Findings from a study of mentors and protege teachers in a Rhode Island mentoring program suggest that mentoring may be as beneficial to mentors as to proteges. After describing the Rhode Island mentoring program, this paper examines the benefits for mentors (e.g., enhanced self-esteem, reduced isolation, reflection on practice, and learning from…

Analysis of focus groups of beginning special education teachers, teacher mentors, and administrators considers the needs of beginning special education teachers, forms of needed support, content of needed support, and the sense of isolation and need for support. Implications for teacher induction and teacher mentoring programs are drawn, also…

During induction, beginning physical education teachers assume new roles and responsibilities and must deal with a number of problems common to their workplace (wash-out, reality shock, isolation, marginalization, workload and role conflict, and deprofessionalization). Proactive professional development strategies for combatting these problems and…

Developed a sophisticated theory of organizational socialization and explored its implications for the practice of induction of new academic staff in universities. The theory and the exploration of its consequences are based on secondary data from a number of studies and 27 interviews with new academics in Canada and England. (SLD)

Interviews with five novice and five expert clinical nursing teachers revealed that clinical teaching was learned on the job, often without orientation. They emulated positive role models and learned from significant life experiences. The two groups had different concepts of effective clinical teaching. (SK)

A teacher describes his first year teaching science in an urban school and the process of co-teaching with other teachers and student "consultants" that helped him relearn to teach and deal with the subculture he encountered. (SK)

Used interview data from beginning teachers, mentors, and principals to study the implementation of new arrangements for monitoring and supporting beginning teachers in England, examining the significance of teacher culture in their first teaching year. The new arrangements appeared to have made the greatest impact on schools where the culture was…

Elementary, middle school, and high school principals have a powerful impact on the schools in their charge. These lead administrators mold the atmosphere of a school and, in turn, the feelings of the teachers who work in it. The current teacher shortage combined with the demands of standards-based education has made retaining new teachers a…

Drawing on data from nine secondary school mentor teachers, the authors explore the emotional aspects of mentoring. Embracing a view of 'cool' professionalism, the mentors hid from their interns the intensity and complexity of their work as mentors. The authors argue that to maximize the value of mentoring neophyte teachers should be given a…

Arts educators need specific professional development. Generic professional development alone will not work for arts teachers. Arts teachers also need more than one type of professional development as the narratives in the stories in this article make clear. The first music teacher provides narrative support for Bowles's research finding that…

The authors of this article report the results of a mentorship-based professional development intervention study grounded in the induction and mentoring literature. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the study aimed to determine how mentorship-based professional development influenced mentors' self-rated competence of mentoring; the…

Unlike other professions, such as medicine and law, newly qualified teachers (NQTs) are required to assume full professional responsibilities from the 1st day they enter a classroom. A lack of support for beginning teachers has been linked with widespread attrition from the profession in the United Kingdom and the United States. This article…

Thoughtful mentoring can shape and challenge a beginning teacher's practice in educative ways, especially when the novice is well prepared and adopts the stance of a learner. What responsibility does a mentor have when the novice performs at the edge of acceptable practice? Drawing on interview and observation data collected for a national study…

Mentoring new faculty into vocations of teaching falls squarely on the shoulders of those entrusted with setting the course for the next generation of faculty. Often the role of new teacher development is assigned to senior faculty. In this essay the author provides an autobiographical account of experiences both as a mentor and as one who had…

In the USA, the attrition rates of teachers in the first 3-5 years of teaching are around 30%, and in Texas, 73% of teachers who did not experience a formal induction programme left the profession within 2 years. These statistics are a cause for concern and suggest that the first few years in teaching are crucial in teachers deciding whether to…