Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research [1 ed.] 9781623968533, 9781623968519

Citation preview

UNCOVERING THE CULTURAL DYNAMICS IN MENTORING PROGRAMS AND RELATIONSHIPS Enhancing Practice and Research

A Volume in Mentoring Perspectives Series Editor Frances K. Kochan, Auburn University

Praise for Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research All mentoring relationships are diverse. Indeed, it is the difference between mentor and mentee that creates the potential for colearning. Mentoring that bridges cultural gaps opens the way to an exchange of understanding about both internal and external assumptions and perspectives (how each of us thinks and how the world functions for each of us). In this book, the editors and contributors demonstrate the diversity of diversity, with particular focus on education in different societies. I recommend it as essential background reading for anyone designing mentoring programs, in which cultural diversity will be a significant dynamic. —Dr David Clutterbuck, Special Ambassador, European Mentoring and Coaching Council In this boundary-spanning volume, the authors pull back the curtain on the latest evolution of mentoring theory and practice revealing that all mentoring relationships are intrinsically cultural. Not only that, the researchers present creative, empirically sound ideas for mentoring at different scales—personal encounters, networked communities, and loose collectives. This book is robustly inclusive of structural layers of mentoring differentiated by context—whether higher education, schools, or collegial communities—making meaning of cultural diversity as part of one’s inner core of relational and systematic mentoring. Practitioners of mentoring and researchers of mentoring alike should find this work important for understanding the breadth and depth of mentoring in different cultural contexts while allowing its essence to remain unfolding, rather than simply told. All mentoring professionals can gain insight and value from the diversity of theoretical orientations that capture as well as map the impact of global and cultural influences of mentoring in everyday worlds. A must read for all who care about the quality of educational relationships and about making a difference in learning settings. —Richard Kahn, PhD, Professor of Educational Leadership, Virginia Tech, Fulbright Scholar, and coeditor of The SAGE Handbook of Mentoring and Coaching in Education and coauthor of The Leadership Identity Journey: An Artful Reflection.

Mentoring Perspectives Frances K. Kochan, Series Editor The Organizational and Human Dimensions of Successful Mentoring Programs and Relationships (2002) edited by Frances K. Kochan Global Perspectives on Mentoring: Transforming Contexts, Communities and Cultures (2005) edited by Frances K. Kochan and Joseph T. Pascarelli Creating Successful Telementoring Programs (2006) edited by Frances K. Kochan Mentoring for the Professions: Orienting Toward the Future (2014) edited by Aimee A. Howley and Mary Barbara Tube Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research (2015) edited by Frances K. Kochan, Andrea M. Kent, and André M. Green

UNCOVERING THE CULTURAL DYNAMICS IN MENTORING PROGRAMS AND RELATIONSHIPS Enhancing Practice and Research edited by

Frances K. Kochan Auburn University

Andrea M. Kent University of South Alabama

and André M. Green University of South Alabama

INFORMATION AGE PUBLISHING, INC. Charlotte, NC • www.infoagepub.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov

ISBN: 978-1-62396-851-9 (Paperback) 978-1-62396-852-6 (Hardcover) 978-1-62396-853-3 (ebook)

Copyright © 2015 I nformation Age Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America

Contents Introduction Frances K. Kochan.............................................................................. ix Section I: EXPLORING CULTURE WITHIN MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS 1. The Individual, Culture, and Mentoring André M. Green.................................................................................... 3 2. Women’s Ways of Collaborating: A Study of Cross-Cultural Peer Mentoring Ann Unterreiner, Joyanne De Four-Babb, Anne L. Kern, and Ke Wu.................................................................... 7 3. Strength-Based Peer Mentoring in Undergraduate Education: An Avenue for Mutual Growth and Understanding Cathleen Morreale and Heather Hagenbuch........................................ 23 4. Examining the Influence of Mentor Sociodemographic Profiles on Mentoring Activities Manju P. George................................................................................ 41 5. A Cultural Connection to Identity Development for Graduate Female Students of Color Brenda Marina.................................................................................. 63



vii

viii  Contents

6. Navigating Cross-Cultural Mentoring Relationships to Assure Success for Immigrant Entrepreneurs: An In-Depth Analysis Roxanne Reeves................................................................................. 79 Section II: THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON MENTORING 7. The Organization, Culture, and Mentoring Andrea M. Kent ................................................................................105 8. eMediated Mentoring: Factors That Influence Online Mentoring Experiences for Secondary Science Teachers EunJin Bang, Sissy S. Wong, Jonah B. Firestone, and Julie A. Luft ............................................... 109 9. Constructing a Professional Learning Community of Mentors and Researchers: Cultural Dimensions of a Process Aline Maria de Medeiros Rodrigues Reali, Regina Maria Simões Puccinelli Tancredi, and Maria da Graça Nicoletti Mizukami.............131 10. (Re)Viewing Mentoring Relations: Culture, Contexts, Cameras, and the Complexity of Being Persons-in-Relation in Mentoring Linda Craig......................................................................................153 11. Developing a Culture of Collaboration Using Mentoring Triads in a Preservice Teacher Program Angelina Ambrosetti, John Dekkers, and Bruce Allen Knight................167 12. Cultural Influences That Facilitated and Hindered the Mentoring Process: A Longitudinal Review Gary M. Kilburg...............................................................................185 Section III: THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIETAL CULTURE ON MENTORING 13. Society, Culture, and Mentoring Frances K. Kochan........................................................................... 207

Contents    ix

14. Culture and Mentoring: Teacher Preparation in the U.S.-Mexico Borderland Laura Gail Lunsford and Estrella Ochoa............................................211 15. Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities Through Transformative Mentoring Within International Immersion Programs Suhyun Suh and John C. Dagley....................................................... 229 16. A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust: Comparing Finnish and Swedish Educational Culture and the Impact on National Mentoring Approaches Göran Fransson................................................................................ 253 17. The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring in the Sociopolitical Context of Teacher Education in The Republic of Ireland Geraldine Mooney Simmie and Joanne Moles......................................273 18. An Old Tradition and the New Beginning: Mentoring in Africa Hilary Geber.................................................................................... 295 19. Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals: Uncovering the Cultural Interface Within Mentoring Al Dawood, Naomi Konza, and Ann Rolfe......................................... 307 20. Love Punks: Digital Creativity and Young People Making a Difference Stuart Campbell and Dave Palmer.................................................... 327 About the Authors................................................................................... 345

INTRODUCTION Frances K. Kochan

As the title of this book suggests, the relationship between culture and mentoring is very complex and is often hidden. It also impacts practice and requires extensive research. Culture is a broad and elusive concept that sometimes brings to mind thoughts of exotic clothing, food, or customs. It is often used to separate or identify groups of people and/or, to foster one’s own identity (Nowottny, 2008). While the extrinsic attributes of culture involve those things that are easily seen by others, such as food and clothing, the intrinsic elements, including values, mores, norms, and beliefs are more difficult for those outside the culture to identify or understand (Rosinski, 2003). These cultural dimensions impact the manner in which people interact with one another both inside and outside of the culture (Triandis, 2003). Over 30 years ago, Hofstede (1980) investigated the issue of cultural differences and identified four value dimensions within societal cultures that are related to these differences. These dimensions are: the degree to which power distances people from one another; the balance between individualism and collectivism; the rules, regulations, and identities relative to masculinity and femininity; and the degree to which uncertainty is embraced or avoided. More recently, Hofstede and his coauthors (2010) recommended that, based on additional studies by others (Bond 2004;

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. xi–xiv Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

xi

xii  F. K. Kochan

House, Hanges, Mansour, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004), another dimension —past, present or future focus—should be added. The World Values Survey Association has been conducting surveys of world beliefs, values, and motivations since 1981, examining countries covering 88% of the world’s population. They completed their last survey in 2008 and will finalize another in 2014. They organize cultural values and beliefs around two primary constructs—traditional/secular/rational and survival/self-expression—to place countries on a scale in terms of where they fit within these constructs to demonstrate how societies and individuals incorporate their beliefs and values into their practices and belief systems (World Values Association, 2014). These cultural beliefs and values are embedded in individuals (Eliasson, Berggren, & Bondestam, 2000), organizations (Dev, 2013), and the societies within which they operate (Kochan & Pascarelli, 2012) Over a decade ago, in the second book in the Mentoring Perspectives Series, Global Perspective of Mentoring: Transforming Contexts, Communities, and Cultures, my colleague and I noted that there was a scant body of literature on the relationship and impact of culture on mentoring endeavors (Kochan & Pascarelli, 2003). More recently, my coeditors and I examined the literature on this topic in the educational realm and discovered that, although the research is still limited, it is growing and there is expanding interest in the manner and degree to which culture and mentoring are interrelated (Kent, Kochan, & Green, 2013). This book seeks to enhance our understanding of this important topic and to foster the use of this information in practice, as well as expanding research studies in this area. The book is unique in a number of ways. First, it deals with all aspects of cultural influence. The first section of the book contains chapters that focus on cultural aspects within personal relationships between mentors and mentees. Section two delves into the influence that organizational cultures have on mentoring programs and relationships. The final section examines the impact of societal beliefs and structures and how they relate to the need for mentoring and the manner in which these programs are or should be conceived and implemented. A second unique feature is that the book presents a broad perspective on cultural impact as the research reported encompasses programs around the world including those in Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Ireland, Korea, Finland, Mexico, Scotland, Sweden, and the United States. It also includes chapters on online programs that operate across international borders. Each chapter contains a section on lessons learned that should provide readers with practical information about the findings, which can be applied to their own practice. This information should also be relevant to researchers

Introduction  xiii

as they seek to address answers to pervasive questions about the impact of culture on mentoring activities. Finally, reflective questions are provided at the end of each chapter to enable the reader to delve more deeply into the constructs and findings of each research study in order to apply them to their own practice and research. We suggest that as you read each chapter, you take time to reflect and/or discuss these questions and see how they apply to your own situation and work. The book should be of value to diverse audiences as it serves multiple purposes. Among these are: • To share information about mentoring programs and practices from a global perspective that researchers may find of value; • To serve as a resource for those training mentors or mentees to enable them to gain an understanding of the individual, organizational, and societal factors that must be considered in the mentoring process; • To serve as a textbook for those teaching courses or providing training in mentoring; • To support individuals who are engaged in mentoring relationships, or wish to create them, to become aware of cultural issues that might support or hinder their success; • To provide details about programs and practices for those wishing to develop mentoring programs in a variety of cultural settings; • To support individuals who are engaged in conducting research on mentoring relationships or programs and who are focusing on the cultural aspects of these endeavors; and • To add to the research base on the topic of the interrelationships between culture and mentoring. We hope that this book will fulfill its purposes and that it will foster cultural awareness and expanded attention to the importance of culture in mentoring endeavors around the world. We hope it also draws attention to the need to clearly define the purposes of mentoring and to assure that our mentoring endeavors use those things of value within our societies that will foster human growth and development and put aside those that will not. The important thing is to recognize the difference. This is, in fact, the primary message of our book—that cultural traditions can enrich our lives and that, while we should be aware of and eliminate those that hinder and control people’s minds and hearts in negative ways and limit their ability to succeed and become, we should also seek ways to cherish those that connect people, expand ideas, cultivate the imagination,

xiv  F. K. Kochan

and foster the human spirit, and integrate them into the way we define and implement mentoring programs and relationships. References Bond, M. H. (2004). Culture-level dimensions of social axioms and their correlates across 41 cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 548–570. Dev, S. (2013). Assessing and understanding organizational culture: Various views and theories. Indian Streams Research Journal, 3(5), 2–11. Eliasson, M., Berggren, H., & Bondestam, F. (2000). Mentor programs-a shortcut for women’s academic careers? Higher Education in Europe, XXV(2), 173–179. Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Mansour, J., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (Eds.). (2004). Culture, leadership, and organization: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Kent, A., Kochan, F., & Green, A. (2013). Cultural influences on mentoring programs and relationships: A critical review of research. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, (2)3, 204–217. Kochan, F., & Pascarelli, J. T. (2003). Culture, context, and issues of change related to mentoring programs and relationships. In F. Kochan & Pascarelli, J. (Ed.), Global perspectives on mentoring: Transforming contexts, communities, and cultures (pp. 417–428). Greenwich, CT: Information Age. Kochan, F., & Pascarelli, J. T. (2012). Culture and mentoring in the global age. In S. Fletcher & C. A. Mullen (Eds.), Handbook of mentoring and coaching in education (pp. 184–194). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Nowottny, M. (2008). Putting culture first. London, England: Commonwealth Foundation. Rosinski, P. (2003). Coaching across cultures. London, England: Nicholas Brealey. Triandis, H. C. (2003). The future of workforce diversity in international organisations: A commentary. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 52, 486–495. World Values Association. (2014). Retrieved from www.worldvaluesurvey.com

Section I EXPLORING CULTURE WITHIN MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS

chapter 1

The Individual, Culture, and Mentoring André M. Green

In order for mentoring to commence, some type of relationship formation must occur and the quality of these relationships correlates to the effectiveness of the mentoring that ensues. Some mentoring relationships can be defined as “high quality,” as the mentee learns from the mentor and uses the knowledge gained to have a more productive and meaningful life, while other mentoring relationships can be defined as “nonproductive,” as the mentor and mentee have a dysfunctional relationship that has proven to be noneffective. The chapters in this section provide examples of mentoring relationships in an authentic manner that will add to our knowledge of the impact an individual’s culture has on mentoring. Unterreiner, De Four-Babb, Kern, and Wu begin this section by examining how informal peer mentoring collaborations have opened borders in scholarship, teaching, and service, providing psychosocial and emotional balance for women in their chapter, “Women’s Ways of Collaborating: A Study of Cross-cultural Peer Mentoring.” This chapter describes how selected women, who are all part of a larger international collaborative group of women in academia, have been able to use informal peer mentorship as a “third space” where they are able to confront and examine issues in a collaborative manner to empower themselves to overcome

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 3–5 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

3

4  A. M. Green

obstacles faced. The authors provide a unique group mentoring model that highlights the experiences of diverse women within a cross-cultural, cross generational group, which is engaged in mentoring that is informal, multicultural, cooperative, peer focused, and collective. The next chapter, “Strength-Based Peer Mentoring in Undergraduate Education: An Avenue for Mutual Growth and Understanding,” by Morreale and Hagenbuch examines relational mentoring relationships through exploring how mentoring programming may be implemented in a manner that empowers students and encourages student development in higher education. This chapter tackles the issues surrounding the mentoring of students who are traditionally viewed as “disadvantaged” by drawing a parallel between theory and research. The authors provide a framework that seeks to change cultural understandings of how institutions view these students as suffering from a deficit from the outset. “Examining the Influence of Mentor Sociodemographic Profiles on Mentoring Activities,” by George investigates the degree to which the sociodemographic profile of teacher mentors in business schools influences the mentoring activities they engage in with their mentees. The study examined the sociodemographics of mentors and how those demographics affected the way in which the mentoring relationship was structured. The author explores how the mentor’s demographic backgrounds and culture dictates how they mentor and whether having this information before the relationship begins can enhance the relationship for both mentor and mentee. In her chapter, “A Cultural Connection to Identity Development for Graduate Female Students of Color,” Marina confronts issues related to the mentoring of female students of color in graduate school. In this chapter, she explores the mentor-mentee relationship and how that relationship is particularly important to women of color. She examines the implications of the dearth of women of color faculty members in higher education and looks at the obstacles and perspectives that have to be overcome by women of color pursuing higher education in cross-racial mentoring relationships. This study focuses on the profound effect achieved by one African American woman faculty member and her mere presence in the academy, upon the lives of her five mentees, all of whom are minority female graduate students pursuing a graduate degree. This study sheds light on a cultural aspect of mentoring that can enhance the confidence level and success of female graduate students of color in higher education and student affairs. The final section chapter by Reeves, “Navigating Cross-Cultural Mentoring Relationships to Assure Success for Immigrant Entrepreneurs: An In-Depth Analysis,” further explores the concept of cross-cultural mentoring with regard to immigrant mentees participating in an educational mentoring program for entrepreneurs. The author examines how both mentors and mentees are typically underprepared to deal with cultural

The Individual, Culture, and Mentoring   5

diversity and are not naturally equipped to separate themselves from their own culturally-based ethnocentric viewpoints. She investigates how these deficits impact the mentor-mentee relationship by exploring the notion that the very essence of one’s unique background and developmental experiences limits his or her ability to separate themselves from their own cultural backgrounds and biases in order to understand the behavior of others.

chapter 2

WOMEN’S WAYS OF COLLABORATING A Study of Cross-Cultural Peer Mentoring Ann Unterreiner, Joyanne De Four-Babb, Anne L. Kern, and Ke Wu

We are able to share our experiences from various perspectives and, in doing so, see our experiences through the eyes of others. I value our ability to collaborate and make research connections within and outside of the group. (Blended narrative from C-Y-F women faculty)

Overview and Purpose When women enter institutions of higher education in professional capacities as new tenure-track professors, or in roles as instructors, teachers, researchers, and/or administrators, they may be challenged by the transitions of social norms, as well as differences in culture, educational philosophy and educational discourse (Garcia, 2000; Gibson 2006, hooks,

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 7–22 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

7

8  A. Unterreiner, J. De Four-Babb, A. L. Kern, and K. Wu

1994; Mullen, 2009; Neumann & Peterson, 1997; Ryan & Katz, 2007; Stanley & Lincoln, 2005). For those on the tenure track trajectory there are additional plans and actions required to facilitate the longer term challenges of retention, promotion, and tenure within and outside of institutional cultures, and within their own identities as women faculty in academia. This phase of induction is a time of exploration and discovery, when academics may come to value professional connections through their areas of study, interests, and the professional expectations of their institutions (Boice, 2000; Chandler, 1996; Dixon-Reeves, 2003). We, the authors of this chapter are part of a cross-cultural, cross-generational group of 15 women faculty who found ourselves individually navigating our professional induction phases and trajectories. This isolation caused us to seek out informal peer mentorship to provide the comfort and camaraderie we needed to thrive. Our interest in informal peer mentoring extended into a formal research initiative to explore our own experiences as women faculty, and in so doing turn a “feminine gaze” on this experience. In this chapter we examine the background literature and current research that frames mentoring of women faculty across transnational borders. This study developed as part of an ongoing broader series of symposium presentations at the American Education Research Association (AERA) annual meetings in 2012 and 2013, where formal inquiries and questions posed by this collaborative group of women faculty were discussed. For this study, the question guiding our investigation was: How does informal peer mentoring among women: • enable and constrain conditions for collaboration, • open borders; and • dissolve barriers to nurture professional balance?

Context: A Culture of Collaboration Among International Women Faculty We are a group of women faculty who formed a research group as a result of a serendipitous encounter through a presentation session at a large, international conference of educators held in New Orleans in 2011. In a hotel lobby meeting, we engaged in what we found to be an enlightened conversation. We came to understand that we held shared curiosities, research interests and needs for scholarly and personal mentoring. As a result of our encounter and discussions, we created an international professional collaborative community that enabled us to embark upon an intentional research agenda. We thought that engaging in joint research initiatives

Women’s Ways of Collaborating   9

would provide us with an opportunity to reflect on, investigate, and evaluate the meaning of informal peer mentoring relationships, particularly women faculty. We called our group “CURVE-y-FRiENDS” (C-Y-F). This name was selected by our group to represent a combination of two larger subgroups of female collaborators namely: Caribbean Educators Research Initiative – CURVE (five Afro-Caribbean women); Female Researchers in Education, Network, and Dialogue–FRiENDS (two Asian [Chinese] and four Caucasian women); and “Y” indicating other women colleagues (four African American, Latina, Montenegrian, and Caucasian) who have collaborated with members of the two large subgroups. Therefore, the name C-Y-F is representative of an international women’s faculty partnership and the dashes between the letters indicate the interconnectivity between the various groups and their members. The C-Y-F comprises an international group of 19 women (initially 15), aged between 33 and 70 years old, who work in higher educational settings and live across four continents, and several time zones. We are a blend of early career tenure-track (3 to 5 years) faculty, non-tenured faculty, midcareer, and experienced women faculty who have been in leadership and teaching for more than 6 years. We teach and conduct research across several academic disciplines including: mathematics education, science, teacher education, geography, curriculum, educational leadership, and foundation of education. The diverse courses we teach include Research Methods, Educational Policy, Sociology, Science Teaching Methods, and Sociology of Education. We have lived and/or worked globally in a number of countries including Albania, Antigua, Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, Jamaica, Montenegro, New Zealand, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, and several states in the United States of America. Technologies such as Skype, teleconferencing, chat, Dropbox, GoogleDocs, and Googlehangout have been instrumental in our processes of global collaboration and community. As Ryan and Katz (2007) emphasized, “collaboration requires a commitment to talk [via Skype, Skype chat, face-to-face, email, telephone]” (p. 14). In this way we were able to invest in the advancement of our professional development as 21st century women faculty who live in “the Internet era where virtual communities have become a popular paradigm” (Lynch, Heinz, & Scott, 2009, p. 18). We expanded our use of the Internet, and engaged in informal peer mentorship not only through digital spaces in technology, but also through a “third intellectual space” in which our transcultural and transnational identities are valued, and self-expression is emphasized. The element of the “third space” framing our collaboration draws from literature on digital uses for third spaces communication (Bretag, 2006), transcultural theories (Bhabba, 1994), and global intercultural connectivity (Ikas & Wagner,

10  A. Unterreiner, J. De Four-Babb, A. L. Kern, and K. Wu

2009). Above all, we intentionally employ the conceptual third space as a viable and formalized context of “globally interlinked multiple modernity’s and transnational connections” (Schulze-Engler, 2009, p. 166). We focus on the nuanced experiences, distinct needs, and the advancement of the professional lives of women faculty engaged in informal peer mentorship. Literature Review For C-Y-F, informal peer mentorship is characterized as a feminine, crosscultural, third space where we engage to confront, examine, and become our most empowered professional and personal selves. We share our journey as women faculty who seek to understand how informal peer mentoring enhances and validates intercultural awareness and increases professional capacity. Throughout our collaborative discussions, research planning, and implementation, we facilitated an ongoing conversation and addressed topics and issues related to women’s distinct needs for mentoring. Our work draws upon an emergent body of literature that both frames and characterizes C-Y-F’s “feminine gaze” on multiple experiences, shared narratives, and an emphasis on women faculty experiences (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1997; Chandler, 1996; Chesler & Chesler, 2002; Driscoll, Parkes, Tiley-Lubbs, Brill & Pitts Bannister, 2009; Ehrich & Hansford, 2008; hooks, 1994; Luna & Cullen, 1995; Middleton, 2007). In the following sections, we explain this feminine perspective as we deconstruct women’s unique ways of collaborating and mentoring in academia and institutional organizations. Women’s Ways of Mentoring The literature and statistics on who advances in their careers provides an aggregated view and cases for inequity that continues to exist in Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) (Dace, 2012; Johannessen, Unterreiner, Sitienei, & Zajda, 2012). Additionally, for some academic faculty, gender and/or ethnic background present unexpected barriers that must be negotiated for career advancement. However, when we turn a “feminine gaze” toward the literature on formal and informal mentoring in academia, there are examples of empowered women faculty and their emergent voices of strength to advance in their careers. Through our review of the literature addressing mentorship, and in particular the experiences of women across race, economic strata and ethnic background, we found our own experiences mirrored and echoed in the voices of others in the academy. In fact, it is reported that faculty mentees

Women’s Ways of Collaborating   11

engaged in traditional formal mentoring in their institutions, especially women, may feel isolated and professionally inadequate (Driscoll et al., 2009). Our approach to and view of mentorship in C-Y-F and the pedagogy we were constructing was counter to the more classical models of formal mentorship. As Chandler (1996, p. 79) stated, “there is evidence that this traditional mentoring model does not adequately mirror women’s experience in academia.” Therefore, we express women’s ways of mentoring in the academy as (1) a professional learning practice and (2) a form of sociality (Ahmed, 2000). Through our encounters with each other—encounters that have been prefigured through personal and professional pathways—we have shaped our mentoring practice through a collaborative methodology. Traditionally, one definition of mentoring that contains many commonly accepted elements is “a developmental relationship in which an experienced person provides both technical and psychosocial support to a less experienced person” (Chesler & Chesler, 2002, p. 50). These authors suggested that the technical needs of a mentee include career-related issues such as how to design a course, how to develop a syllabus, how to prepare a research proposal, and how to learn the “unwritten rules” within the academic unit or college. The psychosocial needs, they further argued, refer to issues like personal conflicts or faculty relationships, balance between teaching, research, service and family pressure; dealing with student complaints, sexism, discrimination, and how to “establish a sense of competence, cope with disappointment, find courage, and grow as a person” (Chesler & Chesler, 2002, p. 50). Formal mentoring in academic settings can be in a one-to-one or dyadic format or in a group format (Driscoll et al., 2009). In traditional mentoring, there may exist a hierarchical power relationship, in which the role of the more experienced mentor is to prepare the mentee to work within the institution. This dyadic form of mentoring may also be highly individualized, hierarchical and secular (Middleton, 2007) and may not always be successful with those who have differences in cultural styles and world-views, especially if they belong to nondominant or minority groups (Chesler & Chesler, 2002; Ehrich & Hansford, 2008). There are increasing examples of women who experience greater success by having access to and being engaged in informal and collective mentoring. These include women in fields such as science, mathematics and engineering (Chesler & Chesler, 2002), women of color in geography in Britain and the United States (Mahtani, 2004), African American faculty in IHEs in the United States (Crawford & Smith, 2005; Dixon-Reeves, 2003), female Maori faculty in New Zealand (Middleton, 2007). Peer mentoring is often viewed as an alternative, but effective approach encouraged by feminists in academia. As Driscoll et al. (2009) argued:

