Supporting Mentors of Preservice Early Childhood Education Teachers: A Literature Review

Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 36, Issue 2, 2015, p. 90-99.

Mentors have the profound responsibility to be both supervisor and instructor all the while fostering a cooperative, trusting, and supportive relationship.
However, many mentors feel unprepared to meet the needs of preservice students (Russell & Russell, 2011) and unsupported in the mentoring role.

Little work has been done to study the evolution of mentorship skills in professional teachers, specifically as they participate in ongoing support and training for their role as mentors (Pavia, Nissen, Hawkins, Monroe, & Filimon-Demyen, 2003; Sayeski & Paulsen, 2012).

This article reviews the literature in order to advocate for future exploration of mentoring support that fosters the mentor’s construction and development of new knowledge, skills, and understandings about mentoring preservice early childhood teachers.

References
Pavia, L., Nissen, H., Hawkins, C., Monroe, M.E., & Filimon-Demyen, D. (2003) .Mentoring early childhood professionals. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 17, 250-261.
Russell, M. L., & Russell, J. A. (2011). Mentoring relationships: Cooperating teachers' persepectives on mentoring student interns. The Professional Educator, 35, 16-35.
Sayeski, K. L., & Paulsen, K. J. (2012). Student teacher evaluations of cooperating teachers as indices of effective mentoring. Teacher Education Quarterly, 39(2) ,117-130.