Education Commons^™

'We Are History In The Making And We Are Walking Together To Change Things For The Better': Exploring The Flows And Ripples Of Learning In A Mentoring Program For Indigenous Young People, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea, Samantha Mcmahon, Amy Priestly, Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews, Valerie Harwood

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This article explores the unique mentoring model that the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) has established to assist Australian Indigenous young people succeed educationally. AIME can be described as a structured educational mentoring programme, which recruits university students to mentor Indigenous high school students. The success of the programme is unequivocal, with the AIME Indigenous mentees completing high school and the transition to further education and employment at higher rates than their non-AIME Indigenous counterparts. This article reports on a study that sought to deeply explore the particular approach to mentoring that AIME adopts. The study drew upon interviews, observations …

Pathways To Success: Aime's Educational Mentoring Model, Amy Priestly, Malcolm Lynch, Carly Wallace, Valerie Harwood

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) is a structured educational mentoring program provided for Indigenous students to access throughout their high school experience. The program is designed to support students to complete high school and transition into university, further education and training or employment at the same rate as every Australian child, effectively closing the gap on educational outcomes. To better understand the impact of the program, AIME has developed a research partnership with a team of researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW) and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Comprising researchers with experience in qualitative and quantitative approaches, …

Enhancing The Quality Of Pre-Service Teachers Learning Through The Conceptualizing Of Mentoring Strategies During The Practicum, Lynn D. Sheridan, Hoa Nguyen

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Professional experience has been described as a cornerstone of teacher preparation that has a "profound impact on student teachers" (Hammerness, Darling-Hammond, & Shulman, 2002, p. 409). There is a wide variation of teacher education programs across the world however, in most countries teacher preparation programs consists of initial university-based course work followed by school-based student teaching practice. Clearly, this program structure has implications for the role of professional experience in creating genuine opportunities for pre-service teachers to develop teaching practice and knowledge about the profession. During the professional experience, mentoring pre-service teachers has been considered critical in ensuring a quality …

School Culture And Mentoring Relationships, Crucial To Developing Confidant Professional Identities Among Lbote Pre-Service Teachers, Lynn D. Sheridan

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the AARE-NZARE 2014 Conference, 30 November-4 December, Brisbane, Australia

Digital Storytelling: Capturing The Stories Of Mentors In Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience, Lisa Kervin, Samantha Mcmahon, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea, Valerie Harwood

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Digital stories are often considered in terms of artistic forms, as teaching and learning tools, and for their emancipatory capacity to capture the stories and experiences of marginalised social groups. This case joins the recent move to reconceptualise the digital story by positing it as a useful research method that generates rich multimodal narrative data. As a new method in social science research, it seems, at least so far, to raise more questions than it answers. Such methodological questions might include the following: What 'type' of digital story to use? How do you analyse, theorise and/or account for the overall …

Aime And The University Of Wollongong: The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea, Paul Chandler, Valerie Harwood, Samantha Mcmahon, Amy Priestly, Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The collaborative research partnership between the University of Wollongong and the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), an Indigenous community organisation, has grown from internal university funding to national funding. This mutually beneficial partnership has resulted in: outputs to AIME for use in their program; funded educational opportunities for Indigenous students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels; and the design of statistical tools for the collection of quantitative data on the program.

The 'Tiger Mother' Factor: Curriculum, Schooling And Mentoring Of Asian Students In An Australian Context, Wilma Vialle

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

There is evidence from a range of sources that indicates that South and East Asian background students are academically outperforming their peers in Australian primary and secondary schools (see, for example, Khoo and Birrell, 2002; Marks et al., 2000; Mcinerney, 2008; Paar and Mok, 1995). This evidence ranges from tertiary enrolment figures and the enrolment statistics of academically selective programs, through to school achievement records and research studies. Several explanations for the superior academic outcomes have been posited by researchers. These have included their work ethic, motivation and aspirations, and the support and expectations of their parents. While these explanations …

Aim(E) For Completing School And University: Analysing The Strength Of The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience, Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews, Valerie Harwood, Samantha Mcmahon, Amy Priestly

