Mentoring Student Teachers on School Placement in the Face of Resistance: An Irish Perspective.

Author(s):

Eimear Holland(presenting / submitting)Kathleen Armour

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

01. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 14 B, Developing trainee teachers

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-11

15:30-17:00

Room:

204.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Eimear Holland

Contribution

General description:

It has been argued that Ireland’s educational system has long suffered from a ‘secret garden culture’ (OECD, 2006), reflected in a “prevalence of professional insulation and isolation” (Teaching Council, 2010: 26). This has lead to a “fear of evaluation” and teachers are reluctant to share innovations for fear of being deemed arrogant (Hogan et al., 2007). It has further been argued that a culture of ‘competitive individualism’ prevails amongst teachers in Irish schools (Coolahan, 2003) and “knowledge hoarding” dominates (Cross, 1996: 230). With the global economic crisis came the “Croke Park” and “Haddington Road” agreements on teachers’ working conditions which, it is argued, eroded working conditions, resulting in a further loss of good will and volunteerism (ASTIR, 2014).

Over this same period, the Irish Teaching Council has published policies and guidelines, all of which promote the “three I’s” (“innovation, integration and improvement”) as core to all stages of the teacher education continuum (Teaching Council, 2013: 11). These guidelines are demanding more of teachers and schools than in the past, and are requiring them to work in new and unfamiliar ways. As part of this, it has been agreed internationally that mentoring and being mentored can play an important role in the transition to more of a “knowledge sharing” culture in teaching (Cross, 1996: 230). Moreover, the Teaching Council (2010) recognised ‘communities of practice’ (CoP) as a site for challenging the dominant approach to professional development and supporting teachers to take responsibility for their own learning. Clearly there is something of a disconnect between the prevailing teacher culture in Ireland and the new government ambitions, and it is in this context that the study reported in this paper was undertaken.

The aim of this study was to find out whether, in the prevailing teacher education system, the new School Placement Guidelines (placing students in schools for school placement for longer) could be implemented, by creating a mentoring CoP with the support of a university academic. A key activity for the CoP was for teacher members to identify what historical, economic, social, political and cultural barriers were faced in their attempt to implement the new Teaching Council Guidelines on School Placements.

Method

This research was conducted within a qualitative paradigm (Thomas et al., 2005). Multiple methods and a participatory action research (PAR) approach were undertaken within a case study framework. The aim was to analyse, in depth and iteratively, the processes by which teachers learned new mentoring skills in a CoP and attempted to use their skills in their school contexts and supported one another in doing so. 12 ‘cooperating teachers’ (teachers who are assigned to mentor placement student teachers) from 11 schools came together to form a mentoring CoP and to engage in participatory action research (Cohen et al., 2007). The teachers attended three workshops in order to develop their craft as mentors. They were supported by the lead researcher alongside other co-researchers to cyclically engage in and with "observation, reflection, and action” (Stringer, 1996: 17). Multiple methods were used to ensure triangulation (Greene et al., 1989). The process was as follows: in workshop one, participants completed a ‘Mentoring Community of Practice Questionnaire’ which they reflected on via a ‘stimulus recall entry’ at the start of workshops two and three in order to stimulate discussion about whether they were able to note any changes in their mentoring practices (Meyer, 2002). They completed pre-workshop questions in order to reflect on their position prior to delving into a topic of interest. Workshops were recorded and observed and all artefacts generated from the participatory action research activities were photographed. They completed a ‘Learning Journey’ plan, setting targets and reflected upon their progress / or lack thereof in a ‘Learning Journal.’

Expected Outcomes

There were a number of findings that support the research on the benefits of mentoring and teacher education (Zachery, 2009; Taherian and Shekarchian, 2008). This paper, however reports findings on the barriers to the work of the mentoring CoP in two areas: a) gaps and b) conflicts, and this is one area where this study makes a new contribution to the existing literature. The gaps and barriers were related to: i) communication and information; ii) values, interest and motives; and iii) power, status and position within a school. For example, a whole range of stakeholders and ‘partners’ were identified as acting as barriers to the development of good mentoring practice including: The Department of Education and Skills, the Teaching Council, Unions, the Higher Education Institution, Student Teachers, Teacher Colleagues (within their department and across the school), and Middle and Senior Management in schools. The sheer number of barriers identified suggests that ambitions to developing effective mentoring are stifled, located as they are in a historical, economical, socio-political culture of education that is difficult to overcome. It is concluded that ambition and policy continue to lag behind the realities of the school context and practice in Ireland (Sugrue et al., 2001). Even where policy is largely agreed upon, implementation can be politically problematic (Gassner, 2010). Moreover, the decentralised autonomy of education in Ireland suggests that unless there is new and effective leadership, there may be insurmountable barriers to developing and maintaining initiatives such as the mentoring initiative reported in this study (Hogan et al., 2007).

References

ASTIR (Association of Secondary Schools Ireland) (2014) ASTIR, Vol 32(3), 1-30. Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2007) Research Methods in Education. Sixth Edition. London: Routledge Falmer.. Coolahan, J. (2003) Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers: Country Background Report for Ireland. Dublin: DES. Cross, S. (1996) Roots and Wings: Mentoring, IETI, Vol. 35(3), 224-230. Darlington, Y. and Scott, D. (2002) Qualitative Research in Practice Stories from the Field. Buckingham: Open University Press. Gassner, O. (2010) ‘ENTEP and European Teacher Education: Policy Issues Since 2000’ IN. Gassner, O., Kerger, L. and Schratz, M. (Eds) ENTEP The First Ten Years After Bologna. Bucureşti: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, 13-42. Glaser, B. G. and Strauss, A. L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine. Greene, J. C., Caracelli, V. J. and Graham, W. F. (1989) Toward a Conceptual Framework for Mixed-method Evaluation Designs, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol 11(3), 255–274. Hogan, P., Brosnan, A., De Róiste, B., MacAlister, A., Malone, A., Quirke-Bolt, N. and Smith, G. (2007) Learning Anew Final Report of the Research and Development Project Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century, 2003-07. NUI Maynooth. Jones, M., Blatchford, J.S. and Ashcroft, K. (1997) Researching into Student Learning and Support in Colleges and Universities. London: Kogan Page. Meyer, T. (2002) Novice Teacher Learning Communities. An Alternative to One-on-one Mentoring, American Secondary Education, Vol 3(1), 27-42. Mouly, G. J. (1978) Educational Research: The Art and Science of Investigation. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2006) Reviews of National Policies for Education Higher Education in Ireland. Paris: OECD Publications. Stringer, E. T. (1996). Action research: A Handbook for Practitioners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Sugrue, C., Morgan, M., Devine, D. and Raftery, D. (2001) The Quality of Irish Teachers’ Professional Learning: A Critical Analysis. Dublin: A report commissioned by the Department of Education and Science. Taherian, K. and Shekarchian, M. (2008) Mentoring for Doctors. Do its Benefits Outweigh its Disadvantages? Medical Teacher, Vol. 30, 95-99. Teaching Council (2013) Guidelines on School Placement. Maynooth: Teaching Council. Teaching Council (2010) Draft Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education. Maynooth: Teaching Council. Thomas, J. R., Nelson, J. K. and Silverman, S. J. (Eds) (2005) Research Methods in Physical Activity. Fifth Edition. Leeds: Human Kinetics. Zachery, L. (2009) Make Mentoring Work for You: Ten Strategies for Success, Training and Development, 66-67.

Author Information

Eimear Holland (presenting / submitting)

Dublin City University

School of Health and Human Performance

Dublin

Kathleen Armour

University of Birmingham

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