Mentor-Novice Relationships and Learning to Teach in Teacher Induction: A Critical Review of Research

• Main Authors: Jian Wang, Lori A. Fulton
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hipatia Press 2012-02-01
• Series: REMIE : Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research
• Subjects: mentoring relationship; teacher induction; teacher learning
• Online Access: http://www.hipatiapress.info/hpjournals/index.php/remie/article/view/147/80

This review examines the influences of teacher-mentor relationships on novice teachers' learning to teach and the program and school contexts shaping this relationship during teacher induction. It reviews systematically four bodies of empirical literature since 1995. They include the studies on the consequences of what mentors and novices do for novices' learning to teach and their student performances, the role of what mentors and novices brought into their relationship that shapes teacher mentoring relationship, the impacts of mentoring programs on mentor-novice relationships, and the influences of school contexts on mentor-novice relationships. The findings, research methodologies, and future directions for research about teacher mentoring relationship are synthesized and discussed in each section and at the end.