12  A. Unterreiner, J. De Four-Babb, A. L. Kern, and K. Wu Peer mentoring can encourage women faculty to explore, through developing collaboration, their role in the academy through understanding of (a) self, (b) others and (c) the university environment and their place within it. This understanding of place leads to the independence of each person’s voice in performing scholarship and research and a clear sense of direction in her progression toward obtaining tenure. (Driscoll et al., 2009, pp. 18–19)

Driscoll et al. (2009) and Chesler and Chesler (2002) further provided a clear vision of mentoring that is vital for the identity and professional success of women faculty. They argue that within institutions, nurturing models of mentorship are more cooperative and less individualized. They use multiple mentor opportunities and de-emphasize seniority and hierarchy. They are also inclusive of marginalized groups, and organized collectively to build learning and caring communities that can nurture a context for faculty success and institutional achievement. We draw from the informal mentoring described above and include an added dimension to the mentoring relationships in this research. Within our global collaborative C-Y-F group, we seek to shed light on what we observe and experience to illustrate the meaning of our mentoring relationships that enhance our sociocultural world view and sensitivity. The knowledge developed is then integrated into the fabric of our professional practices to provide insights into the politics and power actions in individual’s locations in the academy. Through our interconnections, we discover and become more cognizant of the nuances of cross-cultural experiences of our women colleagues of color and some strategies for informal peer mentoring for further support needed to navigate the academic landscape of teaching, service and scholarship (Nejad, Abbaszadeh, & Hassani, 2011). Methodology Through our C-Y-F research projects, members of C-Y-F have expanded their world-view and global knowledge of professional life across the cultures in academe. As women faculty, we continuously increased our global understanding and implications for local knowledge by shifting our “feminine gaze” back into our small towns. Through this practice we increased our knowledge and deepened our understanding about academic life across transnational borders that in turn strengthened our sense of our most empowered professional and personal selves. In our effort to systematically examine the deeper meaning of the intellectual and social-cultural capital acquired outside the politics of the academy, we designed a methodology ground in a narrative inquiry approach to “help(s) make sense of ambiguities of human lives” (Savin-Baden & Howell Major, 2013, p. 228). In this case, the methodology enhances the specific research processes that

Women’s Ways of Collaborating   13

align and mirror the pedagogies and meaning of informal peer mentorship for globally interconnected women faculty. We used narrative inquiry to draw from our lived experiences of informal peer mentoring in this exploratory examination of our collaboration. Narrative inquiry allows us to include the boundaries of our varied social contexts and “make sense of life as lived … it is trying to figure out the taken-for-grantedness” nature of our collaborative experiences (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 78). It was also our intention through our research, to frame our informal mentoring experiences through a strengthened cross-cultural connectedness and foreground informal peer mentoring for women faculty. Through narrative responses, we could make meaning of women’s ways of collaborating through informal mentoring groups. Thus an analysis for themes in our narrative data would enable to identify interconnecting links and gain insights into the cross cultural nuances of mentoring experiences of C-Y-F women faculty (Creswell, 2008). The narrative inquiry approach for this research sought to combine “theory, process data and product … to form a unique form of inquiry” (Savin-Baden & Howell Major, 2013, p. 231). This methodology shaped the inquiry and groups’ narrative responses the authors used to generate narrative data sets for the analysis and development of this research study (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Hollingsworth & Dybdahl, 2007). Data Collection Data were collected using a questionnaire with six open-ended questions asking women faculty to reflect on their beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions about mentoring. Open-ended questions were used in effort to more closely reflect the views of respondents (Fowler, 2008), and invite participants to reply within the context of their own cultural and social experiences (Creswell, 2008). In addition, the use of an open-ended approach enabled responses beyond assumptions we might have as researchers, thus it offered us opportunity to learn the unexpected (Fowler, 2008). Informed consent was solicited from persons who opted to participate when they chose to complete our questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent via e-mail to the 15 C-Y-F group members. A shared Dropbox was setup to collect and store completed questionnaires. We received 13 completed questionnaires that included responses from the research team. Each member used the nomenclature, Surname_CYF_Mentoring_Survey, to label and store their survey to the C-Y-F Dropbox. We recognized this method of data labeling and storage reduced the anonymity of the responses. However, all members of the C-Y-F group have access to the raw data with a shared belief

14  A. Unterreiner, J. De Four-Babb, A. L. Kern, and K. Wu

that as an exploratory study into our group’s work this data set is a record for all of us and gives preliminary insight into experiences of mentoring. Data Analysis The analyses of our data were guided by a process of constant-comparison method (Glasser, 1965). A member of the research team assigned each respondent’s response a number 01 to 13. The same researcher reorganized the responses by question and placed the reorganized data in a table for review by the research group. These numbers were used to identify the quotes in the summary table. Each individual on the research team read all the responses organized by questions and individually coded and categorized the responses for each question, identifying the emerging themes. The researchers held several Skype meetings to compare, analyze, and summarize the themes according to the research question. A further analysis was conducted using the “feminine gaze” frame and lens to identify particular examples illustrating the constructs particular to informal peer mentoring experiences of women faculty as a context for shared narratives. Several individual C-Y-F group members were easily identifiable according to demographic distinction, thus we thought ethically about ways to best protect and preserve the anonymity of the speakers in this chapter. In the end, we chose to omit all identifying places and names to reduce the possibility of identification. Instead, we focused on representing in the most authentic ways how best to portray the collective voice of the group. We adopted a strategy we call “blended voices” in which responses from individuals are related in double quotation marks. In so doing we tell the unified story of the lived experiences of the members of the group. This “blended voice” sometimes intentionally retains the voice of “I.” In a unified retelling voice, we have created a way to report our story that is safe, one in which we do not focus on differences, or align those differences to cultural or predisposed ideas of demographic position. This blended voice opens up an across-the-cultural space that does not point to categorization, but enables us to tell our C-Y-F story and identify the interconnecting links and gain insights into the cross cultural nuances of mentoring experiences of C-Y-F women faculty. Peer Mentoring Through A Feminine Gaze The unified narratives and blended voices of women faculty in our study tell the stories of the ways in which our informal peer mentoring experiences opened borders and reduced barriers across our various cultural

Women’s Ways of Collaborating   15

spaces for us as women in the academy. They reflect beliefs, attitudes and perceptions about the value of mentoring particularly given that “many of us have full personal and active lives, such as mothers, partners, and caregivers.” The question we sought to explore in this chapter was: How does informal peer mentoring among women enable and constrain conditions for collaboration, open borders and dissolve barriers to nurture professional balance? In this section we argue that informal peer mentoring reduces isolation among women faculty, assists them in negotiating the complexity of the culture of the academy, increases their opportunities for scholarship, deepens their professional learning and research knowledge, nurtures, and creates and meets expectations psychosocial and emotional balance. Reduces Isolation There is an increased pressure that comes with entry into academe and issues such as balance, uncertainty, time, and psychosocial needs (Sorcinelli, 1992) are further problematic for females (Driscoll et al., 2009). As women faculty, we shared narratives about how we have broken down cultural or collegial isolation through informal mentoring. As we moved across departmental, institutional, regional and international borders, our informal mentoring collaborations, opened borders for us “in the way that I have been able to maintain my involvement in the group even though I moved across an international border … crossing that border changed many things in my life, but it didn’t change my involvement in the group.” The investment in informal peer mentorship relationships and collaborative processes also opened spaces for critical reflection and self-examination so as to develop our most empowered selves. We are “able to develop and embrace our professional and academic identities in a space that has encouraged difference and as well as similarities.” As isolation is reduced, “I feel safer as I negotiate the world of academia, it [informal mentoring with women from other countries] reduces the spaces of competition which were knocking at my sense of self as an academic.” “The group has provided another perspective on when I need a broader perspective than that which I can get from the colleagues at my university.” And the need to “nurture our emerging relationships and feel it was important to embrace our professional collaborations as well as enjoy being with one another-the good and the bad. It has been through this fortuitous meeting of colleagues that developed our rich and supportive networks in a lonely sea.”

16  A. Unterreiner, J. De Four-Babb, A. L. Kern, and K. Wu

Assists in Negotiating the Complexity of the Culture of the Academy When women faculty engage in informal mentoring, they no longer have to be adrift alone in the “lonely sea” of the academy (Driscoll et al., 2009). In our experience, mentoring is a method for collaborating in the complex structures in the academy that do not inherently promote collaboration. The women in our C-Y-F group collaborated in an “expanded global community as a context for advancing understanding of diversity, greater intercultural sensitivity, and deeper knowledge of all women’s experiences in the academy.” We found that there “is an excitement about the ongoing formation of a network of like-minded professionals that can help [me] navigate some of the complexities and unique situations common in academic careers.” “In some ways the conversations have also led to some revisiting of my teaching and research practices. It has also given me an opportunity to be part of a community where we share experiences, thoughts/ideas, grievances or observations beyond that of what we research.” Through mentoring there are quality professional relationships in which, “I am valued for my talent and support to deepen my knowledge to also negotiate the politics and cultures in academe without compromise to my own identity as a woman faculty.” “Through my engagement and conversations, I find [that] I have the courage to teach in a manner that promotes academic research without diminishing the value of teaching in my own practices.” We have found a source of resilience in the way we navigate and advance professionally through collaboration cross-culturally with other women faculty. Increases Opportunities for Scholarship The group of women faculty experienced and articulated the pressures to engage in scholarship, while balancing the requirements of teaching and service. For many in the C-Y-F group, engaging with other women academics enabled us to create a research agenda in the absence of other structures for scholarship. Our involvement in the various collaborations facilitated us having a place to organize and move forward with our scholarship, research, narratives and voices from the margins. The ability to negotiate with a committed group of others that were experiencing similar fears and doubts allowed us to find “opportunities for scholarly activity and intellectual vitality.” We found our work with the group has also “pushed us to leave the everyday confines of teaching and grading, to thinking about our own work. The C-Y-F group constructed a space for engaging in collaborative research and publication opportunities.” We are no longer left to engage in

Women’s Ways of Collaborating   17

research on our own. Through expanded collaboration and informal peer mentorship, “we are learning from each other to bring our best selves into our professional practices. This is in addition to our goals and interests to increase productivity in scholarship.” Through our mentoring we have created a cross cultural learning community for scholarly innovation. Deepens Professional Learning and Research Knowledge The C-Y-F collaboration as a whole enabled us to expand our knowledge of methodology to research our shared interests in informal peer mentoring. “My involvement in the subgroup has also opened borders in regards to collaborative research and in regards to new research methodologies.” “Through my involvement with the subgroup I have engaged in collaborations that would have otherwise been limited by institutional and disciplinary borders.” For example, our exploration and collaboration led to new discoveries and to “think more about narrative inquiry as a theory and methodology as it relates to my own story about mentoring.” “I never thought to merge the two topics, or even thought of examining my own narrative.” As a result of our collaborative and small group peer mentoring, we conducted research using “narrative methodology that I might not have otherwise explored.” Creates and Meets Expectations for Psychosocial and Emotional Balance The opportunities to broaden ideas and the scope of our worldview are expressed desires for many group members. “I am looking for opportunities to broaden my understanding of being an academic faculty member, of other cultures, of new approaches, opportunities for new friendships and new collaborations.” “I am looking for common interests and understanding, a forum for exchange of experiences and ideas, both professional and personal.” This professional change experience includes varied feelings and emotions, and peer-mentoring experiences can help to provide support to “work through insecurities and questions of whether or not I had chosen the correct path.” “I am looking mostly for emotional support.” “It is the most important relationship and support I have. I know I can trust my informal mentor and friend. I know she has my back, my best interest in every single situation, and to have that kind of support is by far the best you can ask for in life not just work.”

18  A. Unterreiner, J. De Four-Babb, A. L. Kern, and K. Wu

Discussion The themes that emerged from our analysis form a blended narrative of experiences of women faculty and cross-cultural informal peer mentoring. Through our collective story, we present informal peer mentoring for women faculty as a vital, relational, trusting space that inspires professional advancement. The culture of collaboration in informal peer mentorship is an example of a 21st century process of building global networks. In this case, we highlight an example expressly to emphasize the innovation and implementation of our vision. Through our story, we are able to make a strong case for a feminine gaze as also relevant to address the experiences and needs of women faculty. We show how women’s ways of collaborating can empower women faculty to support each other and advance professionally through informal peer mentoring. The outgrowth and strength of this research is the contribution to a larger discourse about the conditions women faculty experience as they strive to advance in their professional lives. Our global network is an available resource of knowledge to challenge, think differently, and reconceptualize methodology and pedagogies of practice, to substantiate women’s ways of learning in the academy. When the conditions for mentorship exist to reduce isolation, assist in the negotiation of the complexity of the culture of the academy, increase opportunities for scholarship, deepen professional learning and research knowledge, and meet expectations for psychosocial and emotional balance, the intellectual capacities of women thrive. When one of us is successful, we are all successful, because we are part of empowering a global culture of new thought and practice for women faculty in academia. We therefore make a contribution to how women faculty might navigate the politics, inequities and marginalization of isolation that can be the case in a new career. A model is needed for collaborative engagement that includes capacities for intercultural interconnectivity, deeper knowledge of teaching, and scholarship that should be intentionally implemented and enhanced by women faculty colleagues worldwide. Our story has the potential for other women faculty to look to their peer groups to create similar partnerships. Our new found expanded collaborative moves us to celebrate the connectivity and we embrace being deeply heard. Our teaching in academe is influenced and women’s experiences are valued, further informing the academic aspect of teaching in our narratives as a sidebar rather than the heart of our connectedness at the time of this research study. Implications and Lessons Learned Our collaboration is a social exploration and countermodel that we formed to engage and value differences among a cross-cultural collaborative

Women’s Ways of Collaborating   19

of women faculty. This study, and C-Y-F’s other research efforts and experiences, highlight the potential of women faculty creating research opportunities for ourselves, about our experiences. Thus, we are able to open borders and dissolve barriers posed by the academy’s expectations for service. Through outreach, we created an opportunity to expand our definitions of “service” across continents and collaborate in ways that have allowed us to grow. The use of a digital space and multiple technologies opened borders for sustaining and further mapping our discoveries. Through our research with a global group of women, and the use of our created digital third space, we Internet worked to gather narrative data generated from prompts to capture the stories, examples, and insights from peer mentoring relationships. We recognized that our conversations and shared stories were more freely shared because we were outside the politics of our institutions. We were known to each other and learned about who we are, beyond where we came from in more nuanced ways of knowing our cultures. The informal peer mentorship network has been the “third space” in which we have been able to confront, examine and become our most empowered professional and personal selves (Boice, 2000; Dobson, 2006; Mullen, 2009); a space for our expressions of culture, unique talents, and multiple viewpoints that we share with others, namely our students and colleagues. These narratives convey the connections and expressions that strengthen us. Our research is bound by the narratives of this particular group of women, which some may view as a limitation. While this group of women represents a multiplicity of qualities, experiences, and cultures, there are many other women whose experiences are not represented. What we can attest to is that in the years and professional conferences, networking, scholarship and publications about our group and informal peer mentoring, our voices are being heard and listened to. We are becoming more known and invited to make contributions because our work resonates with other women faculty. There are expressed interests in presentation discussions about interests in formulating collaborative learning communities for scholarship and mentoring support. Therefore our research, despite being limited to our group’s experience, is making a contribution to the work on mentoring. We have learned what it means to act and to cross the boundaries of our individualized experiences of being a woman faculty to establish an alternative culture of women faculty. The basis of our culture is based on our professional histories of informal peer mentoring in small groups “characterized by trust, honesty, a willingness to learn about self and others, and the ability to share power and privilege” (Stanley & Lincoln, 2005, p. 46). Through the sharing and studying of our experiences of mentoring, we are able to enhance our “human capacity to face, overcome, and even be

20  A. Unterreiner, J. De Four-Babb, A. L. Kern, and K. Wu

strengthened by experiences of adversity” (Grotberg, 1997, as cited in Tait, 2008, p. 58). Our chapter is an addition to a body of work that addresses women faculty experiences (Boice, 2000; Driscoll et al., 2009; Gibson, 2006; Mullen, 2009; Nejad et al., 2011). In the midst of multiple pressures and pulls in varying professional and personal arenas, groups of women in the academy find that informal peer mentoring has been a source of sustenance for resilience. The larger C-Y-F group continues to deepen the conversations, examine the processes, and research tensions and innovations in cross cultural mentoring in academe. Through our publications, continued professional presentations and ongoing virtual community of scholarly activity, we strive to shed light on the social cultural contexts and practices that supports the cross-cultural development of women’s ways of mentoring and a more diverse intellectual capital needed for a 21st Century global world. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a part of a mentoring group that is homogenous in terms of gender? 2. What issues do women face in the academy that men do not and why is this the case in your opinion? 3. Imagine that you are a consultant to a university charged with providing a plan of action to better support female faculty members. Relate this to your own situation and list five items in your plan, along with an explanation as to why each item needs to be done. References Ahmed, S. (2000). Strange encounters: Embodied others in post-coloniality. London, England: Routledge. Belenky, M., Clinchy, B., Goldberger, N., & Tarule, J. (1997). Women’s ways of knowing, Tenth Anniversary Edition. New York, NY: Basic Books. Bhabha, H. K. (1994). Location of culture. London, England and New York, NY: Routledge. Boice, R. (2000). Advice for new faculty members. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Bretag, T. (2006). Developing “third space” interculturality using computer-mediated communication. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(4). Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue4/bretag.html Chandler, C. (1996). Mentoring and women in academia: Reevaluating the traditional model. NWSA Journal, 8(3), 79–100. Chesler, N. C., & Chesler, M. A. (2002). Gender informed mentoring strategies for women engineering scholars: On establishing a caring community. Journal of

Women’s Ways of Collaborating   21 Engineering Education, 91(1), 49–55. Retrieved from: http://vtb.bme.wisc.edu/ Chesler_JEE_2002.pdf Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Crawford, K., & Smith, D. (2005). The we and the us: Mentoring African American women. Journal of Black Studies, 36(1), 52–67. Creswell, J. W. (2008). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Dace, J. (Ed.). (2012). Unlikely allies in the academy: Women of color and white women in conversation. New York, NY: Routledge. Dixon-Reeves, R. (2003). Mentoring as a precursor to incorporation: An assessment of the mentoring experience of recently minted Ph.D.s. Journal of Black Studies, 34(1), 12–27. Dobson, A. (2006). Thick cosmopolitanism. Political Studies, 54, 165–184. Driscoll, L., Parkes, K., Tilley-Lubbs, G., Brill, J., & Pitts Bannister, V. (2009). Navigating the lonely sea: Peer mentoring and collaboration among aspiring women scholars. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 17(1), 5–21. doi:10.1080/13611260802699532 Ehrich, L., & Hansford, B. (2008). Informal mentoring in academia. The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching, 6(2), 14–27. Fowler, F. J. (2008). Survey research methods (Applied social research methods). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Garcia, M. (2000). Succeeding in an academic career: A guide for faculty of color. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO/Greenwood. Gibson, S. (2006). Mentoring of women faculty: The role of organizational politics and culture. Innovative Higher Education, 31(1), 63–79. doi:10.1007/s10755006-9007-7. Glasser, B. G. (1965). The constant comparative method of qualitative analysis. Social Problems, 12(4), 436–445. Hollingsworth, S., & Dybdahl, M. (2007). Talking to learn: The critical role of conversation in narrative inquiry. In D. J. Clandinin (Ed.), Handbook of narrative inquiry: Mapping a methodology (pp. 146–176). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York, NY: Routledge. Ikas, K., & Wagner, G. (Eds). (2009). Communicating in the third space. London, England: Taylor & Frances. Johannessen, B. G., Unterreiner, A. M., Sitienei, I., & Zajda, J. (2012). Global and cross-cultural perspectives on mentoring in higher education. Education and Society, 30(2), 27–48. doi:10.7459/es/30.2.03 Luna, G., & Cullen, D. L. (1995). Empowering the faculty: mentoring redirected and renewed. Higher Education. (ED399888). Lynch, K., Heinze, A., 7 Scott, E. (2009). Scholarly collaboration across time zones. In J. Salmons & L. Wilson (Eds.), Handbook of research on electronic collaboration and organizational synergy (pp. 237–249). London, England: Information Science Reference 

22  A. Unterreiner, J. De Four-Babb, A. L. Kern, and K. Wu Mahtani, M. (2004). Mapping race and gender in the academy: The experiences of women of colour faculty and graduate students in Britain, the U.S. and Canada. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 28(1), 91–99. Middleton, S. (2007). Mentoring and teaching in academic settings: Professional and cultural identities from one Pakeha’s perspective. Mai Review, 3, 1–6. Mullen, C. (2009). Re-imagining the human dimension of mentoring: A framework for research administration and the Academy. The Journal of Research Administration, 40(1), 10–31. Neumann, A., & Peterson, P. (1997). Learning from our lives: Women, research and autobiography in education. New York, NY: Teacher College Press. Nejad, B. A., Abbaszadeh, M. M. S., & Hassani, M. (2011). Organizational political tactics in universities. Higher Education Studies, 1(2), 65–72. Ryan, D., & Katz, S. (2007). Navigating academia: Two women professors collaborate for social justice. Advancing Women in Leadership Online Journal, (25). Research on Women and Education Special Issue. Retrieved from: http://www.iiav. nl/ezines/web/AdvancingWomenLeadership/2007/Vol25/advancingwomen/ preface.html Savin-Baden, M., & Howell Major, C. (2013). Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and practice. New York, NY: Routledge. Schulze-Engler, F. (2009). Transcultural negotiations: Third spaces in modern times. In K. Ikas & G. Wagner (Eds.), Communicating in the third space (pp. 149–168). London, England: Taylor & Frances. Sorcinelli, M. D. (1992). New and junior faculty stress: Research and responses. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 50, 27–37. Stanley, C. A., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). Cross-race faculty mentoring. Change, 37(2), 44–50. Tait, M. (2008). Resilience as a contributor to novice teachers’ success, commitment, and retention. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(4), 57–75.

chapter 3

STRENGTH-BASED PEER MENTORING IN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION An Avenue for Mutual Growth and Understanding Cathleen Morreale and Heather Hagenbuch When students are admitted into colleges and universities they are granted access to the halls of higher education, but that access does not always lead to the completion of a degree. A common practice among many academic support programs, particularly those for students said to be challenged by background characteristics (such as being a first-generation college student, having lower socioeconomic status, and/or being a member of an underrepresented minority) is the implementation of formal mentoring programs (Crisp & Cruz, 2009; Welch, 1997). Although mentoring may occur in postsecondary education through natural selection, personality congruence, individual sponsorship, and happenstance (Welch, 1997; Wunsch, 1994), it is through the institutional context of mentoring programs that random mentoring, particularly between peers, can be formalized and framed (Miller, 2002; Wunsch, 1994).

