focus groups, and (c) two pairs of mentors and mentees with audio-recorded interviews. Findings revealed that positive relationships required the achievement of trust and respect by sharing information, resources, and expectations and by being professional, enthusiastic, and supportive with collaborative problem-solving. A model is presented that outlines ways in which mentors can form positive mentor–mentee relationships.     

A Helping Hand? A Study into an England-wide Peer Mentoring Program to Address Bullying Behavior

The purpose of this paper is to provide findings from a study into a school peer mentoring program which matched children aged between 9 and 12?years of age who were bullied or at-risk of being bullied with older student mentors. In total, 372 mentees as well as a comparison group of 1,249 young people from 22 English schools completed a questionnaire at the start and end of the school year (approximately nine months). An examination of the results showed that mentored students reported higher levels of bullying and life satisfaction, and statistically significant higher levels of school satisfaction than the comparison group at the end of the school year. These outcomes did not significantly vary by the mentee’s age, gender, or the number of mentoring meetings. Potential reasons for these findings are explored with a particular emphasis on the school environment and its influence on mentee–mentor and mentee–teacher relationships. The findings will have potential implications for future research and program developers.     

Culturally Diverse Undergraduate Researchers’ Academic Outcomes and Perceptions of Their Research Mentoring Relationships

Few studies have empirically investigated the specific factors in mentoring relationships between undergraduate researchers (mentees) and their mentors in the biological and life sciences that account for mentees’ positive academic and career outcomes. Using archival evaluation data from more than 400 mentees gathered over a multi-year period (2005–2011) from several undergraduate biology research programs at a large, Midwestern research university, we validated existing evaluation measures of the mentored research experience and the mentor–mentee relationship. We used a subset of data from mentees (77% underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities) to test a hypothesized social cognitive career theory model of associations between mentees’ academic outcomes and perceptions of their research mentoring relationships. Results from path analysis indicate that perceived mentor effectiveness indirectly predicted post-baccalaureate outcomes via research self-efficacy beliefs. Findings are discussed with implications for developing new and refining existing tools to measure this impact, programmatic interventions to increase the success of culturally diverse research mentees and future directions for research.     

Operationalizing the mentoring processes as perceived by teacher mentors

ABSTRACT

Mentoring plays a critical role in providing a quality professional experience for pre-service teachers in their initial teacher education. There have been numerous studies about pre-service teacher mentoring, yet actual mentoring practice still remains varied and poorly understood. Consequently, there is a need for mentoring processes that can enhance graduate teacher quality. In response to this call, this study aims to elucidate an understanding of how mentoring is operationalized, as perceived by the teacher mentor. Semi-structure interviews, with experienced teacher mentors, provided understanding on mentoring practices used within differing school contexts. These findings increase our understanding of actual mentoring processes that are used during the different phases of support for the preservice teachers. Understanding how the mentor–mentee relationship is operationalized has implications for supporting and enhancing quality mentoring experiences.     

Why mentor? Linking mentor teachers’ motivations to their mentoring conceptions

Current mentoring models for teacher preparation and induction emphasize the need to engage novice teachers’ learning through collaborative professional learning communities. Mentors in such communities are expected to engage in joint knowledge construction with novices, and to be ‘co-thinkers’ who enact a developmental view of mentoring, as well as ‘co-learners’ who are willing to engage in mutual learning with their novices. These two aspects are assumed to be associated in mentor thinking. The aim of this questionnaire study was, therefore, to explore the relationship between mentors’ mentoring conceptions and their mentoring motives. Participants were 726 secondary education mentor teachers, associated with 13 institutes for teacher preparation in the Netherlands. Results showed that a motivation to mentor for personal learning was more strongly associated with a developmental conception of mentored learning to teach than with an instrumental mentoring conception. The same was found for a motivation to mentor for contributing to the profession, but less pronounced. These findings suggest potential strategies for the selection and preparation of mentor teachers for programs that intend to foster collaborative inquiry approaches for novice teacher support.     

