Mentor Teachers Research Articles

Willing and unable or willing and able? Insights from an evaluation of a mentoring training programme for early childhood teachers in Ireland

ABSTRACT Many early childhood teachers mentor pre-service teachers engaging in practicum within their settings. Given their significance in early childhood teacher preparation, mentors must be prepared for their mentoring role (Balduzzi and Lazzarri 2015). However, while early childhood teachers may be willing to mentor, they may be ill-equipped for this role. This paper draws upon participants’ responses to an evaluation of a mentoring training programme in Ireland. Findings indicate that participation in the programme resulted in greater knowledge and understanding of mentoring processes, approaches, skills, roles and responsibilities; increased confidence in participants’ ability to mentor; enhanced critical reflection; ability to share learning; improved professional practice, and willingness to embrace communities of practice. From a policy perspective, a mentoring policy concerning a continuum of early childhood teacher education, financial support and time in lieu is essential to enable mentors to fulfil their mentoring role in supporting the professional formation of pre-service teachers.

Learning to teach writing by apprenticing within a community of practice

This paper describes a fieldwork program and companion tool, The Teaching of Writing Framework, that college-based teacher educators and teachers from the Hudson Valley Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, developed over a three-year period. Central to the fieldwork program is an apprenticeship that allows future teachers to assist mentor teachers in a summer enrichment program for adolescent writers. The apprenticeship, coupled with reflective writing and mediated by the framework, allows future teachers to practice, identify, and reflect on writing instruction in which writing functions as a tool for learning and humanization.

Lack of progression is the dividing line: mentoring teachers’ perspectives on student teachers’ emotional challenges during work placement education

ABSTRACT Student teachers commonly report encountering emotional challenges in work placements during teacher education. Even so, the perspective of mentoring teachers has been given little attention regarding the student teachers’ emotional challenges. In this study, the authors’ aim is to investigate what mentoring teachers perceive to be the emotional challenges student teachers face and what support they think they can offer student teachers. A sample of 25 Swedish mentoring teachers participated in an interview study. According to the findings, the mentoring teachers reported three main emotional challenges that they perceived that student teachers encounter: conflicts with/among pupils, encountering diverse pupil populations and dealing with failure. Mentoring teachers’ reports can be understood in the light of their idea of what work placement should be. Their rationales included the need for student teachers to be either exposed to ‘reality’ or protected from worst-case scenarios.

Teacher candidate self-efficacy and ability to teach literacy: A comparison of residency and traditional teacher preparation models

This comparative study explored self-efficacy and ability for scientifically-based literacy instruction between a traditional and residency model of teacher preparation. Pre-/post-survey data was collected using the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy for Literacy Scale. Mentor teachers completed a modified version of the survey on candidates’ abilities. Data were analyzed using paired sample t-tests, independent sample t-tests, and a trend analysis. Results revealed that candidates in the Residency Model held higher levels of self-efficacy for literacy instruction than in the Traditional Model. Mentor teachers rated candidates in the Residency Model as more able to teach literacy than those in the Traditional Model. There was alignment amongst the mentor rating and the resident perception of ability. In the Traditional Model, the mentor and student teacher were not as aligned in their perspectives of student teacher ability to teach literacy. Teacher preparation programs should consider the potential of teacher Residency Models to prepare pre-service teachers for the use of the Science of Reading for teaching literacy.

Conflict As a Challenge for Personal Growth in the Educational Team

In interpersonal relationships between teachers and students, catechist and catechised, as well as in teaching and catechetical teams, communicological blockages and defence mechanisms are part of everyday life. These subjects have different expectations of each other, which in turn triggers resistance in the person. In their concrete experience, there are different observations, reflections and formation of abstract concepts. Conflicts are not always a bad thing. For Gestalt pedagogy, conflict situations present an opportunity for personal development, deepening relationships and growth of the whole group. Gestalt pedagogy uses methods to resolve conflict situations in a way that helps the individual to become aware of and reflect on his or her own feelings, memory traces, reactions and perspective on the conflict situation. Knowledge of the mechanisms of resistance and Gestalt methods for resolving communication blocks is a useful tool for team members (especially for novice teachers and mentor teachers) to build better quality relationships. Good relationships within a team can increase success at work.

