Mentoring Relations: A Definition to Advance Research and Practice

Abstract

Many educators have investigated the promise of mentoring as a vehicle of career development, yet no widely accepted definition of mentoring has been articulated. Without such definitional consensus, efforts to develop a knowledge base relevant to mentorships in education have been haphazard. To advance a knowledge base for future research, a definition of mentoring is offered that is grounded in contextual-developmental theory and consistent with the findings of past investigators. Corollaries of the contextual-developmental perspective raise issues that action research may profitably address to facilitate mentoring relationships. The proposed definition offers immediate benefits to mentors, protégés, and their sponsors as it highlights critical elements of the mentoring process.

Mentoring in context: A comparison of two U.S. programs for beginning teachers

“…From the literature (e.g., Brooks, 1987;Healy & Welchert, 1990;Huling-Austin, 1990;Little, 1990;Morey & Murphy, 1990;Zimpher & Rieger, 1988) and from our empirical work (e.g. Feiman-Nemser, 1991;Feiman-Nemser & Parker, 1990;Parker, 1990), we have identified three perspectives on mentoring in relation to teacher induction.…”

A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research on the Meaning and Characteristics of Mentoring in Academic Medicine

“…Excluded were quantitative studies as well as studies dealing with peermentoring, online-and tele-mentoring, and studies exploring short-term, task-oriented relationships such as clinical, research or educational supervision. The focus of this review was on a traditional, dyadic model of mentoring (one-to-one, senior-to-junior, face-to-face), 17 which was the most frequently used model in formal mentoring programs described in the medical literature. 9 We critically appraised all the included studies to identify their strengths and limitations, but we did not exclude any article based on insufficient methodological quality to avoid eliminating data germane to the purpose of the review.…”

Mentoring in Academia: Considerations for Diverse Populations

“…In fact, theoretical and empirical research on mentoring has grown significantly in recent years. Some noteworthy areas include models of mentoring relationships, research on the mentor-protégé relationship, the process and outcome of mentoring relationships, and dysfunctional mentoring, to name a few (Barnett, 1984;Bode, 1999;Healy & Welchert, 1990;Jacobi, 1991;Johnson & Huwe, 2003;Kram, 1985;Stafford & Robbins, 1991;Wilde & Schau, 1991). This increased attention to mentoring has improved the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of the research being conducted on mentoring.…”