General description - research question, objectives, theoretical framework (403/500)

This paper investigates Norwegian school leaders’ view on mentor education and mentoring. All new teachers in Norway are supposed to be offered mentoring from the autumn 2010 (White paper 11, 2008-2009). To support this offer the Government has funded formal mentor education and mentoring has become a key strategy in supporting beginning teachers. Leadership and discursive practices in schools influence beginning teachers’ learning and practice, and school leaders are the final arbitrators of teacher quality (Langdon, 2007). According to Langdon preparation of mentors should be treated as a priority area for policy-makers and school leaders who are concerned about or interested in the support and professional development of beginning teachers. To get a deeper understanding of how school leaders value mentor education and mentoring, we have interviewed 9 school leaders. Our research question is: How do school leaders understand mentoring and mentor education? The aim of this study is to learn more about how school leaders support mentoring and contribute to developing mentor competencies. The work is still in progress, but some tentative findings seem to emerge.

Investigations of school cultures identify school leadership as a key catalyst to create collaborative school environments in which beginning teachers thrive. School leadership is recognized as essential to the development and maintenance of integrated professional cultures where needs of new teachers are addressed. Shared vision and purpose that encourages creative diversity combined with a commitment to build professional communities of learners identify school leaders who create positive induction experiences for beginning teachers. To make time for reflection and an inquiry approach to teaching will also be important factors. As other leaders, school leaders need to establish school-wide structures and cultures which support teachers’ well-being and effectiveness in different professional life phases and in different identity scenarios. It seems that school leadership and its influence on the school culture and discursive practices is more relevant to beginning teachers’ induction than the socio-economic communities in which the school is set. Though this argument is less valid in the Norwegian context, it will be of interest in an international context. Following Hobson (2008), school leaders act as agents when they give preference to and legitimize certain practices. In doing so they reframe and reinforce beginning teachers’ conception of themselves as teachers. School leaders’ choice of who shall be mentors and who are to be mentored may affect the this practice

References (83/300) Hatch, A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. State University of New York Press. Hobson, A.J., Ashby, P., Malderez, A., & Tomlinson, P.D. (2009). Mentoring beginning teachers: What we know and what we don’t. Teacher and Teacher Education. Teaching and Teacher Education. 25 (2009) 207–216. Journal homepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/tate Langdon, F. J. (2007) Beginning teacher learning and professional development: An analysis of induction programmes. The degree doctor philosophiae. The University of Waikato. White paper 11 (2008-2009). Accessed January, 20. 2011: http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/kd/dok/regpubl/stmeld/2008-2009/stmeld-nr-11-2008-2009-.html