Trends in Mentoring of Beginning Teachers in Government Secondary Schools of Rukwa Region, Tanzania

The study aimed to explore trends in the mentoring of beginning teachers to enhance pedagogical skills in selected government secondary schools in the Rukwa Region, Tanzania. The study employed the qualitative research approach and the exploratory single case study design. Through purposive criterion sampling, the study involved 15 beginning teachers, 28 experienced teachers, and 11 Heads of Departments, following their roles and responsibilities of coaching, mentoring, guiding, counselling, supervising, assessing, and providing mentorship. The study further included seven heads of school and two District Secondary Education Officers, selected through purposive sampling. The study revealed that the effectiveness and achievement of mentorship practices in secondary schools depended on personal passion and commitment of both beginning teachers and experienced teachers. The positive regard of heads of schools and education officials towards mentorship triggered mentoring practices. The study recommended that it is vital for the ministries responsible to institutionalise school-based mentorship programs by releasing policies, enacting laws, and producing circulars and guidelines to enforce schools implement mentoring in specific and systematic procedures. The study also recommended that authorities should develop common assessment tools for assessing mentorship progress among beginning teachers across schools.

Conservatoire alumni as mentors in instrumental music teacher education: a preliminary study

ABSTRACT It has been argued that conservatoires in England have a responsibility to train music educators. This article proposes that alumni could have an important role to play in contributing to their former institution’s instrumental music teacher education provision and explores how two UK conservatoire graduates with at least three years teaching experience mentored students on placements in professional teaching contexts. Through online semi-structured interviews, the two alumni reflected on their own mentoring styles, the benefits and challenges of mentoring, their prior experience of being mentored on placement as former students, and the perceived benefits of reciprocal learning through mentorship. Findings suggest that alumni believe they can offer valuable insights into early instrumental teaching careers. Though long-established teachers are often chosen to be mentors, arguably, alumni are more relatable as workplace role models for current students. Furthermore, it is proposed that mentor schemes offered in conjunction with employers enable conservatoires to continue to support instrumental teacher development long after their students have graduated, since reciprocal learning processes lead mentors to reflect on their own practice, deepening their pedagogical knowledge and metacognitive awareness.

Peer Mentoring: A Case Study in Developing Legislative Advocacy Skills among Social Work Students

Peer mentoring in social work education can be beneficial in developing and promoting legislative advocacy skills among social work students taking foundational social welfare policy courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. A descriptive case study is presented of a student peer mentoring project within a social work educational program at a regional comprehensive state university. This study describes the incorporation of a peer mentoring program to assist in promoting legislative advocacy skills among social work students. The project encompasses annual state-level high-impact practice (HIP) legislative advocacy action events across 5 years before and during the global pandemic. This article also seeks to inspire social work educators to embrace peer mentoring as a means to enhance and promote the development of advocacy skills as students find their collective voice and speak up to educate lawmakers on contemporary social problems impacting vulnerable populations.

Роль педагога-наставника в нивелировании экстремумов социального поведения молодежи

The article examines the identification issues of the educator-mentor by students of professional educational organizations through the prism of their accentuated professional roles. As a research task the authors identi-fied an attempt to analyze the opinions of researchers, concluding that new forms of social interaction have emerged, manifesting themselves through the expression of extreme, utmost reactions to reality. Based on the results of the study, the conclusions are that, at first, 67.8% of college students learn from mentor educators, whom they identified by their accented professional roles; secondly, the average proportion between sub-groups of mentor educators conditionally named nurturing educators, training educators, and mentor educators is 1.0 : 4.2 : 21.4 in favor of the latter; thirdly, mentors, playing a key role in shaping the values, life meanings and attitudes of youth, level the commitment to extreme views and actions.

