Novice Teachers Perceptions of Prior Mentoring Experiences

• Main Author: McElroy, Gloria Freels
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2012
• Subjects: Millennials; Induction program; Teacher Efficacy; Professional Development School; Mentoring; Educational Sociology; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Sociology
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1491; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2684&context=etd

More than 50% of novice educators leave the profession in the first 5 years of service. Novice educators were defined as educators with 5 or fewer years of teaching experience. The State of Tennessee has estimated the cost for that decision to around $28,000.00 per teacher for each local educational authority. Many researchers believe mentoring increases novice satisfaction in the classroom. Even though many enter the field of education, Freedman and Appleman (2009) found that teachers leave the profession in rates higher than other professions. Ingersoll and Merrill (2010) showed the annual turnover rate for teachers was higher than for professions like lawyers, engineers and professors. The purpose of this study was to discuss the role of mentoring in the preservice preparation of novice educators. This study included 10 novice participants with differing preservice mentoring. They were novices with traditional student teaching preservice preparation, year-long internship preparation, urban specialist year-long internships, and alternative licensures featuring a 3-week preservice preparation. Qualitative interviews were conducted in face-to-face individual sessions. After county approval participants were identified and later consented to the study. An interview guide was used and all participants signed the Informed Consent Document. During the interview process participants noted the importance of preservice mentoring. Commonalities perceived were the similarity of Millennials to "make a difference",¥ the desire to teach, and those who had "good" preservice mentoring believed it was more important to their level of job satisfaction than those who did not have "good" preservice mentors. Preservice mentoring was embraced by those with access, and those participants without a "good" preservice mentoring experience expressed a desire to have had "good" preservice mentoring. Preservice mentoring was not found as essential to the retention of novice teachers interviewed in this study. All participants indicated they intend to retire in the educational profession regardless of their preservice mentoring. Recommendations derived from this study included extending preservice requirements for alternative programs and a change in the scope of collegiate work during a novice's preservice training.