Session Information
01 SES 02 B, Research on Mentoring (Part 2)
Paper Session continued from 01 SES 01 A
Contribution
Mentoring is a central component in the induction period of beginning teachers (BTs). It serves as a stepping-stone by which newly qualified teachers can get a foothold in the profession. In its earlier stage, mentoring was practiced in its traditional form, namely, experienced teachers were appointed to provide one-on-one dyadic assistance to BTs from the same discipline. Recently, new approaches to mentoring based on collaborative models have been introduced. These models challenge the basic conception of mentors as knowledge transmitters and instead, highlight collaborative knowledge construction, generating peer and group knowledge (Pennanen et al, 2018).
The study is based on a theoretical framework focused on developmental theories (Dominguez & Hager, 2013). These theories analyze career stages during the professional development of employees. According to the theory’s underlying assumption, mentors are perceived as supporters of such development. The professional literature mentions four dimensions of support that mentoring provides to BTs to help meet their needs during the induction period: professional-pedagogical assistance, the construction of a professional identity, socio-organizational support, and emotional support (Kelchtermans & Deketelaere, 2016; Orland-Barak & Wang, 2020; Richter et al., 2013). The supporter role of mentoring is articulated via organizational practices conducted largely through encounters of various kinds. Their presence depends upon administrative support from the school principal and in the allocation of the resource of time in the institutional curriculum (Roberson & Roberson, 2009).
Mentoring also serves as a professional anchor for the mentor himself/herself. Drawing on developmental career theories, for teachers interested in developing further in the teaching profession, it appears that this track opens up another channel for advancement and status acquisition in the organization. Nevertheless, we know very little about teachers' motivations to choose to become a mentor. Studies found that the reasons to become a mentor are similar to the factors to become teachers. These factors refer to the desire to help and support students, development of knowledge and skills and personal and professional growth (Nikolovska, 2016). Another study among Arab teachers in the Israeli education system reported that responding to the request of school administrators, such as principals or inspectors, was the main motivation to choose to become a mentor (Mahajana et al., 2013).
One of the ways to anchor the professionalism of mentoring is to participate in professional training. Participation in this type of training has been found to foster the professional identity of the mentors, increases their commitment and promotes a better response to the needs of BTs (Sandvik et al., 2019).
Previous studies explored the contribution of mentoring to the professional development of the BTs. Less attention was paid to the contribution of mentoring to the professional development of the mentors themselves. The present research seeks to study the mechanism propelling both processes from the perspective of the mentors. Specifically, the study focuses on the mentors’ perception of the contribution of mentoring to fostering professional development of teachers, beginners and veteran. This issue is garnering increasing interest in many education systems (Crutcher & Naseem, 2016; Olsen et al., 2020), although in the Israeli context it has been examined only to a limited extent (Arviv-Elyashiv et al., 2021).
Research Questions
- How do mentors perceive the contribution of mentoring to the professional development of BTs and the mentors themselves?
- To what extant the motivations to become a mentor are associated with the contribution of mentoring to the professional development of BTs and the mentors themselves?
- To what extant are there differences in this regard between mentors who have participated in a professional training, and mentors who have not participated in professional training?
Method
The context: Mentoring constitutes an inseparable part of the induction program in the Israeli educational system. In line with the Ministry of Education’s director general’s instructions, a mentor should be an experienced colleague with at least five years of experience in teaching who participated in a mentor-training course. Mentoring for beginning teachers is conducted mainly in the traditional framework. Over the last two decades, the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Israel has invested significant financial and other resources for the development of mentoring programs. Nevertheless, the professional status of mentoring in the Israeli educational system remains questionable. First, approximately 50% of active mentors have not participated in professional training workshops designated for mentors. Second, mentoring is not perceived as a leading position in school (Arviv-Elyashiv et al., 2021). Third, BTs perceive principals' involvement and support more significant than mentors’ support regarding their satisfaction and retention (Donitsa-Schmidt et al., 2021). Yet, comprehensive discussion on mentoring as a reciprocal developmental process and life -long learning and of professional development is still in its initial stages. Participants: The present study is part of an international project, Proteach, supported by the European Union Erasmus+ program, which aims to develop new program to support BTs socialization into the teaching profession. The dataset is based on a quantitative study conducted among mentors providing mentoring to BTs at the institutions participating in the project. During the course of data collection, emphasis was placed on obtaining the participation of mentors in a manner reflecting their distribution in mentoring frameworks in the population (Imanuel-Noy, 2021). In total, 474 mentors (86.9% women) participated in the survey. Research instrument: The study included a self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire related to the perceived contribution of the mentoring to the professional development of the mentees and the mentors as well; the intrinsic motivations and the extrinsic motivations to become mentors, and background characteristics, including having professional training. The statements on the questionnaire were measured on a Likert scale which ranged from 1 (do not agree at all with the statement) to 5 (agree to a great extent with the statement). The questionnaire began by presenting the aim of the research and by guaranteeing anonymity to the respondents.
