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1 – 10 of over 9000Sabre Cherkowski and Keith Walker
Building on findings from research designed to bring to description teachers’ own understandings of what it means to flourish in their work, the purpose of this paper is to show…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on findings from research designed to bring to description teachers’ own understandings of what it means to flourish in their work, the purpose of this paper is to show how principals and teacher–leaders in schools are agents capable of building developmental relationships and mentoring cultures that can orient and support teachers toward well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper is anchored with findings from a multi-year qualitative research project that was designed using perspectives from positive organizational studies and positive psychology scholarship. The research methods encompassed collaborative and generative use of appreciative inquiry and strength-based research activities in school districts in both British Columbia and Saskatchewan, Canada. Data used to build this conceptual paper are from appreciative focus group conversations with teachers and principals over the course of two years. Conversations were recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were thematically analyzed using the research literature framing the study.
Findings
This paper offers four domains of inquiry and a model for flourishing schools that encourages principals and teacher–leaders to develop habits of mind and heart to build developmental relationships in ways that help both mentors and mentees to embody and enact positive, appreciative and generative ways of noticing, nurturing and sustaining the work of teaching and learning; all with aspiration to sustain and enhance the well-being of every member of the school community.
Practical implications
This paper offers conceptual models and storied descriptions that can aid mentors in noticing and nurturing more developmental relationship approaches to mentoring for well-being as opportunities to build mentoring relationships from appreciative and growth-based habits and approaches. As these relationships are built across the school, positive mentoring cultures may foster and grow in ways that promotes a flourishing-for-all approach to teaching and learning.
Originality/value
This paper contributes a different and complimentary perspective to research and practice on mentoring, offering a positive organizational perspective that highlights and promotes the perceived and evidenced benefits of deliberately focusing on what goes well and what provokes vitality in schools. The conceptual models in this paper offer tools for mentors and mentees to develop and foster in others appreciative and positive capacities for positive mentoring.
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Angela Fitzgerald and Noeleen McNamara
The purpose of this paper is to explore the formation, maintenance and sustenance of a mentoring dyad in higher education. By investigating the reflections of a female mentor and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the formation, maintenance and sustenance of a mentoring dyad in higher education. By investigating the reflections of a female mentor and mentee, who both engaged in a formal Mentoring Program, the intention is to inform the design of future programs and expectations of participants, enhance the quality of future practice and understand the benefits mentoring might offer to the academic community.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers utilised a self-study research design to explore their reflections of a mentoring dyad in higher education. The project was informed by a personal–constructivist–collaborative approach, with participants maintaining journals throughout the partnership. These reflections were then compared in order to understand the perceptions of the participants as their relationship developed.
Findings
Six themes emerged from the analysis representing the mentoring dyad experience under three categories: (1) forming – making the match, (2) maintaining – flexibility, responsiveness, and persistence, and (3) sustaining – desire to not disappoint and reciprocal learning.
Research limitations/implications
While this paper focuses on the experiences of two participants, the in-depth nature of this exploration draws out significant practical considerations that can be applied to the development and/or reinvigoration of formal mentoring programs and/mentoring dyads in other contexts.
Originality/value
These unique insights into their mentoring dyad over a significant period of time add to this dynamic body of knowledge. This study gives voice to female academics and lays bare their vulnerability and openness in sharing their lived experiences of participating in a formal mentoring program.
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Oksana Parylo, Sally J. Zepeda and Ed Bengtson
The purpose of this paper is to examine principal mentoring, a process that is significant in principal identification, socialization, development, and retention.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine principal mentoring, a process that is significant in principal identification, socialization, development, and retention.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was framed within the social constructivism paradigm and thematically examined individual perspectives to develop the thematic constructs relevant to the participants’ experiences of and perceptions about principal mentoring.
Findings
Thematic analysis of the interview data from 16 principals from the state of Georgia, USA, revealed five major themes related to leaders’ experiences of and perceptions about principal mentoring: mentoring as recruitment; mentoring as socialization; mentoring as support; mentoring as professional development; and mentoring as reciprocal learning.
Research limitations/implications
These findings were limited to the sample of principals used for this analysis. Researchers are encouraged to examine principal mentoring in other contexts.
Practical implications
The results of this inquiry suggest the need for formal and informal mentoring opportunities for new and experienced principals and call for further research on comparing mentoring practices between the large and small schools systems.
Originality/value
The paper identifies mentoring as an important path to principal effectiveness and contributes to the corpus of literature on educational mentoring by examining the perceptions and experiences of new and experienced principals about the mentoring they received and provided.
