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Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2014

Semiyu Adejare Aderibigbe

There is currently an increasing interest all over the world in the improvement of teacher education and the quality of teachers. Teachers are now expected to be lifelong learners…

Abstract

There is currently an increasing interest all over the world in the improvement of teacher education and the quality of teachers. Teachers are now expected to be lifelong learners in order to strengthen their professional knowledge. Mentoring as a component of collaborative partnership between schools and universities is considered a tool for improving teachers’ professional practice. Essentially, collaboration in mentoring between teachers and student teachers is acknowledged as being pivotal and instrumental to personal and professional development in initial teacher education contexts. However, studies indicate that the enactment of collaborative endeavors in mentoring processes between teachers and student teachers are not without challenges. Thus, this chapter documents collaborative mentoring pedagogy as practiced and experienced in a relatively new teacher education reform context in Scotland. Drawing on what has been learned in the Scottish context, the challenges to effective collaborative mentoring pedagogy and the means for strengthening collaborative mentoring pedagogy are discussed. Lastly, a framework for developing and enhancing collaborative mentoring pedagogy in initial teacher education is suggested.

Details

International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part A)
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-136-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 March 2018

Gillian Peiser, John Ambrose, Beverley Burke and Jackie Davenport

Against a British policy backdrop, which places an ever- increasing emphasis on workplace learning in pre-service professional programmes, the purpose of this paper is to…

2453

Abstract

Purpose

Against a British policy backdrop, which places an ever- increasing emphasis on workplace learning in pre-service professional programmes, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of the mentor to professional knowledge development in nursing, paramedicine, social work and teaching.

Design/methodology/approach

Taking the form of a literature review, it explores the influence of policy, professional and theoretical conceptualisations of the mentor role, and structural factors influencing the mentor’s contribution to professional knowledge.

Findings

Where there are clearly delineated policy obligations for the mentor to “teach”, mentors are more likely to make connections between theoretical and practical knowledge. When this responsibility is absent or informal, they are inclined to attend to the development of contextual knowledge with a consequent disconnect between theory and practice. In all four professions, mentors face significant challenges, especially with regard to the conflict between supporting and assessor roles, and the need to attend to heavy contractual workloads, performance targets and mentoring roles in tandem.

Practical implications

The authors argue first for the need for more attention to the pedagogy of mentoring, and second for structural changes to workload allocations, career progression and mentoring education. In order to develop more coherent and interconnected professional knowledge between different domains, and the reconciliation of different perspectives, it would be useful to underpin mentoring pedagogy with Bhabba’s notion of “third space”.

Originality/value

The paper makes a contribution to the field since it considers new obligations incumbent on mentors to assist mentees in reconciling theoretical and practical knowledge by the consequence of policy and also takes a multi-professional perspective.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 May 2012

Manju P. George and Sebastian Rupert Mampilly

The essence of management education lies in preparing and enabling the students to evolve cognitively, affectively and behaviorally into capable ones equipped to meet and manage…

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Abstract

Purpose

The essence of management education lies in preparing and enabling the students to evolve cognitively, affectively and behaviorally into capable ones equipped to meet and manage challenges from within and outside their organisations or workplaces. Mentoring, as pedagogy, results in enhancing effectiveness of B‐schools (Institutions offering MBA program) in ensuring the transformation of students into professionals. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and evaluate the formal and teacher‐initiated student mentoring in B‐schools in Kerala in terms of the designated activities, to establish effectiveness of mentoring as outcomes of faculty‐related antecedents and mentoring activities, and to demonstrate the effectiveness in terms of the psycho‐social changes of students.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employed a conclusive approach that combined the features of descriptive and explanatory research designs. The respondents of the study comprised 141 permanent teachers, 327 first‐year students and 318 final‐year students enrolled in the management programs of 19 B‐schools in Kerala that had minimum five years of existence and approval of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

Findings

The study revealed that less than half of the B‐schools had implemented a mentoring program as part of their pedagogy. A structural equation model using the partial least square technique validated the conceptual model and the findings revealed that socio‐demographic characteristics, mentoring activities (teach the job, provide challenge, teach politics, career help, sponsor, career counseling and trust) influenced effectiveness of mentoring.

Research limitations/implications

The study was conducted only among B‐schools, hence the research results may lack generalization. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed model further.

Practical Implications

The paper includes a conceptual framework employed for bringing about effectiveness of mentoring, proven to be valid and may be considered by B‐schools that are institutionalizing mentoring as an element of the pedagogy.

