Abstract:

Mentoring is internationally regarded as a key professionalisation strategy for supporting early career teachers (ECTs) during their transition into autonomous professional practice (Heikkinen, 2020). Research has consistently highlighted the relevance of mentoring for professional learning, well-being, and retention in the early career phase, while also emphasising that mentoring constitutes a complex and demanding professional practice (Hobson et al., 2009; Carmi & Tamir, 2023).

In Austria, mentoring has not only become firmly established as a central element of teacher induction but has increasingly developed into an independent field of professional teacher education (Dammerer et al., 2020). Newly entering teachers complete a mandatory twelve-month induction phase during which they are accompanied by a mentor (Prenzel et al., 2021). The legal framework defines mentoring as a structured form of professional support, including consultation on lesson planning and enactment, joint reflection on teaching and educational practices, and classroom observation. Recent reforms have removed the formal evaluative role of mentors, thereby strengthening mentoring as a primarily developmental and non-assessive practice (Zeilinger & Dammerer, 2024).

At the same time, the professional demands placed on mentors have increased considerably. Mentors currently support highly heterogeneous groups of ECTs, including graduates of teacher education programmes, teachers who are still completing their studies while teaching, and individuals entering the profession through alternative or lateral pathways (Dammerer et al., 2025). These conditions challenge mentors to establish supportive relationships that are grounded in professional symmetry and mutual respect (Kraler et al., 2023) while addressing diverse developmental needs (Keller-Schneider, 2022).

Due to ongoing staff shortages, it is not always possible to cover the demand for formally qualified mentors. As a result, transitional regulations currently allow teachers without specific mentoring education to be appointed as mentors if they are considered suitable based on professional experience and communicative competence. This situation has intensified discussions about the role of mentor education and its relevance for mentoring quality and professional practice.

In Austria, mentors can complete different forms of qualification, ranging from short higher education programmes to comprehensive Master’s-level education in mentoring. These programmes vary substantially in scope and depth, but they share a common orientation towards mentoring as a professional, reflective, and relational practice. In particular, advanced mentor education emphasises counselling competence, professional reflection, communication, and the ability to support learning processes without exerting control.

From a theoretical perspective, mentoring quality is closely linked to mentors’ professional orientations and interactional styles. Research on mentoring and professional learning highlights the importance of autonomy-supportive, learning-oriented, and non-directive approaches that create a low-evaluative and trust-based developmental space for ECTs (Frey et al., 2023). In contrast, directive or controlling mentoring practices may limit opportunities for agency, reflection, and professional growth.

Against this background, the assumption guiding this study is that mentors’ level of qualification is associated with systematic differences in mentoring styles and forms of support. More specifically, mentors who have completed formal mentoring education are expected to enact more autonomy-supportive and less controlling mentoring practices, thereby shaping mentoring as a reflective professional safe space rather than a supervisory arrangement.

This paper addresses this assumption by examining differences in mentoring styles and support practices among mentors with varying levels of qualification working with newly qualified teachers in the Austrian induction system.

Methodology: The findings presented in this paper draw on data collected in 2025 within the nationwide Austrian research project FoNeB (Research Network on Teacher Induction, 2023–2028). The project is designed as a quantitative longitudinal study employing repeated standardised questionnaire surveys of mentors working in the induction phase of teacher education (University Colleges of Teacher Education, 2025). The present analysis focuses on mentoring practices during the induction phase and relies on validated scales capturing mentoring style, mentoring collaboration, and forms of mentoring support. Further differentiated findings from this research programme have already been reported elsewhere (Dammerer et al., 2025; Haas et al., 2026). Addressing an existing research gap, the study examines the following research question: To what extent do mentors with different levels of qualification differ in their mentoring styles and in the forms of support they employ when working with early career teachers (ECTs)? To answer this question, mentors (N = 413) were surveyed using standardised instruments assessing forms of support, opportunities and contents of collaboration, and mentoring style. Statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics. Group differences were examined by means of one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA), applying a significance level of α = .05. Forms of mentoring support were operationalised using items adapted from Prenzel et al. (2021). Mentoring style was measured following Frey et al. (2023) and differentiated into learning-oriented, autonomy-supportive, and directive dimensions. The topics addressed in mentoring interactions were captured using items based on Brandau et al. (2017). All scales employed a five-point Likert scale.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that mentors’ level of qualification is associated with specific patterns of mentoring practice during the induction phase. In particular, a positive relationship emerges between mentors’ educational background and informal personal exchange without prior arrangement in physical presence. This finding points less to an increase in the overall amount of mentoring and more to differences in the ways mentoring relationships are structured and enacted. Furthermore, mentor education is significantly associated with the form of support “classroom observation: mentee observes the mentor,” with a comparatively stronger effect. This can be interpreted as an indication that formal qualification tends to foster more active and more structured forms of mentoring support. At the same time, overall satisfaction with mentoring remains largely comparable across qualification groups. This suggests that mentor education primarily influences the quality and configuration of mentoring practices rather than general evaluations of mentoring support. Initial findings also point to continuing areas for improvement, both in the organisation of mentoring support and in the perceived opportunities for collaboration. In particular, mentoring-related topics and the availability of time for support emerge as key tension points that are highly relevant to the quality of mentoring during the induction phase. Overall, the results underscore the importance of differentiated mentor qualifications, especially in comparison to mentors working in the induction phase without specific mentoring education. They provide important implications for mentor education and professional development, as well as for the evidence-informed further development of mentoring practices within the Austrian induction system.