Pandemic Innovations in Teacher Education: Communities of Practice, Mentoring, and Technology

This study aimed to investigate the transformation of pre-service teaching experience due to virtual or hybrid completion during the 2020–2021 school year and to identify teaching and mentoring innovations that teacher educators should continue to promote. The research involved 14 student teachers and 5 mentor teachers from the United States across elementary, secondary, and pre-K–12 programs who participated in surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. The results indicated that the integration of technology in student teaching and the shift to virtual or hybrid learning brought about new challenges and opportunities for both student teachers and mentor teachers. The study highlights technology that may continue to be used post-pandemic, the promotion of virtual communities of practice, and ways to quickly integrate and maximize student teachers in the classroom.

A Qualitative Analysis of Experienced Teachers’ Ongoing Need for Mentors

Teacher mentoring strategies provide new teachers (and experienced teachers, too) with crucial supports when they enter the real world of the classroom, attempt classroom management and instructional skills, improve their goals to remain in the classroom and the teaching profession, and help students to learn. The central research question, “Do experienced teachers still need mentors?” Data collection included an individual interview with a former study participant. Data analysis was thematic analysis by manual coding. Themes emanated were e-mentoring programs, high-quality mentorship programs, mentor roles and responsibilities, middle school teachers’ attitudes toward the inclusion of students with disabilities, administrators’ support for mentoring programs, and feedback for special education teachers. The findings were administrative support with a negative co-teaching experience and learning independently occur with and without a mentor. A limitation was a veteran teacher who was interviewed. The implication was that veteran teachers, especially special education teachers need mentors from the first-year of teaching and beyond. Social change was improving induction and mentoring programs to ensure that novice and veteran special education teachers continue teaching and remain in the teaching profession for a lifetime.

Supporting mentor teacher learning and reflection through audio recordings in professional development

ABSTRACT Mentor teachers of student teachers play an important role in novice teacher development, yet rarely receive training or support. This study investigates five mentor teachers during the 2021–2022 school year as they participated in monthly mentor professional development meetings. It asks the question ‘How can recordings of mentor/mentee conversations be used within mentor professional development to support the development of educative mentors?’ This qualitative analysis used interviews and video recordings of meetings to understand the mentor teacher experiences. It finds that audio clips in mentor meetings worked to support mentor teachers’ learning as mentors and teachers and worked to deprivatize the work of mentoring. Findings from this study can help inform mentor professional development facilitation and can help inform decisions regarding how to prepare and support mentor teachers.

Experiences of First-Year Music Teachers in Hawai‘i During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges, Adaptability, and Implications for Future Music Teaching

The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges to delivering music content through distance learning, adding to what is often already a stressful and challenging time for first-year educators. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of six first-year music teachers who began teaching in Hawai‘i during the COVID-19 pandemic. I interviewed participants twice during the summer after their first year of teaching and collected background information and teaching artifacts. Despite the year’s challenges, the teachers maintained their commitment to teaching. They did note that they felt underprepared for this experience by their undergraduate education and lack of prior teaching experience. Themes suggested the importance of teacher mentors and professional networks for the novice teachers, and that these teachers could have benefited from ongoing support from their preservice teacher education programs. In addition, the experiences of these teachers highlight the importance of adaptability in learning for both students and teachers.

Analyzing the School Principal’s Role in Teacher Professional Development

This article determined and analyzed the school principal’s roles in teacher professional development. This short research study was conducted to investigate the way in which principal’s coach and mentor teachers’ professional learning at the school level of primary schools in Bhutan.
 Using the narrative-survey method, the finding reveals that, in general, a teacher should provide constant and timely coaching and monitoring, grant autonomy to make decisions, need to meet local needs and promote teamwork. Moreover, the principal should play a major role in involving teachers in leading, planning, encouraging, implementing, and evaluating.

The Moderation Effect of Head Teachers’ Leadership Styles in Directing Mentorship Pragrammes Towards Teacher Job Performance: The Case of Secondary Schools in Tororo District, Eastern Uganda

