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

Abstract

Those in professional and academic fields generally perceive mentoring as a positive relationship that enhances the lives of protégés. Kram (1985) 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.