From university to working life: mentoring as a pedagogical challenge

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the transition from university to working life through different theoretical approaches. Inspired by Barnett the paper also asks: What is it to learn for an unknown future? According to Bartlett neither knowledge nor skills are sufficient to enable success in the contemporary world. What is needed are certain kinds of human qualities and dispositions. The paper seeks to introduce two examples that help us to analyse the phenomenon from the perspectives of higher education and working life.Design/methodology/approachThe data consists of an interview on pedagogical practices in actor training and of group mentoring discussions in a teacher community.FindingsBased on the observations, the educational process itself with its disturbing factors, the transition to working life, and finding one's place in it are all sites that provide their own challenges for an unknown future. The contradiction between security and the unknown inscribed in them produces uncertainty. Furthermore, the paper maintains that self‐challenge is one of the dispositions needed for living with uncertainty.Originality/valueDialogic mentoring is a tool by which the problems and contradictions raised by daily practices can be challenged. Some of these contradictions may have their roots in unsolved challenges during education, and then have to be shouldered by the work community. The concept of dialogic mentoring is a fruitful pedagogical tool in preventing and reducing work‐based stress and exhaustion experienced by newcomers in work communities.

Methodological reflections: supervisory discourses and practice-based learning

“…Because then, all work is a question also of your own process, not just of other'. (See more Saarnivaara and Sarja 2007) On the basis of our findings, transformative dialogue can be defined in terms of the promotion of self-reflection in learning in a social environment. In fact, when using transformative dialogue, supervisors do not intentionally go beyond the local context.…”

“…In this situation the prerequisites for the emergence of exploratory dialogue were that the meaning and object were clearly defined at the beginning of the dialogic process (e.g. Janhonen and Sarja 2000;Saarnivaara and Sarja 2007).…”

Developing tomorrow's talent: the case of an undergraduate mentoring programme

“…The transition into the world of work from university has been traditionally seen as an inevitable, but sometimes problematic step (Holden and Hamblett, 2007;Holden and Jameson, 1999; 442 ET 54,6 Saarnivaara and Sarja, 2007). In other educational settings transitions between school, college and university have been tackled, most noticeably through the AimHigher initiative (Passy and Morris, 2010).…”

Intercultural Space as Transitional Space: Movements, Transformations and Dialectical Relations

“…Lindberg, 2008). Saarnivaara and Sarja (2007), however, in their study of the transition from university to working life, argue that transition processes are not as clearly defined as they used to be. Rapid social and economic changes make transitions problematic.…”