Mentoring in the Teaching Profession - Essay Example

? Mentoring in the Teaching Profession Introduction In this 21st Century, the traditional systematic and rigid strategies used in training and continuous professional development, CPD in various professional fields no longer serve the intended purpose among the modern generation who adopt e-learning approaches. This indicates a shift to training techniques which facilitate more diverse social constructionist and learning approaches (Munro 2009). Mentoring has been indicated as an important approach that could impart tactical and social knowledge and psychological support and resources. Metros and Yang (2006) trace back the origin of mentoring as a professional activity back to the ancient Greece where the technique was used to impart personal, spiritual and social values in young men. The modern mentoring borrows from the historical apprentice/craftsmen relationship where trade was learnt by young people through copying the master artisan. It was in the 1970s that mentoring was adopted as a career development strategy. Indeed, this cost-saving approach has been universally applied to ensure continuous professional development. This paper evaluates the application of mentoring as a human resource function in the teaching profession. Establishing what mentorship means in the teaching profession and evaluating the resultant benefits, it would be appreciated that mentoring is a universal and cost effective learning and development approach that results in continuous professional development in teaching. Mentoring refers to a relationship where a senior employee takes up the responsibility of grooming junior or new employees in an organization (Elkin 2006). Interpersonal, political and technical skills would be conveyed from the more experienced employee in this relationship. This makes experience a key concept in mentorship with mentors expected to exude greater experience, achievement and influence. As such, Donnelley (2008) and Rao (2008) refer to a mentor as a counsellor, teacher, skills and intellect developer, guide, exemplar, host and most significantly, facilitator and supporter in the realization of the vision of the kind of life envisioned by the person being mentored, referred to as a protegee. The main objective of mentorship is to help employees attain psychological effectiveness and maturity and also get integrated into the organization. According to Metros and Yang (2006), it provides career advice and personal and professional enrichment to mentees. This could occur at a formal or informal level based on the work culture and top management commitment. In the teaching profession, the many associated roles including classroom management and discipline, learning new curricula, individualizing student programs, using technology and coordinating extracurricular activities among others could be a challenge for new teachers to handle (Thomas 2012). This could make the achievement of the institutional goals elusive. Mentoring plays a critical role in ensuring that learning institutions achieve their targets. Specifically making an observation of institutions of higher learning, Metro and Yang (2006) observe that these learning institutions previously did not identify or support the professional needs of its staff, focus having been on managing the diverse student clientele. Such practices have however been overtaken by events as more institutions adopt mentorship programs as a way of ensuring continuous professional development for its staff. According to Walcott, the chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, mentorship means much to them, offering crucial support to new members of the profession (2013). At the commencement of each school year, teachers new to the profession would be assigned a mentor to offer personalized support through the first year of their teaching career. In fact, the organization has a system in place to track the mentoring process by matching and documenting all mentoring interactions between the teacher and the mentor. To have an effective mentorship process, institutions should select mentors with qualities that promote mentoring. The qualities of mentor teachers identified by Koki (2000) include being experienced. Such teachers would share appropriate knowledge amassed over years of being in the profession with the protege. The teacher should exhibit interpersonal skills that fit varied professional situations. Effective communication skills and an understanding of the development stages of a teacher would also be important (Middlewood & Lumby 2009). The ideals and expertise of the teacher should be shared with the mentee teacher. Even though the functions of this mentor teacher could vary, it should be appreciated that the teacher serves as a helper and not an evaluator or supervisor. In understanding the meaning of mentoring, it would be critical to examine what this is not. Koki (2000) makes it clear that mentoring is not peer tutoring, peer assistance or peer mentoring. Experience is a distinctive feature in mentoring that lacks in these aspects. Even in teaching, experience serves as a critical factor in selecting a mentor. As noted by Walcott (2013), the New York City Department of Education allows experienced teachers only to be mentors. In fact, the organization goes to the extent of absorbing retired teachers who are believed to be of value to the new teachers. It is also not executive coaching. Executive coaches are basically hired mentors who assist executives perfect their people skills rather than business skills. Mentors execute any form of coaching, coaching being one of their functions. This indication of what mentorship is not has brought about major confusions in finding an appropriate definition for mentorship. Meggison (2006) observes how difficult it has been to differentiate mentorship from advising, counselling and coaching. The deeply held positions with this regard have made it difficult to come up with a universal