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Laura Lunsford, Vicki Baker and Meghan Pifer
The purpose of this paper is to understand faculty mentoring experiences across career stages and the influence of mentoring relationship quality on job satisfaction. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand faculty mentoring experiences across career stages and the influence of mentoring relationship quality on job satisfaction. The study participants were faculty members from a consortium of liberal arts colleges in the USA. The theoretical lens draws from scholarship on career stages, developmental networks, and working alliances.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based on a subset of 415 faculty member responses about mentoring from a larger data set on faculty development. The online survey was conducted in Spring 2014. Frequencies, χ2, regression equations, and confirmatory factor analysis were computed using R statistical software.
Findings
Over half the faculty members were both mentors and protégés; although, a sizable minority of faculty members did not engage in mentoring. Early-career faculty members were significantly more likely to have a mentor than were mid- or late-career faculty members. For both mentors and protégés, the higher they rated the quality of the mentoring relationship, the more job satisfaction they reported; this finding was greatest for mid-career (associate rank) faculty members. Participants reported significantly higher relationship quality with their mentors than with their protégés.
Research limitations/implications
The results may not generalize to faculty members who work at other institution types, for example, research-intensive or two-year schools, or to non-US higher education contexts. Statements made regarding those who do not participate in mentoring are speculative on the part of the authors.
Practical implications
Institutions may need to develop support for faculty members who may not desire to engage in mentoring. More attention may be warranted to create individual and institutional supports focused on high-quality mentoring.
Originality/value
This study extends the literature on mentoring by establishing that many employees serve in mentor and protégé roles simultaneously. Further, employees engage in mentoring relationships across career stages as mentors and as protégés. The authors developed a reliable measure of mentoring relationship quality that may be used in future mentoring studies. Higher quality mentoring relationships were associated with significantly greater job satisfaction.
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Jane Kirkby, Julianne Moss and Sally Godinho
The purpose of this paper is to present how the social learning theory of Bourdieu (1990; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990) can be a valuable tool to investigate mentoring…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present how the social learning theory of Bourdieu (1990; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990) can be a valuable tool to investigate mentoring relationships of beginning teachers with their more experienced colleagues. Bourdieu’s work provides a lens to magnify the social exchanges that occur during the mentoring relationship, so that what tends to be hidden in the “logic of practice” (Bourdieu, 1990) is drawn into view. The paper shows how the mentor is ascribed power that enables domination, and how this tends to result in cultural reproduction. A case study is used to identify aspects of social and cultural learning that demonstrate this process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a year-long narrative inquiry of beginning secondary teachers’ mentoring experiences in the state of Victoria, Australia. The data were generated through in-depth interviews and participants’ diary entries to answer the research question “What personal, professional knowledge is developed through beginning teachers’ early experiences with induction and mentoring?”
Findings
The researcher found that attention to minutiae of mentor/mentee interactions can suggest how symbolic violence shapes personal, professional knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
This small-scale study has some limitations. However, as an illustration of organisational learning, with strong connections to Bourdieu’s theoretical work, it can provide some illuminating insights into how policy can be enacted at the micro-level. In particular, there are implications for how mentor teachers engage in their roles and understand the potential impact of their interactions with beginning teachers.
Originality/value
This study applies Bourdieu’s framework of cultural reproduction as an analysis tool for a qualitative study of the mentoring of beginning teachers.
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David E. Okurame and Rhoda Fabunmi
The study aims to explore the role of mentoring and the moderating effects of gender on protean and boundaryless career orientations in the African albeit Nigerian cultural…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to explore the role of mentoring and the moderating effects of gender on protean and boundaryless career orientations in the African albeit Nigerian cultural context.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 250 Nigerian nurses through a questionnaire.
Findings
Mentoring support predicted protean career dimensions but was non-significant for boundaryless career dimensions. Gender directly accounted for a significant percentage of the variance in physical mobility in favor of women but did not predict self-directed, value-driven and psychological mobility career attitudes. Gender significantly moderated the relationship between mentoring and new career dimensions except physical mobility.
Research limitations/implications
The male sample was limited and data from a single professional group/organization in Nigeria may not typify organizations in general. This calls for caution in generalizing findings.
Practical implications
Proactive career management and value-driven attitudes can be fostered by ensuring quality mentor support. The peculiar direct and moderating effects of gender on protean and boundaryless careers deserve particular attention.
Originality/value
The absence of African perspectives on new career directions in most reference journals limits the global scope of comparative studies. The present study provides information on the under-researched role of mentoring and gender in modern career models from Africa, and makes useful theoretical contributions to new career perspectives, especially in the context of how relationships among study variables may differ across national cultural contexts.
