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The purpose of this paper is to communicate how Japanese culture impacts upon mentoring in schools in Japan and to report on a study of mentor and novice teacher dialogue. The study is located within the context of explanations of dialogue, practical knowledge and mentoring as collaborative enquiry. It concludes that the time spent by novice teachers in Japanese schools is too short for mentoring to move beyond an apprenticeship model.

In this small study conducted between June 2006 and February 2007, the dialogues between a female novice teacher and a male mentor, who had 27 years’ teaching experience, were analyzed on three occasions. According to the mentoring analysis system developed by the author and his colleagues, all discussion was recorded between the mentor and the mentee about the mentee's teaching using a digital recorder and a video camera. A transcript was made from both recordings, then morphological analysis used (a kind of text analysis) for the transcript, and nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs were identified in transcripts.

In total, 46 teaching scenarios were analyzed, where the mentor was offering his comments about a total of three recorded lessons by the mentee. Patterns of linguistic interaction between the mentor and mentee during dialogues were noted down and attempts made to identify a dialectical process (of thesis, antithesis and synthesis).

The study undertaken took place over one year in one elementary school in Japan. The practice of mentoring is not widespread in schools and can usefully be extended.

For teachers to become collaborative enquirers, undertaking collaborative research focused on developing teachers’ practical knowledge, the period of initial teacher development for novice teachers could usefully be extended in schools in Japan.

The impact of culture and, in particular, in‐group (uchi) and out‐group (soto) culture in schools in Japan needs to be understood so that novice teachers can be accepted as part of the school's in‐group.

The paper describes a unique study into the impact of culture in Japanese schools and, in particular, into the impact of uchi (in‐group) and soto (out‐group) traditions that reinforce the apprenticeship model of teachers’ induction into the profession.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how mentors can act as change agents for social justice. It examines mentors’ roles in initial teacher education in the lifelong learning sector (LLS) and how critical spaces can be opened up to promote a flow of mentor, trainee teacher, learner and community empowerment.

Two thematic literature reviews were undertaken: one of UK LLS ITE mentoring and the other an international review of social justice in relation to mentoring in ITE and the first year of teaching. Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, field and habitus (Bourdieu, 1986) are used as sensitising tools to explore LLS mentors’ practices and the possibilities for increasing the flow of “pedagogical capital” between mentors, trainee teachers, learners and communities, in such a way that would enable mentors to become agents for social justice.

LLS mentors and trainee teachers are uncertain about their roles. In the UK and several countries, mentoring is dominated by an instrumental assessment-focused approach, whereby social justice is marginalised. In contrast, what we call social justice mentors establish collaborative democratic mentoring relationships, create spaces for critical reflection, support trainees to experience different cultures, develop inclusive critical pedagogies, and generally act as advocates and foster passion for social justice.

While the literature reviews provide timely and important insights into UK and international approaches, the existing literature bases are limited in scale and scope.

A model for mentoring that promotes social justice and recommendations for mentor training are proposed.

The paper addresses the omission in policy, research and practice of the potential for mentors to promote social justice. The proposed model and training approach can be adopted across all education phases.

The purpose of this paper is to explore beginning teachers’ perceptions of the role of the mentor in the early stages of developing a professional identity. The beginning teachers in the authors’ study are defined as having been awarded qualified teacher status at the end of an initial teacher education programme or having completed their first term as a new teacher with responsibility for a class of pupils.

The research design was a qualitative, inductive study. The concepts of communities of practice, legitimate peripheral participation and power dynamics within a community underpinned this study. The data set was collected over a period of 18 months, through six focus groups and 40 questionnaires with beginning teachers across 34 schools altogether. The data set was analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA).

The findings indicated that the ways in which mentors use their power to recognise (or not) the legitimacy of beginning teachers as being part of the school community influences the development of beginning teachers’ professional identities. The thematic analysis of the data indicated the different types of support that mentors may provide: “belonging”, “emotional”, “pedagogical” and “space”.

Further research into how mentors perceive their role in supporting new entrants into the profession is needed.

These findings are pertinent in England, as the increase in school-based initial teacher training provision will intensify the role of school mentors. These findings will be of value to other countries that are moving towards an increase in school-based teacher training.

The purpose of this systematic literature review is to catalog, explore and disseminate knowledge developed related to the affordances, constraints and collaborative practices of e-mentoring in order to offer recommendations for mentoring programs.

After identifying studies utilizing inclusion and exclusion criteria and a variety of relevant databases, chosen studies were organized into three categories based on e-mentoring practices.

Results reflect chat-room-based e-mentoring and e-mentoring with a video component both to have various affordances and collaborative features. These forms of e-mentoring can potentially be relevant to new teachers’ needs, may promote community and are disconnected from mentees’ school systems. A third form of e-mentoring, virtual reality e-mentoring, however, has the potential for accessibility issues and lack of relevancy to the mentoring process.

