Mentoring beginning teachers in secondary schools: An analysis of practice

The perceptions of best mentoring practices in an early literacy intervention project : a case study of nine coaches

“…In general, mentoring is viewed as a hierarchical relationship between a mentor and the protege, where the mentor is viewed as "allknowing" and the protege as a subordinate (Danielson, 2002). Historically, the practice of mentoring has been referred to as an apprenticeship, tutoring, and guided practice (Glazer & Hannafin, 2006;Harrison, Dymoke & Pell, 2006). A broad definition of mentoring is the establishment of a personal relationship for the purpose of professional instruction and guidance (Patton, Pagnano, Griffin, Dodds, Sheehy, Arnold, Henninger, Gallo, James, 2005).…”

“…The functions of mentoring include being a teacher, confidant, sponsor, "opener of doors," role model, developer of talent, protector, consultant, advisor, and successful leader (Alleman et al;Schmidt & Wolfe, 1980). Further, mentoring includes a list of overlapping skills such as guiding, leading, advising, supporting, enabling, educating, organizing, managing, and counseling (Elliot & Calderhead, 1995;Harrison et al, 2006;Hawkey, 1998;McIntyre & Hagger,1993).…”

“…One response in the 1990s was to create Professional Development Schools (PDS) that had a direct relationship to a college faculty. PDS had not had the success that was anticipated by its proponents at the end of the last century, but demonstrated the need for alternative approaches to teacher preparation (Mayes, 1998) training and the success of some mentoring programs in certain areas, there is limited evidence about its effectiveness (Harrison et al, 2006).…”

“…One aspect of mentoring that mentors use with beginning teachers is that of an apprenticeship model; it is a master-of-a-trade with particular skills to be passed on to the novice (Cullingford, 2006;Harrison et al, 2006). In addition to being instructional models, mentors become a source of advice and a sounding board for concerns about teaching as they challenge the proteges to expand their thinking about their practice in order to guide their professional development (Fairbanks et al, 2000).…”

“…In addition to being instructional models, mentors become a source of advice and a sounding board for concerns about teaching as they challenge the proteges to expand their thinking about their practice in order to guide their professional development (Fairbanks et al, 2000). There are other dimensions to the mentoring role, such as transferring skills with an understanding of their purpose and place, and assisting the new teacher in acquiring particular values and attitudes within the workplace (Harrison et al, 2006). These dimensions depend on the mentor role-modeling as an important mentoring practice of the induction year.…”