Lived mentorship experiences: Reflections of early career teachers' journey with mentorship

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Wolfram, Aimee

• Many early career teachers leave the profession in the first five years despite the implementation of district mentorship programs. Building on Clandinin et al.’s (2015) research on teacher attrition which found that in Alberta 40% of teachers leave education in the first five years - this study defines “early career teachers” as teachers who are in their first five years of the profession. Specifically, this research study aimed to learn from the storied experiences of early career teachers who participated in mentorship programs that assign mentors to beginning teachers. Guided by a narrative inquiry methodology, two teacher participants’ experiences are illuminated including: the struggles of beginning a teaching career; the role mentors are perceived to play; and hopes and visions they have for future mentorship programs. From the research and this study, it is found that mentorship programs provide emotional and professional supports that can contribute to the sustainment of early career teachers (Claycomb & Hawley, 2000, Giles, Davis & McGlamery, 2009, Dias-Lacy & Guirguis, 2017). Researchers have suggested that mentorship programs with established goals and well-matched partnerships aid in
  mitigating the challenges presented for early career teachers (Dias-Lacy & Guirguis, 2017). Also, a finding discussed within this study includes the necessity for schools and districts to attend more closely to the lived experiences of early career teachers to sustain and retain them.

• Date created

  2020

• Subjects / Keywords

  • early career teachers
  • narrative inquiry
  • mentorship programs
  • teacher attrition
  • mentor and mentee experiences

• Type of Item

  Research Material

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-tmcn-8058

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International