Chat-room-based e-mentoring and e-mentoring with a video component may benefit new teachers who do not have access to in-person mentors. However, these forms of e-mentoring may necessitate a component that ensures mentors and mentees alike remain consistently engaged in the e-mentoring process.

The aim of this paper is to use the lens of figurational sociology to analyse the learning networks of physical education (PE) associate teachers (ATs) in England. More specifically, it aims to develop a more adequate understanding of who is involved in the learning networks and how they influence ATs during their one-year postgraduate initial teacher education (ITE) programme.

A total of 35 ATs within a university ITE partnership took part in the study during the final phase of their postgraduate programme. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to examine the nature and impact of the interdependent relationships that they had developed with other individuals and groups. A process of content analysis was used to identify and analyse patterns in the data.

Mentors have the most influence over ATs. They support the inclusion of the ATs within the PE department, but elements of the mentors' role are contradictory and can unintentionally hinder the ATs' teaching. Mentors, teachers and tutors also share a common social habitus that ensures a degree of conformity within the PE community. New experiences tend to reinforce ATs' existing beliefs about the nature and practice of teaching PE.

These findings have implications for providers of ITE in deciding who is involved in mentor training and how it is approached. If ATs are to be introduced to more innovative teaching approaches that promote change, then tutors need to collaborate with mentors and teachers to develop awareness of their often-unplanned influence.

Applying the distinctive, and more generally sociological, concepts that make up the figurational perspective helped to develop a more adequate understanding of the ATs' learning networks. It provided an insight into the changing relationships that ATs have with their mentors and other individuals who work within the school and university context.

Being literate can change the lives of Australian students. Therefore, graduating effective teachers of literacy is an imperative for Australian schools. Professional experience provides an opportunity for preservice teachers to refine their skills for teaching literacy under the guidance of a mentor teacher. This study investigates from the perspective of preservice teachers, the attributes and practices primary mentor teachers demonstrate when mentoring literacy teaching during professional experience.

This investigation utilised survey design to gather data from primary preservice teachers (n = 402) from seven Australian universities. The 34 survey items were underpinned by the Five Factor Model of Mentoring and literacy practices prescribed by the Australian curriculum. Preservice teachers self-reported their responses about their literacy mentoring experiences on a five-point Likert scale. The Five Factor Model of Mentoring provided a framework to analyse and present the data using descriptive statistics.

Findings revealed 70% or more of preservice teachers agreed or strongly agreed mentor teachers had the personal attributes, shared the pedagogical knowledge, modelled best practice and provided feedback for effective literacy teaching. Conversely, only 58.7% of the participants reported their mentor teachers shared the system requirements for effective literacy teaching.

The preservice teachers self-reported their experiences, and although this may be their experience, it does not necessarily mean the mentor teachers did not demonstrate the attributes and practices reported, it may mean they were not identified by the preservice teachers. While there were 402 participants in this study, the viewpoints of these preservice teachers' may or may not be indicative of the entire population of preservice teachers across Australia. This study included primary preservice teachers, so the experiences of secondary and early childhood teachers have not been reported. An extended study would include secondary and early childhood contexts.

This research highlighted that not all mentor teachers shared the system requirements for literacy teaching with their mentee. This finding prompts a need to undertake further research to investigate the confidence of mentor teachers in their own ability to teach literacy in the primary school. Teaching literacy is complex, and the curriculum is continually evolving. Providing professional learning in teaching literacy will position mentor teachers to better support preservice teachers during professional experience. Ultimately, the goal is to sustain high quality literacy teaching in schools to promote positive outcomes for all Australian school students.

While the role of mentor teacher is well recognised, there is a dearth of research that explores the mentoring of literacy during professional experience. The preservice teachers in this study self-reported inconsistencies in mentor teachers' attributes and practices for mentoring literacy prompting a need for further professional learning in this vital learning area.

The purpose of this paper is to explore mentoring experience through positioning theory lens. It discusses, specifically, the mentoring experience of beginning teachers and mentors in a school in Singapore.

This study uses a case study approach. The data are collected mainly through interviews with beginning teachers and mentors.

The findings suggest that beginning teachers who had an emotionally assuring mentoring experience had mentors who positioned themselves as emotional providers. Those who had a professionally fulfilling mentoring experience had mentors who positioned themselves beyond the providers of emotional support. Beginning teachers who had a less satisfying experience had mentors who positioned themselves as physically and emotionally unavailable. Mentors who had a professionally frustrating mentoring experience had beginning teachers who challenged their positioning. Those who had a personally enjoyable and professionally satisfying mentoring experience positioned themselves as not averse to learning from beginning teachers.

