Teacher educators are an occupational group who appear to suffer from an identity crisis. They do not seem to be able to agree on what their role or professional learning needs are. This situation has dire consequences for the next generation of teacher educators who enter the field in the same rather haphazard and ad hoc way as the ones before.…

Successful mentoring relationships are essential for novice teachers entering the teaching profession. The success of the mentoring process depends in large part on the diagnostic abilities of the mentor, but there is little research on how mentor teachers view their mentees. In this small-scale study, we explored how 11 mentor teachers describe…

Being adaptive to the individual novice teacher is considered a condition for effective teacher mentoring. The aims of this study are therefore to explore (1) mentoring activities through which mentors intend to adapt to the individual novice teacher and (2) characteristics of adaptive mentors. Information was collected through on-site,…

This book samples recent and emerging trust research in education including an array of conceptual approaches, measurement innovations, and explored determinants and outcomes of trust. The collection of pathways explores the phenomenon of trust and establishes the significance of trust relationships in school life. It emboldens the claim that…

Purpose: Competent clinical teachers are essential for clinical teaching. According to the literature, coaching can contribute to improved levels of reflection and better performance of clinical teachers. By engaging in a dialogue about coachee's teaching behaviour, coaches can stimulate reflection of novice teachers. This study aims to gain…

This study describes the effects of a program designed to train Dutch primary school teachers in skills needed to coach and act as mentors for beginning teachers. The study investigated whether mentors who participated in the training program would implement the target coaching skills and whether the beginning teachers coached by the mentors would…

The mentoring model described in this paper assumes teachers to be self-directing professionals, and adopts the formalized mentor-protege relationship as the starting point and the individual teacher's professional development as the organizing principle for the induction of teachers into the profession. The essential elements of a mentor's…

This paper reports on an element of a long term research project on the development of a conceptual framework for the training of mentors of beginning teachers. Three aspects are being investigated: (1) mentors' perceptions about mentoring; (2) the relation between mentors' perceptions and their actions in practice; and (3) the effect of mentoring…

In this paper a conceptual framework is presented which describes the various dimensions and factors that constitute the processes of a beginning teacher's professional development during preservice and the induction period. The frame in question is based on data resulting from earlier research and on a broad study of recent literature. The model…

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a beginning teacher induction program designed to bridge the gap between student teacher and teacher with full responsibility. While teachers were happy in general with the program, effects on teacher behavior were slight. (Author/MT)

The Institute of Education (Utrecht University, Netherlands) has developed a one-year immersion teacher education program for beginning teachers. The program consists of two days per week on campus with the other days spent as classroom teachers; it includes intensive supervision by a cooperating teacher and a university faculty member. In this…

Examined the impact on Dutch mentors and institute teachers of the new requirement that student teachers nearing completion of coursework must teach without immediate supervision for several months. Surveys investigated how this change affected the content and process of mentoring. Mentors and institute teachers acted as supportive counselors and…