农村非正规金融:社会主义新农村建设的重要力量

在全面建设社会主义新农村背景下,农村金融制度的改革与发展显得尤为重要。在现阶段,社会主义新农村建设中存在着严重的金融抑制。从农村的实际情况出发,对农村非正规金融的现状进行分析,指出农村非正规金融提高了资金的运作效率,缓解了社会主义新农村建设中资金供求的矛盾,推动了多样化竞争格局的农村金融体系的形成,对社会主义新农村建设起到的重要作用。只有量体裁衣的发展农村非正规金融才能更好的为社会主义新农村建设服务。     

Mentoring partnerships in a community technology centre: A constructionist approach for fostering equitable service learning

Mentoring programmes have gained increasing popularity in institutions of higher education to support undergraduates in community service or outreach efforts. Many of these programmes partner mentors with inner‐city youth, providing assistance in underserved communities while mentors gain experiences that connect theory and practice. Here we report on two years of fieldwork in a Community Technology Centre that created mentoring partnerships in which 36 liberal arts undergraduates engaged with local youth to design, create, and build technology projects involving graphics, video, music, and animation. We analysed over 200 field notes, which described their mentoring interactions over eight weeks and conducted exit interviews about their mentoring experiences. Our results indicate that mentors participated not just as more knowledgeable peers but also as facilitators, advisors, observers and, most importantly, as learners in this process. In the interviews, nearly all mentors reviewed assumptions about their own learning and mentoring, in addition to reflections about social issues. We discuss the importance of these findings for conceptualising mentoring as a partnership by creating more equitable interactions in service learning initiatives. We also address the role of constructionist activities in facilitating learning opportunities for both mentors and mentees.     

Mentoring and the Changing Paradigm

This study examined mentoring and organizational socialization among law faculty at American Bar Association (ABA) approved law schools. Data obtained from respondents (n = 298) captured the types of mentoring (formal or informal) occurring in law schools and faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of each type of mentoring. Comparative analysis was used to examine mentoring as an antecedent of organizational socialization by comparing senior mentored faculty to senior non‐mentored faculty, junior formally mentored faculty to junior faculty with more informal types of mentoring, male to female faculty, and majority to non‐majority faculty. Results indicated that senior mentored faculty had higher mean scores than senior non‐mentored faculty on two of the six organizational socialization subscales. However, organizational socialization differences were not significant for other comparisons. The findings regarding mentoring are discussed within the context of diversity and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Student teachers' concerns and accomplishments on main school placements: what school mentors can learn from them

The article highlights the concerns and accomplishments of secondary school student teachers during their main attachment to schools. It also reports on the things school mentors do that student teachers find helpful and unhelpful. While the author does not make any ‘grand’ claims, he does offer a number of grounded good practice pointers that school mentors might want to engage.     

Being a protégé: an autoethnographic view of three teacher education doctoral programs

Those in professional and academic fields generally perceive mentoring as a positive relationship that enhances the lives of protégés. Kram (1985 Kram, K.E. 1985. Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life, Lanham, MD: University Press of America.  [Google Scholar]) posits that such relationships between dyads in organisational life are an evolutionary, developmental process. The purpose of this article is to explore protégés’ perspectives on their mentoring relationships within doctoral programs. In order to lessen the insurmountable distance between writers and readers that is often associated with a traditional research study, we employ an autoethnographic approach to research writing. We share our journey after having studied the mentoring relationships within our own doctoral programs. Qualitative data collected over a two‐year period consist of journal entries, email correspondence, and phone conversations. This research offers insight into the mentor–protégé relationship and processes, and it provides implications for practice for protégés and mentors, as well as future research directions.     

A Model Tutorial Program for University and School Collaboration

The Teaching/Learning Centre (T/LC) located in the Jacksonville State University College of Education is an award winning, on‐campus, after school tutoring‐program for a diverse population of K‐12 children. While the overall intent of the T/LC is to provide a practicum for teacher preparation, the T/LC has increasingly become a community resource for improving academic achievement among area K‐12 school students. The T/LC practicum allows the preservice teacher to interact with children by individualising a one‐on‐one tutorial within the university setting under university supervision. Preservice teachers gain additional professional practice through communication with parents, guardians, teachers, and professors. Preservice teachers gain confidence and self satisfaction while learning to interact with students from varying backgrounds in a caring and supportive manner.     

Design,implementation, and evaluation of a multi-disciplinary professional development program for research mentors

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate research experience has been shown to enhance student learning and improve persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Researchers studying undergraduate research experiences have largely focused on student outcomes and have seldom investigated the outcomes of graduate and postdoctoral mentors. Here, we report a non-credit, year-long mentor professional development program designed for graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and research staff in STEM. Mentors attended a series of six interactive and discussion-based workshops and mentored first-year undergraduate students in independent summer research projects. We report evaluation findings for three mentor cohorts using a combination of qualitative analysis of mentoring philosophies and quantitative assessment of pre- and post-surveys about mentoring objectives and skills. Results indicate that mentors gained self-efficacy in some objectives and skills. However, many other objectives and skills remained unchanged. We explore possible explanations for the lack of more broad-scale gains across survey items and present ideas for program improvement.     

Getting to the heart of it: understanding mentoring relationship quality from the perspective of program supervisors

ABSTRACT

Mentoring relationship quality has frequently been associated with improved effectiveness of mentoring interventions for youth. As youth mentoring research has largely been undertaken in community-based, one-to-one mentoring programs in the United States, there have been recent calls to investigate mentoring relationships in specific contexts. Accordingly, this research examines relationship quality within nine mentor-mentee dyads involved in a New Zealand school-based mentoring program that combines one-to-one and group mentoring. This research identifies key features of and perceived influences on mentoring relationship quality using qualitative interviews with program staff and mentor portfolios. The results indicate that high quality relationships were formed during the program, and were primarily facilitated by mentors who demonstrated attunement, critical self-reflection, self-efficacy, and a holistic view of their mentee. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk: Pre-service Teachers’ Evaluation of their Mentors

The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities between mentor teachers’ espoused theories and theories-in-use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 mentor teachers to investigate their perceived mentoring roles prior to the placement. Their seven pre-service teachers were also interviewed at the end of the practicum to explore their ideas and evaluation of their mentors’ mentoring practices. The findings suggest that 14 mentor teachers did put into practice their ideas regarding their roles. However, only two mentor teachers appeared to act against their espoused theories. Implications for practice are discussed.     

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.