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 23–40 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

23

24  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch

In order to understand the value of such programs in providing support to students who may benefit from them, it is important to recognize the intricacy of the broad term of mentoring. In the often cited example of mentoring in Homer’s Odyssey, Mentor encouraged, supported, taught, counseled, befriended, and advised Telemachus as he navigated his life experiences. The complexity of the relationship between Mentor and Telemachus is reflected in the variety of relationships and continuums of intentionality and functions of mentoring in literature, research, and practice (Welch, 1997). The original role of the mentor was very much framed as a one-way relationship. Yet in reality today, a meta-analysis by Crisp and Cruz (2009) identified over 50 different definitions of mentoring in the social sciences that reflected mentoring as a concept, a process, or a set of activities in which relationships may vary based upon the context and the individuals involved. This chapter seeks to expand our understanding of peer mentoring in higher education from a sociocultural perspective. The focus of the chapter is to present a college peer mentoring program that has been implemented to focus on changing personal and organizational understandings of what the mentees and mentors bring to their mentoring relationships, thus broadening mentoring from the restricted sense of simply addressing deficits of mentees. The program examined is designed to foster mentoring relationships between undergraduate students in the United States, in an effort to promote the academic, personal, and professional successes of both mentors and mentees, who may come from very different sociocultural backgrounds. Purpose The mentoring program explored in this chapter emphasizes a developmental and strengths-based framework, focusing on the personal and sociocultural experiences of both mentors and mentees. It seeks to challenge the cultural perspectives of the institution and mentors of traditionally underrepresented groups of students by encouraging lens shifting from considering the mentees as having deficits to overcome to considering their strengths and the mentoring process as a source of empowerment and growth for both mentor and mentee. We begin the chapter with a brief synthesis and organization of literature to generate a theoretical framework for understanding the sociocultural contexts of mentoring and relationship building in an academic setting when mentees are from student groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education and/or defined as at-risk for not achieving academic

Strength-Based Peer Mentoring   25

success. In the literature presented, academic success represents degree completion, grade point average, and the choice to pursuit academic experiences beyond required coursework such as mentorship or research. Our thought is that the phrase “at risk” in itself causes others to view these students through a lens of deficit. In this chapter we refer to “at risk” students as “statistics challengers” as that is what many of these students are in higher education to accomplish, to challenge and change the statistics as they relate to themselves. The second section of this chapter presents the Peer Mentor Program (PMP), a strengths-based mentoring model designed to mediate challenges of sociocultural dynamics in individual mentees, mentors, and the mentoring relationship. The PMP was created to provide mentee students with one-to-one relationships with peer mentors who can assist them in adjusting to a large university setting. In an effort to empower students as individuals within and beyond their academics, this program uses a holistic approach to mentor and mentee relationship building. Holistic mentoring, as defined by Miller (2002), is mentoring that addresses and connects aspects of academics, work-related learning, and personal goals: (1) student’s knowledge, skills, and attitudes; (2) academic performance and personal life; (3) motivation, classroom performance, and achievement; and (4) career aspirations, self-esteem, and self-confidence. A descriptive analysis of mentee participation and evaluation of students’ experiences in the program will also be shared. The final section of this chapter discusses the potential application of existing and possible knowledge in peer mentoring for the purpose of encouraging successful outcomes of academic and social transition mentoring programs in higher education while addressing the cultural contexts of students who are statistics challengers. Overall, a better understanding and reframing of the complexities of mentoring students who are underrepresented and/or at-risk for not achieving academic success in higher education is explored. Literature Review This section provides a brief introduction to literature and research related to the broader context of mentoring, students, and mentoring programming.1 This presentation will introduce readers to existing knowledge of students who are underrepresented and/or at-risk for not achieving academic success in higher education, and provide a guide for critical evaluation of the current beliefs and practices, while encouraging reframing of these relationships through a strengths-based lens.

26  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch

The Big Picture It is well documented at the national level that policy impacts the transition between high school and college (Kirst & Venezia, 2004). Yet, it is at the programming level that individual student needs are directly addressed. The need for academic supports through advising and wrap-around programming such as federal (e.g., TRiO), state, and institutionally-based programs remains high, as these programs strive to strengthen the educational pipeline by not only encouraging access to higher education, but also by fostering successful completion of higher education programs. Tinto (1975) and Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, and Whitt (2005) proposed conditions of a supportive college environment for promoting academic success, three of which relate directly to mentoring: advice, support, and involvement. Students often fail to reach potential academic success, persistence, or graduation goals due to socioeconomic disadvantage, discrimination, engagement challenges, and poor psychosocial adjustment (Trent & St. John, 2008). Mentoring programs seek to mediate some of these student challenges. In relation to underrepresented students, Crisp and Cruz (2009) found that mentoring resulted in an increased likelihood of persistence and higher GPAs when compared to non-mentored fellow students. Research strongly suggests that it is the quality of mentoring, not only the existence of the opportunity to participate in a mentoring relationship, that provides the greatest impact for mentees (DuBois, Portillo, Rhodes, Silverthorn, & Valentine, 2011; Leyton-Armakan, Lawrence, Deutsch, Williams, & Henneberger, 2012). Quality mentoring can have positive outcomes beyond solely academic success, such as promoting student development, increased engagement and connection to the campus, supporting successful transitions, and promoting professional success (e.g., Pascarella, 1980; Terenzini, Pascarella, & Blimling, 1996), and research indicates that this is largely true for mentoring from faculty, staff, and peers (Arum & Roksa, 2011). Sociocultural Aspects in Mentoring Mentee demographic characteristics are prominently stated needs that must be addressed by mentoring programs. A review by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2013) clearly indicates that students who are first-generation, low-income, or who identify as a member of a race traditionally underrepresented in higher education are significantly less likely to complete a college degree, and if they do reach degree completion then the time taken is typically significantly longer. The literature cites a lack of academic preparation, a lack of understanding of the culture of

Strength-Based Peer Mentoring   27

academia, and employment of more than ten hours per week, as contributing factors in the overall discrepancies in graduation rates (Arum & Roska, 2011; Harper & Jackson, 2011; Kuh et al., 2005). For example, students who are considered disadvantaged economically or racially are less likely to have participated in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which has been shown to have a strong correlation to access and baccalaureate degree completion (Arum & Roksa, 2011). Young-Jones, Burt, Dixon, and Hawthorne (2013) reported that selfefficacy between first- and second generation students differs significantly, suggesting that the needs of first- and second-generation students also differ. Wells (2009) found that students who were raised in a home where at least one parent had completed a baccalaureate degree were 172% more likely to complete a timely degree than their peers. First-generation students comprise 40% of all students enrolled in U.S. colleges today (NCES, 2013). Riehl (1994) found that “first-generation college students do not have the benefit of parental experience to guide them, either in preparing for college or in helping them understand what will be expected of them after they enroll” (p. 16), providing an opportunity for mentoring programs to potentially fill a knowledge and social support need for these students. Socioeconomic status is a difficult demographic to define, as it is a complex social concept beyond personal or family income (e.g., as indicated in the U.S. by Pell Grant eligibility). As an example, Allen, Harris, Dinwiddie, and Griffin (2008) found it necessary to include an assortment of variables in their examination of Gates Millennium Scholars; such as parental employment status, home ownership, and financial security. The need for such extensive exploration is justified as low-income and moderately low-income students are significantly disadvantaged in their pursuit of degree attainment (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). For centuries, the high cost of college has prevented students from low-income families from accessing a college education. Fortunately, it has been shown that when these students receive scholarships and grants to help offset the cost of college they are significantly more likely to complete their degree within six years, regardless of their high school preparation and the selectivity of the college they choose to attend (Herzog, 2008). Scholarship opportunities coupled with mentoring, increases the potential for success for these students (Wells, 2009). In addition to the socioeconomic factors noted above, students who are identified as a member of a historically underrepresented group in higher education can also be at a severe disadvantaged in higher education attendance and completion when compared to their fellow students. The National Center for Higher Education Statistics reports that there is growing disparity between the percentages of the U.S. population with

28  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch

a non-White heritage and those who complete a degree. These groups have been traditionally underrepresented in higher education, and while 38.5% of the population in the U.S. is of a non-White heritage (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012) they represent only 27% of the conferred baccalaureate degrees. Furthermore, Wells (2009) determined that students who were members of a historically underrepresented racial group were more likely to be from first-generation and low-income families, significantly decreasing the overall likelihood of baccalaureate degree completion. A Strengths-Based Perspective While we have some understanding as to why students do not complete a college degree, the higher education literature often does not address students who are successful in higher education despite great barriers (representing resilient students). Given that these students are multidimensional, embodying challenges and resilience, the terms and demographic characteristics traditionally used to group them in the literature and research are limited. With regard to the student populations often targeted for mentoring, mentees in support programs often represent students who are underrepresented or academically at-risk for not achieving academic success in higher education. The idea of “at-risk” strongly relates to a majority norm, as well as framing students from a deficit perspective, because these students, from a statistical perspective would be considered “disadvantaged” or “at-risk” regarding academic underachievement. It is important to recognize that the current system of labeling assumes these students do not reflect other resiliency characteristics related to success such as strong study skills, a sense of responsibility, and self-efficacy (Roberts & Styron, 2010; Young-Jones et al., 2013). In 2000, Morley Winograd spoke to the idea of creating culture (in the context of his speech, the culture of government) through language by “changing the conversation.” He stated, “When you change what people talk about, you change the culture.” In higher education, “buzz words” and labels become priority and guide response. Labeling college students addresses that student as a member of the labeled group instead of as an individual by summarizing and generalizing their qualities, often inaccurately (deVoss, 1979). This creates an “artificial dividing line” (DeilAmen, 2011) by oversimplifying differences between groups and not acknowledging common sociocultural characteristics. Relabeling students, while still maintaining the value of the uniqueness their sociocultural

Strength-Based Peer Mentoring   29

experiences and characteristics, allows for practices (maybe even systems) to also be reframed. In an effort to reframe the labels afforded students who fit certain demographic characteristics (yet with negative connotation), Harding and Miller (2009) utilized the power of language and changed the defining term to “rising potential.” One way to do this in mentoring is through the use of a strength- based model in which the mentee is viewed through a more positive lens. Mentor and mentee characteristics can be conceptualized as static or fixed or as developing (Leyton-Armakan et al., 2012). For example, with regard to mentor characteristics, Leyton-Armakan et al. (2012) found that college women mentors of youth felt competent academically, valued their parental relationships, and were not experiencing distracting mental health. On the other hand, autonomy was found to have a negative relationship with positive mentoring outcomes, particularly in cross-group relationships; Leyton-Armakan et al. suggest this may be due to strong independent mentors having “difficulty slowing down enough to be truly collaborative with their mentees and, instead make decisions without consulting [the mentee]” (p. 915). A strengths-based perspective of these characteristics views them as developing, suggesting that both mentors and mentees have the potential to develop as individuals through their mentoring experience. Viewing students through a strengths-based lens changes the perspective of those involved with the student and fosters self-efficacy within the mentee. This means that rather than focusing primarily on the fact that these students face barriers that make them “deficient,” the focus should instead be on the factors that cause some of these students to succeed. As Miller (2002) so succinctly stated, “for each risk factor, there are also protective factors that can help prevent negative outcomes” (p. 104). Resilience is a broad term that refers to these protective factors. These factors are dynamic (i.e., potentially developmental) and represent capacity, process, and result (Lee, Cheung, & Kwong, 2012). Resilience recognizes the challenges students face rather than dismissing or replacing them, while also endorsing the notion that challenges can be mediated by both internal and external factors. Lee et al. (2012) summarize various criteria of resilience: • growing up under difficult or challenging conditions; • availability of protective factors (e.g., social support, spirituality, motivation, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and education); and • despite adversity, achievement.

30  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch

Description of Program/Context “Targeted, structured programs with custom-designed goals and activities have the advantage of identifying all participants who can benefit from mentoring rather than relying on like people finding one another” (Wunsch, 1994, p. 29). The PMP highlighted in this chapter is housed in an academic unit of admissions, support, and community-oriented programs at a Northeastern Research I higher education institution. The program is designed to assist incoming freshmen and transfer students with the transition to college life by providing them with experienced mentors (second year or higher standing). The transition or adjustment from high school or different types of colleges (e.g., community colleges or smaller schools) to a large Research I institution can elicit the need for students to take maximum advantage of the tools and services that a university makes available. Increasing one’s knowledge of the university at large, developing a deep respect for all facets of academia, and streamlining one’s goals toward success throughout college and beyond can be vital in one’s transition. Furthermore, before they are students, these people are individuals, with histories and futures that extend beyond the “boundaries” of academics. For first-generation and under-represented ethnic college students, the social capital they bring to the higher education setting, related to transition and success in college can differ greatly from students with siblings or parents who have experienced the culture of academia. In addition, the institution tends to view students as a homogenous group, so students may experience difficulty in seeking particular niches for cultural expression. Therefore, this program takes a holistic approach, a multifaceted consideration of academics, learning, goals, and personal experiences, to address what is unique to each student as a human being in multiple contexts. The program developed uses a strengths-based approach to mentoring. In line with this value, the mentees in this program are considered to be statistics challengers. This term was defined by a group of PMP mentors (many representing a statistics challenger profile) in response to the lack of suitable labels that consider the uniqueness and resilience of these students. This represents a cultural shift in understanding and, perhaps, in awareness of who these students really are and what they bring to the higher education experience. This group of mentors worked together to capture the idea of a strong and proud group, while maintaining individuality. Statistics challengers further implies the development of individual students in recognizing the larger institutionalized reality of access issues while considering also the potential for using significantly positive characteristics gleaned from having experienced or being culturally imbedded with structural challenges (e.g., the building of resilience or the value of ethnic

Strength-Based Peer Mentoring   31

culture in other areas of personal life supporting academics). The term statistics challengers also implies the outlier quality to highlight those who succeed. Reframing how students are labeled as a group does not change the reality that they may still face. It does, however, leave room in the language for including and fostering resilience. In essence, it seeks to change the cultural identity of the individuals as they are perceived within and outside of the organization and change the way in which they and those within the culture of higher education characterize and approach them. Institutions can and should provide access and support for students who are statistics challengers, but they also need to recognize academic behaviors and experiences that are influential on the overall retention of students. The PMP is unique in several ways. First, it seeks to maintain a strengths-based perspective by removing the focus from deficits to a more holistic approach. This is done in the program marketing, design and implementation. The program emphasizes a developmental framework, which implies a focus on personal and social development (including changing attitudes and cultural beliefs and understandings). Miller (2002) lists the aims of a developmental program: • • • • •

self-esteem; personal and social skills; motivation; maturation (transition from one phase to another); attitude (encouraging emphasis on positive or pro-social attitudes); and • behavioral. Mentors and mentees are encouraged to participate in discovering protective factor resiliencies and other strengths-based characteristics (Roberts & Styron, 2010), developing them, bringing them to consciousness, and fostering their growth in all aspects of their lives. Complimentary activities built into the program to promote a strengths-based and empowerment mission include participating in discussions around topics of service and democracy, meditation training, leadership skills, and advocacy workshops. The program seeks to blend and perhaps change cultural understandings. Thus, another important element is to include a wide range of students in the process. While, mentees are recruited from special programs (e.g., support, individualized admit, and access programs), mentors are recruited from the university at large. Additionally, although most mentoring programs target first-year students, given their need for additional support compared to students who have experience in college (YoungJones et al., 2013), this program expands mentoring to include mentees

32  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch

who identify as transfer students, as well as students directly referred by academic advisors for a variety of reasons (which has even included senior level students). Therefore PMP represents a wide spectrum of individual differences in regards to race/ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and college readiness. Lastly, the program is also unique in that peer mentors are fellow undergraduate students, but not necessarily members of the same academic programs as the mentees. Over 20 years the program has focused on building one-to-one relationships between students to encourage academic, social, and personal successes of both mentors and mentees, as they learn together to identify and utilize the resources, tools, and services available to them. Although there are arguments for same-group matching, logistically this is not always possible. Therefore, the PMP integrates cross-group matching and sometimes network mentoring. Networking mentoring, as suggested by Haring (1997), is a practice that removes the emphasis on matching students one-to-one and instead models mentoring around a group from an egalitarian approach. Since there is little support for the assumption of “ideal” matches based on lists of variables (Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennent, 2004) the matching process adapts to the needs of the mentees (Smith, Smith, & Markham, 2000) to maximize the potential for positive experiences for both mentors and mentees. Matching within the PMP occurs in several ways. In some instances, mentees are matched by the instructor, who is familiar with both students. In other instances, mentors suggest peers in the mentoring training course, thus initiating network mentoring (mentoring through an egalitarian group). Additionally, sometimes a mentee request is shared with all of the mentors, and based on the application from the mentee, mentors might choose to mentor that student. The matching process depends strongly on advisor referrals, as the relationships built through advising allows advisors to provide a richer description of individual students. Particularly with cross-group matches, there is a potential for “negative mentoring,” which can be “characterized as lowering expectations for student achievement, advising students to consider easier or lower opportunities than their potential might suggest, and reinforcing low self-concept” (Wilson, 1997). The PMP programming model recognizes that effective cross-group mentoring models with underrepresented groups “must foster the kind of equity (validation of the mentors’ and the [mentees’] experiences, histories, backgrounds, and critical perspectives) that encourages discourse, crucial dialogue, and understanding of the role of power (within the relationship(s) and the institution)” (Welch, 1997, p. 57). Strengths-based mentoring helps to reduce risk factors by training mentors in empowerment and advocacy, as well as cross-cultural sensitivity. To accomplish this, mentors are challenged to reflect and adapt their own

Strength-Based Peer Mentoring   33

sociocultural belief systems, encouraging student identity development and multicultural competences. Intentionally, the program training of mentors seeks to maximize potential benefits of the cross-group matching method, such as breaking down barriers between individuals and their respective communities (Miller, 2002) and incorporating intercultural sensitivity education to build trust and empathy (including Safe Zone2 training and group discussion and reflection); in addition, diversity training and the social environment encourage both student development and multicultural learning (Cheng & Chun-Mei, 2006). PMP is complimented by two additional peer-based programs housed within the same unit: academic coaching and tutoring. Figure 3.1 illustrates the commonalities and differences between the auxiliary peer programs in terms of the duration and direction of the relationship, focus of relationship content, type of knowledge, and academic and/or social/personal topics.

Figure 3.1.  Peer support map.

Of note are the multiple continuums on which mentoring relationships can be defined, including the notion of fluidity throughout the stages of the relationship and over time (Miller, 2002). As indicated in Figure 3.1, the PMP emphasizes academic adjustment and transition from an informal, yet holistic perspective, including student engagement both within and

34  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch

external to the traditional classroom and basic academic success strategies, and supports an assertive role of the mentee. Areas of student support requiring further clarification, not shown in this diagram, include the informal relationships of friendships, befriending, and the formalized professional services afforded by counseling and advisement by staff. Data Collection, Analysis, and Findings Program assessment provides support for the PMP and allows the unit and program to better understand program strengths and areas of improvement in order to maximize learning outcomes for both mentors and mentees. Regular program assessment (including group discussions with mentors and written and quantitative evaluations of the program by participants at the conclusion of each semester) provide data for analysis. The fall 2011 through spring 2013 semesters’ assessment data are the focus for this chapter. Preexisiting data from course debriefings (similar to the focus group form) and satisfaction surveys from mentors and mentees (all undergraduate students), institutional research reports including aggregate retention and gradution data for context, and general demographics record reviews provided support for the results and conclusions that are broadly described. Participants The PMP provides mentoring for students from individualized admission programs (including a high achieving underrepresented minority admissions program and individualized admit program), and programs servicing academically and financially disadvantaged students. PMP provides a diverse sample and unique opportunities for successes beyond simply academic success and retention. Both the mentor and mentee students represent a variety of background, or personal, and academic characteristics. As mentioned in the program overview, one thing that makes this “peer” mentoring program unique, is that although the mentors and mentees are peers as students, they are not necessarily peers in terms of their backgrounds. Regarding general demographics, mentors and mentees differed only slightly in between group demographic compositions. With regard to gender, almost 90% of mentors were female, whereas in the programs from which mentees were recruited, females represented just over half of the population. Approximately 54% of mentors reported they were members of the programs from which the mentees were recruited. In terms of academics,

Strength-Based Peer Mentoring   35

mentors modeled academic success. For example, all mentors had GPAs over 2.5/4.0 and 93% of mentors took 15+ credit course loads. Interestingly, mentors represented a variety of majors, including those traditionally associated with helping fields, for example psychology, nursing, and social work, as well as majors that are less so, for example accounting, engineering, chemistry, and business. Given the nature of the programs from which mentees were recruited, the majority of mentees were first-year (only approximately 11% were transfer students) and many had been referred by advisors due to academic success concerns. Mentees similarly represented a variety of major choices, including undeclared majors. Academic success in terms of retention and graduation of the population from which mentees were recruited corresponds to national averages for retention and graduation based on a variety of statistics challengers’ demographics (e.g., zero expected family contribution or first-generation status compared to the university rates) (Hagenbuch, Morreale, & Johnson, 2013). Outcomes Findings from both qualitative and quantitative data suggest both mentees and mentors reported successful outcomes from participating in mentoring, illustrating the value of a strengths-based holistic mentoring program approach. Several years of mentor evaluations have indicated high quality of training for preparing students to mentor other statistics challenger students. Mentors indicate strong appreciation and satisfaction with training that benefits them, their mentoring relationships, and their mentees. For example, in addition to traditional mentor training on boundaries, confidentiality, ethics, and counseling skills, the program includes promoting happiness, stress relief, mindfulness, and overall health (components that mentors have reported great satisfaction with). As one mentor wrote, “After the first class I noticed that it was not only showing us how to help others, it was showing us how we could also help ourselves.” One of the most often cited strengths of the program by mentors is selfadvocacy training. To train mentors beyond empathy and in an effort to mediate enabling and codependency of well-intentioned mentors, mentors are trained in and encouraged to use advocacy and self-advocacy techniques. Advocacy and self-advocacy require students to better understand and communicate their own cultural values, as well as to be aware of the context and of cultural understandings of others connected to the issue. Notably and in support of the program extending beyond academic integration and transition, students have demonstrated campus and community engagement within their living and learning communities. Combined, mentors have served over 500 documented hours in the local

36  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch

community, and engaged for over 400 documented hours on campus with student organizations. This demonstrates mentors “walking the walk” with regard to encouraging their mentees to become engaged on- and off-campus. For example, mentees have developed resiliency protective factors through mentorship by participating in campus workshops with their mentors (e.g., self-defense, public speaking, and even cultural cooking), as well as off-campus (e.g., through volunteering, social events, and religious activities). In addition, a large number of mentors reported participating in PMP because of positive previous mentoring experiences (thus continuing the theme of service). Mentees have also indicated an interest in becoming mentors in the future, even joining the PMP, which indicated to the PMP coordinators the need for further assessment on how these students view themselves, both as mentees and as potential mentors. A challenge for this program is structurally modeling marketing and connecting students. However, for mentees who did respond to the invitation to initiate the relationship, mentors and mentees were, on average, in contact on a weekly basis. Furthermore, the program has yet to identify alternative ways for mentors to receive a valuable mentoring experience in the absence of enough mentoring requests from mentees (a typical issue in the spring semester when fewer students are transferring to the institution). Lastly, the program is structured so that training continues throughout the semester, proceeding in parallel with the mentoring relationship building experience, which is formally limited to one semester. Therefore, flexibility is required for mediation and consultation to address immediate issues mentors experience prior to formal training on such issues. Lessons Learned Institutions can and should strive to intentionally incorporate best practices into their mentoring programs and student services. Coles (2011) suggests utilizing a theory of action, or framework, when developing formal mentoring programs, to intentionally set goals and create a framework that is assessable. Given its broad applicability, incorporating a strengths-based frame of reference for mentoring programs might help increase outcomes in terms of quantity and quality, particularly when working with students from different cultural backgrounds. It can also enhance their cultural understanding of the context in which they are operating, thus fostering greater success. It is not enough to open doors through access to higher education. We must accept an element of responsibility for those students as a community, so that they can take full advantage of the opportunity of education and the personal and social benefits it can provide. “Removing barriers to

Strength-Based Peer Mentoring   37

navigate the system [of higher education] can allow energies to be focused on behaviors and activities that promote academic success” (Morreale, 2011, p. 139) and creating an environment that challenges and supports students, while fostering high expectations (McMahon, 2007). Obstacles do not provide excuses, but opportunities. The challenges involved in promoting strengths-based relationship building for access and success, and mediating a culture of deficit language and programming, calls on institutions, individual programs, and even students (as self and peer) to maintain a positive attitude and accept responsibility for making change. When mentors and mentees are from different cultural backgrounds, particularly in the cultural context of primarily statistics challenger mentees whose mentors might not represent similar academic and personal characteristics, there is still an opportunity to build a positive and cobeneficial relationship. Literature, research, and best practices support the assertion that mentoring can provide the emotional and instrumental support that students need to successfully navigate college transition through graduation (e.g., Crisp & Cruz, 2009; DuBois et al., 2011; Leyton-Armakan et al., 2012; Pascarella, 1980; Terenzini et al., 1996). Mentors and mentees should be encouraged to participate in discovering resiliencies and other strengths-based characteristics, developing them and bringing them to consciousness while at the same time fostering their growth in all aspects of their lives. In summary, both literature and practice suggest there is great potential in formal and informal mentoring with faculty, peers, advisors, and off-campus mentors from both their own and different backgrounds to promote the success of statistics challengers. The authors believe in the value of students taking the time to learn and teach the sociocultural and social justice contexts of power in relationships, both for academic enrichment and discovery, and to fulfill wider access and success goals in higher education. Reframing how we define students as groups and as individuals is particularly important for fostering positivity and promoting the empowerment of students. A strengths-based perspective in our approach to language should extend to the language we choose for program narratives, marketing, and execution. It encourages a shift in mindset from assuming deficits in students (e.g., because they identify within a group statistically “at-risk” or “underrepresented”) to students with potential academically and personally to challenge negatively-framing statistics. The discussion presented in this chapter suggests that future research should include contextualizing operational definitions and variables of choice from a strengths-based perspective. This provides an opportunity to mitigate negative labeling and deficit-defined programming based on research. Furthermore, research in this vein will provide a more detailed

38  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch

picture of the diversity (characteristics, challenges, and successes) of students as individuals. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. Why is it so much more difficult for some students who come from a certain income level or racial background to complete college? What barriers must they overcome? 2. Knowing that certain barriers exist for certain groups of students, what steps can institutions take to ensure their success? How does this relate to your own situation? 3. How would you go about changing the cultural perception or identity of a group of students who have been traditionally known as underachievers? How would you changing the “lens” of those in an institution from one of deficit to positive? Notes 1. The focus of this literature review is primarily on higher education undergraduate contexts, however, much could be generalized to encompass both “earlier” students (i.e., high school students) and “later” students (i.e., graduate students) if due consideration is allowed of the unique features of undergraduate education compared to these other contexts. 2. Safe Zone training generally speaks to creating a safe space where all people feel welcome and safe. The program focuses on increasing awareness, knowledge, and skills to work with individuals who identify as LGBTQ. The training, however, is generalizable to all people in regards to promoting respect of individuals.

