I am interested in exploring perceptions on the benefits of taking on the mentoring role and would like to hear views on what mentors do (or should) get out of participating in this process. In my context this relates to those mentoring trainee teachers but I am also interested in other forms of mentoring.
I think there is the inevitable tension between the performative approach to mentoring (have they passed all the criteria? Have they met the standards?) and the 'softer' side........ this is brought into focus with the way in which new teacher standards tend to be interpreted. I wonder if introducing some reflective element would be a way forward, we have often done this for mentees, now what about for mentors?
Thank you for your response .. and definitely something to think about.
Never forget that mentoring is a teaching and learning method. As it is very practical method, so it is both of learning and teaching . It means that Mentoring can be a key development tool for individuals while it is developmental for mentors.
Learning is a continuous process. Continuous mentoring also throws lights on our strengths and weaknesses which show the success or failure of the process. Evaluating feedback and then reorienting the mentorship should result in better results. I agree the one-way process of thinking of mentoring is the - Theory X attitude, ie I I know everything and hence I am guiding. It needs to be replaced by Theory Y to synchronise into the common strengths and positive guiding. This attitude should help to succeed in mentoring
My understanding is that mentoring requires autonomous motivation. Because it involves high quality relationship. Therefore, it can be argued that one important benefit for mentors in such processes is to exercise their autonomous motivation in order to intrinsically enjoy the process or act based on their identity or because of the value that they see in mentoring such as professional growth in mentees or a way for positively influence their society or profession. In the trainee teacher context, some other values such as having positive outcomes for the society from educational perspective or helping new generations of teachers may also be mentors' internal motives. Of course, there may be some other reasons such as satisfying their basic psychological needs (competence, relatedness, and autonomy) in a new context. These were possible reasons from the SDT perspective while there may be others from other perspectives.
Thank you ... Some interesting answers. I do think that mentors have their own motivations for taking on the role and and many of these are altruistic. I am also interested in what specific skills or knowledge mentors might gain from the experience and whether this should be as important (although perhaps different to) those gained by mentees.
You might look into the the service-learning literature as another avenue. For example, there's this study of a service-learning program focusing on college students as mentors that does a nice job of exploring some potential benefits: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10464-013-9589-z
I'm not sure that mentoring 'should' be developmental for the mentors as well as the mentees. For me, the main purpose of mentoring is to support the growth and learning of the mentee. However, the process of mentoring IS also developmental for the mentor, as my own and others' experience and research attests!
Angi, thank you for your response. I agree in my experience many mentors do find the process of mentoring to be developmental. Unfortunately, there is also evidence to suggest that development opportunities for mentors are diminished when the role becomes a mandated part of a performative culture, which has been the case in some post compulsory education contexts.
It is an interesting debate and maybe an area for more research into the various sectors? In an ideal world the mentors should benefit from their role however, as Carol argued, the Post Compulsory landscape (even post-Twelve Dancing Princesses!) is heavily performative and I would suggest the tick box approach mitigates against the developmental element. Certainly in my time in the sector there was a move away from the nurturing approach towards a standards driven approach. Comparing sectors would be fascinating.
We are studying this in a research center context where we have multiples kinds of mentoring occurring simultaneously. We are especially interested in the ways in which the dominant social norms of a profession are enacted and "taught" in the mentoring relationships.
That sounds like interesting research Jennifer... this is particularly relevant for those mentoring trainee teachers so I would be keen to see your results.
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