What Is 'Good' Mentoring? Understanding Mentoring Practices of Teacher Induction through Case Studies of Finland and Australia

Y

27

Mentors; Beginning Teacher Induction; Theory Practice Relationship; Educational Practices; Foreign Countries; Case Studies; Secondary School Teachers; High Schools; Cross Cultural Studies; Trust (Psychology); Teacher Qualifications; Faculty Development; Interpersonal Relationship; Beginning Teachers; Experienced Teachers; Interviews; Focus Groups; Observation

Australia; Finland

10.1080/14681366.2015.1083045

1468-1366

Mentoring is a practice widely utilised to support new teachers. However, in locally formed systems, the practice of mentoring is conditioned by traditions and arrangements specific to the site. To understand "good" mentoring, these local arrangements cannot be ignored. In this article, the theory of practice architectures is employed to make explicit the prefiguring arrangements of mentoring practices in Finland and NSW Australia. The findings suggest that mentoring practices are shaped by their ontological specificity and this makes reproducing mentoring practices in different sites problematic. Explicating the prefiguring architectures of practices is critical to understanding the contested nature of mentoring.

As Provided

60

2016

EJ1087383