Long-Term Mentors’ Perceptions of Building Mentoring Relationships with At-Risk Youth

Youth mentoring, defined within this study, as the pairing of a youth at risk with a caring adult, is an intervention that is often used for youth at risk for academic and social failure. We sought to understand mentors’ perspectives of the fundamental elements that foster positive mentor–mentee relationships that build resiliency and increase social and academic success. Twelve participants with extensive experience in mentoring youth at high risk participated in structured interviews during two focus groups. Major themes revealed in data analysis included needs for supportive acceptance and consistency to help the mentees build social literacy and future visioning.     

REFLECTIONS OF COMMUNITY-COLLEGE STUDENTS REGARDING MENTEE/INSTRUCTOR TEACHING AND LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS

This investigation used data collected from students who assessed their instructors' teaching and learning effectiveness. Instructors were community-college career and technical-education faculty enrolled in the Community College Induction Mentoring Program (CCIM), a jointly sponsored program between Iowa State University and the instructors' respective community colleges. These new faculty were involved in a structured mentor/mentee program in which the mentor was involved in a 1-day mentor training program. The mentor/mentee relationship was designed around annual goals with an action plan developed, executed, and assessed for each goal. One component of the mentor/mentee program involved documentation of an effectiveness plan, including students' perception of their mentored-instructors' teaching and, as a consequence, their own learning effectiveness. Students were asked to complete an evaluation instrument comparing their “reactions” and “learning” in classes taught by mentored instructors enrolled in the CCIM program relative to other nonmentored instructors. A total of 9 hypotheses provided the direction of the research. Student ratings were typically higher for new instructors who received peer mentoring. Mentees and mentors consistently reported a high level of satisfaction about their partnership. Supervisors voiced strong support for the program. This paper shares student survey results of mentee/instructor teaching and student learning effectiveness.     

Making Mentoring Work: The Need for Rewiring Epistemology

To help produce more expert coaches at the participation and performance levels, a number of governing bodies have established coach mentoring systems. In light of this trend, against the limited literature on coach mentoring and the risks of superficial treatment by coach education systems, this article critically discusses the role of the mentor in coach development, the nature of the mentor–mentee relationship, and, most specifically, how expertise in the mentee may best be developed. If mentors are to be effective in developing expert coaches, we consequently argue that a focus on personal epistemology is required. On this basis, we present a framework that conceptualizes mentee development on this level through a step by step progression, rather than through an unrealistic and unachievable leap toward expertise. Finally, we consider the resulting implications for practice and research with respect to one-on-one mentoring, communities of practice, and formal coach education.     

Mentoring support and the professional development of beginning teachers: a Chinese perspective

For a long time, there has been a tradition in China of experienced teachers helping beginning teachers. This empirical school study investigates the kinds of support that are provided by eight dyads of mentoring teacher and first‐year secondary school teachers in Guangzhou of southern China and the major factors affecting mentoring support. In addition, this research focuses on the professional development of first‐year teachers in areas of subject knowledge, student, teaching and classroom management. The findings reveal that mentors provide four forms of support: provision of information, mutual lesson observation, collaborative lesson preparation and discussion in the office. Factors affecting mentoring support include teaching workload, grade and subject, style of mentor–protégé interactions, relationships between mentor and mentee, incentives for the mentors, and collegial culture in the case study schools. It is notable that there are positive and negative developments perceived by the protégé and the foci of mentoring tend to be the teaching of content rather than curriculum and pedagogy.     

Examining the value of mentoring and men of color staff members of a community college

As higher education continues to experience a shift in demographics commiserate with the United States population, colleges and universities are making more concerted efforts to recruit men of color as staff, administrators, and faculty to reflect their diversified student bodies. One way to retain men of color staff members is to provide mentoring programs. While there are authors who are examining the benefits of mentoring, there has been little research into how men of color staff members of community college experience mentoring as a mentee and as a mentor. In this study we sought to understand how do men of color experience mentoring, both as mentor to undergraduate men of color and as staff mentees at a community college. The findings of our study include three common themes: investments made by mentors, investing in mentees, and support from administration.