definition for mentorship. Functions of a Mentor To gather insight into what mentorship is, understanding the functions of a mentor would be important. These could be viewed from the two perspectives identified by Parsloe and Leedham (2009): psychosocial and career support. Psychosocial support provides the protege with the benefits of encouragement, advice and feedback. Thus, the mentor teacher offers encouragement to the new teacher and using the feedback from the mentee teacher advises appropriately. It enhances the sense of effectiveness, clarity of identity and competence in such a person. The functions of a mentor with regard to career include coaching, sponsorship, protection, challenging work assignments and exposure and visibility (Ensign 2012). Therefore, mentors should be appreciated, not just as career facilitators, but in the wideness of their responsibilities. Categories of Mentorship Traditional mentoring is considered as the oldest kind of mentoring, commonly used in sciences and arts. In this traditional sense, mentors are those who use their status, power and knowledge to help proteges in developing their careers (Deb 2009). This explains the observation by Metro and Yang (2006) of how master artisans used to mentor young people learning the trade in ancient mentorship. These young men would copy what the masters did in order to gain the required skills. In teaching, it involved teachers entering the profession who would observe what other teachers do and doing it. Its limiting feature is the fact that it is highly elitist and selective by nature (Rao 2008). In this arrangement, it is the senior teacher who initiates a relationship with the new teacher believed to have the required potential. This would cause mentor teachers to lean to some protege teachers more than others, especially those who share in their cultural background or religion. This limitation caused some members of organizations to be excluded from mentorship programs. The limitations of traditional mentoring caused its transformation from being an individual process into being a policy issue in the 20th Century. This followed the observation of the benefits accruing from this approach by organizations. Thus, the top leadership of organizations promoted and encouraged mentorship as a mainstream component of staff development, referred to as professional mentorship (Parsloe & Leedham 2009). Though not compulsory in the operation of an organization, it is a tool encouraged by the management. The senior employees have the freedom of deciding whether or not to participate in mentoring and the choice of protege. Professional mentoring plays a critical role in affirmative action legislation mandate as it works towards dismantling barriers to accessibility of mentorship by the minority groups in organizations (Tennenbaum, Crosby, & Gliner 2001). However, with the program being voluntary and not compulsory, its success remains elusive. Going beyond the conscious use and encouragement of professional mentorship by the management, formal mentoring, also referred to as institutionalized mentoring, makes the process a systemic policy issue, further making it a standard component of management practice (Deb 2009). This makes mentorship compulsory and core to the training programs of members of staff of an organization. Being a widely adopted strategy in most modern organizations, the human resources departments are charged with the administration of this program. Senior and junior employees engage in the program, following formal programs, assigned, monitored and maintained by the respective organization (Parsloe & Leedham 2009). Because of the need to follow specific programs, some learning institutions, such as the New York City Education Department, organize mentoring training sessions for its mentors (Walcott 2013). These school-based training sessions last for 12 hours per course, teaching on important topics such as mentoring protocols, mentor language, relationship and trust building, adult learning, mentoring tools, non-judgmental feedback, coaching strategies, effective questioning strategies, professional teaching standards and collection of classroom observational data. Ensign (2012) observes that this form of mentorship has become popular in the banking sector, Federal departments and government agencies and in corporations such as General Motors and Johnson and Johnson. This kind of mentorship allows minorities and other individuals who could previously not be considered for mentorship to enjoy the services (Munro 2009). The effectiveness of this program depends on assumptions such as the mentor being committed to the program and compatibility of the mentor and the proteges. Such mentors would also be required to be competent in interpersonal and technical skills. In the teaching profession, the teacher continues to teach but also serving as a mentor (Koki 2000). All effort would be dedicated at ensuring that novice teachers gain competence in the areas in which they face difficulties. Even so, there exists another form of mentorship in organizations where a mentor and mentee match themselves voluntarily without the intervention of a third party. The program is also not structured. Deb (2009) refers to this kind of program as informal mentorship. A teacher joining the profession, for instance, could find another teacher with more experience with whom they establish a mentorship relationship. This mentor not only orients the protege into the profession but also establishes a relationship that goes beyond the confines of the learning institution. This creates a foundation for relationship building. It has been noted to be effective, with the degree of commitment, trust and coaching exceeding that observed in formal mentoring. It has been noted to be long lasting, often yielding long lasting friendship that benefits both parties (Middlewood & Lumby 2009). As such, they lead to greater visibility, increased confidence, achievement of promotions and