Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on reflective mentoring practices. Teacher mentors are widely known to be an important catalyst for reflection. Through dialogue and professional conversations, teacher mentors can help their mentees to improve their teaching performance by facilitating their discussion of the praxis from different perspectives. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative mixed methods study is based on three separate studies from the Republic of Ireland, Malta and Norway involving: mentors of undergraduate student-teachers (U-M, n: 37); mentors of newly qualified teachers (NQT-M, n: 4); student-teachers (ST, n: 16); NQT, n: 8; and university tutors (UT, n: 8). In each study, mentors were provided with varying degrees of education on facilitating critical reflection for mentees. This study sought to draw out what reflective practices were being employed in mentoring across European contexts and what perceived impact they had. A cross-case analysis of data across the three countries was conducted using coding and constant comparison. Triangulation of data was employed across not only cases, but also across multiple methods data sets and across participant types. Findings All three studies reveal that mentoring approaches aiming to promote critical reflection have to be based on a developmental approach towards mentoring. They also have to challenge traditional hierarchical relationships and involve a commitment to collaborative, inquiry-oriented approaches towards mentoring. Research limitations/implications By bringing different studies of reflection in mentoring practices together, it is possible to gain new knowledge on mentoring in teacher education. However, being a cross-country, cross-context and cross-cultural approach in itself contains certain restrictions. Originality/value The authors of this paper propose that professional forms of inquiry depend on the type of relationship and collaboration forged between the teacher mentor and mentee. A cross-case analysis approach provided evidence of reflective practice, which is common across three European countries and offers a snapshot of trends.
She researches professional learning, in particular informal learning and mentoring and is also interested in children and young people's rights. Rachel is a co-convenor of the Open Learning network of the European Educational Research Association (network 6) and is on the governing body of the Scottish Educational Research Association. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is a member of the Scottish Community Learning and Development Standards Council. Rachel previously had a varied career in research and education including positions as a law lecturer; employment rights adviser; and as a lifelong learning organiser.
SammendragKunnskap om tilrettelegging for kritisk tenkning er vesentlig i barnehage og skoler, i laererutdanning og i veilederutdanning. Artikkelen presenterer og døfter eksempler på hvordan veiledningssamtaler mellom nyutdannede og deres veiledere å pner for kritisk tenkning ved å vise til data fra to doktorgradsavhandlinger (Bjerkholt, 2013a;Ødegå rd, 2011). Denne å pningen kommer til uttrykk ved at deltakerne tydeliggjør og gransker beslutningsgrunnlaget for pedagogiske valg. Analysene viser at spor av kritisk tenkning er tydeligere i noen samtaler enn i andre. Sporene varierer i form og omfang, og de arter seg forskjellig. Forhold som barnehage-og skolekontekst, veiledningskontekst og relasjoner mellom de nyutdannede og veilederne samt veiledernes kompetanse har betydning for hvordan og i hvilken grad veiledningssamtaler å pner for kritisk tenkning.Nøkkelord: Kontekstualisering, relasjoner, antakelser, begrunnelser, perspektiver, autonom, funksjonaer, demokrati Abstract Knowledge of how to facilitate critical thinking is essential in kindergartens and schools, in teacher education and in the education of mentors. This article presents and debates examples of how mentoring sessions between the new teachers and their mentors create room for critical thinking, by referring to data from two doctoral dissertations. The analyses of the mentoring sessions show how the sessions, to a certain extent, provide room for critical thinking. This opening for critical thinking is reflected in the way the participants clarify and examine the basis for pedagogical choices. The analyses also show that traces of critical thinking are more apparent in some sessions than in others. These traces vary in form and magnitude, and they appear in different ways. Various factors have important influence on how and to what degree the mentoring sessions open up for critical thinking; for example, the conditions in kindergartens-and school contexts, mentoring context, and relations between the new teachers and their mentors, as well as the mentors' abilities and competences.
Educational research in higher education needs a methodology for how to think and act in relation to how pedagogical interactions support learning. A methodology that can identify how pedagogical rhetorical qualities, such as confidence and a desire to learn, are embedded in a pedagogical interaction. This article presents an outline of a pedagogical rhetorical interactional methodology that enables us to elucidate the responsibility teachers in higher education have for supporting their students' desire to learn as well as for their actual learning. To illustrate how we can apply this methodological approach to empirical data, we present two examples I. A supportive learning context, and II. A non-supportive learning context. These examples illustrate that this methodological approach will contribute to a deeper understanding of what matters when teachers' expressions establish a pedagogical interaction.
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