Originality/value

The paper bridges the perceptible lack of theoretical and empirical bases to explain the dynamics of student mentoring in management institutes in the country and will be an eye‐opener to management institutions which have not incorporated mentoring as part of their pedagogy.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 June 2023

Seden Eraldemir Tuyan

This paper presents the results of my learning using my expertise in teacher-research mentoring to address the needs of pre-service teachers and the requirements of the action…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents the results of my learning using my expertise in teacher-research mentoring to address the needs of pre-service teachers and the requirements of the action research course in English language teaching. It reflects on the different procedures of my mentoring model, enriched by the dialogic research mentoring strategies informed by Freire's dialogic pedagogy.

Design/methodology/approach

Through this first-person action research, the author aims to improve her teacher-research mentoring practice. As an inquiry into her own actions, the author examines her experiences, her understanding of them, and the potential meaning for her work as a teacher-research mentor during the two years she tutored the action research course. The author explores the procedures of the mentoring model she developed and the effectiveness of dialogic research mentoring in promoting critical consciousness and taking positive action in pre-service English language teachers.

Findings

Effective actualization of the teacher-research mentoring process facilitates mentors' refinement and understanding of their roles during teacher-research mentoring. Perceived barriers can be overcome by adopting nine relevant strategies, which can be grouped into three themes: community-building, nurturing competencies, and fostering growth. Accordingly, the research mentoring model incorporates these strategies.

Originality/value

The insights enriched the existing knowledge of the dynamics of mentoring in general and of teacher-research in particular. Additionally, the study offers strategies developed based on my informed actions as the researcher to attain more effective outcomes during the research mentoring process.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 March 2018

Semiyu Aderibigbe, Donald S. Gray and Laura Colucci-Gray

Mentoring is widely recognised as an effective strategy for supporting the professional learning of teachers and student teachers across different educational contexts. Yet, its…

Abstract

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 approach informed the collection and analysis of data.

Findings

Quantitative data point to a diversity of experiences of mentoring amongst teachers and student teachers. Qualitative data provide a nuanced account of participants’ views of their mentoring experiences, pointing to opportunities for revisiting assumptions about learning in the classroom as well as questioning established professional learning patterns.

Practical implications

The authors conclude that mentoring relationships cannot be disentangled from a critical interrogation of the modes of relationships and values supporting professional learning in ITE. Practical implications centre upon preparation and resources to develop mentoring as a tool for learning, embedded within the professional culture of the school.

Originality/value

This study reframes the concept of mentoring as a practice that does not simply reinforce professional expectations but seeks to redefine teacher professional learning, pedagogy and social relationships in school contexts.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 December 2021

Sarah Margaret James, Suzanne(Sue) M. Hudson and Alexandra Lasczik

Being literate can change the lives of Australian students. Therefore, graduating effective teachers of literacy is an imperative for Australian schools. Professional experience…

Abstract

Purpose

Being literate can change the lives of Australian students. Therefore, graduating effective teachers of literacy is an imperative for Australian schools. Professional experience provides an opportunity for preservice teachers to refine their skills for teaching literacy under the guidance of a mentor teacher. This study investigates from the perspective of preservice teachers, the attributes and practices primary mentor teachers demonstrate when mentoring literacy teaching during professional experience.

Design/methodology/approach

This investigation utilised survey design to gather data from primary preservice teachers (n = 402) from seven Australian universities. The 34 survey items were underpinned by the Five Factor Model of Mentoring and literacy practices prescribed by the Australian curriculum. Preservice teachers self-reported their responses about their literacy mentoring experiences on a five-point Likert scale. The Five Factor Model of Mentoring provided a framework to analyse and present the data using descriptive statistics.

Findings

Findings revealed 70% or more of preservice teachers agreed or strongly agreed mentor teachers had the personal attributes, shared the pedagogical knowledge, modelled best practice and provided feedback for effective literacy teaching. Conversely, only 58.7% of the participants reported their mentor teachers shared the system requirements for effective literacy teaching.

Research limitations/implications

The preservice teachers self-reported their experiences, and although this may be their experience, it does not necessarily mean the mentor teachers did not demonstrate the attributes and practices reported, it may mean they were not identified by the preservice teachers. While there were 402 participants in this study, the viewpoints of these preservice teachers' may or may not be indicative of the entire population of preservice teachers across Australia. This study included primary preservice teachers, so the experiences of secondary and early childhood teachers have not been reported. An extended study would include secondary and early childhood contexts.

Practical implications

This research highlighted that not all mentor teachers shared the system requirements for literacy teaching with their mentee. This finding prompts a need to undertake further research to investigate the confidence of mentor teachers in their own ability to teach literacy in the primary school. Teaching literacy is complex, and the curriculum is continually evolving. Providing professional learning in teaching literacy will position mentor teachers to better support preservice teachers during professional experience. Ultimately, the goal is to sustain high quality literacy teaching in schools to promote positive outcomes for all Australian school students.