References Allen, W., Harris, A., Dinwiddie, G., & Griffin, K. (2008). Saving grace: A comparative analysis of African American Gates Millennium Scholars and non-recipients. In W. T. Trent & E. P. St. John (Eds.), Readings on equal education: Resources, assets, and strengths among successful diverse students. New York: AMS Press. Arum, R., & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cheng, D. X., & Chun-Mei, Z. (2006). Cultivating multicultural competence through active participation: Extracurricular activities and multicultural learning. NASPA Journal, 43(4), 13–38.

Strength-Based Peer Mentoring   39 Coles, A. (2011). The role of mentoring in college access and success. Research to Practice Brief. Institute for Higher Education Policy. Retrieved from http:// www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED520415.pdf Crisp, G., & Cruz, I. (2009). Mentoring college students: A critical review of the literature between 1990 and 2007. Research in Higher Education, 50(6), 525–545. Deil-Amen, R. (2011). Beyond remedial dichotomies: Are “underrepresented” college students a marginalized majority? New Directions for Community Colleges, 155, 59–71. deVoss, G. (1979). Student labeling practices. Theory Into Practice, 18(3), 158–162. DuBois, D. L., Portillo, N., Rhodes, J. E., Silverthorn, N., & Valentine, J. C. (2011). How effective are mentoring programs for youth? A systemic assessment of the evidence. Psychological Services in the Public Interest, 12(2), 57–91. Ehrich, L. C., Hansford, B., & Tennent, L. (2004). Formal mentoring programs in education and other professions: A review of the literature. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(4), 518–540. Hagenbuch, H., Morreale, C., & Johnson, T. (2013, April). Mission access and opportunity: Demystifying graduation and retention rates and how they apply to advising practice. Presentation at the 12th Biennial Tristate Consortium of Opportunity Programs in Higher Education Conference. Elizabeth, New Jersey. Harding, B., & Miller, M. (2009). Cultivating the potential in at-risk students. Manhattan, KS: NACADA. Haring, M. J. (1997). Networking mentoring as a preferred model for guiding programs for underrepresented students. In H. T. Frierson, Jr. (Ed.), Diversity in higher education: Mentoring and diversity in higher education. London: JAI Press. Harper, S. R., & Jackson, J. F. L. (2011). Introduction to American higher education. New York: Routledge. Herzog, S. (2008). Estimating the influence of financial aid on student retention: A discrete-choice propensity score-matching model. Education Working Paper Archive, 1–14. Kirst, M. W., & Venezia, A. (Eds.). (2004). From high school to college: Improving opportunities for success in postsecondary education. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass. Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. H., & Whitt, E. J. (2005). Student success in college: Creating conditions that matter. Washington, DC: Jossey-Bass. Lee, T. Y., Cheung, C. K., & Kwong, W. M. (2012). Resilience as a positive youth development construct: A conceptual review. Scientific World Journal, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353472/ Leyton-Armakan, J., Lawrence, E., Deutsch, N., Williams, J. L., & Henneberger, A. (2012). Effective youth mentors: The relationship between initial characteristics of college women mentors and mentee satisfaction and outcome. Journal of Community Psychology, 40(8), 906–920. McMahon, B. J. (2007). Resilience factors and processes: No longer at risk. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 53(2), 127–142. Miller, A. (2002). Mentoring students and young people. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing. Morreale, C. (2011). Academic motivation and academic self-concept: Military veteran students in higher education. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdwe

40  C. Morreale and H. Hagenbuch b?did=2407413351&sid=3&Fmt=6&clientId=39334&RQT=309&VNam e=PQD National Center for Education Statistics. (2013). The Condition of Education 2013. U.S. Dept. of Education. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013037. pdf Pascarella, E. T. (1980). Student-faculty informal contact and college outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 50(4), 545–595. Riehl, R. J. (1994). The academic preparation, aspirations, and first-year performance of first generation students. College and University, 70, 14–220. Roberts, J., & Styron, R. (2010). Student satisfaction and persistence: Factors vital to student retention. Research in Higher Education Journal, 6, 1–18. Smith, J. W., Smith, W. J., & Markham, S. E. (2000). Diversity issues in mentoring academic faculty. Journal of Career Development, 26(4), 251–262. Terenzini, P. T., Pascarella, E. T., & Blimling, G. S. (1996). Students’ out-of-class experiences and their influence on learning and cognitive development: A literature review. Journal of College Student Development, 37(2), 149–162. Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45, 89–125. Trent, W. T., & St. John, E. P. (2008). Resources, assets, and strengths among successful diverse students: Understanding the contributions of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. New York, NY: AMS Press. U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). Educational attainment. Retrieved from http://www. census.gov/hhes/socdemo/education/data/cps/2012/tables.html Welch, O. M. (1997). An examination of effective mentoring models in academe. In H. T. Frierson Jr. (Ed.), Diversity in higher education: Mentoring and diversity in higher education. London, England: JAI Press. Wells, R. (2009). Social and cultural capital, race and ethnicity, and college student retention. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 10(2), 103–128. Winograd, M. (2000).Remarks delivered to the Office of Personnel Management Strategic Leadership Summit, Springfield, VA, March 15. Retrieved from http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/speeches/31500.html Wilson, R. (1997). Negative mentoring: An examination of the phenomenon as it affects minority students. In H. T. Frierson Jr. (Ed.), Diversity in higher education: Mentoring and diversity in higher education. London, Englanc: JAI Press. Wunsch, M. (1994). Developing mentoring programs: Major themes and issues. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 57(Spring), 27–34. Young-Jones, A. D., Burt, T. D., Dixon, S., & Hawthorne, M. (2013). Academic advising: Does it really impact student success? Quality Assurance in Education, 21(1), 7–19.

chapter 4

EXAMINING THE INFLUENCE OF MENTOR SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES ON MENTORING ACTIVITIES Manju P. George

Mentoring can be a powerful transformational and life changing intervention and is commonly employed in higher education to improve the socialization process among students and to foster their personal and professional development (Shultz, Colton, & Colton, 2001). Within higher education, a mentoring relationship often involves professors acting as close, trusted, and experienced colleagues and guides (Cusanovich & Gilliland, 1991). If mentoring is to be successful, faculty members must be willing to participate in the relationship and must be informed about their responsibilities. Many things compete for mentors’ time and energy (Ragins & Scandura, 1999) and most mentors must balance the demands of their positions (program responsibilities, teaching, and research and service requirements) with their availability to students. However, perceived and utilized mentorship remains an essential component of effective

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 41–62 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

41

42  M. P. George

knowledge transfer, well-planned career development, and professional networking. Mentoring has been construed as a relationship-centred transaction between two people with learning and development as its purpose (Megginson & Garvey, 2004). In recent years, many business schools throughout the world have begun to integrate mentoring programs as a means of providing students with the real world knowledge necessary to succeed in the business realm (Schlee, 2000). Mentoring current MBA students is an excellent way to help future business leaders. Through participation in a mentoring program, students can explore career paths, obtain an inside view of industries, learn how executives meet difficult challenges, and gain insight into corporate strategy. Students’ experience with the mentor helps them make better career choices and fosters their smooth transition into the business world upon graduation. It would be ideal to employ a mentoring program to foster strong links between current students, alumni and the business community alongside faculty members in order to succeed in their venture. In order to foster such links, it is important to understand the needs, beliefs and values of those who will be mentored. George (2008), in a study on the effectiveness of formal teacher initiated student mentoring in business schools in India, found that less than 50% of the management institutes in these schools had implemented a mentoring program as part of the pedagogy. The study also revealed that the protégé maturity instilled in and gained by the students through mentoring experiences in these schools was considered essential for a smooth transition to the real world of adulthood, measured in terms of qualities like responsibility, individualism, efficacy, planfulness, perseverance, and cooperativeness. These were explored, analysed and presented as the illustrative outcome of the mentoring process. This study established that the formalization of mentoring in a business school led to higher levels of mentoring effectiveness. Understanding Generation Y The newest generation to enter graduate school in the present age have been labelled “Generation Y.” They are savvy and adaptable in terms of technological skills, yet they value training, and mentoring in order to remain marketable (Lyons, 2004). Sometimes also called Millennials, this generation expects significantly increased learning options and far more educational services from their colleges and universities. They enter university with learning backgrounds, preferences, attitudes and skills that call for the adoption of very different forms of learning environment,

Examining the Influence   43

pedagogy, and learning style strategies to those preferred by their professors or students of previous generations (Shih & Allen 2007). They constantly seek self-development and are keen about their personal growth. They are characterized not only by a desire to have a portable career, but prefer greater degrees of personal flexibility, professional satisfaction and immediacy and a desire to learn, with continuous learning being a way of life. Apart from this, Generation Y also prefers to have close relationships with authority figures, just as they did with their parents. They want to feel that supervisors care about them personally and prefer to work with superiors who are approachable, supportive, good communicators, and good motivators (Eckleberry-Hunt & Tucciarone, 2011). The present generation of higher education administrators, staff and faculty represent an altogether different outlook than their current student population (Hewlett, Sherbin, & Sumberg, 2009). Millennials exhibit distinct learning styles; they generally prefer teamwork, experiential learning activities, have an edge in activities involving technology and multitasking, are goal oriented and believe in collaborative styles (Oblinger, 2003). Today most of those teaching Generation Y students are members of Generation X or Baby Boomers. Demographers, historians and commentators use beginning birth dates from the early 1960s to the early 1980s to define Generation X, while Baby Boomers were born during the post-World War II baby boom between the years 1946 and 1964 (“Baby Boomers,” n.d.). In her study, George (2008) described the sociodemographic profile of the mentor teachers in a business school. One of the variables was the age of the teacher mentors and the analysis revealed that the majority of the teachers ranged from 31 to 40 years, typically Generation X. Although research indicates that there may be differences in the values, mindsets, and experiences between the students and their graduate school mentors, little research has been conducted to examine the extent to which these differences may impact the mentoring relationship. Hence an attempt was made to study the impact of the sociodemographic profile of teachers on mentoring activities. Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which the sociodemographic profile of teacher mentors (age, gender, educational qualification, and designation) in business schools in Kerala, India, influence the mentoring activities they engage in with their mentees. The activities examined were teach the job, provide challenges, teach politics, career help, protect, sponsor, career counseling, friendship, and trust. The

44  M. P. George

research question addressed was: To what extent do sociodemographic characteristics of mentors relate to mentoring activities employed in the mentoring relationship? Sociodemographic Profile of a Mentor A mentor is an adult who offers continued support, guidance and contributes towards the development of an individual. He or she is an influential person who significantly helps the protégé achieve personal and professional goals in life. Alleman and Clarke (2002) define mentor as a person with greater rank, experience and/or expertise who teaches, counsels, inspires, guides, and helps another person to develop both personally and professionally. In seminal research carried out decades ago, Levinson, Darrow, Klein, Levinson, and McKee (1978) argued that ideally a mentor should be approximately half a generation older (i.e., 8 to 15 years) than a protégé. The authors posited that if the mentor was much older, the relationship might take on qualities of a parent and child relationship, and if the mentor was too close in age to the protégé, the pair may become more like friends or peers. A young mentor is not perceived as matching his or her role well. A younger individual may elicit stereotypes of being inexperienced and naïve; this certainly does not fit the typical characteristics of a mentor. Earlier research studies consistently found that the demographic characteristics of both mentor and protégé (i.e., age, gender, rank, experience and race) can affect perceptions of the mentoring relationship as well as its outcomes (Mullen & Lick, 1999; Turban & Dougherty, 1994; Turban, Dougherty & Lee, 2002). Even though numerous studies have been conducted on mentoring, little is known about the moderating role of many sociodemographic factors upon the mentoring relationship. For example, many scholars reveal that gender type in mentorship has not been thoroughly examined or emphasized because previous studies had focused on a segmented approach and the direct-effect model in analyzing formal mentoring programs, as well as paying less attention to the significance of gender perspective in developing formal mentoring program models. As a result, the findings from such studies have not captured the views of gender in explaining or helping relationships in formal mentoring activities (Allen, Day, & Lentz, 2005; Hegstad & Wentling, 2005; Niehoff, 2006; Okurame & Balogun, 2005). Traditionally, mentoring has been a male dominated phenomenon. Yet, there is research in social psychology that indicates that according to social rule theory, the feminine gender role encourages women to be caring and nurturing (Bem, 1974) and they are more likely than men to provide

Examining the Influence   45

emotional support and informal counseling to others. On the other hand, the instrumental focus of career-related mentoring is associated more with men and the perception that men hold greater power within organizations (as cited by Allen & Eby, 2004). In addition, Ragins’s (1997) theory concerning diversified mentorships suggests that men may be more apt to provide career mentoring to others, whereas women may provide psychosocial mentoring. Studying this issue, Dreher and Ash (1990) found no gender difference with regard to the mentoring activities initiated and gender did not moderate mentoring outcomes and relationships. Allen and Eby (2004) examined the relationship between a mentor’s gender and protégé’s gender and proposed that mentoring effectiveness would vary as a function of the gender of the mentorship participants and the characteristics of the relationship. Though a number of researchers have reported distinct differences between men and women as mentors and the amount and type of support provided (Burke & McKeen, 1996; Luna & Cullen, 1990; Struthers, 1995). Burke and McKenna (1990) and Kram (1985) found that female mentors provided more psychosocial support, while male mentors provided career function. In a study Young, Cady, and Foxon (2006) focused on issues of gender and mentoring through several theoretical lenses—similarity attraction paradigms, power dependence, and social exchange, biological and psychological theories—to provide a more comprehensive view of mentoring from a gender based perspective. Their study elucidates the relevance of studying gender issues in mentoring and provides suggestions for conducting research on this topic. Heterogeneity with respect to the educational level has also been found to have an effect on mentoring. Individuals who are the most dissimilar from the work group in terms of education have also been found to be the least well integrated (Kirchmeyer, 1995). Mentoring relationships may require both mentor and mentee to engage in challenging activities, utilize new skills and exhibit different behaviour. While tenure differences are expected between parties in a mentoring dyad, it is likely that as differences in tenure grow larger, and as age differences grow, there is likely to be less agreement between the mentoring partners about mentoring activities within the relationship (FagensonEland, Baugh, & Lankau, 2005). Mentoring Activities Mentors utilize planned activities to foster the mentoring relationship, which forms the basis for developing and maintaining a trusting and caring relationship between mentors and mentees. Regardless of the type of mentoring program, it is important to sponsor a mix of activities that

46  M. P. George

support program goals and encourage interaction among all participants in addition to one-to-one activities. Robins and Sanghi (2006) opine that the mentoring role includes, coaching, counseling and sponsorship. As coaches, mentors help to develop their protégés skills. As counsellors, mentors provide support and help bolster their protégé’s self-confidence. A study conducted by Levesque, O’Neill, Nelson, and Dumas (2005) among alumni who had graduated from an MBA program from Northeastern University between 1980 and 1995 revealed that protégés perceived coaching, information support, exposure and visibility, political assistance and championing as the most important mentor behaviour followed by protecting, challenging, role modelling, motivating, and training. Alleman and Clarke (2002) found that mentors use a set of specific and identifiable activities and the way mentoring occurs for mentors and protégés is different. Mentoring activities are multifaceted, and contain items assessing nine activity categories characteristic of typical mentors, namely teach the job, counseling, sponsor, protect, teach politics, career help, challenging tasks, friendship and demonstrate trust. The amount and quality of the mentoring activity must be measured not merely in terms of frequency of contact but must also consider what actually happened during that contact and how much mentoring took place. Mentoring for one pair is different from the way mentoring occurs for others in terms of support, challenge and vision mentors offer their protégés. Some mentors support their protégé through listening, providing structure, expressing positive expectations, serving as advocate, sharing with their protégés and making it special (Alleman & Clarke, 2000). Successful mentors are good teachers. They can present ideas clearly, listen well and empathize with the problems of their protégés. They also share experiences with the protégés, act as role models, share contacts, and provide support. They provide advice and guidance on how to survive and get ahead in the organization and act as a sign board for ideas (George, 2008). Research Methodology The population of the study comprised all the permanent teachers working in nineteen business schools (institutions offering a MBA program) in Kerala state in south India. The schools consisted of are comprised of four university departments (at Cochin University, Calicut University, Kannur University and Mahatma Gandhi University) in Kerala and the colleges affiliated with all the universities in the state that offer full-time programs, including the lone national-level institute (IIM-K). The sampling approach

Examining the Influence   47

adopted consisted of a two-phase sampling process. In the first phase, business schools that had existed for at least five years were selected into the sample basket. In the second phase of sampling, separate samples were drawn from among teachers at each eligible institution to constitute the respondents for the study. The sample sizes for the respondent group (141) were decided using Yamane’s (1970) formula for determining sample size n by confidence interval (p > 0.05). Simple random samples were drawn from among the teachers available in the institutions identified in the first phase of sampling. Separate and exhaustive sampling frames were drawn among the teachers and the sample elements were arrived at through a lottery procedure with replacement to ensure equal probability to all the sample elements. The respondent groups of the study comprised 141 permanent teachers, which corresponds to roughly 65% of the teacher population. The teaching population of business schools in Kerala is predominantly male; so the sample consisted of 109 male respondents (77.3%) and 32 female respondents (22.7%), all of whom were designated as lecturers and senior lecturers, associate professors, readers, professors, directors, heads of the departments and principals. Designations of faculty in educational institutions may differ significantly among categories of educational institutions. In total, 41.13% (58) of the teacher respondents included in this study belonged to institutions that were 5 years old, 9.93% (14) of the respondents were at 6 to 10-year-old institutions, 34.05% (48) were at institutions that were 11–15 years old and 14.9% (21) respondents were at institutions that had been in existence for more than 15 years. Tools for Data Collection Standardized scales used in the field of education and in psychology were adopted and used to gather information on the designated variables, alongside the sociodemographic details of the respondents. The Mentoring Activities Questionnaire (AMAQ) originally developed by Alleman and Clarke (2002) was employed to measure the frequency and quality of mentoring activities initiated. The questionnaire is comprised of 72 items structured with 5-point Likert scale items specifying individual mentor actions that reflect mentor practices such as teach the job, counseling, sponsor, protect, teach politics, career help, challenging tasks, friendship and demonstrate trust. The study addressed the following research question: To what extent do the mentor personal sociodemographic attributes significantly influence mentoring activities? The mentor attributes examined were gender, educational qualifications, and designation.

48  M. P. George

Findings The findings of the study are presented in four parts as follows: (1) Mentoring activities initiated by teachers that varied across the age group of teachers, (2) Mentoring activities initiated by teachers that varied across their gender, (3) Mentoring activities initiated by teachers that varied across their educational qualification, and (4) Mentoring activities initiated by teachers that varied across their designation. Mentoring Activities Versus Teacher Age Group The first sociodemographic variable to be examined was age. The researcher was curious to learn if the mentoring activities (teaching the job, counseling, sponsoring, protecting, teaching politics, career help, challenging tasks, friendship and demonstrating trust) initiated by teachers varied significantly across their age group. The results are depicted in Table 4.1. One–way ANOVA was applied to test whether the mean scores of mentoring activities varied significantly among the different age groups of teachers. The results clearly reflected that there was no significant difference in the average scores of mentoring activities across the age group of teachers and all the teachers, irrespective of their age, initiated mentoring activities equally among students. Tools for Data Collection Standardized scales used in the field of education and in psychology were adopted and used to gather information on the designated variables, alongside the sociodemographic details of the respondents. The AMAQ originally developed by Alleman and Clarke (2002) was employed to measure the frequency and quality of mentoring activities initiated. The questionnaire is comprised of 72 items structured with 5-point Likert scale items specifying individual mentor actions that reflect mentor practices such as teach the job, counseling, sponsor, protect, teach politics, career help, challenging tasks, friendship and demonstrate trust. The study addressed the following research question: To what extent do the mentor personal sociodemographic attributes significantly influence mentoring activities? The mentor attributes examined were gender, educational qualifications, and designation.

49

31.19

31.14

(N = 36) up to 30 yrs.

(N = 57) 31–40 yrs.

1

2

  .873

NS

  .457

NS

NS = Not Significant

Level of significance

2.671

2.671

P value

4.46

5.05

6.21

Table “F” (0.05)

31.67

SD 5.48

  .233

3.63

31.25

31.86

30.92

Mean

  .872

32.42

(N = 24) Above 50 yrs.

4

4.37

5.74

3.84

SD

Provide Challenges

“F” value

30.21

(N = 24) 41–50 yrs.

3

Mean

Age Group

SI No.

Teach the Job

5.41

6.75

5.88

  .794

2.671

NS

SD 5.33

  .343

28.08

26.50

27.11

26.81

Mean

Teach Politics

5.18

5.21

6.01

4.68

SD

NS

  .099

2.671

2.132

30.38

29.38

30.23

27.53

Mean

Career Help

5.27

5.18

5.41

  .370

2.671

NS

SD 5.40

1.057

27.83

25.79

25.98

25.44

Mean

Protect

Mentoring Activities

4.56

5.67

6.42

6.21

SD

NS

  .055

2.671

2.599

31.25

31.71

29.40

27.89

Mean

Sponsor

4.60

6.30

6.11

6.53

SD

NS

  .828

2.671

  .296

32.38

31.42

31.07

31.08

Mean

Career Counseling

7.17

6.50

6.65

6.23

SD

NS

  .940

2.671

  .134

25.96

25.50

25.49

24.89

Mean

Friendship

Table 4.1.  Comparison of Mentoring Activities across the Age Group of Teachers

4.94

6.18

5.83

5.82

SD

NS

  .387

2.671

1.018

30.46

30.33

29.05

28.25

Mean

Trust

50  M. P. George

Findings The findings of the study are presented in four parts as follows: (1) Mentoring activities initiated by teachers that varied across the age group of teachers, (2) Mentoring activities initiated by teachers that varied across their gender, (3) Mentoring activities initiated by teachers that varied across theie educational qualification, and (4) Mentoring activities initiated by teachers that varied across their designation. Mentoring Activities Versus Teacher Age Group The first sociodemographic variable to be examined was age. The researcher was curious to learn if the mentoring activities (teaching the job, counseling, sponsoring, protecting, teaching politics, career help, challenging tasks, friendship and demonstrating trust) initiated by teachers varied significantly across their age group. The results are depicted in Table 4.1. One–way ANOVA was applied to test whether the mean scores of mentoring activities varied significantly among the different age groups of teachers. The results clearly reflected that there was no significant difference in the average scores of mentoring activities across the age group of teachers and all the teachers, irrespective of their age, initiated mentoring activities equally among students. Mentoring Activities Versus Gender The second attribute to be examined was gender. The t-test was applied to find whether the average scores of mentoring activities, differed significantly between male and female respondents. Data related to gender are presented in Table 4.2. The analysis revealed that teachers, irrespective of their gender, seemed to equally appreciate the value of each mentoring activity, except for sponsoring (a helping activity). The analysis revealed female respondents were high on sponsoring activity, and the average score of the mentoring activity sponsor differed significantly between the genders (t = 1.981; P = 0.05). Mentoring Activities Versus Educational Qualifications One-way ANOVA was applied to test whether the mean scores of mentoring activities varied significantly among the educational qualifications of teachers. The results are presented in Table 4.3.

