Educational Institutions

Through the use of different political games, power items of the typology of French and Raven, and leadership style, the leader has to make the right educational decision. When the school is shaken by internal and external conflicts, the school leader is the manager, and he will give constructive solutions to these conflicts to emerge as valuable sources of ideas that will enrich school life. This chapter aims to present both the various political games, as mentioned mainly by Mintzberg, and the entry types in the typology of French and Raven present in educational institutions and the meaning of educational change and conditions for success. Also mentioned is the organizational culture and strengthening through the holistic model of leadership of Pashiardis and Brauckmann emphasizing the concept of “mentorship.” The significance of the work lies in the fact that the undermentioned issues are relevant to educational institutions and require attention from both the leader-director and the teachers of each school unit.

The Role of the Mentor

This chapter focuses on the role of the mentor the context of a modern language institution. It looks at two strands of mentorship: within the organization and while interacting with the wider ELT world. In the first context the authors look at the various functions a mentor is expected to perform with a particular focus on the scheme as it exists in Centre of English Studies in the UK and Ireland. Here we have a comprehensive mentor program in operation for the summer quarter of the year with weekly sessions and comprehensive support provided. For the other three quarters of the year, the mentor role is more ad-hoc, with a flexible program and timetable dictated by the teachers' needs. In both of these situations, the mentor has to play a number of key roles and be relatively proficient in these. In terms of the role of the mentor in an external context, this chapter looks at the role of mentor in the Irish Research Scheme for Teaching, a national research scheme aimed at promoting academic quality through research in Ireland.

Utilization of Reflective Strategies by Mentors in the Student Teacher Mentoring Program (STMP) in a Selected Province in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, teacher training is a joint endeavor between teachers' colleges and host schools, with the latter relying on mentors in training student teachers during teaching practice (TP). This chapter explores how mentors' reflective strategies enhance students' training. It explores how mentors adopt reflective strategies to guide student teachers. Five mentors were interviewed individually while 20 were interviewed in two focus groups. Their views concentrated on key aspects of teaching, namely scheming, lesson planning, delivery, and evaluation. Findings revealed that student teachers lacked clear aims, had poor lesson introductions, superficial lesson evaluation, and unsatisfactory lesson delivery. The study highlighted that mentors reflected on these aspects and assisted the student teachers to do the same. The study recommends that teachers' colleges should prepare student teachers adequately in scheming, planning, and lesson delivery before TP. More time should be devoted to professional studies by teachers' colleges before student teachers are deployed on TP.

Mentoring University Preparatory Students Through World Englishes (WEs)-Integrated Courses

The increasing number of non-native English speakers in the world has led to the use of varieties of English. Nowadays, the number of speakers of English in the expanding circle has exceeded the number of speakers in the outer and inner circles. This has given rise to the scrutiny of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). With this regard, the research on World Englishes (WEs) has increased over the last few decades. In light of these observations, the purpose of this chapter is to raise awareness of World Englishes (WEs) among preparatory students at private universities in Turkey. Specifically, the study is concerned with mentoring preparatory students through Wes-integrated courses. The participants of this study were 20 preparatory students at A2-level English proficiency. As data collection procedure, the mentor teacher of the existing program adapted EFL materials including videos, dialogues, and integrated four language skills. The data were collected through questionnaires and reflective essays. With regard to the results, the students had an idea about the concept of Wes, and they became aware of the varieties of English to some extent; specifically, they displayed consciousness about the status of English across the world and sympathy toward WEs.

Design and Implementation of Mentoring Programs

It is hard to mention a single type of mentoring since every mentoring process might have different needs and purposes. Mentor and mentee should come together and determine the needs and goals for designing a mentoring program. This is the best possible way to make an effective program. A well-planned mentoring program is required for new graduate teachers to be trained well. Needs analysis must be done in the first stage of the program. After the program's development phases that involve design and implementation, evaluation phase enables the program to succeed and be effective. The characteristics such as personality, attitude, and education background of both the mentor and mentee should be taken into consideration when performing mentoring implementations for teacher training. This enhances acqusitions achieved from the process. It is of importance to receive support from specialists in their fields, academicians in education faculties of universities, and program development experts during the process of mentoring training program.

The Leadership Competencies of Teacher Mentors as a Factor of Education of Leadership Competencies in Students

In recent years there has been more and more research done concerning the preparation of students for leadership. Although the significance of practical activity and mentorship has been emphasized, the lack of research has been felt that could reveal the connection between the practice of mentors of teaching practicum and leadership competencies of students. The display of these connections could help to create possibilities to purposefully act, fulfill expedient intervention into the processes of development of leadership competencies, teaching practicum, and mentorship processes in order to seek to improve them and achieve better results in development of students' leadership competencies. The research using the strategy of natural experiment was carried out. It has been proved that the leadership competencies of students (after teaching practice) are related with the functions implemented by mentors by a statistically significant and linear functional connection. That proves that the leadership competencies of teacher mentors and their students are interrelated.

Mentoring Dispositions for Pre-Service and Early Career Special Educators Through Service Learning

Service learning projects were created and implemented by faculty in the special education unit at Molloy College for pre-service and early career special education teachers. The service learning projects provided an opportunity for faculty to mentor participants in the area of dispositions for teaching through a shared experience outside of the higher education classroom. The projects were conducted in/or with community schools serving the K-12 population and students with disabilities in inclusive settings. It was hypothesized that service learning opportunities would serve as a platform for participants to reflect and to evaluate their dispositions as they act and interact in environments which were multidimensional. The results indicated that this was the case and that participants gained insights into their dispositions when the statements of dispositions were related to an experience. Faculty concluded that a variety of service learning projects provided varied opportunities for participants to exercise beliefs and bring clarity to the term “dispositions for teaching.”

Mentoring Elementary Education Teacher Candidates in the Instructional Design and Lesson Planning Process

Out of the myriad skills and knowledge expected for teacher candidates to develop prior to becoming a full-time teacher, the process of designing instruction and planning lessons and units is one of the most critical. In this chapter, the authors describe the multi-semester approach to mentoring and supporting elementary education teacher candidates with the process of instructional design and lesson planning. They provide a detailed look at each semester followed by implications and future directions for both practice and research.

Mentoring of Pre-Service Teachers

This chapter uses a qualitative research approach. It follows an interpretive constructionist paradigm. This approach emphasizes the idea that human knowledge is a human construct, and the chapter examines the world of lived experience from the point of view of pre-service teachers. Method used in collecting information was through literature review. The purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to argue for the mentoring of pre-service teachers. Topics covered are mentoring and professional development; teachers' rights and obligations; factors that discourage pre-service teachers to pursue teacher education; teacher recruitment strategies; teacher autonomy; as well as dealing with diversity and bullying in schools.

Zooming Into Mentor-Mentee Relationship to Explore Mentoring Strategies

Motivated by the need to develop a clearer picture of mentoring, this chapter aims to zoom into the pivotal role of the “relationship” aspect in ensuring effective mentoring and what the good mentor attributes are. The chapter includes the short narrations of both the mentors and the mentees who were engaged in a pre-service teacher training course. Four mentors and four mentees have been asked to narrate their positive as well as any less positive experiences with their mentors/mentees during the course. As a result, both mentor and mentee “voices” were used as a stimulus for identifying effective mentoring strategies. The chapter ultimately aims to make noteworthy implications for enlarging our understanding of how mentoring might be most effectively used in teacher professional development ventures and how the relationship aspect might be useful in selecting the most effective mentors in different teacher education contexts.