Expected Outcomes
Preliminary findings show that mentoring is perceived as an important component of the socialization process of BTs (M=4.15, SD=.60), while it was perceived as a step for the mentors' professional development to a moderate extent (M=3.51, SD=.82), with significant difference between the means (t=17.46; p<.001). The most dominated factor that motivated teachers to become mentors was personal growth (M=4.23, SD=.64). Other motivations, i.e., professional development (M=3.67, SD=.97), principal encouragement (M=3.04, SD=1.48) and school support (M=3.77, SD=1.09), were ranked on a moderate level. Mentors who have participated in a professional training perceived mentoring as a step forward in their professional development process more than their colleagues, mentors who did not participated in a professional training (t=4.27, P<.001). Moreover, among mentors who participated in a professional training, the intrinsic (professional and personal growth) as well as extrinsic (principal encouragement and school support) motivations to become a mentor were positively associated with the perception of mentoring as a professional developing path for BTs and for mentors. Among those who did not participate in such training, the ambition to find routes for professional growth and school support were found to nurture the perception of mentoring as a professional developing path for mentors. The ambition to achieve personal growth and principal encouragement were found non-significant in this regard. To sum, mentoring opens a new promotional channel for teachers who wish to personally and professionally developed. Teachers who turn to this direction do so out of an aspiration to improve their professional competences. School support is also important factor in this regard. These motivations are more dominated among mentors who have participated in a training program. Implications of these results will discuss in the presentation.
References
Arviv-Elyashiv, R., Levi-Keren, M, Tzabari, A. & Mecdossi, O. (2021). Professional development of mentors: Comparison between two tutoring frameworks in the educational arena. Dapim, 76,149-172. [Hebrew] Clark, S. K., & Byrnes, D. (2012), Through the eyes of the novice teacher: Perceptions of mentoring support. Teacher Development,16(1),43-54. Crutcher, P.A. & Naseem, S. (2016) Cheerleading and cynicism of effective mentoring in current empirical research. Educational Review, 68(1),40-55. Dominguez, N., & Hager, M. (2013). Mentoring frameworks: Synthesis and critique. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 2(3),171–188. Donitsa-Schmidt, S., Zuzovsky, R. & Arviv-Elyashiv, R. (2021). The Contribution of Different Support Mechanisms Provided during the Induction Year to the Satisfaction and Retention of Beginning Teachers. Paper was presented at the annual ECER conference, Geneva, Switzerland. Imanuel-Noy, D. (, 2021), "Training mentors in incubators for novice teachers in the Promentors project: A look at accreditation processes", Paper presented at the Coherence in the continuum of teacher training, internship and professional learning conference, March, MOFET Institute. [Hebrew] Kelchtermans, G. & Deketelaere, A. (2016), The emotional dimension in becoming a teacher, in Loughran, J., & Hamilton, M.L., (Eds), International handbook of teacher education, Springer (pp.429-461): https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0369-1_13 Mahajana, S., Yassin, A, Wated, A, & Mohsen, M. (2013). Teaching against their will: Difficulties and motives of mentor in the professional development schools (PDS). Dapim, 56,171-193 [Hebrew]. Nikolovska, A. (2016). Mentoring pre-service English teachers: Mentors' perspectives. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 6(5), 741-744. Olsen, K.R., Bjerkholt, E.M. & Heikkinen, H.L.T. (2020), “New teachers in Nordic countries: Ecologies of mentoring and induction”, Cappellen Damm Akademisk, Orland-Barak, L. & Wang, J. (2020), “Teacher mentoring in service of preservice teachers' learning to teach: Conceptual bases, characteristics and challenges for teacher education reform”, Journal of Teacher Education, 1(1),1-14. Pennanen, M., Heikkinen, H.L.T. & Tynjälä, P. (2018): Virtues of Mentors and Mentees in the Finnish Model of Teachers’ Peer-group Mentoring, Scandinavian. Journal of Educational Research, 64(3),355-371. Richter, D., Kunter, M., Lüdtke, O., Klusmann, U, Anders, Y & Baumert, J. (2013), “How different mentoring approaches affect beginning teachers’ development in the first years of practice”, Teaching and Teacher Education, 36(2),166-177. Roberson, S. & Roberson, R. (2009), “The role and practice of the principal in developing novice first-year teachers”, Clearing House, 82(3),113-118. Sandvik, L. V., Solhaug, T., Lejonberg, E., Elstad, E., & Christophersen, K.-A. (2019), “Predictions of school mentors' effort in teacher education programmes”, European Journal of Teacher Education, 42(5),574-590.
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