Understanding mentoring that facilitates personal growth in a school setting
Date
2003
Authors
Adlparvar, Bijan
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Abstract
This study explores the experience of mentoring between teachers and high school students. Through semi-structured one-to-one interviews, two mentors and four proteges share their reflections on their mentoring relationships. An analysis of the data, using hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, has produced the reconstructed stories of these relationships. These stories have revealed 99 themes that characterize them. Thirty-three of these themes are considered essential to the experience of mentoring. Presented together, these themes provide two exhaustive descriptions of mentoring from the perspectives of both mentor and protege. The interpretation of the essential themes provides a deeper understanding of the nature of mentoring. An examination of the pedagogical qualities and actions of the mentor discovered in this research reveals that these are identical with those of the teacher. This study challenges teachers to see themselves as mentors and to recognise that educating a child requires a deep commitment to one's own moral development.