Mentoring Field Directors: A National Exploratory Study

Abstract

In social work field education, mentoring is underused and lacks research data. There is a paucity of research that examines the effect mentoring has on social work field directors who administer field programs at the undergraduate and/or graduate level. This exploratory study fills this void by examining the mentoring opportunities and experiences of field directors. The results show that there is a desire by field directors to receive assistance and collaborate with mentors on scholarly activities. The most helpful aspects of mentoring include having a mentor who acted a.s a sounding board, gave advice on administering the field program, and provided strategies for success. Suggestions for future research on mentoring field directors are presented.

A Call for Field Coordination Leadership to Implement the Signature Pedagogy

“…This process will inevitably require a significant undertaking by the entire school, putting to test a series of managerial roles and skills all falling under the overarching goal of "developing the capacity to integrate a vision of change into the organizational culture" (Austin, Regan, Samples, Schwartz, & Carnochan, 2011, p. 275). This will be no easy task for anyone who has not had additional leadership training in this area (Ellison & Raskin, 2014;Lomax, 2013).…”

Mentoring Experiences of Undergraduate Social Work Faculty: Navigating the Academic Maze

“…However, despite these benefits, mentoring in the academy may not always be provided, as individual efforts are often valued over collaborative efforts and the quality of mentoring programs varies greatly (Austin, 2003;Brown & Warner, 2005;Ellison &Raskin, 2014;Grove, 2011). A study conducted by Evans (as cited in Grove, 2011) with 1,200 academics across 94 institutions in Britain found that "53% of the respondents did not receive sufficient help or advice from full professors" (p. 1).…”

“…Overall, it appears that more faculty members receive mentoring through informal means, and that academia has relied on informal mentoring as a mainstay (Blue &Kominkiewicz, 2013;Carr, Bickel, Inui, 2003;Ellison &Raskin, 2014;Luna & Cullen, 1995;Zellers, Howard, &Barcic, 2008). Bigelow & Johnson (2001) suggest this reliance on informal mentoring is due to a belief that the complexity of the mentoring relationship negates the use of assigned mentors.Additional benefits attributed to informal mentoring are that informal mentees report receiving more career-related support, and informal mentees had higher salaries than those receiving formal mentoring (Blue &Kominkiewicz, 2013;Chao, Waltz & Gardner, 1992;Ellison &Raskin, 2014;Noe, Greenberger & Wang, 2002).…”

“…The services that have been identified as contributing to the effectiveness of both formal and informal mentoring includes activities which provide the mentee with structural and technical advice on the "how to" of teaching; provide career coaching on tenure/promotion; provide socialization into the culture of the academy; provide a highly supportive and challenging relationship that is more collaborative than dyadic in nature; models ways to balance professional and personal life; practices ethical mentoring; provides a sounding board for the mentee; provides advice and information on department politics and organizational bureaucracy; provides professionalfeedback; and provides assistance with scholarship (Blue &Kominkiewicz, 2013;Ellison &Raskin, 2014;Johnson, 2007;Lee, 2003;Zellers, Howard, &Barcic, 2008).…”

“…Only one social work study examined the mentoring experiences and needs of Bachelor Social Work (BSW) and Master Social Work (MSW) field education directors. Ellison and Raskin (2014) surveyed 169 field-education directors nationwide, and found that the majority of respondents received no mentoring for their role as field directors (62%, n=93). Of those receiving mentoring, 67 were mentored informally.…”