E-mentoring of Pre-service and Beginning Teachers
Primary and secondary school teachers have the onerous and daunting task of enabling students to develop the knowledge and skills needed for further education, employment, and life at large. Beginning teachers are particularly vulnerable because they lack experience in instructing and managing large groups of learners, while simultaneously coping with assessment demands, curriculum changes, lesson planning, and being responsible to multiple stakeholder groups (parents, students, the community, school administration, etc.). The alarmingly high attrition rates of newly appointed teachers worldwide (Moskowitz & Stephens, 1997; DePaul, 2000; Williams & Prestage, 2000; Department of Education, Science and Training, 2003) may be at least partially attributed to these difficulties, which are compounded by the lack of availability of appropriate and effective induction and support (Ingersoll, 2001; Fideler & Haselkorn, 1999; McCormack, 2007).
Research has shown that successful mentoring experiences can lead to beginning teachers’ increased contentment with and proficiency in teaching, which in turn can have an influence on whether or not they continue on to pursue a long-term career in teaching (Darling-Hammond, 2003; Livengood & Moon Merchant, 2004; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004; Brady & Schuck, 2005). For beginning teachers, mentoring relationships can offer support and feedback, and prepare them for successful entry into the “real world” of the school and classroom. In a review of the literature by Carter and Francis (2001), such mentoring arrangements are also presented as a process that “mitigates teacher isolation, promotes the concept of an educative workplace and … leads to the creation of understanding of consensual norms in a school, faculty or grade team” (p. 250). The authors conclude that contextualized learning that is mediated by mentors in the workplace can be effective in the development of a body of practical, professional knowledge for beginning teachers.
With increased pressures of accountability, now and in the future, developing new teachers into effective educators committed to the profession is a major focus for universities and their partners, such as local, state, and national education departments and agencies. In most contemporary initial teacher education programs, pre-service teachers typically complete a series of field practicum experiences before they become qualified. It is during the practicum, when they are separated from their university teachers and classmates for the first time in their program and expected to work independently, that they are most in need of emotional support, as well as access to advice and feedback on their professional competencies. For many, the sense of isolation experienced while on practicum contrasts sharply with the supportive environment they have experienced at university. During this critical period, time and place constraints often act as an impediment to the maintenance of successful mentoring relationships (Watson, 2006). Online or e-mentoring can help overcome these constraints while fostering the development of open and supportive relationships and friendships that transcend the walls of the classroom or institution. In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the use of mentors during the induction phase for beginning teachers, and to the development of online forums and websites to support these teachers in the first few years of their career (see for example, Herrington, Herrington, Kervin, & Ferry, 2006; Klecka, Clift, & Thomas, 2002; Ontario Teachers’ Federation, 2007). Reports on productive mentoring strategies in pre-service teacher training, and on the use of e-mentoring in this area, are nevertheless relatively sparse (Bierema & Merriam, 2002). In one successful initiative, Watson (2006) describes an e-mentoring program that involved the pairing of pre-service teachers and practicing teachers in the southeastern United States. The program provided “rich” field experiences for the student teachers without the problems that face-to-face mentoring would normally entail. Despite some technical difficulties, students found the project to be an effective means of support in “issues pertaining to socialization, learning environments, assessment/evaluation and paperwork, classroom management/discipline, curriculum/resource materials, time management, teaching strategies, certification, legal concerns, special needs, students, new teachers and [discipline/subject area] specific content” (p. 175).
Professional development and learning for teachers is, in reality, a lifelong, career wide, context-specific enterprise that is guided by mentors at various stages, grounded in practice and focused on continuous learning that is both reflective and experiential. Schlager and Fusco (2004) describe it as “a process of learning how to put knowledge into practice through engagement in practice within a community of practitioners” (p. 205, authors’ emphasis). In other words, professional growth requires engagement and dialogue with a community of like-minded peers, and entails social and self-critical processes. Lave and Wenger (1991) argue that learning is situated in social contexts and is achieved through interaction and practice with others with similar professional interests (i.e., communities). The term “legitimate peripheral participation” refers to the way in which newcomers become part of a community of practice (CoP) through apprenticeship, or learning from others with greater expertise. This socially-based theory of professional learning implies that individuals learn by engaging with and contributing to their communities. Existing community members learn and refine their own practice through interaction and sharing with one another, as well by offering apprenticeships to newcomers. This is congruent with the research on mentoring, which shows that the process is mutually beneficial for mentors and protégés (Huang & Lynch, 1995; Freiberg, Zbikowski, & Ganser, 1996; David, 2000; Holloway, 2001).