Brian Hansford

Formal Mentoring Programs in Education and Other Professions: A Review of the Literature:

The sheer volume of literature on mentoring across a variety of disciplines is an indication of the high profile it has been afforded in recent years. This article draws on a structured analysis of more than 300 research-based articles on mentoring across three discipline areas in an attempt to make more valid inferences about the nature and outcomes of mentoring. It begins by reporting on the findings compiled from a database of research articles from educational contexts. These research-based articles are examined to determine the positive and more problematic outcomes of mentoring for the mentor, mentee, and the organization. A discussion of the findings from two other databases, namely, 151 research-based articles from business contexts and 82 articles from medical contexts, is provided, and commonalities across the three databases are highlighted. The article concludes with a discussion of key issues that administrators responsible for establishing mentoring programs should consider to maximize the experience of mentoring for all stakeholders.

Mentoring Beginning Teachers: a qualitative analysis of process and outcomes

Abstract Sixteen beginning teachers commencing their first year of teaching in Queensland Catholic schools, together with nine experienced teachers appointed as their mentors, provided detailed written reflections on their experiences during the beginners’ first year of teaching. Using their responses as data, the nature and value of the buddy mentoring relationship are analysed in relation to the needs, concerns and professional development of beginning teachers as they progress through the year. Patterns and themes emerging from the data are described qualitatively and illustrated by direct quotations from participants’ responses. Conclusions are drawn regarding the roles and functions of mentors which are most helpful at various stages, the benefits and limitations of buddy mentoring in relation to these functions and issues involved in the development of the mentoring relationship over the course of the first teaching year.

Mentoring: Pros and Cons for HRM

Mentoring has received considerable coverage in recent decades and this is evident by the proliferation of research and popular literature available to the reader. It has been hailed as an important human resource management strategy, a career tool, and a workplace learning activity for men, women and minority groups in a variety of organisational settings such as hospitals, large corporations, schools, universities and government departments. In this paper we review the literature on this ubiquitous yet elusive concept. We begin by exploring what is meant by mentoring, the functions of mentors, three different categories of mentorship, and the benefits and hazards for the mentor, mentee and organisation. In the final part of the paper we highlight some of the implications of setting up a formal mentoring programme for human resource managers.

Teaching in rural and remote schools: a literature review

In this paper. the authors examine a wide range of recent research into the preparation and support for teachers working in rural and remote schools. The paper reviews many preservice and inservice initiatives which highlight issues affecting:teaching and learning in schools outside the major metropolitan centres. The work is reviewed from an Australian perspective but evaluates research from throughout the world. The paper concludes that despite a large body of research (Gibson, 1994), that has identified the need for specialised pre-service preparation which accommodates the social and professional differences associated with work in rural and remote areas, the implementation of such programs by teacher training institutions has been sparse, lacking in cohesion and in many cases non-existent

A review of mentoring in education: some lessons for nursing.

Abstract The mentoring relationship has been described as an invaluable learning activity for beginners as well as experienced practitioners such as teachers, administrators, nurses, managers, and other professionals. In an attempt to identify key outcomes of mentoring for the parties concerned, this paper examined some of the salient research literature on mentoring taken from the discipline of education.We drew upon the findings of a structured review, in which 159 pieces of empirical literature on mentoring in educational settings was examined. This paper reviews the positive and negative outcomes of mentoring for the mentor and protégé/mentee. Discussion of the findings as well as some important implications for those charged with planning mentoring programs in nursing are outlined.

Students' Perceptions of Field Experience in Professional Development: A Comparative Study.

The movement of the health care and education professions from an apprenticeship model in the early half of the century to the tertiary education sector has brought an awareness of the key role field experience or practicum plays in professional development. The literature has demonstrated that field experience during teacher education and clinical education is a valuable part of preparation for entry into the teaching and nursing professions. The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the perceptions of final year students from three distinct undergraduate field experiences. Queensland University of Technology students from adult and workplace education, secondary education, and nursing participated in the study. Data were collected through a series of focus group interviews with groups of five to nine participants across the three discipline areas. Students described their expectations of the practical side of their learning and the learning outcomes that eventuated during the practicum.

Improving the Assessment of Practice Teaching: a criteria and standards framework

ABSTRACT The assessment of practice teaching is a problematic activity in teacher education. Those charged with the responsibility of making such assessments have had to address issues of what to assess, at what level is the student performing, and how to communicate such assessments to the student teacher in a developmental context. This paper reports on a two‐stage development process of a criteria and standards framework for assessing final year practice teaching. Initially, a framework which identified criteria and standards of performance was developed and trialled with 20 supervising teachers who were interviewed after the practice teaching period. Following further development, the framework was again trialled with 24 teachers who were also subsequently interviewed. The teachers reported that the framework was a useful instrument both for assessing students’ practice teaching performance and for providing more specific feedback to students about their current level of performance and the targets fo...

Conversations: a means of learning, growth and change

The research reported in this article formed part of a university/industry collaborative grant in which the role of leaders in managing cultural change across an industry site was investigated. The focus of the article concerns the leadership of a district director in a rural setting in Queensland. The study was shaped by the interests of the district director who sought feedback on her leadership style and influence on principals in the district. A team of researchers from the School of Professional Studies in the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology conducted semi‐structured interviews with a sample of six principals with whom she had worked over a period of one year to gauge their perceptions of her influence on their thinking and acting. A key finding of the research was that that well‐led conversations can be an effective professional development strategy for learning, growth and change in educational leaders.

Assessing the Concerns and Professional Development Requirements of Beginning Teachers in their First Term of Teaching

Beginning teachers in Queensland Catholic primary schools were surveyed before, during and after their first term of full‐time teaching practice in order to identify predominant concerns and professional‐development needs. Anticipatory concerns about personal adequacy dissipated quickly after teaching began, allowing concerns over student‐learning needs and class control to emerge. By the end of the first term, teachers were beginning to feel more confident and relaxed in their role. Most had maintained a preference for discovery/inquiry methods of teaching although issues such as students’ classroom behaviour, the availability of teaching resources and time pressures were beginning to exert an influence on their choice of teaching styles. The results are interpreted in the context of beginning teacher induction programmes, and recommendations are made regarding areas in which beginning teachers need particular assistance during their first teaching term.

Teacher Education: the image problem

Abstract The quality of teacher education programs and teacher educators has frequently been questioned in the research literature, government reports and general media releases. As a consequence, the image of teacher education is not as positive as it should be in both tertiary institutions and the wider community. The current paper focuses on the perceptions held by a sample of 47 teachers. Some of the reported perceptions are quite negative and it is important that teacher educators and teacher education associations endeavour to address the problem as to how a more positive image of teacher education can be projected.