Originality/value

While the role of mentor teacher is well recognised, there is a dearth of research that explores the mentoring of literacy during professional experience. The preservice teachers in this study self-reported inconsistencies in mentor teachers' attributes and practices for mentoring literacy prompting a need for further professional learning in this vital learning area.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2017

Huwayah M. Alazemi and Awadh Alharbi

This paper aims to justify the relevance of student-centred teaching – learning in influencing their motivation to shed library fear, source resources, attain higher-order…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to justify the relevance of student-centred teaching – learning in influencing their motivation to shed library fear, source resources, attain higher-order learning, garner intellectual prowess and invent new theories.

Design/methodology/approach

To assess the validity of association between guidance, pedagogy, library access and intellectual prowess, a close-ended questionnaire is used. This questionnaire was administered on 350 undergraduate students in Kuwait. The step helped to gather their responses and initiate correlation analysis. Also, correlation analysis was used to review the association between the items selected in the questionnaire, interpret outcomes and draw valid inferences.

Findings

The outcome highlights that such students show keen interest to learn when faculty members give credence to educational psychology, teaching-learning quality, knowledge transfer and their transformation into knowledge seekers. The realization of such scholastic capabilities makes it possible for them to shed library fear and search disappointments, circumvent procedural complexities and pay least importance to size of library structure. Such mental state heightens their desire to use library services optimally, learn and contribute to new knowledge.

Originality/value

Few attempts have been made to study the impact of mentoring and pedagogy on mitigation of library stress undergraduate students.

Details

Library Review, vol. 66 no. 8/9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2014

Arie Kizel

This chapter discusses a form of pedagogy of reflection suggested to be defined as the dialogical-reflective professional-development school (DRPDS) – a framework that develops…

Abstract

This chapter discusses a form of pedagogy of reflection suggested to be defined as the dialogical-reflective professional-development school (DRPDS) – a framework that develops and empowers students by engaging them in a process of continual improvement, responding to diverse situations, providing stimuli for learning, and giving anchors for mediation. The pedagogy of reflection relates to dialogue not only from a theoretical historical context but also by way of example – that is, it offers empowering dialogues within the traditional teacher-training framework. This chapter outlines the importance of the pedagogy of reflection in the multicultural educational space of the preservice education field in Israel, analyzing the first university PDS model. The pedagogy of reflection in the context of the educational dialogue of educators is outlined as a tool for student empowerment, achieved through a community of learners who dedicate space to the development of their whole personality within the profession, taking a moral stance toward the educational discourse, minimizing judgmentalism and prejudice, creating national/gender equality with the goal of examining the fundamental question of educational performance, and reinforcing their sense of organizational belonging within the system. In these contexts, the chapter is based on the elements of dialogical philosophy exemplified in the thought of Burbules, Nelson, Isaacs, Bohm, and Heckmann and the reflective basis of educational and organizational performance exemplified in the writings of van Manen. The chapter also presents two examples from a project in which teaching units based on dialogue and reflection were developed within a dialogic community that represents in its very being collective empowerment, the possibility of coping with problems that are too large for an individual to solve on his/her own, and an alternative to sealed and alienated organizations.

Details

International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part A)
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-136-7

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 4 May 2012

Sarah Fletcher

168

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Article
Publication date: 30 September 2019

William Walters, Daniel Bruce Robinson and Jared Walters

Within teacher education, many experienced in-service teachers routinely mentor pre-service teachers during teaching practicums. Notwithstanding the benefits pre-service teachers…

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Abstract

Purpose

Within teacher education, many experienced in-service teachers routinely mentor pre-service teachers during teaching practicums. Notwithstanding the benefits pre-service teachers are meant to experience from these mentor–protégé relationships and experiences, recent research has demonstrated that mentors, too, may experience some (oftentimes unintended) potential benefits. The purpose of this paper is to further investigate such potential benefits within a Canadian secondary school physical education (PE) context.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers employed a qualitative case study methodology. The three primary data sources included field observations/notes, journals and interviews. More specifically, over a ten-week period, the researchers made 26 field visits, observing two mentors’ interactions with five protégés before, during, and after PE class instruction; collected the two mentors’ ten journal entries, all made in response to researcher-provided writing prompts; and interviewed the two mentors, both individually and together.

Findings

The mentor teachers viewed the mentor–protégé relationship/experience as meaningful professional development, recognizing that it approximated a professional learning community. Relatedly, the mentor teachers experienced professional growth with respect to their own teaching identity and teaching practice.

Research limitations/implications

This research could inform those who structure and/or coordinate mentoring research within teacher education programs so that they might place a more purposeful focus upon the potential and/or idealized outcomes for mentors (as well as for protégés). Given the single case study methodology, this research may lack generalizability to other educational contexts.

Originality/value

This research adds to the emerging body of research that investigates how mentoring may provide benefits to mentors. More specifically, this research suggests benefits to mentors relate, especially, to their own teaching identity and practice.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

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