Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work TeLL Conference Jyväskylä Mentoring in Supporting Newly Qualified Teachers - A Finnish Experiment Hannu Jokinen Institute for Educational Research University of Jyväskylä

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen Background of the Study Challenges of teachers and teacher education Induction phase of newly qualified teachers

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen Aims of the Study What are the activities of new teachers and their mentors and what are the issues discussed between them? How it is possible to support the professional development and the professional identity of newly qualified teachers by mentoring? How can theoretical knowledge from initial teacher education and novices’ practical experiences from the first work place be turned by mentoring, to promote their continuing professional development and professional identity? Mentoring in the Finnish school context

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen What is mentoring? – there are many interpretations We meet mentoring in many fields of life: business, church, health care, hospitals … It comes true differently in the various contexts and in different forms Near concepts: supervision, coaching, tutoring, guidance, networking

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen Research Data and Method Group mentoring project in Kokkola 19 new teachers, 7 experienced teachers 5 separate groups with 2-5 new teachers from different schools Mentoring was organised as group discussions outside the school Pair mentoring project in Helsinki One new teacher and one mentor, total of 9 mentoring pairs Empirical material was collected by using questionnaires, interviewing mentors, mentees, and school principals, and by recording some meetings of mentoring groups Interview and recording data were subjected to content and discourse analysis

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen The Description of the mentoring process Mentoring – an opportunity for interaction and dialogue An opportunity to discuss with an experienced colleague and persons at the same position > Special time for NQTs An opportunity to ask questions - Needs of new teachers - Own daily problems Interaction and therapeutic discussions  Important to mentors: art of listening, guiding the discussion

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen The Description of the mentoring process The major problem areas students with various problems interaction with parents difficulties with becoming a member of the school community, collaboration with their colleagues pedagogical questions lack of stability in employment and work-related stress

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen The Description of the mentoring process Changing and considering experiences, opinions and thoughts analyzing problems and solutions

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen The Description of the mentoring process Confidentiality and equality Confidential and safe atmosphere Tolerant and supportive, individual and peer support Seeking for good and positive, don’t tackle all Openness and equality Not assessment

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen The Description of the mentoring process Reflection on one’s experiences Calling in question and constructive critic Reflection of their own situation and activities They reflect their own situation and activities against experiences of other new teachers Critical friends

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen The Description of the mentoring process Learning to teach and professional growth Interactive learning Finding nqts’ own ways, no ready models Reinterpreting and reconstructing meanings of events and situations Finding nqts’ place in the school by encouraging them to engage in exploration, experimentation and risk-taking Developing and supporting nqts’ professional identity

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen The Mentoring process seems to be about

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen Some conclusions and questions It should build a bridge between initial teacher education and practical work at school – induction and mentoring Newly qualified teachers’ rich resources to their future school community Mentoring delivered outside or inside of own school? Mentoring as an example of collaborative working in the school community Could mentoring be seen as a flexible form of continuing education? Mentoring has the special place in teachers’ continuing professional development

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen Results about the mentoring process Mentee: “You could pose your own questions and share your own worries or things you have wondered about. It’s somewhat relieving to meet other people with similar thoughts and problems. You get a number of good suggestions of what to do in the situation, how to proceed. It has been really conversational or dialogical. The mentor has not kept up a strong role.”

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen Results about the mentoring process Mentor: “My role as a mentor has been a kind of a catalyst – you raise some issues and ideas or thoughts. (…) my role has been a kind of courier or a guide. Mainly I have promoted people to reflect the issues from many perspectives. In the beginning I said aloud much more, but excitingly the newly qualified teachers have caught the point and nowadays they ask questions each other. In a way, we have gradually moved into a kind of peer- to-peer mentoring. It has happened in a very easy and natural way.”

Teachership Lifelong Learning (TeLL) Making Mentoring a Resource in the Teacher’s Work Hannu Jokinen Mentoring seems to be about Mentoring helps teachers to reinterpret and reconstruct the meanings of events and situations central to their own work Mentoring helps teachers to find their place in the school by encouraging them to engage in exploration, experimentation and risk-taking