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Mentoring In The Learning Community: Problematic Practices And Outcomes Of Initial Implementation Of Formal Mentoring Programs In Two New Hampshire Public School Districts, Pamela Ann Miller

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study uses a grounded theory methodology to examine how seven teacher mentors in two formalized New Hampshire public school mentoring programs conceptualize their roles and what happens to that conceptualization as they go through their first year of mentoring. The findings suggest that mentors, who have a history of engagement in buddy support, have difficulty shifting their conceptualization of supporting new teachers from the directive practices characteristic of buddy support to the relational practices that characterize "learning-focused" mentoring. Simply having a formal mentoring structure does not ensure such a shift. In fact, a number of major drawbacks to …