Novice principal mentoring and professional development

Abstract

PurposeThis article explores the contribution of mentoring to the professional development of novice principals. Based on Abbott’s (1988) framework, the authors suggest that effective mentoring depends on the extent it develops professional core knowledge, which includes the skills of diagnosis, intervention and inference that are heavily based on academic knowledge, practical experience, self-awareness and reflective ability.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory qualitative methodology was applied to discover principals’ perceptions of their mentoring. The authors interviewed 15 novice principals about their mentoring events and conducted a category-based analysis to find out how these events reflect contributions to their diagnosis, intervention and inference skills.FindingsThe study found that most of the mentoring events provided support for the intervention skill, while ignoring the skills of diagnosis and inference. We suggest that to develop novice principals professionally, mentors should place similar emphasis on all three skills.Research limitations/implicationsThe small research population and its possible bias toward positive mentoring experience may present only part of the picture. Still, the data provided important insights into how mentoring supports (or not) professional skills development, even in the best cases. Using professional skills in a large sample survey of effective and less effective mentoring relationships would help to validate this framework.Practical implicationsFirst, the findings serve as a guideline for mentor training programs to help develop mentors’ ability to support all three professional skills. Second, the findings may help novice principals to evaluate their mentoring relationships and their contribution to developing professional core knowledge skills.Originality/valueThe professional skills framework adds to the principal mentoring literature by emphasizing the importance of diagnosis, intervention and inference skills, in addition to certain content and specific conditions.

A Bibliometric Review of the Knowledge Base on Mentoring for the Professional Development of School Administrators

“…Since they are the decision-making authority, school administrators undertake a strategic role in fulfilling schools' social, organizational, pedagogical, and political functions. Their decisions significantly affect students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders [30]. As a result, in addition to the training and selection of school administrators, providing them with high-quality mentoring has become crucially important to support the healthy management of schools.…”

Successful, coasting and low-performing school principals in Israel: an explanatory model

“…For example, after studying important subjects, such as the climate crisis or emotional learning, the candidate principals have to discuss how they can introduce such subjects into the school schedule, at the expense of what, how teachers will learn to teach this subject and how it can be aligned with the national standard. Third, the SSP model can serve as a guideline for principal mentoring, enabling novice School principals in Israel principals to acknowledge their biases, reveal their strengths and weaknesses and learn how to use them to successfully restructure the school organization (Pariente and Tubin, 2021). The theoretical and practical implications point to the next phase of the ISSPP study in Israel.…”

Virtual mentoring and coaching for school leaders participating in virtual professional learning communities

“…While traditional face-to-face (F2F) mentoring and coaching relationships typically are received positively and are related to improved leadership growth (Pariente and Tubin, 2021), inherent disadvantages include limited choices in a mentor or coach, as well as geographic and time constraints that can disproportionately affect individuals from highneeds schools (Johnston et al, 2016). In response, VMC has grown as a viable alternative (Tong et al, 2015); however, this area remains rather underexplored compared to F2F mentoring and coaching, especially regarding possible guidelines for successful VMC and positive outcomes for school leaders.…”

“…While traditional face-to-face (F2F) mentoring and coaching relationships typically are received positively and are related to improved leadership growth (Pariente and Tubin, 2021), inherent disadvantages include limited choices in a mentor or coach, as well as geographic and time constraints that can disproportionately affect individuals from high-needs schools (Johnston et al. , 2016).…”