Teacher Mentorship and Support in Kenya: A Desktop Review

Abstract

Teacher mentorship and support programmes enable teachers to engage in ongoing professional learning and develop required competencies. This exploratory study was designed to provide baseline information on existing teacher mentorship and support programmes in Kenya. The study sought to provide background information towards the implementation of participatory action research on the strengthening in-service teacher training (SITT) project funded by the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC). The study adopted an integrative and holistic approach that involved a review of government policy documents, circulars and reports, articles published in refereed journals and grey material to enable map existing teacher mentorship and support programmes in Kenya. The study sought to; describe the theoretical background of teacher mentorship and to document existing in-service teacher mentorship and support programmes in Kenya. Various in-service teacher mentorship and support programmes exist in Kenya. However, the majority of the programmes were funded and implemented by non-governmental organisations. The existing mentorship programmes were uncoordinated and lacked a follow-up mechanism, thus making them less effective.