51

31.50

(N = 32) Female

1.977

  .450

NS

1.977

  .179

NS

P value

5.48

Table “t” (0.05)

* Denotes Significance at 5% level NS = Not Significant

Level of significance

SD 5.72

0.742

31.67

30.84

Mean

1.349

4.32

5.98

SD

Provide Challenges

“t” value

2

30.22

(N = 109) Male

1

Mean

Gender

SI No.

Teach the Job SD

5.53

6.53 5.26

6.00

SD

NS

  .059

NS

1.977

1.560

1.900

29.89

27.81

Mean

Career Help

5.06

  .142

1.977

NS

SD 6.1

1.476

26.49

24.91

Mean

Protect

Mentoring Activities

1.977

1.428

27.47

25.81

Mean

Teach Politics

5.66

7.07

SD

*

  .050

1.977

1.981

30.27

27.88

Mean

Sponsor

5.83

6.56

SD

NS

  .680

1.977

0.414

31.47

30.97

Mean

Career Counseling

6.39

6.97

SD

NS

  .155

1.977

1.429

25.84

23.97

Mean

Friendship

Table 4.2.  Comparison of Mentoring Activities Between the Genders of Teachers

5.28

6.97

SD

NS

  .065

1.977

1.860

29.79

27.66

Mean

Trust

52

29.71

30.81

(N = 21) M. Phil

(N = 47) PhD

2

.399

NS

.137

NS

P value

NS = Not Significant

Level of significance

3.062

3.062

Table “F” (0.05)

4.58

5.97

5.48

SD

.924

31.38

30.10

30.92

Mean

2.014

4.14

6.88

3.84

SD

Provide Challenges

“F” value

3

31.90

1

Mean

(N = 73) Postgraduation

Teach the Job

Educational Qualification

SI No. SD

5.71

5.85

5.33

NS

.877

3.062

.131

26.89

27.67

26.81

Mean

Teach Politics SD

5.25

7.41

4.68

NS

.830

3.062

.187

29.77

29.57

27.53

Mean

Career Help SD

4.97

6.64

5.40

NS

.956

3.062

.045

26.28

25.86

25.44

Mean

Protect

Mentoring Activities

5.44

7.38

.066

3.062

NS

SD 6.21

2.775

31.40

28.90

27.89

Mean

Sponsor

5.01

7.91

3.062

NS

.310

SD 6.53

1.183

32.40

31.33

31.08

Mean

Career Counseling

NS

.774

SD

6.69

7.40

6.23

3.062

.257

25.60

26.19

24.89

Mean

Friendship

Trust

5.32

6.65

3.062

NS

.241

SD 5.82

1.436

30.45

28.43

28.25

Mean

Table 4.3.  Comparison of Mentoring Activities of Teachers Across Their Educational Qualification

Examining the Influence   53

The results indicate that the mean score of mentoring activities did not differ significantly with the educational qualifications of teachers. This obviously meant that teachers, irrespective of their educational qualification, appreciated all the mentoring activities equally. Mentoring Activities Versus Designation The study examined whether mentoring activities initiated by teachers varied across their designation. The results are shown in Table 4.4. One-way ANOVA was applied to test whether the mean scores of mentoring activities varied significantly among different designation of teachers. The results indicate that the mean scores of mentoring activities teach the job (F = 3.437; P = 0.035); sponsor (F = 5.317; P = 0.006) and career counseling (F = 6.166; P = 0.003) differed significantly among different designations of teachers, while provide challenges, teach politics, career help, protect, friendship, and trust did not differ significantly among the different designations of teachers. Post Hoc Test—LSD for Teach the Job One-way ANOVA revealed that the mean score of mentoring activities teach the job, sponsor and career counseling differed significantly across the designations of teachers. Hence a post hoc test-LSD was conducted and tested at the 5% level of significance in order to find how lecture/senior lecturers, associate professors/reader, and professors varied across the groups in each of the mentoring activities. The results are depicted in Table 4.5 The mean scores of lecturers and senior lecturers differed significantly from the mean score of associate professors and readers, but not with professor/director/head of the department/ principal. The data in Table 4.5 reveal that lecturers and senior lecturers spend most of their time in teaching the job compared to associate professors and readers. Post Hoc Test–LSD for Sponsor A post hoc test–LSD was conducted and tested at the 5% level of significance for the mentoring activity sponsor and the results are shown in Table 4.6. The mean scores for the mentoring activity sponsor differed significantly across different designations of teachers. The test revealed that professor/ director/head of the department/ principal differed significantly in the

54

29.58

31.77

(N = 40) Assistant Professor/ Reader

(N = 31) Professor/ Director/ Department Head/ Principal

2

  .060

NS

  .035

*

P value

** Denotes Significance at 1% level * Denotes Significance at 5% level NS = Not Significant

Level of significance

3.062

3.062

Table “F” (0.05)

3.91

6.11

5.63

2.876

32.45

29.75

32.04

SD

3.437

3.55

6.39

3.89

Mean

Provide Challenges

“F” value

3

31.90

(N = 70) Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer

1

Mean

SD

Teach the Job

Designation

SI No.

6.02

5.91

5.55

SD

NS

  .176

3.062

1.758

27.67

25.68

27.51

Mean

Teach Politics

5.11

6.41

4.99

SD

NS

  .163

3.062

1.836

30.39

28.08

29.76

Mean

Career Help

5.62

5.26

5.34

SD

NS

  .786

3.062

  .242

25.87

26.63

25.96

Mean

Protect

Mentoring Activities

4.46

6.48

3.062   .006 **

SD

6.08

5.317

32.74

28.55

29.06

Mean

Sponsor

4.19

6.58

3.062   .003 **

SD

5.89

6.166

33.96

29.13

31.47

Mean

Career Counseling

6.63

6.31

3.062   .297 NS

SD

6.62

1.226

26.77

24.33

25.44

Mean

Friendship

Table 4.4.  Comparison of Mentoring Activities Across the Designation of Teachers

4.75

6.25

3.062   .056 NS

SD

5.70

2.945

31.19

27.90

29.27

Mean

Trust

Examining the Influence   55

sponsoring activity or were found to be high in sponsoring the protégé when compared to lecturers/senior lecturers and associate professors and readers.

Table 4.5.  Post Hoc Test—LSD for Teach the Job

(I) Designation

Mean Difference (I–J)

Std. Error

P Value

2.3250(*)

*.9262

.013

.1258*

1.0082

.901

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

–2.3250(*)*

*.9262

.013

Professor/Director/Head of the Department/Principal

–2.1992***

1.1182

.051

(J) Designation Associate Professor/Reader

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

Professor/Director/Head of the Department/Principal

Associate Professor/ Reader Professor/Director/ Head of the Department/ Principal

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

–.1258**

1.0082

.901

Associate Professor/Reader

2.1992**

1.1182

.051

Mean Difference (I-J)

Std. Error

P Value

.5071*

1.1670

.665

Professor/Director/Head of the Department/ Principal

–3.6848(*)*

1.2702

.004

Table 4.6.  Post Hoc Test—LSD for Sponsor (I) Designation

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

(J) Designation Associate Professor/ Reader

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

–.5071**

1.1670

.665

Associate Professor/ Reader

Professor/Director/Head of the Department/ Principal

–4.1919(*)*

1.4088

.003

Professor/Director/ Head of the Department/ Principal

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

3.6848(*)

1.2702

.004

Associate Professor/ Reader

4.1919(*)

1.4088

.003

Post Hoc Test—LSD for Career Counseling Finally a post hoc test-LSD was conducted and tested at the 5% level of significance for the mentoring activity career counseling and the results are depicted in Table 4.7.

56  M. P. George Table 4.7.  Post Hoc Test—LSD for Career Counseling (I) Designation

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

Mean Difference (I-J)

Std. Error

P Value

Associate Professor/ Reader

2.3464(*)

1.1449

.042

Professor/Director/Head of the Department/ Principal

–2.4963(*)

1.2462

.047

(J) Designation

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

–2.3464(*)

1.1449

.042

Associate Professor/ Reader

Professor/Director/Head of the Department/ Principal

–4.8427(*)

1.3822

.001

Professor/Director/ Head of the Department/ Principal

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

–2.4963(*)

1.2462

.047

Associate Professor/ Reader

–4.8427(*)

1.3822

.001

The mean scores for the mentoring activity career counseling differed significantly across different designations of teachers. The post hoc test revealed that lecturers/senior lecturers differed significantly in the activity career counseling when compared to associate professors /readers and professors. The results reveal that the average score for sponsor, and career counseling differed significantly with the designation of teacher (P < .01) (Table 4.3), and was found to be high among professor/director/head of the department and principal (Tables 4.6 and 4.7). Similarly the activity teach the job differed significantly with the designation of teacher (P < .05) and was found to be high among lecturers and senior lecturers (Table 4.5). Discussion The findings of this study revealed that mentoring activities initiated by teachers varied across their gender and designation, but did not vary across age and educational qualification. The study revealed significant differences in the average score for sponsoring (mentoring activity) between male and female teachers. Thus, it appears that women teachers in business schools engage in more sponsorship than their male counterparts. The finding implies that women teachers, by definition, appear to pay special attention to acknowledging the accomplishments of their protégés and endorse their growth oriented attempts and provide visibility to their student mentees. Male mentors tend to refrain from publicly acknowledging and appreciating the protégé’s accomplishments. Traditionally, mentoring has been a male dominated phenomenon, but more recently

Examining the Influence   57

women have begun to initiate relationships. This differs from findings by Dreher and Ash (1990) and O’Neill (2002), who found no gender difference with regard to the mentoring activities and that gender did not moderate mentoring outcome and relationships. However, examining this issue decades ago, Kram (1985) found that men provided more career function mentoring while women were involved in psychosocial functions. These findings were later replicated by Burke and McKenna (1990). Additionally, a number of researchers have reported distinct differences between men and women as mentors and the amount and type of support provided (Burke & McKeen, 1996; Luna & Cullen, 1990; Struthers, 1995). This study appears to support their findings. In seminal research carried by Levinson et al. (1978), they claimed that ideally a mentor should be approximately half a generation older (i.e., 8 to 15 years) than a protégé, as discussed earlier. According to Fagenson-Eland et al. (2005), as the age difference grows, there is likely to be less agreement between the mentoring partners about mentoring activities within the relationship. Kram (1985) was of the opinion that individuals may feel challenged, stimulated and creative in providing mentoring functions as they become the senior adult with wisdom to share; alternatively, they may feel some degree of rivalry and be threatened by a younger adult’s growth and advancement. The results of the current study do not support Kram’s conclusions, as the study found no significant difference in the average scores of mentoring activities across the age groups of teachers and teachers; irrespective of their age, they initiated mentoring activities equally among students. Why there is this discrepancy is unknown. Further investigation using qualitative methods might help explain this finding. Research on heterogeneity with respect to educational level has revealed an effect on group functioning. Individuals who are the most dissimilar from the work group in terms of education have been found to be the least well integrated (Kirchmeyer, 1995), so the finding that activities initiated by the mentors do not significantly differ with their qualifications or positions was surprising. The relative importance reported for various mentoring activities may have other explanations beyond the educational achievements and academic experiences of the teachers. Since there appears to be no research on this topic, this bears further study. Similarly, the researcher has not located prior studies that have employed designation of teachers as a variable. Thus, it is not possible to compare the results of this study with other findings. The study revealed that activities like teaching the job, sponsoring and career counseling differed significantly across the designation of teachers. Teaching the job reflects the efforts of a mentor that in turn help a protégé perform job related tasks, accomplish work related goals and improve interpersonal skills. Mentors teach by example, explanation and discussion, providing helpful information, giving feedback and acting

58  M. P. George

as a role model. The exposure gained throughout their career span, professional contacts and varied experience gained may have improved the teacher’s attitude, knowledge, skills, and level of confidence, along with changes in position and the acquisition of power. Career counseling is represented by providing clarification, support, advice and insights for the protégé, encouraging the protégé to develop a career plan, contributing to the protégé’s personal development, and acting as a resource for the protégé when problems arise. A senior teacher (professor /head of department/principal) will be in a better position to provide sponsorship, career counseling and challenging assignments to his or her protégés. At the same time, a novice teacher is in a exploring phase for the first five years and will be trying to learn more about the system prevailing and to gain more knowledge by a acquiring higher degree of education. A young teacher works in a structured pattern and is more involved in classroom demonstrations and lectures and hence is involved in teaching the job, and with the passage of time they are likely to acquire the qualities of their more experienced seniors. Levinson et al. (1978) reported that many of the difficulties found in the mentoring relationship were connected to the behaviour of mentors. Black, Suarez, and Medina (2004) affirmed that mentors, as role models, are responsible for empowering their student protégés by modelling their professional and ethical behaviour because they hold the position or power. Further, Peck (1999) stated that “Consciously or unconsciously, good mentors know that it is far more their task to empower than to teach.” Conclusions, Implications, and Scope for Future Research Management institutions, being the seat for the holistic development of their students, should be able to bring forth cognitive affective and behavioral transformation in students (George & Mampilly, 2012). One of the strongest desires of any student (protégé), irrespective of their race, gender, age, nationality, socioeconomic background, or discipline, is to acquire effective learning and transition in their professional and personal life. This study revealed that all the teachers in the business schools were knowledgeable and utilized mentoring activities that guided, helped and encouraged their protégés. They made use of all the mentoring initiatives more or less equally well. The reason why they think alike could be because the teachers in business schools have similar kinds of exposure and belong to the same school of thought; there may be the similarities in the culture of the institute, and it may be that the curriculum warrants them initiating certain activities in common. Since the data analysis and statistical tests

Examining the Influence   59

employed established that the frequency and the commitment with which the teachers initiated various mentoring activities differed across their gender and designation, it would be of value to expand investigation into these issues in future research. Further, additional research should also be undertaken to evaluate the professional and personal developments and achievements of faculty mentors. Mentoring relationships could be established between mentor protégé dyads on the basis of their demographic profile and activities initiated by the teacher. Every teacher has some strength or the other; some may be good at teaching, counseling, career guidance, innovation, and providing challenges, while others may be good at encouraging and helping. It is high time institutions identified the strengths of their faculty so that their skills can be deployed in such a way that they contribute towards developing and shaping the careers and personal lives of their student protégés. Apart from these issues, a more detailed analysis of the mentor’s role across various professional disciplines could give insights into the differences in mentoring activities initiated by various professions (including, for example, management studies, medicine, nursing, engineering, and legal studies). By comparing mentoring across different professional contexts, it becomes easy to understand the unique requirements of each profession. Mentoring in business schools involves a constellation of educational, interpersonal and professional activities that comprise a variety of ways for assisting and supporting protégés (students) through their life span as a student and beyond. It is an interactive relationship wherein faculty members willingly initiate certain mentoring activities, given the faculty environment and their personal profile in order to strengthen the educational, professional, and personal growth of the Generation Y students (beneficiaries) who firmly believe in acquiring knowledge through collaboration and personalized learning. This research has opened up new avenues for examining the mentoring relationship by investigating whether the mentoring activities initiated by teacher mentors varied across personal variables such as age, gender, educational qualifications and designation. In doing so, it is hoped that additional research work will emerge in the future to aid our understanding of mentoring endeavors and to foster their success. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. How do one’s own experiences and culture influence the manner in which they mentor?

60  M. P. George

2. Describe the perfect mentor for you. What qualities do they possess? 3. In general describe the difference between how a male mentors as compared to how a female mentors. What do you believe this looks like? What are the similarities and differences? How does this apply to your own situation?

References Alleman, E., & Clarke, D.L. (2000). Accountability: Measuring mentoring and its bottom line impact. Review of Business, 21, 62–68. Alleman, E., & Clarke, D. (2002). Manual for the Alleman Mentoring Questionnaire. Sharon, OH: Silver Wood Associates, Sharon Center. Allen, T. D., & Eby, L. T. (2004). Factors related to mentor reports of mentoring functions provided: Gender and relational characteristics. Sex Roles, 50, 129–139. Allen, T. D., Day, R., & Lentz, E. (2005). The role of interpersonal comfort in mentoring relationships. Journal of Career Development, 31(3), 155–169. Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155–162. Black, L. L., Suarez, E. C., & Medina, S. (2004). Helping students help themselves: Strategies for successful mentoring relationships. Counselor Education and Supervision, 44(1), 44–55. Burke, R. J., & McKeen, C. A. (1990). Mentoring in organizations: Implications for women. Journal of Business Ethics, 9(4-5), 317–332. Burke, R. J., & McKeen, C. A. (1996). Gender effects in mentoring relationships. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 11, 91–104. Busch, J. W. (1985). Mentoring in graduate schools of education: Mentors’ perceptions. American Educational Research Journal, 22, 257–265. Cusanovich, M., & Gilliland, M. (1991, May-June, 1). Mentoring: The facultygraduate student relationship. CGS Communicator. Dreher, G. F., & Ash, R. A. (1990). A comparative study of mentoring among men and women in managerial, professional, and technical positions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 539–546. Eckleberry-Hunt, J., & Tucciarone, J. (2011). The challenges and opportunities of teaching “Generation Y”. Journal of Graduate Medicine Education, 3(4), 458–461. Fagenson-Eland, E. A., Baugh, S. G., & Lankau, M. J. (2005). Seeing eye to eye: A dyadic investigation of the effect of relational demography on perceptions of mentoring activities. Career Development International, 10(6–7), 460–77. George, M. P. (2008). A study on the effectiveness of formal and teacher initiated student mentoring in B-schools in Kerala (Doctoral dissertation). Cochin University of Science and Technology. Kochi, Kerala, India.

Examining the Influence   61 George, M. P., & Mampilly, S. R. (2012). A model for student mentoring in business schools. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 1(2), 136–154. Hegstad, C. D., & Wentling, R. M. (2005). Organizational antecedents and moderators that impact on the effectiveness of exemplary formal mentoring programs in Fortune 500 companies in the United States. Human Resource Development International, 8(4), 467–487. Hewlet, S. A., Sherbin, L., & Sumberg, K. (2009). How gen Y and boomers will reshape your agenda. Harvard Business Review, 87(7/8), 71–76. Kram, K. E. (1985). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. In H. J. Reitz (Ed.), Behavior in organizations. London, England: Scott, Foresman and Company. Kirchmeyer, C. (1995). Demographics similarity to the work group: A longitudinal study of managers at the early career stage. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16, 67–83. Levinson, D. J., Darrow, C. N., Klein, E. B., Levinson, M. H., & McKee, B. (1978). Seasons of a man’s life. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. Levesque, L. L., O’Neill, R. M., Nelson, T., & Dumas, C. (2005). Sex differences in the perceived importance of mentoring functions. Career Development International, 10(6–7), 429–443. Luna, G., & Cullen, D. (1990, April). An ethnographic comparison of mentoring functions for women in academe and business. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Meeting, Boston, MA. Lyons S. (2004) An exploration of generational values in life and at work. Dissertation Abstracts International, 3462A (UMI No. AATNQ94206). Megginson, D., & Garvey, B. (2004). Odysseus, Telemachus and Mentor: Stumble into, searching for and signposting the road to desire. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching, 2(1). Retrieved February 20, 2005, from www. emccouncil.org Mullen, C. A., & Lick, D. W. (1999). New directions in mentoring: Creating a culture of synergy. London, Englanc: Falmer Press. Niehoff, B. P. (2006). Personality predictors of participation as a mentor. Career Development International, 11(4), 321–333. Oblinger, D. (2003). Boomers Gen-Xers Millennials. EDUCAUSE Review, 500(4), 37–47. O’Neill, R. M. (2002). Gender and race in mentoring relationships: A review of the literature. In D. Clutterbuck & B. R. Ragins (Eds.), Mentoring and diversity: An international perspective (pp. 1–22). Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Okurame, D. E., & Balogun, S. K. (2005). Role of informal mentoring in the career success of first-line bank managers: A Nigerian case study. Career Development International, 10(6–7), 512–521. Peck, S. M. (1999). Golf and the spirit. New York, NY: Harmony Books Ragins, B. R. (2007). Diversity and workplace mentoring relationships: A review and positive social capital approach. In T. A. Allen & L. T. Eby (Eds.), The Blackwell handbook of mentoring: A multiple perspectives approach (pp. 281–300). London, England: Blackwell.

62  M. P. George Ragins, B. R. (1997). Diversified mentoring relationships in organizations: A power perspective. Academy of Management Review, 22, 482–521. Ragins, B. R., & Scandura, T. A. (1999). Burden or blessing: Expected costs and benefits of being a mentor. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 493–509. Ragins, R., & Cotton, J. (1999). Mentor functions and outcomes: A comparison of men and women in formal and informal mentor relationships. Applied Psychology, 84(4), 529–550. Robins, P., & Sanghi, S. (2006). Organizational culture. New York, NY: Pearson Education. Schlee, R. P. (2000). Mentoring and the professional development of business students. Journal of Management Education, 24(3), 322–337. Shih, W., & Allen, M. (2007). Working with generation-d: Adopting and adapting to cultural learning and change. Library Management, 28(1/2), 89–100. Shultz, E. L., Colton, G. M., & Colton, C. (2001). The adventor program: Advisement and mentoring program for students of colour in higher education. Journal of Humanistic Counselling, Education and Development, 40(2), 208–219. Struthers, N. J. (1995). Differences in mentoring: A function of gender or organizational rank? Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 10, 265–272. Turban, D. B., & Dougherty, T. W. (1994). Role of protégé’s personality in receipt of mentoring and career success. Academy of Management Journal, 37(3), 688–702. Turban, D. B., Dougherty, T. W., & Lee, F. K. (2002). Gender, race, and perceived similarity effects in developmental relationships: The moderating role of relationship duration. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67, 240–262. Yamane, T. (1970). Statistics: An introductory analysis. New York: Harper International. Young, A. M., Cady, S., & Foxon, M. J. (2006). Demystifying gender type in mentoring: Theoretical perspectives and challenges for future research on gender and mentoring. Human Resource Development Review, 5(2), 148-175. Baby Boomers. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Baby_boomers

chapter 5

A CULTURAL CONNECTION TO IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT FOR GRADUATE FEMALE STUDENTS OF COLOR Brenda Marina

The experiences of students of color (Patton, 2009) in higher education have taken center stage in research addressing issues of marginalization (Gasman, Gerstl-Pepin, Anderson-Thompkins, Rasheed, & Hathaway, 2004: Harris, 2007). Students of color in general, and female students of color in particular, deal with barriers in higher education that impede their progress. These students have been relegated to a racialized existence that forces them to interpret experiences through a cultured lens and they have the daunting task of negotiating among multiple identities (race, gender, professional) while making progress toward a graduate degree. This chapter explores the intersections of cultural and professional identities, gender, and mentoring relationships for five women of color and their mentor in academe at a predominantly white institution. I explore the “why” and “how” female graduate students of color consider the cultural aspect of a mentoring relationship.