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Purpose: Generally, theory and research investigating the effectiveness of mentoring has offered little resounding evidence to attest to mentoring programmes being a strategic initiative that make a real difference in reducing the educational inequities many minority students endure. In contrast to this existing research base, the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) has often been cited as one of the most successful mentoring initiatives within Australia. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine how AIME may impact on the educational aspirations and school self-concept of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Methodology: A series of multi-group analyses were centred …

Connection, Challenge, And Change: The Narratives Of University Students Mentoring Young Indigenous Australians, Sarah O'Shea, Valerie Harwood, Lisa Kervin, Nici Humphry

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this article, we highlighted the stories of university student mentors who are involved in the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME). The AIME program works with young Indigenous school students, at primary and secondary school levels, to encourage continued participation in education and to consider university as a viable life goal. The AIME program is explored from the perspective of the university students who are selected to mentor young Australian Indigenous school students. Adopting a narrative inquiry approach, the article presents richly descriptive insight into the motivations of these mentors and highlights how this experience has impacted upon them. While …

Mentoring Across The Professions: Some Issues And Challenges, Lisa Ehrich, Brian Hansford, John F. Ehrich

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Mentoring has been identified as a valuable learning activity for beginners and more experienced personnel across a range of professions. For example, education, nursing, medicine, law, accounting , and public administration are among those professions that have utilised mentoring programs as a way of socialising and developing the skills and competencies of new professionals. The definition of mentoring used in this paper comes from Hansford, Tennent, and Ehrich (2002, 2003) that describes mentoring as a process whereby a more experienced practitioner works with, supports, guides and provides professional development to a less experienced practitioner. Mentoring, then, is often used to …

Supporting First Year Student Supporters: An Online Mentoring Model For Supplemental Instruction Leaders, Phillip Dawson, Lori Lockyer, Brian Ferry

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Supplemental Instruction (SI), or Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) as it is commonly known in Australia, involves experienced senior student Peer Leaders who provide regularly scheduled peer learning sessions with students enrolled in university courses. Commonly implemented on first year subjects, the sessions integrate how to learn with what to learn, helping students achieve better grades and helping raise student retention rates. This paper discusses the challenges of supporting SI Leaders who are geographically dispersed across multiple campuses and considers the theoretical and empirical informs the development of an online mentoring model.

The Best Approaches To Online Mentoring, Anthony J. Herrington, Gregg S. Rowland, Janice A. Herrington, Douglas Hearne

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

The beginning year of teaching is arguably a critical year for determining the longevity and success of a teachers career, and the one that would most benefit from induction and mentoring. This paper describes the design and development of a theoretically based, generic website template for online communities of practice for beginning teachers that provides independent and experienced mentoring support. It includes a rich range of resources that are automatically updated, and links to professional websites and other relevant sources of support. The paper illustrates and compares the ways in which the online resource can be used as a model …

Becoming A Beginning Teacher: An Online Mentoring Experience For Pre-Service Physical And Health Educators, Douglas Hearne, Lori Lockyer, Gregg Rowland, John Patterson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

A key feature of any professional education is opportunity for students to engage in meaningful practical learning experiences. In pre-service teacher education, the practicum is a central component. However, due to increasing student numbers and limited resources in university and school sectors, the practicum has undergone challenges in recent years. As a result, innovations to enhance the practical component of this professional degree have been sought. This paper highlights the findings of one aspect of a larger study that used asynchronous Web-based communication tools to facilitate mentoring and peer support through the practice teaching experience. Analysis of qualitative data including …

An Online Mentoring Practicum In Physical And Health Education Teacher Preparation: Preliminary Findings And Future Directions, Douglas Hearne, Lori Lockyer, Gregg S. Rowland, John W. Patterson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

An important aspect of any professional education is the opportunity for students to engage in meaningful practical experiences. In pre-service teacher education, this vital practicum component has undergone challenges in recent years due to increasing student numbers (due to the increasing demand for new teachers) and limited resources in university and school sectors. As a result, new innovations to enhance the practical component of this professional degree have been sought.

This paper highlights preliminary findings of one aspect of a larger study that used asynchronous Web-based communication tools to facilitate mentoring and peer support through the practice teaching experience. Analysis …