This research has been rooted in the Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory of learning. The paper investigated how teacher mentorship relates to teachers’ job performance when moderated by head teachers’ management styles. From a pragmatic realist viewpoint, a cross-sectional survey design with concurrent mixed method approach was used in data collection, analysis and interpretation. A questionnaire comprising of Teacher mentorship experience scale, Teacher job performance scale and Leadership behaviour scale was filled by 286 teachers while four school administrators were interviewed. The results revealed a moderate level of mentorship (M = 35.95, SD = 6.78, Min =19, Max=50) and a moderate level of teachers’ job performance (M = 41.58, SD = 5.04, Min=13, Max = 50). Nonetheless, there was a positive significant correlation (r = .398, p < .001) between mentorship and teacher job performance. A multiple regression analysis using Process plugin in SPSS generated a significant moderation effect of head teacher leadership styles on the link between teacher mentorship and teacher job performance within the Johnson-Neyman region of significance. Autocratic leadership increased the effect of mentorship on job performance (B= -0.02, p =.05) by head teachers more than any other styles. This implies that head teachers have to be more directing and instructing in order for their teachers to perform their duties effectively.

Особливості прояву соціально-психологічних чинників становлення професійної самосвідомості студентів

The article presents the results of an empirical study of the peculiarities of the manifestation of the factors of the formation of professional self-awareness of psychology students. The changes in the structure of the professional self-awareness of future psychologists are revealed and analyzed, the results of the study of the internal socio-psychological factors of its formation in the dynamics of professional training are characterized. On the basis of the conducted empirical research, it was established that the leading internal factors in the formation of professional self-awareness of future psychologists are their self-image and the motivation of educational and professional activities. On the basis of the conducted empirical research, it was established that the leading external factors in the formation of professional self-awareness are the professional profile of a psychologist, mentoring of teachers, and examples of professional activity. The majority of surveyed students perceive teachers as educational partners and models of a professional psychologist, however, a third of the respondents do not recognize the support of teachers in their professional development.

A Road Less Traveled: Possible Selves as a Theory for Mentoring First-Generation Students

ABSTRACT Despite the transformative nature of mentoring in postsecondary education, there are many students who either do not benefit from or are harmed by the practice. One such example is first-generation students. The purpose of this conceptual article is to suggest that mentoring might be enhanced by using possible selves as a theory to guide and inform the practice, especially as it relates to first-generation students. Possible selves as a mentoring practice enables a student to envision the person(s) they could become instead of simply reproducing what a mentor thinks they should become. This approach recognizes all the forms of capital that first-generation students hold.

Challenges and Strategies for Implementing the Activator School Program

The implementation of school drive programs still needs to be improved. This study discusses the challenges and strategies involved in implementing the Activator School Program. In this study, mixed-methods research was used. The study included six principals and thirty elementary school teachers from Surakarta, Indonesia. To collect data for this study, questionnaires, interviews, observations, and documentation were used. The data analysis techniques used were descriptive statistics for quantitative analysis. Meanwhile, for qualitative analysis, the research used the Miles and Huberman method, that is, data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings of this study include the challenges and obstacles to the implementation of the activator school program, educators' inability to control teachers' level of digital technology mastery, a lack of socialization related to the curriculum of the activator school program, and an lack of educational facilities that support the activator school program. Strategies to ensure that the implementation of the activator school program runs smoothly include socialization and assistance to teachers and principals regarding the programs, curriculum, improvement and mentoring of teachers in mastering digital technology, particularly information and technology mastery, provision of adequate facilities for schools serving as the activator school program, and enhancement of educational quality.

NGOs’ role in improving girl students’ learning environment: perspectives from teacher mentors in NGO-supported public secondary schools

NGOs’ role in improving girl students’ learning environment: perspectives from teacher mentors in NGO-supported public secondary schools

University Supervisors’ Perceptions of Their Personal Experiences and Professional Effectiveness in a Study Abroad Student Teaching Program in Germany

ABSTRACT In this study, we examined a student teaching study abroad program where one Midwestern university has partnered with United States Department of Defense Education Activity schools in Germany. We explored university supervisors’ perceptions and experiences in their supervisory role for this student teaching study abroad program. In this qualitative study, framed by Self-Determination Theory and the motivators of autonomy, relatedness, and competence, we identified six emergent themes related to responsibilities in serving student teachers, relationships among stakeholders, advantages as a supervisor, approaches to student teachers’ effectiveness, university support systems, and challenges and areas to improve the program. Further research is needed into the perspectives of mentor teachers involved in student teaching study abroad programs.