Section archive - Mentoring & Supervision

This mixed-methods investigation examined the collaborative mentoring of teachers in a large school system in the south-eastern United States. The investigation was guided by two purposes. The first was to examine collaborative mentoring as unstructured peer-to-peer coaching. The second was to examine how licensure courses contributed to the emergence of collaborative mentoring. After completing courses, 84 teachers reported significant increases in frequency and duration of interactions for sharing best practices with colleagues. Of 33 novice teachers recently trained in teaching ELLs, most found themselves mentoring veteran teachers yet untrained in teaching this student group.

This paper describes the way four school-based teacher educators fulfill their role as educators of student teachers who learn how to teach while participating in the workplace. The authors use tools (e.g., apprenticeship assignments) developed within the teacher education institute and rely on their professional knowledge as experienced schoolteachers. The results indicate that student teachers being provided with useful tricks which, however, hardly helps them to interpret and elaborate their experiences from a more conceptual or theoretical perspective.

The work of teacher candidates matters in particular ways to the quality of children's experiences and environments when they teach in preschools. Dialogues allowed mentors and candidates to reinterpret their images of children and in some cases renew instructional approaches and act against standardized forms of accountability, which limited curriculum and pedagogic choice.

Three significant impediments to mentoring success have been identified in the literature: insufficient time; mentors' lack of professional expertise; and personality mismatches. To address these issues, a skills training program was developed in Victoria. This program utilized the principles of adult attachment theory and time-limited therapy. The model was introduced to principals across grade levels. The results indicated significant improvement in the skills set and confidence levels of mentors (i.e. experienced school principals).