Mentoring: A primer

This chapter provides a background and definition of mentoring, identifies practical and theoretical issues surrounding the construct of mentoring and discusses the place of mentoring in teacher and coach development. In relation to teacher development, J. H. Shulman and M. Sato and S. Feiman-Nemser provide insights into mentoring teachers with the goal of developing ‘highly qualified teachers’ and the nuances of teacher socialization during this process. Mentoring relationships may take on many different forms, and depending on the context, what works in one mentoring relationship may not work in another. While the goals of some mentoring relationships are formally set forth by those coordinating the mentoring programme, the focus should be aligned with the protege’s needs as much as possible. The book closes with a synthesis of the lessons learned what we could add to the Mentor Pedagogy Toolbox sections from each chapter.