Mentoring for all: building knowledge and community

Abstract

Purpose After many years working with mentors for beginning teachers, both through a formal, Ministry-sponsored program, known in Ontario as the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) and through a university-based Faculty of Education practicum, the authors cultivated an understanding of the value of both mentoring and the communities that foster it. The authors observed that pre-service mentors are not offered the same level of support as their induction mentor counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to explore the aforementioned gap by bringing together a small group of pre-service mentor teachers with several highly trained induction mentors from the NTIP program in two full days of professional development: one day of learning and community building among mentors, and the second day of collaboration by pre-service mentors alongside their teacher candidates (TCs). The authors learned that pre-service mentors need and desire professional learning and community mentoring support to develop foundational understandings about the role of mentors and the skills and strategies that support an effective mentoring practice. As a result, the authors advocate for sustainable professional development that leverages existing programs and the clarification of the pre-service mentoring role through continued study and collaboration over time. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study was designed to explore, understand, and interpret pre-service mentor teachers’ experience of professional learning about mentoring and the role of the mentor, including their responses to participating in a like community of learners. This study brought together educators serving as pre-service and induction mentors to engage them in formal professional learning about mentoring, within an environment that created the conditions for collaboration and community in the context of learning about mentoring. Findings This study surfaces the insights related to the types of knowledge and skills that mentors developed in this study in addition to pointing toward the knowledge and skills they perceive to be necessary to their effective participation in their roles as mentors. The study also identifies both the value that pre-service mentors perceived as a result of being invited into a learning space and the dynamics of professional learning and dialogue in collaboration with their induction mentor counterparts and their pre-service mentees. Research limitations/implications This research study explores a research gap in the area of mentoring as it relates to pre-service mentors or cooperating teachers. Its unique feature involves bringing together two previously segmented groups of mentors: pre-service mentors supporting developing TCs and induction mentors supporting novice teachers. It describes the value and impact of mentoring as understood by pre-service mentors, in particular identifying the reciprocal benefits they experienced. The authors also investigate and shed light on the value and impact of pre-service mentor participation in a community that is intentionally created to support their professional learning about their role. It provides recommendations for practice and indicates areas of potential research. Practical implications This study surfaces the potential benefits of professional learning and community for pre-service mentors who play an integral role in supporting TCs in the completion of their education degrees. It makes practical recommendations which point to uniting pre-service and in-service mentors as participants in learning communities that build leadership capacity and advance mentoring knowledge and skills to impact the mentoring relationship. This study advocates for a restructuring existing practice in the area of pre-service mentoring to encourage professional learning and interaction that connects the work of pre-service and in-service mentors, bridging two currently separate mentoring communities. Originality/value This study offers a re-visioning of mentoring as a community endeavor. It advances the notion that, supported by a targeted program of professional development and participation in communities of inquiry, knowledge creation and mobilization, mentors can build their mentoring and leadership capacity and extend their professional impact.

Chinese Preservice Teachers’ Perspectives of Mentoring Relationships in an International Learning Partnership

“…This fundamental difference was influential on the Chinese participants’ teaching beliefs in terms of classroom pedagogy and the role of the teacher. Such short-term and long-term impacts on Chinese participants’ classroom pedagogy has also been reported in Xu’s longitudinal study of the RLP participants (e.g., Xu et al, 2015 ; Xu, 2019a ) and corresponds to many previous studies on the impact of mentoring relationships on pedagogy ( Fluckiger et al, 2006 ; Jewell, 2007 ; Mathur et al, 2013 ; Molitor et al, 2018 ; Parker & Vetter, 2020 ; Zhao & Zhang, 2017 ). Overall, the literature suggests that classroom pedagogy is deeply influenced by the lived experiences of both mentoring and intercultural exchange.…”

“…Furthermore, most participants wanted a forum to discuss their own personal pedagogy or teaching area, in comparison with the mentors; these discussions would have also connected with themes of cultural, systemic, and philosophical diversity. The appeal for improved communication can be seen as a facet of the desire for more balanced relationships as a whole, which reflects the growing body of mentoring literature advocating for balanced and nonhierarchal partnerships ( Cochran-Smith & Paris, 1995 ; Lopez-Real & Kwan, 2005 ; Molitor, 2014 ; Molitor, 2018 ; Parker & Vetter, 2020 ).…”

“… Lopez-Real and Kwan (2005) contend that a meaningful mentoring partnership offers both participants opportunities to reflect on their own instructional practice. In addition, research reveals that mentors, when given a forum to discuss their experiences, describe how the relationship brought them new learning that resulted in specific benefits to classroom practice ( Molitor, 2014 ; Molitor et al, 2018 ; Parker & Vetter, 2020 ). Furthermore, Kochan (2013) introduces the concept of transformational mentoring that seeks to envision “what might be” rather than to focus on the mastery of “what is.” This becomes significant in maintain the spirit of reciprocity.…”

Metodologías de enseñanza de docentes principiantes universitarios. Concepciones y factores de uso

“…El informe TALIS (OCDE, 2019) que revisa la situación de la formación docente, la enseñanza y el liderazgo en las escuelas, destaca la importancia de los programas de inducción. Estos, promueven el aprendizaje del docente novel a través de creación de comunidades de prácticas, el trabajo en pares, la mentoría recíproca y programas elaborados con la intención de elevar la calidad de este docente y afianzar su identidad profesional (Molitor et al, 2018).…”