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This collective case study investigated the ways in which coaching supports teacher change. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to consider what types of feedback are best…
Abstract
Purpose
This collective case study investigated the ways in which coaching supports teacher change. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to consider what types of feedback are best at what times in the coaching process and how coaching supports teachers’ application of learning to differing contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted over an 18-month period in three settings: a university reading clinic and two schools. Participants were a coach and two in-service teachers enrolled in a literacy specialist master’s degree program. This qualitative study included observational field notes, interviews, lesson plans, and teacher reflections as primary data sources.
Findings
Findings suggest a model for coaching that acknowledges the learner’s previous knowledge and experience and continuously gauges support to stay within the ever-escalating zone of proximal development. Specific coaching moves that vary by degree of scaffolding are identified, namely: modeling, recommending, asking questions, affirming, and praising.
Research limitations/implications
This study clarifies the varying roles that coaches may play and how these roles change over time. Additionally, the model has implications for how coaching might change based on variability among those being coached.
Originality/value
The Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model has potential to guide coaches as they engage with mentees to improve instruction.
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Philip H. Siegel, John T. Rigsby, Surendra P. Agrawal and John R. Leavins
Formal mentoring programmes have developed in public accountingfirms in order to gain career development and organizational advantagesand, although there is substantial literature…
Abstract
Formal mentoring programmes have developed in public accounting firms in order to gain career development and organizational advantages and, although there is substantial literature concerning problems with formal mentoring programmes, there are few studies which actually have compared the mentoring process at firms with a programme with those using an informal process. Compares mentoring activities at each level in two accounting firms, one using a formal mentoring programme and the other an informal approach, to see how they differ. Qualitatively, no significant differences were found between the two approaches on the perceived influence for career development. Differences were found, though, regarding the respondents′ personal development and the numbers of mentor relationships between the two types of approaches. Concludes that personal development tended to be rated higher under the informal than the formal approach at the critical staff and senior levels. Regarding numbers of mentor relationships, the results indicate that the significant differences were related to rank.
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Lyndsay Le Comte and Beverley McClelland
The purpose of this paper was to determine the value and impact of the Leadership Development – Coaching and Mentoring Programme at Counties Manukau Health and understand how the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to determine the value and impact of the Leadership Development – Coaching and Mentoring Programme at Counties Manukau Health and understand how the skills gained are applied.
Design/methodology/approach
Mixed-methods approach including surveys of programme participants and senior staff and semi-structured interviews with programme participants.
Findings
The survey response rate was 24.4 per cent for programme participants and 30 per cent for senior staff. Eight programme participants participated in semi-structured interviews. Of the 70 programme participants, 69 utilised their learning from the programme; 45 of 70 changed their approach to managing staff; and 40 of 68 programme participants reported that meeting with peers for triad group coaching was the most challenging aspect of the programme. Key themes identified through interviews included: working with others; not owning others’ problems; professional support and development; coaching and mentoring; future participants.
Practical implications
The majority of participants changed their leadership behaviours as a result of the programme, which has resulted in improved communication, a more supportive culture and distributed leadership. These changes contribute to better patient care.
Originality value
There is a paucity of evidence in the literature about the impact of coaching and mentoring programme on leadership development and how the skills gained in such programmes are applied in practice in a healthcare context. This evaluation helps to address that gap.
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Meg E. Evans, Rebecca M. Taylor, Laila McCloud and Katherine Burr
The purpose of this interdisciplinary study is to identify the aspects that faculty, student affairs educators and students indicate as salient for effective mentoring…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this interdisciplinary study is to identify the aspects that faculty, student affairs educators and students indicate as salient for effective mentoring relationships that enhance ethical leadership development.
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory qualitative inquiry used the Relational-Ethical-Affective-Dialogic (READ) mentoring model as a framework to examine the experiences of 13 undergraduate mentees and faculty/staff mentors in a formal mentoring program. Each study participant engaged in one semi-structured interview. Researchers coded and analyzed data using the sort and sift, think and shift process identifying power quotes to guide the thematic analysis.
Findings
The data collected in this study revealed insights into the aspects of mentor relationships that both undergraduate mentees and their mentors perceived as contributing to students' ethical leadership development. Salient elements included: (1) relational features of the mentee-mentor dynamic including trust and reciprocity; (2) structural features of the mentoring program including its focus on ethics; and (3) mentoring approaches that were attentive to power and positionality within the mentoring relationship and involved professional judgment about self-disclosure.
Originality/value
This study adds to the literature by exploring effective mentoring for ethical leadership development across disciplines. With colleges and universities serving a vital role in preparing the next generation of leaders for ethical engagement in their democratic and professional roles after graduation, it is imperative to broaden our understanding of how faculty and staff can support students' ethical leadership development.
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