Mentorship is important to the success of an educator's professional career no matter their subject area or grade level of expertise. Upon graduation from teacher education and graduate schools, educators must continue their education and growth through job-embedded professional development and meaningful reflection. This form of ongoing professional growth may not result in a degree provided by a postsecondary institution, however, it will serve to improve educators’ knowledge, expertise as education practitioners, and, possibly, grow their personal capacity as well.

 

Overall, mentoring encourages adults to broaden their perspectives, challenge their assumptions, and share their expertise with others through a plethora of strategies. Researchers suggest that principals create opportunities for new teachers to observe model teachers during their first years of teaching. By doing so, novice teachers are provided the effective strategy of collegial interaction.

 

With our program, novice teachers are provided a practical approach to learning that provides them immediate applicability to their professional goals. Researchers have also found that novice teachers who received mentoring support from their colleagues with similar subject area foci and who worked in collaboration with other teachers were less likely to move to different schools or leave the teaching profession early on. Our Novice Pedagogue Mentoring program endeavors to aid schools and districts in the development and retention of teachers.