higher compensation. Benefits of Mentorship Thomas (2012) gives a critical observation in evaluating the benefits of mentorship, noting that the process leads the protege to achieving the competence level of the mentor and further grow beyond the set baseline together with the mentor. The mentor shares materials including classroom teaching strategies, teaching materials and long-range and unit plans to benefit the protege. However, it would be required of the mentor to develop these materials in a collaborative approach with the protege (Chun, Sosik & Yun 2012). This calls for joint action between the two parties. Literature generally appreciates that mentoring benefits proteges. In a research conducted by Onchwari (2009) on 44 mid-western states’ Head Start teachers, only 6% of the respondents claimed not to have realized any gains from mentorship program. One of the key benefits of being mentored is enabling mentees learn new skills and gain competence in their roles. As noted by Thomas (2012), mentorship provides teaching professionals with the initial orientation to the challenges in the career. It orients them to new work setting, work culture, profession and curriculum and assessment processes. Secondly, mentorship programs play a critical role in career development (Munro 2009). It provides mentees with an opportunity to learn effective teaching strategies and management and leadership skills (Aladejana, Aladejana & Ehindero 2006). Mentees also get socialized into the climate and culture of the organization (Onchwari 2009). Ultimately, the protege teaching professional becomes successful, exuding self-esteem and self-confidence. The mentor also stands to benefit from the mentorship programs. As noted by Thomas (2012), such persons would have their learning and teaching performance increased. The status of a mentor earns them recognition and gives an opportunity for serving the profession. It provides an opportunity for them to develop their leadership skills and enhance their credibility. Importantly, the mentorship process improves on the practices of mentors as observed by the Donnelley (2008). Specifically, their classroom observation skills improve as a result of being engaged in mentorship programs. Additionally, it provides an opportunity for the mentors to get energized in their careers. Finally, the mentor could receive gratitude from the protege. The institution stands to retain the best teachers. It would enable institutions retain experienced teachers who appreciate new challenges and offer to grow through offering service to others. Mentorship promotes cohesion among employees in the organization (Deb 2009). As a result of teachers’ cohesion in the learning institution, there would be increased teamwork and thus better performance. It has also been noted by Eby et al. (2008) and Middlewood and Lumby (2009) that mentorship in organizations reduces staff turnover. In the educational setting, a reduced turnover of teachers boosts the relationship between teachers and students. This way, teachers get to know their students better and offer individualized support. This boosts the performance of the institution. Additionally, it reduces the cost of having to recruit and train new teachers every now and then (Aladejana, Aladejana & Ehindero 2006). It also saves the institution on spending so much on orientation programs as through mentorship, this function gets accomplished. Even though mentoring presents all these benefits to an institution, Onchwari (2009) observes that for the process to be effective, then mentoring has to be structured and focused. This appreciates the importance of mentors participating in professional development so as to learn the process and the expectations. Mentoring would most likely be useless if mentors fail to improve their expertise and knowledge and further change their practice in teaching to reflect emergent research. These benefits to the mentor, mentee and the institution sum up to critical benefits of the training approach to the institution at large. As documented by Chun, Sosik and Yun (2012) and Onchwari (2009), mentoring in learning institutions boosts productivity, recruitment efforts, organizational communication and understanding, succession and strategic planning and above all, cost effectiveness. The management of the institutions also stand to benefit from improved communication of corporate values, faster learning curves, increased loyalty and increased employee productivity. Conclusion The teaching profession has widely adopted mentoring, a function of its human resource management, creating relationships between protege and mentor teachers, as a way of grooming the protege teachers into the teaching profession. Whereas a majority of educational institutions have developed formal mentorship programs where they allocate new teachers to experienced teachers for mentorship, informal mentorship still exists where mentor and protege teachers voluntarily and in an unstructured form match themselves for mentorship. Whichever the approach, mentorship has crucial benefits to all the parties involved. Importantly, it has curbed on the turnover of teachers, reduced recruitment, training and orientation costs and improved on cohesion of teachers. As a result, the performance of such institutions has sustainably improved. Therefore, mentorship is a universal and cost effective learning and development approach that results in continuous professional development in the teaching profession. References Aladejana, A, Aladejana, F & Ehindero, S 2006, ‘An analysis of mentoring relationships among teachers: a case study of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria’, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 20 – 30. Chun, JU, Sosik, JJ, & Yun, NY 2012, ‘A longitudinal study of mentor and protege outcomes in formal mentorship relationships’, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, vol. 33, pp. 1071 – 1094. 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