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 63–77 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

63

64  B. Marina

The following sections provide a briefing on mentoring graduate students and mentoring female graduate students of color. Additionally, I mention servant leadership to situate the cultural and spiritual facets of mentoring. Following an overview of the method for this inquiry, brief narratives with discussion provide a snapshot of how the mentor-protégé relationship influences the cultural and professional identities of female graduate students of color. Two major themes (servant leadership and spirituality) as well as three subthemes (listening, commitment to the growth of people, and service to others) emerged. The intersection of the subthemes is discussed in the context of the two major themes. Finally, I conclude with a dominant concept and lessons learned to contextualize the cultural aspect of mentoring and to offer additional support in understanding professional and cultural identity development for mentoring relationships with female graduate students in higher education and student affairs. Mentoring Graduate Students Although mentoring is among the most important elements of graduate training, it is also historically and conspicuously absent or disappointing in the eyes of many graduate students (Patitu & Hinton, 2003). A number of authors have been attempted to define the essential behaviors of effective mentors (Friday & Friday, 2002; Johnson & Ridley, 2004; O’Neil & Wrightsman, 2001; Rose, 2003; Schlosser, Knox, Moskovitz, & Hill, 2003). As such, supporting and encouraging students is considered one of the most meaningful functions offered by mentors. Support and encouragement often come in the form of attentive listening, calm reassurance, kind words about the protégé’s potential for success, and a willingness to collaborate on projects early in the mentorship when a protégé is struggling with confidence and identity (Clark, Harden, & Johnson, 2002; Johnson, 2007). Helpful mentor behaviors also include reflection of the protégé’s feelings, clarifying the protégé’s main concerns and emotional experiences, exploration of options, and assistance with developing a decision-making process (O’Neil & Wrightsman, 2001). Positive educational outcomes are consistently linked to faculty availability outside of class to student success and satisfaction (Bennetts, 2002; Schlosser et al., 2003). It is not surprising that students are first drawn to mentors in the classroom. Direct teaching and guidance is one of the things graduate students most desire in a mentor (Rose, 2003; Simon, Roff, & Perry, 2008). Creating opportunities for the protégé to demonstrate competence and have important members of the academic institution become aware of his or her work (Johnson & Huwe, 2003; Kram, 1985) makes the

A Cultural Connection to Identity Development   65

protégé increasingly visible and enhances their future professional opportunities. Effective mentors model professional ethics and personal values (Nielson, Carlson, & Lankau, 2004). Socializing a protégé requires a mix of modeling attitudes, values, and skills to transmit desirable professional behaviors and attitudes. Mentors often use personal examples and stories from within the institution to showcase professional successes and errors, critical professional skills, and prevailing norms and values within a program, institution, or academe overall (Swap, Leonard, Shields, & Abrams, 2001). To self-disclose is to reveal one’s self, to offer a window in for the protégé to better know the mentor’s experiences, struggles, insecurities, triumphs, and dreams (Norcross, 2002). Mentoring Female Graduate Students of Color Women of color in general and African American women of color in particular gain positive results from mentoring experiences during their graduate studies. Mentoring experiences were found to be crucial for African American female graduate students in any higher educational setting (Patton, 2009). Patton (2009) explored the experiences of African American women in graduate and professional school relationships. One of the purposes of the mentor relationship within graduate schools is the advancement of career aspirations and networking. Students were found to hold a preference for mentors who were experienced in their respective field of study. The students also noted the difficulty in finding an African American female mentor, which was preferred if they themselves were African American. Likewise, Nora (2003) notes that there exists a lack of minority mentors and role models in our higher education campuses, and a lack of minority support groups that has led to adverse conditions for Hispanic students that they must somehow overcome. Anglo leaders and managers are in a position to socialize newcomers by modeling accepted behavior, and tend to have a significant network of high-profile friends to share by virtue of the rank and reputation they have earned. Yet, Anglos often have difficulty relating to Hispanic and African Americans and often have difficulty in taking the first steps towards initiating a mentoring relationship. Informal mentoring assistance may have come about due to a general awareness generated by a sponsored “sensitivity” or “cultural diversity” workshop (Ortega, 1999). Generally, protégés seek mentors who are willing to share personal concern and encourage a sense of genuine collaboration in mentorship (Rose, 2003). Patton and Harper (2003) discovered that African American female graduate students felt they could create a more significant connec-

66  B. Marina

tion with an African American mentor because of the immediate life and academic experience. The African American female graduate students felt the role of an African American female mentor mirrored a more motherly, nurturing, and culturally relevant experience. Grant (2012) also discovered the significance of the nurturing, mothering, and cultural relevancy within the same sex and race relationship. Having this commonality with the mentor created more trust within the mentor-mentee relationship. African American mentors were perceived to relate to African American graduate students more easily than their White counterparts. White mentors, whether they were male or female, were thought to not appreciate the complexity of being an African American woman. African American mentors were perceived by protégés as having a better level of understanding for them as individuals (Grant, 2012; Nichols & Tanksley, 2004; Patton & Harper 2003). Having a mentor of the same race and gender proved to be more effective for the mentee. Having a mentor of the same race and gender within the context of predominantly White institution (PWI) settings was highlighted by Crawford and Smith (2005) as being vital to the growth and development of African American female graduate students as future professionals. In their study, seven participants who were former or current senior administrators in a college or university expressed their respective successes in their careers; however each one desired such a mentor in their formal masters and doctoral education. Women from different racial groupings have similar gendered interpretations of an experience; their diverse racial standpoints and pasts offer further evidence of the continued marginalization of women of color in a PWI (Collins, 1993; Johnson-Bailey, 2004), as well as supporting the rationale for selecting a mentor of the same race and/or gender. Vasquez and Comas-Díaz (2007) believe that similar to other women of color, Latinas face unique challenges and obstacles. The level of adversity often challenges their self- confidence (Olivas-Luján, 2008) and has even lead to decisions by younger Latinas not to prepare for or seek out leadership roles. Since a vast educational and economic disparity exists among the various Hispanic subgroups and between other racial/ethnic groups, it is imperative that Hispanics assess and build upon their unique leadership abilities (Ramirez, 2005). Findings from a study on women of color in higher education and leadership positions confirm that mentoring, religion, and spirituality are overwhelmingly perceived as coping strategies (Marina, 2009, 2011). In particular, African American women sought out concrete experiences from other African American women and other communities of color to extrapolate wisdom and meaning. While there is a huge amount of literature on the general topic of leadership, there is a very limited body of literature

A Cultural Connection to Identity Development   67

on how Latina leaders develop, what they value in their roles as leaders, and what barriers they see as major impediments to becoming leaders (Bonilla-Rodriguez, 2011). It is important to understand how women of color cope with stressors to maintain positive self-esteem while facing difficulty. Byrd (2001) found that religious beliefs influenced self-esteem and a belief in God was the reason for the high self-esteem. The main sources of self-esteem were God, family, and role models/mentors. Connections made between Black students and Black role models who have been successful in higher education can increase the self-efficacy of Black students and lead to academic success (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010). According to Alston (2005), African American women as educational leaders share as they serve and lead in their communities. These women have a strong sense of efficacy and deeply care about their mission to serve, lead and educate. Alston notes that they have a sense of spirituality and unyielding faith that grounds them and enables them to strive towards excellence in academe. Mentoring and Servant Leadership During the 2012 Georgia College Personnel (GCPA) conference, I conducted a presentation titled “Spirituality, Servant Leadership, and Student Affairs: A Woman’s Perspective.” During the presentation the participants were asked to write down the characteristics needed to fulfill their task as higher education and student affairs professionals. After the responses were cited, servant leadership was presented and discussed. There was agreement amongst this group of women that student affairs and student services is a field of service and that we are, in essence, servant leaders in our positions. Afterwards, the participants were asked to describe their mentors. The index cards filled with dispositions needed for the job on one side, the characteristics of servant leaders in the middle, and the characteristics of good mentors on the other side provided an intersecting and thought-provoking visual that resonated throughout the room. The term servant-leader historically proliferated throughout the African American church paradigm, with roots dating back to slavery and even further to Africa. It later gained currency in mainstream American professions. Servant leaders are described as people who feel the need to serve and then seek to lead in order to serve (Greenleaf, 1977, 2008; Spears, 2002). Greenleaf ’s servant-leader manifests several notable characteristics: (a) sustained intentness of listening; (b) facilitator of language and imagination; (c) the ability to withdraw and reorient oneself; (d) empathy; (e) foresight; and (f) persuasion. Spears (2004) later identified ten characteristics central to the development of servant leaders. These characteristics

68  B. Marina

are: (a) listening, (b) empathy, (c) healing, (d) awareness, (e) persuasion, (f) conceptualization, (g) foresight, (h) stewardship, (i) commitment to the growth of people, and (j) building community. Such characteristics were found in the African American mentors in Marina and Fonteneau’s (2012) study. The notion of servant leadership runs countercultural to traditional Western notions of leadership, where men are heroes holding positions of power (Greenleaf, 1977, 2008; Ngunjiri, 2009). However, many African American women in higher education and student affairs illustrate the fact that servant leadership is not countercultural in the traditional African context (Marina & Fonteneau, 2012). While servant leadership has become more prominent in the North American and European contexts, the study of servant leadership in the Latin American context has received limited attention (Irving & McIntosh, 2006). Serrano (2006) reported that there was a favorable attitude toward servant leadership in Latin American settings. There is a body of literature on Latina leader behavior that is consistent with Greenleaf ’s theory of servant leadership (Bonilla-Rodriguez, 2011). Carillo (2009) and Sanchez de Valencia (2008) noted that Latinas’ sense of community is influenced by their family-oriented mentality and work ethic. Nieto (2007) agreed that family plays an important role for Latinas, and suggested that this population possesses an “innate” need to serve. Such patterns of behavior have led Latinas to be associated with servant leadership. Bordas (2007) supports this notion and explains that for people of color, serving others comes naturally. Method of Inquiry Over time, the research findings on mentors and mentees matched by ethnicity, race, or gender have been inconclusive (Davidson & Foster-Johnson, 2001; Kochan, 2002; Mertz & Pfleeger, 2002; Wilcox, 2002). To enrich my scholarly understanding and to construct new knowledge, I considered two general research questions to guide this inquiry: (1) How does a mentoring relationship impact the cultural and professional identity of women of color in academe? and (2) What are the benefits of maintaining a mentor of the same gender and/or race? Five female graduate students of color who were pursuing master’s degrees in higher education administration and their mentor were interviewed for this study. Four of the students were African American and one was Hispanic. The five protégés were all working with the same mentor, an African American female who was also serving as their internship/practicum supervisor.

A Cultural Connection to Identity Development   69

The participants were purposely selected and each was asked six openended questions. The interviews lasted approximately three hours and included a lunch. In addition to handwritten notes taken by the researcher, each session was tape recorded. The interviews were transcribed by a professional transcriber, and subsequently analyzed and coded by the researcher. An interview and lunch invitation was then extended to the mentor of these female graduate students. This intriguing interview also lasted approximately three hours. Utilizing the same strategy, handwritten notes were taken and the interview session was tape recorded and transcribed by the professional transcriber. It should be noted that the researcher’s identity may have had a positive impact on the study. As a well-known female of color at the same institution, her insider status as both a woman and an administrator may have increased the level of comfort with the participants, who may feel women understand other women on a deeper level due to race and gender. This level of comfort may have produced more genuine responses and caused a flow of uninhibited conversations. Review and analysis of each case led to a grouping of characteristics that have implications for mentoring female graduate students of color in higher education and student affairs. The first iteration of the analysis began with open coding (Merriam, 2009) by analyzing the data for patterns or commonalities between the graduate students and the mentor. In the second iteration the patterns were reviewed and the data was separated into themes. During the third iteration of selective coding, themes were analyzed and interpreted by considering a dominate concept. This major concept influences the conclusions that are discussed later in the chapter. Narrative Discussion Stories written by and about students often reflect the lives of individuals facing oppression (Borrego & Manning, 2007). These vignettes provide a snapshot of how the five protégés and Dr. Mentor began to recognize their intersecting cultural and gendered identities within their professional journey. Mentee #1 Dr. Mentor was a woman of color in charge of assessment and benchmarks. Initially I had informed her that this was not an area that I was particularly interested in, however as time went by she “highly encouraged” me to come to the meetings and/or attend the focus groups. So I did. Being behind the scenes or actually on the inside of the assessment process really made me realize how extremely important an area it is

70  B. Marina to the retention of students. I’m glad that I was exposed to the process and now I am eager to learn more about this area…. We have the same principle beliefs regarding Higher Education Administrators being that they should “encourage ethical behavior, hard work, and foster feelings of personal effectiveness and shared leadership with the organization.

Mentee #2 I think the characteristics that Dr. Mentor had that clicked with me was that she was an African American, independent, hardworking women serving in a leadership role at the university. I felt I could identify with her style because I saw much of myself in her. She was where I would like to be someday, and she was willing to help me get there! When we had our first meeting, she asked me to bring a copy of my resume with her. At that point I knew she was about business. She also asked me what I wanted to do and what it was that I wanted to get out of the internship. I thought this was a good thing because I felt like I mattered…

Mentee #3 Dr. Mentor was easy to talk to, respectful, confident, appreciative and well mannered. I was able to be more confident and assertive in my abilities and performance. As far as my personal development, I didn’t know a lot of Black women in very important positions such as her position. She was assertive and tactful in her position, which is important in professional environments and I learned that from her…. When Dr. Mentor invited me to go to a church conference, I really enjoyed it and found the gesture to be very meaningful because it extended beyond the workplace which was important to me as a new professional.

Mentee #4: (Latina) Personally, I saw a female moving up the ranks at a dominantly white male institution. I felt empowered to be able to do the same. Professionally, through the relationship, I was able to get into the academia side of the college as opposed to my typical student affairs avenue…. Additionally, I was able to gain a wide range of opportunities if I asked or if Dr. Mentor thought I would benefit from an opportunity. Finally, I felt as though I would receive the honest feedback that I needed to shape me as a professional and I could depend on that support.

Mentee #5 We both value family, religion, education, diligence and tenacity. She has been instrumental in my life, both professionally and personally. During my internship

A Cultural Connection to Identity Development   71 Dr. Mentor gave me assignments and projects that showed she had confidence in me, which in turn boosted my professional esteem and self-assurance. She was the first individual on campus to take a sincere interest in my professional and personal development. Her personal journey and advancement in the field of higher education gives me the encouragement and the “know how” I need to continue to strive toward excellence in my career, through all my struggles and hardships.

The mentor-protégé’ relationship in this study had a profound impact on the cultural and professional identities of each female graduate student of color in this study. The mentor possessed characteristics of an effective mentor and professional. Each mentee described with great detail, the characteristics and attributes they wanted in a mentor and what they gained (benefits) from this particular mentor-mentee relationship. The characteristics that the mentees mentioned were the same characteristics that the mentor wanted to see developed in each of her protégés. The mentor challenged her protégés to do and experience things that they otherwise might avoid (Kram, 1985). She demonstrated behaviors such as active listening, reflection of the protégé’s feelings, clarifying the protégé’s concerns and emotional experiences, exploration of options, and assistance with developing a decision-making process (O’Neil & Wrightsman, 2001). Mentee #2 confirmed that having a mentor of the same race and gender within the context of a PWI was vital to her growth and development as an African American female graduate student and future professional (Crawford & Smith, 2005). Mentee #3 alluded to the consistent difficulty in finding an African American female mentor and her preference for an African American mentor (Patton, 2009). The invitation to a church conference was a socializing event that modeled attitudes, values, and skills for the transmission of desirable professional behaviors and attitudes (Swap et al., 2001). The Latina student held a preference for a mentor that was experienced in her respected field of study (Patton, 2009). Mentee #5 wanted a mentor who was willing to share personal concern and encouragement (Rose, 2003). She gained self-assurance from the mentor’s personal stories which highlighted professional successes and errors, critical professional skills, and the norms and values within their institution and in academe (Johnson & Ridley, 2004). Dr. Mentor I reflect upon my own graduate experience to consider why I have chosen mentoring, or rather how mentoring has chosen me. My experience, trying to find African American females in the academy for mentoring, supports the notion that most mentors are male, as I had three very significant male influences during graduate school. I think graduate students should have more than one mentor, but if they only have one,

72  B. Marina a prominent member that is the same gender and ethnic identity can enhance their confidence—they need the confidence to grow in all aspects of their lives…. I want them to find and develop their cultural selves, their professional identities, and share their stories.

Dr. Mentor portended that the characteristics she modeled were dispositions needed for higher education and student affairs professionals. Consequently, she modeled the characteristics that were central to the development of servant leaders (Greenleaf, 1977, 2008; Spears, 2004). Dr. Mentor served as an example (servant leader) of someone deeply interested in how culture and spirituality might serve in critical leadership roles in the academic community. The mentees were encouraged to engage in activities that strengthened their dispositions for leadership (listening, service to others) and were challenged to experience things that they commonly avoided (commitment to the growth of people). LESSONS LEARNED A graduate student is socialized as he or she discovers and assimilates the culture of a discipline—which includes its attitudes, values, and expectations (Austin, 2002)—while discovering and rediscovering their own cultural identities (Kibria, 2002). Informally arranged mentoring relationships lead to greater psychosocial mentoring, a strong commitment from both parties, more frequent communication, and better long-term outcomes than those formally assigned (Dunbar & Kinnersley, 2011). The informal yet intentional mentoring relationships from this inquiry were critical for the mental, social, emotional, professional, and cultural development of the five female students of color. The graduate students were influenced by a mentor whose praxis was informed by her cultural background, which was deeply rooted in spirituality. Her mentorship was a natural extension of such grounding and was evidenced by her attributes as servant and a leader. The essence of her spiritual leadership was the cultural connection for these mentoring relationships. Doohan (2007) captures the essence of Dr. Mentor’s spiritual leadership: Spiritual leadership is not something you add on to an already existing leadership style; rather, it permeates everything one does, whether at home, in social life, or at work. The best leaders are the ones who are grounded in motivating values and have “faith” and they live differently as a result of it. (p. 282)

Formally assigned mentors, opposite gendered mentor relationships, and mentors from different racial and ethnic backgrounds can serve a par-

A Cultural Connection to Identity Development   73

ticular purpose with positive outcomes, as noted by Dr. Mentor’s graduate mentoring experiences. Gender was a major impact factor (such as the case for the Latino student), yet it was the unique cultural connection and bond that strengthened the mentoring relationships. The strong cultural connection ultimately manifested as high levels of confidence and increased self-esteem in each female graduate student. The students and the mentor interpreted and considered their choice for mentors from a cultural and gendered perspective. Although this chapter is limited to a brief discussion of how and why female graduate students of colors select a mentor, I maintain that these students knowingly or unknowingly garnered confidence to lead and serve from a spiritual and cultural connection. Anyone can mentor and possess or attain keen listening skills, foresight, and even empathy, but the cultural connection is not easily duplicated. However, if we can consider mentoring as both an intellectual and spiritual endeavor, we may find that we can mentor female graduate students of color and transform their inner and outer lives. It is my hope that this chapter can act as a springboard to create intellectual spaces in academe that affirm and support mentoring graduate students of color where mentors of color are absent or scant on university campuses. Concluding Thoughts This chapter is not conclusive; rather, it sheds light on a cultural aspect of mentoring (spirituality and servant leadership) that can enhance the confidence level and success of female graduate students of color in higher education and student affairs. This study represents many studies and many female graduate students of color. It contextualizes how a mentoring relationship can impact one’s cultural and professional identity as well as some of the benefits of having a mentor of color. It is my hope that this cultural critique will not simply be marginalized and relegated to the footnotes of higher education. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. This study represents many studies and many female graduate students of color. It contextualizes how a mentoring relationship can impact one’s cultural and professional identity as well as some of the benefits of having a mentor of color. Discuss your interpretation of the following statement noted by the author and discuss the potential implications:

74  B. Marina Women from different racial groupings have similar gendered interpretations of an experience; their diverse racial standpoints and pasts offer further evidence of continued marginalization of women of color in a Predominantly White Institution.

2. Given the dearth of African American female faculty in the academy, how can faculty provide women of color with mentorship to ensure that they have a positive experience? 3. In mentorship does race matter and should it? Does gender matter and should it? Justify your response. How does this apply to your situation and what steps should be taken?

REFERENCES Alston, J. A. (2005). Tempered radicals and servant leaders: Black females persevering in the superintendency. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(4), 675–688. Austin, A. (2002). Preparing the next generation of faculty: Graduate school as socialization to the academic career. The Journal of Higher Education, 73(1), 94–122. Bennetts, C. (2002). Traditional mentor relationships, intimacy, and emotional intelligence. Qualitative Studies in Education, 15, 155–170. Bonilla-Rodriguez, D. M., (2011). A profile of Latina leadership in the United States: Characteristics, positive influences, and barriers. Doctoral Dissertation: St. John Fisher College, Fisher Digital Publications. Education Doctoral. Paper 38. Bordas, J. (2007). Salsa, soul, and spirit: Leadership for a multicultural age. San Francisco, CA: McGraw-Hill Educational. Borrego, S. E., & Manning, K. (2007). Where I am from: Student affairs practice from the whole of students’ lives. Washington, DC: NASPA. Byrd, D. (2001). African American women and self-esteem: A developmental perspective. Athens, GA: University of Georgia. Carrillo, L. A. (2009). What obstacles or support mechanisms do Latinos and Latinas encounter in becoming principles and sustaining their leadership positions in California? Retreived from ProQuest Dissertations and Thesis database. (UMI No. 3329702) Clark, R. A., Harden, S. L., & Johnson, W. B. (2002). Mentor relationships in clinical psychology doctorial training: Results of a national survey. Teaching of Psychology, 27, 262–268. Collins, P. H. (1993). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York, NY: Routledge. Crawford, K., & Smith, D. (2005). The we and the us: Mentoring African American women. Journal of Black Studies, 36(1), 52–67. Davidson, M. N., & Foster-Johnson, L., (2001). Mentoring in the preparation of graduate researchers of color. Review of Educational Research, 71(4), 549–574.

A Cultural Connection to Identity Development   75 Doohan, L. (2007). Spiritual leadership and reflection. The International Journal of Servant Leadership, 3(1), 281–301. Dunbar, D. R., & Kinnersley, R. T. (2011). Mentoring female administrators toward leadership success. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 77(3), 17–24. Friday, E., & Friday, S. S. (2002). Formal mentoring: Is there a strategic fit? Management Decision, 40(2), 152–157. Gasman, M., Gerstl-Pepin, C., Anderson-Thompkins, S., Rasheed, L., & Hathaway, K. (2004). Negotiating power, developing trust: Transgressing race and status in the academy. Teachers College Record, 106(4), 689–715. Grant, C. M. (2012). Advancing our legacy: A Black feminist perspective on the significance of mentoring for African-American women in educational leadership. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), 25(1), 101–117. Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York, NY: Paulist Press. Greenleaf, R. K. (2008). The servant as leader essay (Rev. ed.). Westfield, IN: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Guiffrida, D., & Douthit, K. (2010). The Black student experience at predominantly white colleges: Implications for school and college counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 88, 311–318. Harris, T. M. (2007). Black feminist thought and cultural contracts: Understanding the intersection and negotiation of racial, gendered, and professional identities in the academy. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 55-64. Wiley Periodicals. (www.intersciencewiley.com). doi:10.1002. Irving, J. A., & McIntosh, T. (2006). Investigating the value of and hindrances to servant leadership in the Latin American context: Initial findings from Peruvian leaders. Proceedings of the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences, 13(1), 874–887. Johnson, W. B. (2007). On being a mentor: A guide for higher education faculty. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Johnson, W. B., & Huwe, J. M., (2003). Getting mentored in graduate school. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Johnson, W. B., & Ridley, C. R. (2004). The elements of mentoring. New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillan. Johnson-Bailey, J. (2004). Hitting and climbing the proverbial wall: Participation and retention issues for black graduate women. Race, Ethnicity & Education, 7(4), 331-349. Kibria, N. (2002). Race, ethnic options, and ethnic binds: Identity negotiations of second-Generation Chinese and Korean Americans. Sociological Perspectives, 43(1), 77–95. Kochan, F. (2002). Examining the organizational and human dimensions of mentoring: A textual data analysis. In F. K. Kochan (Ed.), The organizational and human dimensions of successful mentoring programs and relationships (pp. 269– 286). Greenwich, CT: Information Age. Kram, K. E. (1985). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman.

76  B. Marina Marina, B. (2009). Identifying and coping with the professional victim syndrome in public leadership. In S. Fullerton & D. L. Moore (Eds.), Global business trends contemporary readings 2009 edition (pp. 141–150). Ypsilanti, MI: Academy Business Administration. Marina, B. (2011, February 23–25). Mentoring women for leadership in higher education and student affairs. Unpublished paper presented at the 42nd annual Georgia College Personnel Association (GCPA) Conference, Atlanta, GA. Marina, B. L. H. & Fonteneau, D. Y. (2012). Servant leaders who picked up the broken glass. Journal of Pan African Studies, 5(2), 67–83 Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons. Mertz, N. T., & Pfleeger, S. L. (2002). Using mentoring to advance females and minorities in a corporate environment. In F. K. Kochan, (Ed.), The organizational and human dimensions of successful mentoring programs and relationships (pp. 269–286). Greenwich, CT: Information Age. Ngunjiri, F. W. (2009). Servant leadership and motherhood: Kenyan women finding fulfillment in serving humanity. Gender, Development and Globalization Working Paper # 294. Retrieved from http://www.wid.msu.edu/resources/papers/pdf/ WP294.pdf Nichols, J., & Tanksley, C. B. (2004). Revelations of African-American women with terminal degrees: Overcoming obstacles to success. Negro Educational Review, 55(4), 175–185. Nielson, T. R., Carlson, D. S., Lankau, M. J. (2004). The supportive mentor as a means of reducing work-family conflict. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59, 364–381. Nieto, E. (2007). In the midst of a Latino leadership crisis. Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, 19, 83–92. Nora, A. (2003). Access to higher education for Hispanic students: Real or illusory? In J. Castellanos & L. Jones (Eds.), The majority in the minority (pp. 47–70). Sterling, VA: Stylus. Norcross, J. C. (2002). Psychotherapy relationships that work: Therapist contributions and responsiveness to patients. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Olivas-Luján, M. R. (2008). Evidence-based management: A business necessity for Hispanics. The Business Journal of Hispanic Research, 2(2), 10–26. O’Neil, J. M., & Wrightsman, L. S. (2001). The mentoring relationship in psychology training programs. In S. Walfish & A. K. Hess (Eds.), Succeeding in graduate school: The career guide for psychology students (pp. 111–127). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Ortega, R. (1999). Can mentoring mean the difference between success and failure for Mexican American professionals? Journal of Public Management and Social Policy, 5(2), 1-9. Patitu, C. L., & Hinton, K. G. (2003). The experiences of women and administrators in higher education: Has anything changed. New Directions in Student Services, 104, 79–93. Patton, L. D. (2009). My sister’s keeper: A qualitative examination of mentoring experiences among African American women in graduate and professional schools. Journal of Higher Education, 80(5), 510–537.

