Novice principals’ perceptions of their mentoring process in early career stage: the key role of mentor-protégé relations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the current study was to explore new Israeli principals’ perceptions, during the first three years in post, of the impact of their mentoring process on their leadership experiences. Based on 12 interviews with newly appointed school principals in the Israeli State Education System, the study found that many of them indicated that their mentor gave them professional and practical advice and performance feedback, especially on technical and administrative issues rather than on issues related to instructional leadership. In addition, the new principals shed light on the significant impact of proper educational and emotional matching between the mentor and the new principal on the mentoring process. We suggest some practical implications for establishing effective mentoring programs for new principals at the end of the paper.

KEYWORDS:

• Mentor
• principal
• early career

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Izhar Oplatka is a professor of Educational Administration and Leadership at The School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Israel and the head of the dept. of Educational Policy and Administration. Prof. Oplatka's research focuses on the lives and career of school teachers and principals, educational marketing, emotions and educational administration, and the foundations of educational administration as a field of study.

Alona Lapidot is a primary school teacher and the head of the Science department in her school. She graduated from her MA studies in the school of Education in Tel Aviv University and wrote her thesis about the impact of mentoring relations on the school principal.

Notes

1. The first number refers to years in principalship and the second to the principal's age.