Induction and Mentoring of Beginning Researchers at Academic Colleges of Education in Israel

Abstract

Since 1997, as part of an effort to "upgrade" the role of teacher educators, a reform for professional advancement was introduced. Research and scholarship forms one of the criteria to move from one career position to the next. The change in culture and the growing importance of research, as part of the role of teacher educators at colleges of education in Israel, has necessitated the introduction of induction and mentoring for beginning researchers. This paper will investigate: who wants to be involved in research and why? How is the induction and mentoring done and by whom? How are they affecting individuals and the institution? The research methods included: a participatory observation of a year-long course in research methods for faculty, in addition to participation in a year-long individual guidance from the research unit and unstructured interviews with 20 teacher educators, all in one institution. From the findings it can be concluded that reasons for teacher educators wanting to be involved in research are numerous. The young and ambitious are looking for extrinsic rewards: additional pay, a doctoral degree and promotion. Others view research work as an activity that can contribute to their professional growth and self-actualisation. They look for intrinsic rewards such as esteem, need for affiliation, relatedness and job autonomy. Teacher educators, towards the end of their career, may be more concerned with passing on their life experience through research, and look for professional affiliation and relatedness. The induction process involved a central induction programme, or it was possible to obtain individual guidance from another officially designated mentor from the research unit. The different groups of participants went through some of the stages of induction. Some were exposed to the research culture, some achieved a level of competence by writing research proposals and conducting research and some went through a whole socialisation process, which enables them to function effectively in the research community, including the presentation of papers in conferences and for publication. A transition was made from an induction group being led by an expert (mentor) to a group providing peer support. Thus the course provided a practical support framework that helped the participants absorb some of the institution's research culture.