A Cultural Connection to Identity Development   77 Patton, L. D., & Harper, S. R. (2003). Mentoring relationships among African American women in graduate and professional schools. New Directions in Student Services, 104, 67–78. Ramirez, A. (2005). Hispanic leadership development and its policy impact. Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, 18, 85–89. Rose, G. L. (2003). Enhancement of mentor selection using the ideal mentor scale. Research in Higher Education, 44, 473–494. Sanchez de Valencia, B. L. (2008). Transformation of Latinas into influential business leaders in the United States: A grounded theory study. Retreived from ProQuest Dissertations and Thesis database. (UMI No. 3326211) Schlosser, L. Z., Knox, S., Moskovitz, A. R., & Hill, C. E. (2003). A qualitative study of the graduate advising relationship: The advisee perspective. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 178–188. Serrano, M. (2006). Servant leadership: A viable model for the Panamanian context? Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Simon, C. E., Roff, L. L., & Perry, A. R. (2008). Psychosocial and career mentoring: Female African American social work education administrators’ experiences. Journal of Social Work Education, 44(1), 9–22. Spears, L. (2002). Introduction: Tracing the past, present, and future of servantleadership. In L. C. Spears & M. Lawrence (Eds.), Focus on leadership: Servant leadership for the 21st century (pp. 1–18). New York, NY: Wiley & Sons. Spears, L. C. (2004). Practicing servant-leadership. Leader to Leader, 34(Fall), 7–11. Swap, W., Leonard, D., Shields, M., & Abrams, L., (2001). Using mentoring and storytelling to transfer knowledge in the workplace. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18, 95–114. Vasquez, M., & Comas-Díaz, L. (2007). Feminist leadership among Latinas. In. J. L. Chin, B. Lott, J. K. Rice, & J. Sanchez-Hucles (Eds.), Women and leadership: Transforming visions and diverse voices (pp. 264-280). Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Wilcox, K. (2002). Matching mentors and protégés: Dynamics of race, ethnicity, gender, and job location. In F. K. Kochan (Ed.), The organizational and human dimensions of successful mentoring programs and relationships (pp. 269–286). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.

chapter 6

NAVIGATING CROSSCULTURAL MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS TO ASSURE SUCCESS FOR IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS An In-Depth Analysis Roxanne Reeves Effective integration measures for both immigrants and welcoming communities are increasingly vital when overlaid upon past decades and future immigration trends. The total number of international migrants has increased from an estimated 150 million annually in 2000 to 214 million just 10 years later (United Nations, n.d.). Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe, and the United States of America are all experiencing rapid immigration growth. In 2010 for example, nearly 40 million of the approximately 309 million residents of the United States (U.S.) were foreign born, a 28% increase over 2000 census numbers. Between 2000 and 2010, over 13 million immigrants settled in the United States. Continuing the United States long history with immigration, and assuming an absence of policy change, it is projected that 30 million new immigrants will settle in the U.S. over the next 20 years (Camarota, 2012).

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 79–101 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

79

80  R. Reeves

In Canada, where this research originates, almost 1.9 million (1,863,791) new permanent and temporary residents entered the country between 2005 and 2010. Since 2001, two-thirds of the country’s population growth has been due to immigration, making Canada the fastest growing country in the G8 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2010). Of this number, 60% were economic immigrants selected based on their ability to establish themselves economically in Canada through entrepreneurial activity, self-employment or direct investment (spouse and dependents are also counted). In fact, from 2004–2007 the number of small businesses owned by recent immigrants—defined here as those who have resided in the country for less than five years—increased by 117% (Downie, 2010). In order to succeed, recent immigrants must learn how to interact effectively in a completely new environment where people think, feel, act differently, and often speak a different language. Thus, these entrepreneurs often have to deal with significant barriers in starting and maintaining their businesses (St-Jean, 2009). Among these challenges are the well-researched financial challenges faced by all entrepreneurs—including lack of financial capital (Fisher & Reuber, 2010) and moving to nontraditional immigrantreceiving communities, or new gateway communities, which contain many obstacles that limit their chances of fully participating in the economy (Price, 2009). These problems are further compounded by a lack of social integration or existing networks, leading to insufficient knowledge of their new business milieu; the economic and social environments; legislation and regulations; and the labor market (Brenner, Menzies, Dionne, & Filion, 2010; Ley, 2003; Light, 1984, 2004; Rath & Kloosterman 2000). This deficiency influences not only marketing, for example, but also ways of locating potential customers in a market about which little is known. Research indicates that immigrant entrepreneurs are generally unprepared for the economic climate they encounter, as business skills they have may not be transferrable from one cultural or economic and regulatory setting to another. Finally, these individuals may also struggle with making themselves known and developing positive reputations within the new business community (Brenner et al., 2010; Light, 2004). In summary, immigrant entrepreneurs often face significant challenges both within and beyond the work context and, according to Downie (2010), too many face “onerous and unnecessary” obstacles that limit their chances of fully participating in the economy. Within such communities, the institutional and cultural resources to deal with immigrant diversity are just emerging. Education programs geared toward meeting their needs are essential.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  81

Purpose The purpose of this chapter is to share with others data collected from immigrant mentees participating in an educational mentoring program for immigrant entrepreneurs living in new gateway communities or smaller cities with emerging immigrant populations, in Canada. The study focuses on the usefulness of this approach and impressions held by the mentees. Relevant questions asked include: the skills and/or competencies that are beneficial to the mentor or mentee as they pertain to knowledge transfer and personal learning within the dyad, acculturation, and perceived business and network gains on the part of the mentee. In sum, the goal of the larger research project is to contribute to a broader understanding of cross-cultural1 development and to provide practical utility to program administrators in their efforts to facilitate personal learning/knowledge transfer, program replication, business success, retention, and create the greatest likelihood of success for mentor dyads in this and similar programs. Significance In general policy terms, expanding immigration trends create an immense human service challenge to respond to the needs of ethnically diverse immigrants. In order to succeed, recent immigrants or sojourners must learn how to interact effectively in a completely new environment where people think, feel, act differently, and often speak a different language. In light of the ongoing move toward economic globalization, immigration trends and workforce diversity, this research has the potential to provide valuable information not only for new immigrants, sojourners or expatriate workers, but also for mentoring efforts directed at cross-cultural youth and faculty-student mentoring programs catering to international students. Program Context The unit of analysis for this study was the Business Immigrant Mentorship Program (BIMP) offered in New Brunswick, Canada. The mentor pool is comprised of volunteers from the Chamber of Commerce. BIMP is unique in North America, incorporating both market principles and an ideology of volunteerism. At its launch in 2008, New Brunswick was the only jurisdiction offering universal support to immigrant entrepreneurs living in new gateway communities. The program, which is now available at five sites in the province, is made possible by support and funding from

82  R. Reeves

the government of New Brunswick’s Population Growth Division–Immigration Branch. The primary goal of this entrepreneurial mentorship program is to support business efforts by new immigrants in new gateway communities via this educational mentoring endeavour. Equally important to this effort, however, is the development of social capital. Ethnic enclaves in small town Canada are scarce and new immigrant entrepreneurs are unable to draw on ties to coethnics. Correspondingly, the limited or lack of social integration and/or existing networks leads to insufficient knowledge of the new business milieu. BIMP endeavors to alleviate this predicament. Portes and DeWind (2004) argue that this awareness of shared membership, an element that mentoring provides due to its nature, has the capacity to be instrumental to the development of social capital for immigrants. Hence, for newcomers, mentoring relationships can be particularly critical in terms of facilitating integration as well as encouraging persistence. Mentor-driven networks can develop trust between members and redefine self-interest to consider the group as a whole; members may then choose to expand their identity to gain access to benefits (Roccas & Brewer, 2002). The development of trust within and among networks further encourages access to benefits through the promotion of resource exchanges (Besser & Miller 2011). However, existing scholarship, examining immigrants’ first 2 years of residency on the East Coast of Canada, predicts in part that those least involved in structured groups and/or organizations are the most likely to move out to provinces in other regions of the country. Movers, who leave within two years participate in roughly half as many different types of groups or organizations (45%) as compared to stayers (81%) (Ramos & Yoshida, 2011). Those who feel isolated and lack a sense of belonging are most at risk of leaving—mentoring has the potential to combat this challenge. Logistics of the Program—Mentoring Activity During the first year of the BIMP pilot the mentorship model was developed; it served as a template for the BIMPs that followed. Mentoring, as a system of support, appears to be a natural fit for Chamber of Commerce affiliates in New Brunswick. Due to the care and attention of all involved, it is not a “program” so much as it is a relationship. The relationships are traditional one-on-one 5-month commitments that are continuous and intense personal and professional interactions. Participants commit to a minimum thirty hours over a period of 5 months; this time commitment is, however, a guide and most dyads exceed it. There is also preprogram and during program training, a debrief session and an alumni group mentees can join upon completion of the

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  83

BIMP. Mentee participants are also invited to Chamber and other community events. The program coordinator provides communication and relationship support as necessary, and conducts regular check-ins. Mentors and mentees are encouraged to contact the coordinator at any juncture during the relationship with questions or concerns. Literature Review or Relevant Literature Despite the number of studies in related subfields of mentoring, only limited research has focused on mentoring through a cross-cultural or intercultural lens (Crocitto, Sullivan, & Carraher, 2005; Kochan, 2002; Kochan & Pascarelli, 2003; Kent, Kochan, & Green, 2013; Philippart & Gluesing, 2012). Furthermore, mentoring programs to educate and support immigrant entrepreneurs in new destination communities are generally lacking. Mentoring can help new immigrant entrepreneurs develop new networks, unleashing a wealth of knowledge residing within experienced and local entrepreneurs. Mentoring research has examined a number of important contextual variables such as race and gender (Blake-Beard, 2009; Noe, Greenberger, & Wang, 2002; Kram, 1985), however little research exists that examines cross-cultural mentoring where the protégé is a recent immigrant. Within the global society, in which immigration is an expanding world-wide phenomenon, it is important for significant research and theory development on the topic of domestic cross-racial mentoring for new immigrants to be conducted. Scan of Cross-Cultural Mentoring Literature Research on cross-cultural mentoring has suffered from fragmentation of the terminology or conceptual confusion, in that the same construct varies from author to author. Moreover, there are divergent assumptions regarding the “target” or the individual being mentored. At the practical level, the basic distinction in the term cross-cultural mentoring lies in the formation of the dyad: who is the mentor and who is the mentee, where were they were born and/or raised, and the nature of their cultural and/or racial background. Articles researching cross-cultural mentoring are predominantly authored by US researchers and these can largely be categorized as “domestic” race-based inquiries; that is, inquiries into the experiences of individuals born in the U.S. who are visible minorities with nondominant cultural backgrounds, and who are not recent immigrants to the United

84  R. Reeves

States (Gentry, Weber, & Sadri, 2008; Rhodes, Reddy, Grossman, & Lee, 2002; Schlosser & Foley, 2008; Stanley & Lincoln, 2005; Thomas, 1993). Thus, such research is characterized by examinations of populations born in the U.S. that are predominantly Black, Hispanic, and Asian (Davidson & Foster-Johnson 2001; Walker, Wright, & Hanley 2001). To a much lesser degree, other minority populations are also present (Allen-Sommerville, 1994; Grant, Decuir-Gunby, & Smith, 2010; Frels & Onwuegbuzie, 2012). This literature is sometimes classified by authors as multicultural, as in “Mentoring Within the Field of Counseling: A Preliminary Study of Multicultural Perspectives” (Chung, Bemak, & Talleyrand, 2007); refers to “diversity,” as in “Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Faculty in a Public University” (Wilkinson, 2007), or examines issues related to ethnicity (Sánchez & Colón, 2005). Domestic race-based mentoring also includes research examining how Western knowledge meets indigenous knowledge. Relevant studies originate from, for example, Canada, the United States, Australia, Africa, and New Zealand (Bulman & Hayes, 2011; Jones, 2013; Santoro, 2007; Strong, 2013; Thomas, 2001; Ware, 2013). Such research also falls within the “domestic” cross-cultural mentoring category, in the sense that all parties involved were born and raised in the same country, as opposed to being newcomers. The second overarching cross-cultural mentoring category, and of primary interest to this study, could be categorized as international, global or cross-national. Within this category there are two subsets: a.

Emerging research examining mentoring in an effort to supplement the extant mentoring literature that has taken a predominantly Western/United States/Anglo perspective in order to increase pan-cultural utility

This work attempts to explain cross-national variations in mentoring to lend perspective to global practitioners on the utility of the efforts of mentors and mentees, and to support the efforts of mentoring program developers (Carraher, Sullivan & Crocitto, 2008; Darling, Hamilton, Toyokawa, & Matsuda, 2002; Kim & Egan, 2011; Marshall & Shaver, 2010; McCorkel-Clinard & Ariav, 1998; Mortenson, 2006; Price & Chacko, 2009; Ramaswami & Dreher, 2010; Tor et al., 2011; Wang, 2001). This study will add to this body of research as it offers insights into the value of creating a shared language for discussing mentoring relationship development, while at the same time acknowledging the specific impact that cultural differences play in helping to shape mentoring processes.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  85

b.

Emerging research examining the intersection at which immigrant students, foreign exchange students, expatriates and crosscultural mentoring meet involving foreign-born individuals immigrants and temporary sojourners

Articles discussing the implications of mentoring for the retention and engagement of international students include the work of ChamberlinQuinlisk (2005), Park-Saltzman, Wada, and Mogami (2012), Plummer and Nyang’au (2009) and Sahin (2008) as well as the work of Diversi and Mecham (2005) who focus on immigrant students. There is limited research examining international internships in which mentoring is a component (Feldman, Folks, & Turnley, 1999; Koskinen & Tossavainen, 2003). Other articles on this topic discuss the implications of mentoring for newcomers or expatriates within the international world of work, and point out the importance of psychosocial and cross-cultural transition support in expatriates’ relocation success (Abbott, Stening, Atkins, & Grant, 2006; Bittmann, 2011; Bohanan, 2010). For example, Shen and Kram (2011) examine the impact of host-country mentors upon expatriate effectiveness, and Carraher et al. (2008) examine the comparative impact of having both home- and host-country mentors for expatriates. All of these studies highlight the unique characteristics of expatriates’ developmental networks in cross-cultural contexts including the nature of cross-border and culturally diversified network structures, the dominance of psychosocial support, and the importance of cross-cultural transition support. Many individuals become expatriates on their own initiative and outside the boundaries of multinational corporations, however. Correspondingly, Bozionelos (2009) and Bohanan (2010) consider the largely neglected field of individuals who become autonomous expats and the implications of cross-cultural mentoring for them. These results shed light on factors that help determine the success of non-corporate-sponsored expatriates. There is among the two overarching cross-cultural mentoring categories (domestic and global, international or cross-national), and the various subcategories (e.g., Black, aboriginal, expat, exchange-student) little to no standard delineation. The confusion in criteria outlined above inevitably leads to faulty generalizations or incomplete models and theories. In an attempt to distinguish among the various uses and connotations of the term cross-cultural mentoring, it is important to acknowledge the imprecision regarding how the term is used and who falls under or within the term. This confusion seemingly paints a bleak picture of the current state of cross-cultural mentoring research. However, it is important to consider that this may simply reflect an area of research that is still at a relatively early stage of development. In order to ensure advancements in this field

86  R. Reeves

of study, the time has come to begin a dialogue regarding an agreed-upon use of the term. Overall, findings suggest that in the absence of semantic clarity, researchers lack agreement on what the construct of cross-cultural mentoring represents. This lack of consistent terminology is counterproductive in terms of understanding the relevant processes. Correspondingly, the inconsistent use of terminology stands as a barrier hindering the ability of individual research studies to coalesce into a more meaningful body of literature. Scan of Cross-Cultural Mentoring for Newcomer Entrepreneurs It is not surprising, then, that the limited ability of all entrepreneurs to face the challenges inherent in launching a business has been identified as the main factor in the high failure rate of new businesses (Brenner et al., 2010). Few studies have focused on how issues facing entrepreneurs are navigated in mentoring relationships (Ensher, Murphy, & Vance, 2000; St-Jean, 2009), and fewer still when immigrant entrepreneurs are included in the literature scan (Chan, 2008). Although mentoring research has examined a number of important contextual variables, including race and gender, for over two decades (Kram, 1985; Ragins & Cotton, 1999), several studies on cross-cultural mentoring in the workplace have reached the troubling conclusion that protégés in cross-cultural mentoring dyads receive less career and/or psychosocial support than protégés who have mentors who are culturally similar to them (Feldman et al., 1999; Thomas, 1990, 2007). These results point to the saliency of race and culture in mentoring relationships and the need for mentor competency in navigating cultural differences. It is anticipated that the knowledge generated by this research effort will contribute to our understanding of the role of social policy in promoting the social and cultural integration of newcomers and minorities into a multicultural or pluralistic society. However, this area of inquiry is in need of targeted examination (Brenner et al., 2010), particularly in terms of how cross-cultural differences can be negotiated and what skills and/or competencies are required of the mentor and mentee to influence cross-cultural mentoring relationships (Chung, Bemark, & Talleyrand, 2007). Calls for research on the topic of cross-cultural mentoring within formal hierarchal dyadic mentoring relationships can be attributed in varying degrees to the fact that:

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  87

• Research focuses on one or two ethnic groups in particular, and therefore provides only partial knowledge of immigrant entrepreneurship (Sharif, 2009). • Even where the study sample includes several ethnic groups, these studies are based in urban centres with ethnic enclaves (BlakeBeard, 2009; Thomas, 2001). • Research often concentrates on new destination immigrants as workers, resulting in a dominant view of immigrants as primarily a labour supply rather than as entrepreneurs (Zarrugh, 2007). • Researchers have tended to focus on the characteristics of the entrepreneurs themselves, leaving aside detailed assessment and evaluation of programs. • Researchers have yet to determine if trust vis-a-vis mentoring can be found to be related to increased perceptions of business benefits, increased resource exchanges, and network sustainability. • White males occupy the “predominant mentoring class”; in other words, business owners. • Entrepreneurial mentoring tends to lag behind organization research (Bisk, 2002). In summary, a key challenge for research on mentoring is to move beyond the faulty assumption that the experience of race or culture does not shape, alter or drive the mentoring relationship. Thomas (2001) encourages scholars to acknowledge that within their own mentoring research, it is inappropriate to assume that the experiences of one group adequately and accurately capture the experiences of other groups. With a few exceptions, mentoring models have been defined based on the experience of one dominant racial or ethnic group and not multigroup membership. Thomas (2001) and others (Blake-Beard, 2009; Blake-Beard, Murrell, & Thomas, 2007) call for research that can articulate the authentic dynamics of mentoring in diverse relationships. Data Collection and Analysis Better practice research is a method of investigation emerging from the need for applied research that attempts to identify high impact, low cost interventions for real-world problems. This methodology recognizes evidence-based practices, and takes into account the perspectives and experience of service providers and other “on the ground” practitioners. Value is placed on client feedback and reflection, and on the development of effective means of knowledge translation and transfer.

88  R. Reeves

Quantitative data were collected via electronic surveys using Likert scales, as well as both closed and free text questions. Qualitative data were collected through semistructured interviews, with some open-ended questions. Member checking and peer review were used to validate the study. Participants A purposeful sampling strategy was adopted for this research investigation. This involved selecting information-rich mentorship relationship cases that provided the means for learning about issues and concerns that were central to the major area of inquiry of this investigation (Patton, 2002). Given that there were limited numbers of locations from which to draw sufficient numbers of specific mentorship relationships that included a cross-cultural context, BIMP offered in New Brunswick, Canada, was selected as the setting from which to identify potential participants for this study. The primary goal of this entrepreneurial mentorship program is to support business efforts by new immigrants in smaller cities with emerging immigrant populations. Key Informant Interview Format A semistructured interview approach was used to carry out key informant interviews. This format involved the use of a broad-based interview guide that included a list of areas of inquiry used for each interview event. The interview template also included example probes intended to encourage participants in their exploration of important perspectives and themes during the interview sessions. Although there was an established line of inquiry for the interviews, questions and probes were embedded in a conversational interview approach with participants (Patton, 2002). The major areas of inquiry for the key informant interviews included: • Sharing experiences related to mentorship interactions and activities • Reflecting on the nature and quality of the mentorship relationship • Exploring lessons learned from participation in the mentorship relationship • Investigating implications for enhancing the mentorship experiences for mentor and mentees’ interactions and relationships in the future Procedure Prior to the initiation of data collection activities, the university’s ethics review process was completed and standard research procedures were used.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  89

Analysis of Data With respect to the key informant data, qualitative methods were applied to transform data into meaningful findings. Hearing the actual testimonies of participants allowed access not only to descriptions and personal viewpoints, but also to insights regarding the meaning attached to participants’ experiences (Merriam, 1988). Individual written summaries were merged to provide a unified data set. Analysis began at the point of data collection while taking time to memo, record and track analytical insights that emerged as interview data and were subsequently gathered and analyzed. Interviews were organized and translated into findings by a careful review of interview transcripts, by identifying any significant patterns, and by constructing a framework for communicating what the data revealed (Yin, 2003). Detailed individual and summary protocols were completed for each interview. Content analysis was used for the identification of themes and findings. A process of inductive analysis provided the opportunity to identify themes important to participants, discover any patterns connecting said themes, and create coded categories for the purpose of organization. Following this initial analysis effort, emergent research themes were organized into major theme categories. Discussion and Findings Attributable to conversations, the survey and interview data, five themes of significance emerged that were relevant to cross-cultural mentoring practices. Two forces were found to militate against the successful transfer of expertise and support within a cross-cultural mentoring relationship in which the mentee is a recent immigrant: language to a greater degree, and culture to a lesser degree. This is, of course, on a case-by-case basis. English speaking immigrants, for example, would be an exception. The study resulted in several practical lessons for navigating across cultures. The five themes, skills and/or competencies that influenced crosscultural mentoring relationships emerging from this research are as follows: 1. Blended Mentoring (Computer-MediatedCommunication [CMC]—Supplemental) Among participants, language was consistently cited as a challenge— often due to accent and not necessarily language ability. Almost all of the mentees had at a minimum a postsecondary degree, demonstrated linguistic capacity, and they were well along in English as an additional language (EAL) training. Nevertheless, accents were cited as a challenge during faceto-face mentoring. For instance, in my conversations with one participant

90  R. Reeves

their English was quite fluent, and our discussions included lighthearted references to language differences. His mentor, however, had trouble with his accent and the relationship was stalling. To sidestep the problem, this participant conducted a personal SWOT analysis and e-mailed it to his mentor. The SWOT analysis was a way of not only introducing himself, but represented an effort to “get-down to business” and to circumvent oral language issues. Mentees found that letters-on-the-page, or in this case e-mail, offered the potential to overcome not only barriers of geography/distance and time but, more importantly, barriers created due to accent, ultimately lessening apprehensions associated with accents and potentially, contributing to the personal development process. Cohorts within the study enhanced the quality of developmental interaction by employing computer-mediated communication (CMC). E-mail and CMC options that supplement face-toface (FtF) relationships have the potential to minimize accent issues. Given the effectiveness of e-mail as a communication instrument, the prevalence of this communication method, and participants’ relative comfort levels, dyads used this tool frequently. In sum, CMC allows for the development of interpersonal relationships and has had an important effect on the mentor’s and mentee’s ability to deepen the relationship. Cross-cultural mentoring training should draw from CMC (Ensher, Heun, & Blanchard, 2003), intercultural communication (Osula & Irvin, 2009), as well as FtF mentoring literature (Eby, McMannus, Simon, & Russell, 2000; Scandura, 1998). Participants should be trained in the unique aspects of CMC and prepared for navigating challenges such as expectations, etiquette, miscommunication, and issues of privacy and confidentiality (Ensher et al., 2003; Shpigelman, Weiss, & Reiter, 2009). 2. Sherlock Sleuthing (deduction abilities of the mentor) Mentees state quite quickly that “they don’t know what they don’t know.” In this study, mentees had high regard for mentors who were able to uncover or reveal “knowledge gaps,” and to discover problems or recognize the need for reprioritization of business goals. A conversation with one mentee that was echoed by others uncovered that mentees would often cite one problem, but the issue at hand was often something else altogether. Mentees, at times, only understood knowledge gaps after the fact. Such gaps were often legal, financial, or regulatory or in some other way very specific and focused. Many gaps were attributable to and further compounded by a lack of social integration or existing networks, and resulted

