Associations between novice teachers’ perceptions of their relationship to their mentor and professional commitment

ABSTRACT

This first years of teaching constitute entry stage to the profession and are considered a period of critical importance for determining the new teacher’s professional identity. This study explores the associations between novice teachers’ perspectives of their relationship with their mentors and their professional commitment. This qualitative study utilises data from semi-structured interviews conducted with 35 second-year Israeli teachers (subsequent to a year of internship). The findings indicate an association between novice teachers’ high professional commitment and a functional mentoring relationship and lack of association between novice teachers’ low professional commitment and other types of mentoring relationships. The results and their implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Entry stage
• mentoring
• novice teachers
• professional commitment
• relationships

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hila Vaitzman Ben-David

Hila Vaitzman Ben-David, MA, was a graduate student in the Department of Education and Psychology at the Open University of Israel when the study was completed. She is currently a PhD student at Bar-Ilan University. Her research interests include mentoring of new teachers and teachers' professional learning communities.

Izhak Berkovich

Izhak Berkovich, PhD, is a faculty member in the Department of Education and Psychology at the Open University of Israel. His research interests include educational leadership, ethics and social justice in school management, emotions in schools, politics and policy making in education, and educational reforms.