Brandau, J., Studencnik, P., Schaupp, H. & Kopp-Sixt, S. (2018). Deutschsprachiges Mentoring-Stil-Inventar mit Fokus auf die Ausbildung von Lehrpersonen. In C. Reintjes, G. Bellenberg & G. im Brahm (Hrsg.), Mentoring und Coaching als Beitrag zur Professionalisierung angehender Lehrpersonen (S. 207–225). Waxmann. Carmi, T., & Tamir, E. (2023). An emerging taxonomy explaining mentor-teachers’ role in student-teachers’ practicum: What they do and to what end? Teaching and Teacher Education, 128, 104121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104121 Dammerer, J., Wiesner, C., & Windl, E. (Eds.). (2020). Mentoring im pädagogischen Kontext: Professionalisierung und Qualifizierung von Lehrpersonen (Wahrnehmen, wie wir bilden: Pädagogik für Niederösterreich, Vol. 10). Studienverlag. https://doi.org/10.53349/oa.2022.a2.120 Forschungsnetzwerk Berufseinstieg. (2023–2028). FoNeB – Der Berufseinstieg im Kontext der Lehrer*innenbildung. https://foneb.weebly.com/ Frey, A., Pichler, S., & Groß Ophoff, J. (2023). Unterstützen, Freiraum geben oder kontrollieren? Mentoring-Stile im Berufseinstieg. Erziehung & Unterricht, 7–8, 546–557. Haas, E., Dammerer, J., Glaeser, P., Rauschenberger, P., & Stipsitz, E. (2026). Mentoring in the induction phase: Effective mentoring for career starters in Austria – A gender comparison. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 14(1), 35–46. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v14i1.7978 Heikkinen, H. L. T. (2020). Understanding Mentoring Within an Ecosystem of Practices. In K.-R. Olsen, E. M. Bjerkhot, & H. L. T. Heikkinen (Eds.), New Teachers in Nordic Countries : Ecologies of Mentoring and Induction (pp. 27-47). Cappelen Damm. https://doi.org/10.23865/noasp.105.ch1 Hobson, A. J., Ashby, P., Malderez, A. & Tomlinson, P.D. (2009). Mentoring beginning teachers: What we know and what we don’t. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25 (1), 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2008.09.001 Keller-Schneider, M. (2022). Anforderungen an Mentoratspersonen in der Induktion und der Bedarf an die eigene Professionalisierung. In C. Wiesner, E. Windl, & J. Dammerer (Hrsg.), Mentoring als Auftrag zum Dialog: Professionalisierung und Qualifizierung von Lehrpersonen (S. 133–144). Studienverlag. Kraler, C., Dammerer, J., Haas, C, Schreiner, C. & Wiesner, C. (2023). Professionalisierung durch Mentoring und Mentor*innenausbildung. In, Erziehung und Unterricht. Der Berufseinstieg von Lehrer*innen. Heft 7-8. ÖBV. (S.537-546). Pädagogische Hochschulen Österreichs. (Hrsg.) (2025). Berufseinstieg Lehramt. Beltz Juventa. https://doi.org/10.3262/978-3-7799-8765-9. Prenzel, M., Huber, M., Müller, C., Höger, B., Reitinger, J., Becker, M., Hoyer, S., Hofer, M., & Lüftenegger, M. (2021). Der Berufseinstieg in das Lehramt. Eine formative Evaluation der neuen Induktionsphase in Österreich. Waxmann. Zeilinger, H., & Dammerer, J. (2024). Mentoring zwischen Theorie und Praxis – Professionalisierungsprozesse im Berufseinstieg. In S. Pichler, A. Frey, L. Holzäpfel, F. Lipowsky, & K. Rincke (Hrsg.), Wie viel Wissenschaft braucht Lehrerinnenfortbildung – Wege der Professionalisierung* (S. 122–126).