Mentoring beginning teachers in primary schools: research review

Abstract

While mentoring programmes have proven to be successful in reducing attrition and improving teaching ability in beginning teachers, there remains a lack of research delineating the key components of effective mentoring programmes in primary education. This integrative research review examines empirical studies conducted since 2000 on the nature and effectiveness of mentoring programmes for beginning teachers in primary school. The sample comprised 10 articles. The research literature is summarised to provide greater clarity about the features of mentoring programmes and their corresponding outcomes. This review calls attention to the need for research studies to provide a clear definition of mentoring and how it may be distinguished from induction so that the impact of mentoring can be disentangled from that of induction. It also highlights limited research that currently exists on the effects of mentoring in a primary school setting. Implications for conducting rigorous studies investigating the outcomes of mentoring for primary beginning teachers are discussed.

Keywords:

• teacher induction
• mentoring
• beginning teachers
• primary schools
• elementary schools
• integrative review

Acknowledgement

The author would like to sincerely thank Professor Donna Berthelsen from Queensland University of Technology for her mentoring in compiling this integrative review.