Mentoring as More Than “Cheerleading”: Looking at Educative Mentoring Practices Through Mentors’ Eyes (original) (raw)
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Mentoring “Inside” and “Outside” the Action of Teaching: A Professional Framework for Mentoring
2017
This study seeks to contribute to the research on mentored induction by investigating the practices mentors employ in their work with new teachers in two high-need, high poverty urban elementary schools. Informed by Schwille’s (2008) temporal framework of “educative” mentoring practices occurring “inside” and “outside” the action of teaching, this study this study investigated the range of practices mentors employed, new teachers’ perceptions of the practices, and if the practices contributed to new teachers’ professional learning. Participants included six new teachers and two induction mentors. Results indicate that “inside” and “outside” mentoring practices are complementary, should be conceived as assisted performance, and judiciously selected to promote productive changes in new teachers’ practice. Recommendations for mentoring programs are provided.
IAFOR Journal of Education, 2018
Mentoring involves the process of experienced teachers teaching and guiding student-teachers on the different aspects of the teaching-learning process. This study aimed to determine the mentoring experiences of cooperating teachers and student-teachers using quantitativequalitative design. Survey questionnaires based on Hudson's model were distributed and interviews were conducted among cooperating teachers and student-teachers. Means, standard deviations, t-test for independent samples and paired samples t-test were used to analyze the data. Qualitative responses were analyzed and categorized thematically. Findings indicate that the cooperating teachers perceived they greatly mentored student-teachers in terms of personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback which were validated by the student-teachers except in the area of system requirements wherein they were mentored moderately. The study concluded that the cooperating teachers mentored to a great extent the student-teachers. Provision of continuing professional education for cooperating teachers to enrich their skills on mentoring studentteachers and more time for post-conference were recommended.
Advancements in Agricultural Development
With nearly one-half of U.S. teachers leaving the profession within the first five years of their career, focusing on retention is an ongoing effort. Providing quality mentorship during the student teaching internship provides further support to new teachers preparing to enter the classroom. Cooperating teachers play a pivotal role in the success of these student teachers. However, little is known about the mentoring process between the cooperating teachers and their student teachers. This study compares the perspectives of the cooperating teacher and their student teacher on the frequency of 17 best practices employed by the cooperating teacher during the student teaching experience. The results suggest cooperating teachers rate themselves as utilizing 16 of the 17 best practices of a cooperating teacher more frequently than their paired student teacher observed. In addition, the student teachers rated their observed frequency for five of the 17 best practices employed by their men...
Understanding the nature of mentoring experiences between teachers and student teachers
International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education
Purpose Mentoring is widely recognised as an effective strategy for supporting the professional learning of teachers and student teachers across different educational contexts. Yet, its effectiveness in initial teacher education (ITE) may be more widely conceived to take account of mentoring as a cultural practice, contributing to a change of professional learning habits and relationships towards collegiate and collaborative reflexivity. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of mentoring experiences between teachers and student teachers, how these are embedded within the established professional learning culture of the school and the opportunities for mentoring to affect professional learning. Design/methodology/approach Set within the context of a teacher education reform project in Scotland, involving student teachers, mentors and university tutors, the study adopted a critical constructivist theory stance to explore mentoring relationships. A sequential mixed methods...
Challenges and complexities of developing mentors' practice: insights from new mentors
International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 2018
Purpose - Induction mentoring for early career teachers is a complex practice, requiring knowledge and skills distinct from teaching. However, more is known anecdotally than empirically about the challenges new mentors face and the type of support they need as they transition from teacher to induction mentor. Design/methodology/approach - This qualitative study investigates how nine first-year mentors develop, conceptualize and enact their mentoring practice by asking: What supports/inhibits new mentors’ professional learning and practice? Are there patterns of struggle/challenge that new mentors face? Primary data sources included three 45-60 minute structured, individual interviews across each mentor’s first year. Data analysis was inductive, involving open and axial coding. Findings - Mentors struggled to navigate multiple, complex relationships with administrators, teachers, and students. The quality of these relationships impacted their sense of efficacy and mentoring ability. Despite receiving what mentors perceived as effective professional development, all mentors found it difficult to apply knowledge in practice. Mentors also experienced a steep and varied learning curve and identified supports that enhanced their knowledge and situated application of new teacher-centered mentoring. Originality/Value – Despite increases in mentoring programs, there is a lack of research addressing new mentors’ needs and development. This study makes a contribution by identifying new mentors’ needs and challenges, and by providing recommendations for situated, responsive, and ongoing professional development.
Student teachers’ beliefs about mentoring and learning to teach during teaching practice
British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2001
Background. Various interpretations of mentor roles, by teacher educators and mentors, have been described in the literature on mentoring, while those of student teachers have received less attention. Therefore, this study focuses on student teachers' expectations of mentors and their own contributions to their learning process while they are supervised by a mentor.
The Role of Mentoring in Teacher Education
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education
Mentoring is a positive, supportive facilitation of learning and development between a person with more experience, knowledge, or expertise in a certain field, and a person who is less knowledgeable or is new to that field. In the tertiary setting, mentoring programs take on many forms and structures, with a range of objectives such as support for transition, academic supplemented instruction, and social support. All mentoring programs, regardless of structure, are fundamentally a transactional process of support underpinned by a mutually respectful relationship. The foundations of mentoring are drawn from theoretical frameworks grounded in social constructivism, social learning, applied learning, and developmental theory. These frameworks inform aspects of collaborative learning and outline the multiple benefits for participants including the building of interpersonal, problem-solving and communication skills, increasing academic success and motivation. Successful mentoring program...
1992
Instructional and psychological concerns of preservice and beginning teachers have been well documented; however, little research has been done on novice teachers' perceptions of cooperating teachers. This study investigates student and cooperating teachers' perceptions about the roles and functions of the cooperating teacher. The Cooperating Teachers' Functions Survey was administered to student teachers enrolled in the teacher preparation program at Arizona State University and to their cooperating teachers. The survey lists 14 functions, actions, and activities that a cooperating teacher might provide for a student teacher. The items reflect three distinct domains of concern demonstrated by student teachers: personal, instructional, and professional. Results suggest that coc,perating teachers should demonstrate qualities of effective mentors. They should be caring, active listeners, sensitive to the views of others; they need to understand the comprehensiveness of the mentoring role and to offer candid, regular feedback in a supportive manner. Shared understandings of purpose between students and cooperating teachers can serve as a vehicle for facilitating dialogue between the veteran and the preservice teacher. A beneficial conversation between the cooperating and student teacher may result in an awareness of the perceived role of the cooperating teacher by both parties. (LL)
Mentor pedagogy and student teacher professional development
Teaching and Teacher Education, 1998
The recent and growing literature on mentoring has seen a lot of studies focusing on how mentors think about and conceptualise their work. There has been less which has examined what mentors actually do in practice or which attempts to relate mentors' 'espoused' theories to their 'theories in action'. This study elicits two mentors' conceptions of their role, along with their views about what has influenced these conceptions, before examining the pedagogical practice of the two mentors. Secondly, the study looks at how three student teachers respond to their experiences of mentoring with these same two mentors, and attempts to understand the various ways in which the student teachers' thinking about their teaching is influenced by discussions with their mentor. The article concludes with a discussion of the agency of the mentoring relationship in learning to teach.