The need for Qualified School Teacher Mentors for Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teachers and Beyond: Why Don’t School Teacher Mentors Need a Qualification in Mentoring?

Background/purpose – Teacher recruitment and retention is a major issue for sustaining and growing an educational system. Nurturing and supporting teachers through all stages of their career in the form of mentoring is recognized as an important factor in retaining teachers in the profession. The cu...

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Main Author: Carl Wilkinson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: ÜNİVERSİTEPARK Limited 2022-09-01
Series:Educational Process: International Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.edupij.com/index/makale_indir/261
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author Carl Wilkinson
author_facet Carl Wilkinson
author_sort Carl Wilkinson
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description Background/purpose – Teacher recruitment and retention is a major issue for sustaining and growing an educational system. Nurturing and supporting teachers through all stages of their career in the form of mentoring is recognized as an important factor in retaining teachers in the profession. The current English Government’s “golden thread” of documentation for a teaching career stipulates a mentor for life. This study asks whether a qualification to practice mentoring should be mandated. Materials/methods – This case study presents ethnographic qualitative data analyzed and interpreted through a Miles et al. (2020) display structure. Seven practicing teacher mentors were separately interviewed within their own schools. The interviews were recorded, the participants were not prompted, and their responses are presented in full. Results – This study found that none of the participants hold a recognized accredited qualification in mentoring. The literature shows that other professions value further qualifications which are used as proof of expert knowledge through theoretical study and reflection. Conclusion – It is suggested that application of the intent to provide all teachers with a mentor throughout their whole career through an ad hoc cottage industry of volunteer mentors is unsustainable and not commensurate with that of a professional body.
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spelling doaj-art-31462d79fbaf4c4b8a76b0eb6c472b4d2025-08-20T02:01:35ZengÜNİVERSİTEPARK LimitedEducational Process: International Journal2147-09012022-09-0111310.22521/edupij.2022.113.1The need for Qualified School Teacher Mentors for Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teachers and Beyond: Why Don’t School Teacher Mentors Need a Qualification in Mentoring?Carl Wilkinsonhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3837-924XBackground/purpose – Teacher recruitment and retention is a major issue for sustaining and growing an educational system. Nurturing and supporting teachers through all stages of their career in the form of mentoring is recognized as an important factor in retaining teachers in the profession. The current English Government’s “golden thread” of documentation for a teaching career stipulates a mentor for life. This study asks whether a qualification to practice mentoring should be mandated. Materials/methods – This case study presents ethnographic qualitative data analyzed and interpreted through a Miles et al. (2020) display structure. Seven practicing teacher mentors were separately interviewed within their own schools. The interviews were recorded, the participants were not prompted, and their responses are presented in full. Results – This study found that none of the participants hold a recognized accredited qualification in mentoring. The literature shows that other professions value further qualifications which are used as proof of expert knowledge through theoretical study and reflection. Conclusion – It is suggested that application of the intent to provide all teachers with a mentor throughout their whole career through an ad hoc cottage industry of volunteer mentors is unsustainable and not commensurate with that of a professional body.https://www.edupij.com/index/makale_indir/261mentoringqualificationmotivationintrinsic
spellingShingle Carl Wilkinson
The need for Qualified School Teacher Mentors for Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teachers and Beyond: Why Don’t School Teacher Mentors Need a Qualification in Mentoring?
Educational Process: International Journal
mentoring
qualification
motivation
intrinsic
title The need for Qualified School Teacher Mentors for Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teachers and Beyond: Why Don’t School Teacher Mentors Need a Qualification in Mentoring?
title_full The need for Qualified School Teacher Mentors for Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teachers and Beyond: Why Don’t School Teacher Mentors Need a Qualification in Mentoring?
title_fullStr The need for Qualified School Teacher Mentors for Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teachers and Beyond: Why Don’t School Teacher Mentors Need a Qualification in Mentoring?
title_full_unstemmed The need for Qualified School Teacher Mentors for Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teachers and Beyond: Why Don’t School Teacher Mentors Need a Qualification in Mentoring?
title_short The need for Qualified School Teacher Mentors for Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teachers and Beyond: Why Don’t School Teacher Mentors Need a Qualification in Mentoring?
title_sort need for qualified school teacher mentors for initial teacher training early career teachers and beyond why don t school teacher mentors need a qualification in mentoring
topic mentoring
qualification
motivation
intrinsic
url https://www.edupij.com/index/makale_indir/261
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