The findings suggest that schools may want to give more attention to mentor preparation, and it should not be a one‐off exercise. The findings also suggest that it may be a good idea to also consider a pre‐mentoring session for both mentors and beginning teachers before they embark on the mentoring proper.

Although this study is at best a research in progress, it, however, signifies the first step towards initiating a dialogue in this aspect as there are hardly any studies that mentoring particularly in the context of Singapore. For the teaching profession in Singapore, this is especially a significant first step.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how initial teachers in Japan can develop instructional and thinking skills through lesson study with mentors. It will clarify the point of view in which mentors evaluate the lesson plan, research lessons and kyouzai-kenkyuu of initial teachers.

This study adopts a case analysis that shows how a mentor gives advice to an initial teacher in the post-lesson discussion. In Japanese lesson study, the time schedule of the post-lesson discussion is well structured, so the time for a mentor to state his or her comment is limited to around ten minutes. Mentors try to help initial teachers develop instructional and thinking skills.

From simple problem to high-level cases in which finding the problem of a lesson is difficult, only a highly competent mentor can find the problem and suggest improvements. Mentors need the competency to observe the lesson and the knowledge and skills to improve the lesson.

This paper focusses on how mentors can help develop the kyouzai-kenkyuu understanding of initial teachers. More studies that focus on how mentors can train initial teachers to understand how students learn during lessons are needed.

This paper discloses what Japanese teachers think of lesson plans and kyouzai-kenkyuu and how mentors help develop kyouzai-kenkyuu understanding among initial teachers.

The aim of this study is to analyse the experiences of student teachers and mentors regarding in‐service teacher‐training or the “Learning in the Workplace Trajectory” (LIW) in Flemish secondary schools. How is this trajectory perceived by mentors and student teachers, i.e. do their individual expectations and capacities match with the formal guidelines implemented by the teacher‐training institutes (and how)?

This study investigates the LIW trajectory on a pragmatic level, using qualitative research methods such as semi‐structured interviews. The focus of this study is twofold: coaching during the LIW trajectory and evaluation during and at the end of the LIW trajectory.

The majority of the respondents (mentors and student teachers) indicated that adequate communication and partnership between school and teacher‐training institute (on both organizational and individual level) is essential for a successful trajectory. The challenges which both organizations have to face in order to establish an effective partnership and to effectively guide future student teachers towards their future profession, were made transparent: invest in intensive coaching and install structural involvement of both school and institute during the trajectory.

This study was limited to a qualitative methodology and therefore has very few universal implications. Furthermore, this study originated from a practical point‐of‐view, with no interest in finding new theoretical insights on workplace learning.

This study shows that without sufficient financial and structural support from the government, schools and teacher‐training institutes are left facing the challenges (finding ways to invest in and increase coaching the LIW student teachers and structural involvement in the organization of the LIW trajectory of schools) on their own.

This study aimed to highlight the perspective of student teachers and mentors – in other words to see this “Learning in the Workplace Trajectory” through their experience, as they experience(d) it in order to get a look inside the daily practice of both LIW students and mentors during coaching and evaluation.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to define and explore the roles of mentors, the responsibilities and even misconceptions of their position in partnership schools, the characteristics of effective mentors, the gaps that exist in current mentor training and the need for updated and forward-thinking flexible and accessible mentor training as it relates to improvements in University Teacher Preparation Programs and their partnership schools.

The authors detail the process of interviewing a diverse population of mentors and teacher candidates (TCs) who have participated in our professional development (partnership) schools. See Appendices A and B for parallel questions posed during each interview process. Following the interviews, data were gathered in both text and video-based formats to create mentor training video modules to improve the current state of mentor training in our program. Themes were identified following an analysis of both interview intakes, and modules were created to align with these themes.

Following the first rounds of implementation, the authors have reflected and noted that a need for an even more diverse population of both mentors and interns to be interviewed is necessary moving forward. The authors do note an appreciation by mentors and university partners in the quality, flexibility and accessibility that this new video module-based mentor training program provides.

The video-based mentor training modules that the authors detail honor the needs of both new and returning mentors. Via the interviews with teacher candidates, mentors are able to empathize and understand how to be better mentors to their future TCs. Via the scenarios and questions that follow each thematically driven module, mentors are able to independently reflect on their current practices and ways to improve their roles. At any point in the internship year, mentors can return to the video training modules to review and thus improve their practice.

Mentors, university supervisors, teacher candidates and site coordinators (those individuals who identify mentors in their buildings) note improvement in their ability to communicate effectively as a result of being presented with video modules and reflections about the role of mentors from both mentors and TCs.

The authors were called on by leadership in the College of Education at the University to create this original mentor training video module. It is unique to the College of Education at the University. Great value exists in its accessibility, adaptability (we can upload new videos at any time) and representation of both the mentor and TC perceptions, suggestions and experiences in our program.