Character Strengths and Virtues of Mentor Teachers

Ildikó Holik,István Dániel Sanda

doi:10.3991/ijep.v10i5.13709

Ildikó Holik, István Dániel Sanda

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v10i5.13709

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Abstract

Trainee and beginner teachers are introduced to the internal world of the school by mentor teachers, who also support their young colleagues during their process of socialisation as teachers. Mentor teachers provide beginners with advice and suggestions as well as professional and personal support and models. Mentors are faced with a variety of expectations. In our study, we used the Values-In-Action (VIA) questionnaire to find out what strengths and virtues mentor teachers have. It is important to make mentors aware of their own strengths for several reasons. If they can apply these in their teaching work, it can become a calling and they can be fulfilled by it as well as be protected against burnout.

Highlights

1 Introduction In Hungary, trainee and beginner teachers are helped by mentor teachers to get to know the world of the school, to find their way in the maze of the education system and to apply the knowledge they had gained in theory to their everyday practice
The question often arises during the training what is expected of mentors and what virtues and strengths they should have in relation to their work
We studied 86 teaching practice supervisor – mentor teacher students to discover their virtues and character strengths

Summary

Introduction

In Hungary, trainee and beginner teachers are helped by mentor teachers to get to know the world of the school, to find their way in the maze of the education system and to apply the knowledge they had gained in theory to their everyday practice.Qualified and experienced teachers can participate in a 4-semester specialised training to become teaching practice supervisor – mentor teachers.We have been training teaching practice supervisor – mentor teachers at our university since 2011. In Hungary, trainee and beginner teachers are helped by mentor teachers to get to know the world of the school, to find their way in the maze of the education system and to apply the knowledge they had gained in theory to their everyday practice. Qualified and experienced teachers can participate in a 4-semester specialised training to become teaching practice supervisor – mentor teachers. We have been training teaching practice supervisor – mentor teachers at our university since 2011. The question often arises during the training what is expected of mentors and what virtues and strengths they should have in relation to their work. These questions are approached form several aspects in the literature of educational science

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