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  91

from insufficient knowledge of the new business milieu, the economic and social environments, legislation and regulations, or the labour market (Brenner et al., 2010; Ley, 2003; Light, 1984; Rath & Kloosterman 2000; Sharif, 2009). 3. Culture Culture held unique and individual meaning for each participant. This theme can be divided into two subcategories. The first highlights the importance the mentees placed upon their mentor as a “cultural broker,” “cultural interpreter,” or “cultural guide.” Despite the variations and related circumstantial differences, many immigrant entrepreneurs faced common challenges as they navigated through unfamiliar gaps in their host environment, including unwritten rules, conventions, norms and practices that were not readily accessible to newcomers. If they are to thrive, recent immigrants must learn how to interact effectively in a completely new environment where people think, feel and act differently, and often speak a different language. Without aiming to account for every detail, one might summarize this by saying that most lack invaluable contextual experience, and connections and resources are often limited. Mentees leveraged mentors’ knowledge during the customization process in order to both bridge cultural gaps and address challenges of a practical nature. Each felt, to varying degrees, that their mentors were vital resources offering the cross-culture transition support necessary for relocation success. In recognizing that they hold the position of cultural insider, mentors will be better able to offer support. While there is an unwritten expectation that newcomers will make efforts to acculturate, there are also unwritten expectations. For effective communication, mentors must make efforts to view and appreciate the world form the mentee’s perspective(s). The cultural background of mentees influenced perceptions of and expectations for the mentoring relationship; accordingly, the need for mentor competence in navigating cultural differences due to differing national and/or cultural value systems should not be underestimated within mentoring relationships—for both members of the dyad. Interview results indicated that cultural understanding as an aggregate was addressed in cross-cultural training for both mentees and mentors, but tools to drill-down to specific cultural and/or ethnic levels were lacking. Correspondingly, targeted cultural training was identified as potentially helpful in guiding participants in their effort to understand the influence of specific cultures and ethnicities. Although there is little empirical evidence regarding the role of culture in mentoring (Chung et al., 2007; Ensher &

92  R. Reeves

Murphy, 1997), there are several models that could assist with understanding the dynamics that may be present during cross-cultural mentoring. Both Tropenaars and Hampden-Turner’s (1993) seven dimensions of culture theory, and Hofstede’s (2001) national cultural dimensions theory provide benchmarks for the discussion of national cultures or values; each is a group level assessment and should not be viewed as a rigidly prescribed set of behaviors or characteristic. Not every single individual from even the most circumscribed or strict culture may display any or all of the features commonly associated with it. Everyone is, after all, an individual, and individual differences do persist. More specifically, as the relationship evolves, mentors and mentees can move forward validating and invalidating cultural assumptions via verifications and validations. The importance of this should never be underestimated, since communicational misunderstandings can potentially lead to serious consequences. 4. Networking Immigrants choosing to move to new gateway communities require support in their efforts to develop coethnic ties and a new sense of community (Ramos & Yoshida, 2011). To this end, mentees reported that mentors brought a dynamic web of resources, connections, and networks to “the table.” Correspondingly, mentors have not only the potential to help to socialize a protégé to a community’s norms, but also offer access to informal networks and power structures that are critical in the world of business. They are in a position to offer upward mobility to mentee newcomers. Mentees spoke of the importance of the connections mentors possessed and how generous most were in sharing their network of both business and personal contacts. However, to take advantage of introductions facilitated by the respective Chambers, mentees must be able to network. While mentees may say and sincerely believe that networking is essential to business growth and development preliminary, research indicates that mentors may have to validate and assumption hunt to ensure that mentees understand the social norms and skills required and grasp the “soft skills” associated with networking in their new business milieu. For example, mentors may need to be prepared to find out how effective the mentee is at: • framing his or her business and how refined the approach is; • answering questions such as: “What do you do?”, “Tell me about your business?”, “What do you like most about the business you’re in?”, “What do you like least?”, “Where are you from?”, or “What is the perfect client for you?”; • fielding questions and describing key benefits of the business; and

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  93

• speaking to sales objectives, or target demographic models, for example. Program coordinators also need to know if mentors are comfortable roleplaying increasingly complex introduction scenarios with mentees. Networking is a learned skill and the nuances vary greatly from country to country. To take advantage of the mentor’s network and other introductions facilitated by the respective chamber organizations, mentees must be able to network. We all know that “Networkers” are not created equal; the more one has to offer, the more likely others will be interested in meeting and working with a mentee. This study provided evidence that while mentees may say and sincerely believe that networking is essential to business development, preliminary research indicates that mentors may have to validate and “assumption hunt” to ensure that mentees grasp the social norms and skills that are required. Mentors need to be prepared to check whether or not the mentee is ready to “be networked,” “can network others,” and understands the follow-through required to move an introduction to an actual contact. 5. Mentor “as a sounding board” At the individual level, mentees highlighted the importance of conversations that explored doubts, identified business possibilities, and revealed aspirations. Both St-Jean (2009) and Valéau (2006) observed that all entrepreneurs experience periods of doubt during which they consider the possibility of abandoning their business aspirations. While this is mirrored here, in part, the stakes appear to be higher for immigrants. At times mentees spoke of the implications of economic self-determination in an unknown environment and how it is inherently connected with even greater risks than for those born in the country. There was a sense from the mentees that it would be one thing to fail at a business in their country of origin, but an entirely different level of failure to be unsuccessful at a business in a new country. First of all, in their new context, there is no family to count on for help. There is also the additional stress of potentially having to return home with a business loss hanging over them, culminating in a loss of face. Conclusions Mentoring is less and less a race-free or culture-free endeavour. In light of the ongoing move toward economic globalization, immigration trends and workforce diversity, this research has the potential to provide valuable

94  R. Reeves

information on not only cross-cultural mentoring for newcomer or immigrant entrepreneurs, but also for cross-cultural youth and faculty-student mentoring program, as well as expatriate mentoring efforts. A major contribution of this research is the expansion of mentoring research into the cross-cultural/intercultural arena, as well as the extrapolation of promising practices. Early interviews highlighting the unique characteristics of mentoring in cross-cultural contexts, including participants’ conception of mentoring, expanding the two functions traditionally used in mentoring studies (career versus psychosocial) to include rolemodelling; mentor as guide; the importance of cross-cultural transition support; career/business implications; and the dominance of psychosocial support. This paper began with the question of how immigrant mentees perceived the diverse meanings of cross-cultural mentoring or, more specifically, what skills and/or competencies are beneficial to the mentor or mentee. The results of this study led to several recommendations for mentors, mentees and organizers seeking to enhance cross-cultural mentoring efforts. For instance, found within the five themes, there appear to be key qualities and practices that these study participants employed, including challenging assumptions, remaining open, increasing cultural awareness of self and others, coping with ambiguity, and using a multiplicity of communication styles, each of which would be important to include in mentorship training. The literature scan has identified unique and sometimes competing perspectives relative to the term cross-cultural mentoring. It is possible that the mentoring profession may never agree upon a common or delineated use of the term, and the multidisciplinary use of the term does little to provide clarity. For this reason, it is incumbent upon researchers to clearly outline who participants are, where the mentoring is taking place, and to what end. However, this research should be treated as a limited first step into this type of analysis. Expatriates’ self-reports and retrospective sense-making may suffer from hindsight bias and/or attribution bias. A longitudinal study that includes mentors is necessary to examine relationship dynamics through different stages. Additional areas of future research are also suggested by the lessons learned. Like most research on cross-cultural mentoring, this study was cross-sectional, and thus could not examine the mentoring process as it unfolded over time. While acknowledging the difficulties in conducting longitudinal research, it seems likely that studying the mentoring process as it develops over the course of the program would enhance our understanding of how mentoring influences the effectiveness of individuals mentoring across cultures. Such longitudinal research would enable scholars to examine not only the effects of the mentoring program but also how these mentoring relationships may change over time—from initial acceptance of the relationship to its formal conclusion. Longitudinal

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  95

studies of the different types of support that respective mentors provide (e.g., focus on task vs. entrepreneurial support vs. psychological support), mentor/protégé frequency, intensity, and effectiveness of communication, and how mentor/protégé communications may affect the knowledge transfer process, would greatly enhance the research on cross-cultural mentoring. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. What is cultural diversity and why are people in general not prepared to deal with it? How can one better prepare oneself? 2. What competencies do immigrant entrepreneurs need to ensure success in navigating cross-cultural mentoring relationships? 3. What are the similarities and differences between all the groups discussed in the previous four chapters as compared to the immigrant workers discussed in this chapter? What is the relevance to your situation? Notes 1. The term cross-cultural has been adopted as the colloquial term when referring to intercultural, and the two terms are at times used interchangeably. Cross-cultural is defined as the “comparison of cultural differences or situations in which such differences exist” (Stewart & Bennett, 1991, p. xii). In contrast, the term intercultural is used to describe the “actual interaction between people of different cultures” (p. xii). This chapter employs the term cross-cultural mentoring in its colloquial form and portrays the interactive relationship when mentor and mentee come from different cultures.

References Abbott, G. N., Stening, B. W., Atkins, P. W. B., & Grant, A. M. (2006). Coaching expatriate managers for success: Adding value beyond training and mentoring. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 44(3), 295–317. doi:10.1177/1038411106069413 Allen-Sommerville, L. (1994). Multicultural mentoring. Science Teacher, 61(4), 16. Besser, T. L., & Miller, N. (2011). The structural, social, and strategic factors associated with successful business networks. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 23(3-4), 113–133. doi:10.1080/08985620903183728 Bisk, L. (2002). Formal entrepreneurial mentoring: The efficacy of third party managed programs. Career Development International, 7(5), 262–270. Bittmann, T. (2011). Mentoring for migrants-labour market integrations of migrants in Austria: An example of a significant and effective Integration Model. M.A. Masters in

96  R. Reeves Advanced European and International Studies Trilingual Branch, European Online Academy (EOA). Retrieved from http://www.ie-ei.eu/bibliotheque/ memoires2011/TBittmann.pdf Blake-Beard, S. (2009). Mentoring as a bridge to understanding cultural difference. Adult Learning, 20(1-2), 14–18. Blake-Beard, S. D., Murrell, A. J. & Thomas, D. A. (2007). Unfinished business: The impact of race on understanding mentoring relationships. In B. R. Ragins & K. E. Kram (Eds.), The handbook of mentoring. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Bohanan, R. J. (2010). Application of the nursing process in a clinical mentoring experience in Lesotho, Africa. Home Health Care Management & Practice, 22(5), 349–353. doi:10.1177/1084822309353147 Bozionelos, N. (2009). Expatriation outside the boundaries of the multinational corporation: A study with expatriate nurses in Saudi Arabia. Human Resource Management, 48(1), 111–134. Brenner, G. A., Menzies, T. V., Dionne, L., & Filion, L. J. (2010). How location and ethnicity affect ethnic entrepreneurs in three Canadian cities. Thunderbird International Business Review, 52(2), 153–171. doi:10.1002/tie.20321 Bulman, J., & Hayes, R. (2011). Mibbinbah and spirit healing: Fostering safe, friendly spaces for Indigenous males in Australia. International Journal of Men’s Health, 10(1), 6–25. doi:10.3149/jmh.1001.6 Camarota, S. A. (2012). Immigrants in the United States, 2010: A profile of America’s foreign-born population. Retrieved from http://www.cis.org/2012profile-of-americas-foreign-born-population Carraher, S. M., Sullivan, S. E., & Crocitto, M. M. (2008). Mentoring across global boundaries: An empirical examination of home- and host-country mentors on expatriate career outcomes. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(8), 1310–1326. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400407 Chamberlin-Quinlisk, C. R. (2005). Across continents or across the street: Using local resources to cultivate intercultural awareness. Intercultural Education, 16(5), 469–479. doi:10.1080/14675980500378532 Chan, A. W. (2008). Mentoring ethnic minority, pre-doctoral students: An analysis of key mentor practices. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 16(3). Chung, R., C-Y., Bemark, F., & Talleyrand, R. M. (2007). Mentoring within the field of counseling: A preliminary study of multicultural perspectives. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 29, 21–32. doi:10.1007/ s10447-006-9025-2 Crocitto, M. M., Sullivan, S. E., & Carraher, S. M. (2005). Global mentoring as a means of career development and knowledge creation: A learning- based frame­work and agenda for future research. Career Development International, 10, 522–535. Darling, N., Hamilton, S., Toyokawa, T., & Matsuda, S. (2002). Naturally occurring mentoring in Japan and the United States: Social roles and correlates. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30(2), 245. Davidson, M. N., & Foster-Johnson, L. (2001). Mentoring in the preparation of graduate researchers of color. Review of Educational Research, 71(4), 549–574.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  97 Diversi, M., & Mecham, C. (2005). Latino(A) students and Caucasian mentors in a rural after-school program: Towards empowering adult-youth relationships. Journal of Community Psychology, 33(1), 31–40. doi:10.1002/jcop.20034 Downie, M. (2010). Immigrants as innovators: Boosting Canada’s global competitiveness. Ottawa: Conference Board of Canada. Eby, L. T., McMannus, S. E., Simon, S. A., & Russell, J. E. A. (2000). The protege’s perspective regarding negative mentoring experiences: The development of a taxonomy. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 57, 1–21. Ensher, E. A., Heun, C., & Blanchard, A. (2003). Online mentoring and computermediated communication: New directions in research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 63(2), 264–288. doi:10.1016/S0001-8791(03)00044-7 Ensher, E. A., & Murphy, S. E. (1997). Effects of race, gender, perceived similarity, and contact on mentor relationships. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50(3), 460–481. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1996.1547 Ensher, E. A., Murphy, S. E., & Vance, C. M. (2000). Mentoring and self-management career strategies for entrepreneurs. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 1, 99–108. Feldman, D. C., Folks, W. R., & Turnley, W. H. (1999). Mentor-protege diversity and its impact on international internship experiences. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 597–611. Fisher, I., & Reuber, R. (Producer) (2010). The state of entrepreneurship in Canada (2010). Retrieved from http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/sbrp-rppe.nsf/vwapj/ SEC-EEC_eng.pdf/$file/SEC-EEC_eng.pdf Frels, R. K., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2012). The experiences of selected mentors: A cross-cultural examination of the dyadic relationship in school-based mentoring. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 20(2), 181–206. doi:10.10 80/13611267.2012.679122 Gentry, W. A., Weber, T. J., & Sadri, G. (2008). Examining career-related mentoring and managerial performance across cultures: A multilevel analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72(2), 241–253. doi:10.1016/J.Jvb.2007.10.014 Grant, C., Decuir-Gunby, J., & Smith, B. (2010). Advance peer mentoring summits for underrepresented minority women engineering faculty. Retrieved from http://search.asee.org/search/fetch;jsessionid=80slk400f35he?url=file%3A% 2F%2Flocalhost%2FE%3A%2Fsearch%2Fconference%2F32%2FAC%252020 10Full927.pdf&index=conference_papers&space=12974679720360579171 6676178&type=application%2Fpdf&charset= Hofstede, G. H. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Jones, D. N. Z. (2013). Mentoring indigenous women: Strategies from South Africa and New Zealand. Academy of Management Proceedings Proceedings, 1(1). Kent, A., Kochan, F., & Green, A. M. (2013). Cultural influences on mentoring programs and relationship. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 2(3), 204–217. Kim, S., & Egan, T. (2011). Establishing a formal cross-cultural mentoring organization and program: A case study of International Student Mentor Association in a higher education context. Journal of European Industrial Training, 35(1), 89–105. doi:10.1108/03090591111095754

98  R. Reeves Kochan, F. K. (Ed) (2002). The organizational and human dimensions of successful mentoring programs across diverse settings. Greenwich, CT: Information Age. Kochan, F. K., & Pascarelli, J. T. (Eds.). (2003). Global perspectives on mentoring: Transforming contexts, communities, and cultures. Greenwich, CT: Information Age. Koskinen, L., & Tossavainen, K. (2003). Characteristics of intercultural mentoring: A mentor perspective. Nurse Education Today, 23(4), 278–285. doi:10.1016/ s0260-6917(03)00041-8 Kram, K. E. (1985). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenview, Il: Scott, Foresman & Company. Ley, D. (2003). Seeking homo economicus: The Canadian state and the strange story of the business immigration program. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 93(2), 426–441. Light, I. (1984). Immigrants and ethnic enterprise in North America. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 7, 195–216. Light, I. (2004). Immigration and ethnic economies in giant cities. International Social Science Journal, 56(181), 385–398. Marshall, D., & Shaver, K. (2010). Culture, context, and innovation: A Kiwi Canuck perspective. New Directions for Youth Development, 126, 145–148. doi:10.1002/ yd.355 McCorkel-Clinard, L., & Ariav, T. (1998). What mentoring does for mentors: A cross-cultural perspective. European Journal of Teacher Education, 21(1), 91-108. Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in educations: A qualitative approach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Mortenson, S. T. (2006). Cultural differences and similarities in seeking social support as a response to academic failure: A comparison of American and Chinese college students. Communication Education, 55(2), 127–146. doi:10.1080/03634520600565811 Noe, R., Wang, S., & Greenberger, D.B. (2002). Mentoring: What do we know and where do we go from here? In G. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources. New York, NY: JAI Press, OECD. (2010). International Migration Outlook 2010. Paris, France: Author. Osula, B., & Irvin, S. M. . (2009). Cultural awareness in intercultural mentoring: A model for enhancing mentoring relationships. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 5(1), 37–50. Park-Saltzman, J., Wada, K., & Mogami, T. (2012). Culturally sensitive mentoring for Asian international students in counseling psychology. Counseling Psychologist, 40(6), 895–915. doi:10.1177/0011000011429831 Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Philippart, N., & Gluesing, J. (2012). Global e-mentoring: Overcoming virtual distances for an effective partnership. Paper presented at the ICIC, Bengaluru, India. Plummer, C. A., & Nyang’au, T. O. (2009). Reciprocal e-mentoring: Accessible international exchanges. International Social Work, 52(6), 811–822. doi:10.1177/0020872809342652 Portes, A., & DeWind, J. (2004). A cross-Atlantic dialogue: The progress of research and theory in the study of international migration. International Migration Review, 38(3), 828–851.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  99 Price, A. (2009). Rearranging pigeonholes: interrupting the ethnic hierarchy of a school’s workforce. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 29(1), 61–73. doi:10.1080/02188790802660817 Price, M., & Chacko, E. (2009). The mixed embeddedness of ethnic entrepreneurs in a new immigrant gateway. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 7(3), 328–346. doi:10.1080/15562940903150105 Ragins, B. R., & Cotton, J. L. (1999). Mentor functions and outcomes: a comparison of men and women in formal and informal mentoring relationships. The Journal of applied psychology, 84(4), 529–550. Ramaswami, A., & Dreher, G. F. (2010). Dynamics of mentoring relationships in India: A qualitative, exploratory study. Human Resource Management, 49(3), 501–530. doi:10.1002/Hrm.20363 Ramos, H., & Yoshida, Y. (2011). Why do recent immigrants leave Atlantic Canada? Atlantic Metropolis Centre ~ Working Paper Series (Working Paper No. 32 2011). Retreived from http://community.smu.ca/atlantic/documents/ RamosYoshidaFINALWP32.pdf Rath, J., & Kloosterman, R. (2000). Outsiders’ business: A critical review of research on immigrant entrepreneurship. International Migration Review, 34(3), 657– 681. doi:10.2307/2675940 Rhodes, J. E., Reddy, R., Grossman, J. B., & Lee, J. M. (2002). Volunteer mentoring relationships with minority youth: An analysis of same- versus cross-race matches. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32(10), 2114–2133. doi:10.1111/J.1559-1816.2002.Tb02066.X Roccas, S., & Brewer, M. B. (2002). Social identity complexity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6(2), 88–106. doi:10.1207/S15327957pspr0602_01 Sahin, M. (2008). Cross-cultural experience in preservice teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(7), 1777–1790. doi:10.1016/J.Tate.2008.02.006 Sánchez, B., & Colón, Y. (2005). Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Mentoring Relationships. In D. L. DuBois & M. J. Karcher (Eds.), Handbook of youth mentoring. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Santoro, N. (2007). “Outsiders” and “others”: “Different” teachers teaching in culturally diverse classrooms. Teachers and Teaching, 13(1), 81–97. doi:10.1080/13540600601106104 Scandura, T. A. (1998). Dysfunctional mentoring relationships and outcomes. Journal of Management, 24(3), 449–467. doi:10.1016/S0149-2063(99)80068-3 Schlosser, L. Z., & Foley, P. F. (2008). Ethical issues in multicultural student–faculty mentoring relationships in higher education. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 16(1), 63–75. doi:10.1080/13611260701801015 Sharif, N. (2009) Immigrant entrepreneurs in Nova Scotia: Factors that contribute to and hinder success. Nova Scotia, Canada: Atlantic Metropolis. Retrieved from http://atlantic.metropolis.net/WorkingPapers/Sharif_WP20.pdf Shen, Y., & Kram, K. E. (2011). Expatriates’ developmental networks: network diversity, base, and support functions. Career Development International, 16(6– 7), 528–552. doi:10.1108/13620431111178317 Shpigelman, C. N., Weiss, P. L., & Reiter, S. (2009). E-mentoring for all. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(4), 919–928. doi:10.1016/J.Chb.2009.03.007

100  R. Reeves St-Jean, E. (2009). Factors leading to satisfaction in a mentoring scheme for novice entrepreneurs. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 7(1), 148. Stanley, C. A., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). Cross-race faculty mentoring. Change, 37(2), 44–50. Stewart, E., & Bennett, M., (1991). American cultural patterns: A cross-cultural perspective (2nd ed.). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Strong, Z. H. (2013). Native American youth voices on success, identity, and cultural values: Educational success and positive identity development through culturally responsive mentoring. (Order No. 1542515). ProQuest Dissertations and Thesis. Education Master’s, University of Washington, Ann Arbor. Retreived from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.hil.unb.ca/pqdtft/docview/1426418200/14 17C08AF942E92D807/1?accountid=14611 (1426418200) Thomas, D. A. (1990). The impact of race on managers’ experiences of developmental relationships (mentoring and sponsorship): An intra-organizational study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 11(6), 479–492. doi:10.1002/ Job.4030110608 Thomas, D. A. (1993). Racial dynamics in cross-race developmental relationships. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38(2), 169–194. doi:10.2307/2393410 Thomas, D. A. (2001). The truth about mentoring minorities: Race matters. Harvard Business Review, 79(4), 98–107. Thomas, E. (2007). Thoughtful planning fosters learning transfer. Adult Learning, 18(3-4), 4–8. Tor, P. C., Goh, L. G., Ang, Y. G., Lim, L., Winslow, R. M., Ng, B. Y., ... Kia, E.G. (2011). Qualities of a psychiatric mentor: A quantitative Singaporean survey. Acad Psychiatry, 35(6), 407–410. doi:10.1176/appi.ap.35.6.407 Trompenaars, A., & Hampden-Turner, C. (1993). The seven cultures of capitalism: Value systems for creating wealth in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands. New York, NY: Doubleday. United Nations. (n.d.). International migrants day, Retrieved from http://www. un.org/en/events/migrantsday/background.shtml Valéau, P. (2006). L’accompagnement des entrepreneurs durant les périodes de doute. Revue de l’Entrepreneuriat, 5(1), 31–57. Walker, K. L., Wright, G., & Hanley, J. H. (2001). The professional preparation of African American graduate students: A student perspective. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 32(6), 581–584. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.32.6.581 Wang, J. (2001). Contexts of mentoring and opportunities for learning to teach: A comparative study of mentoring practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(1), 51–73. doi:10.1016/s0742-051x(00)00038-x Ware, V.-A. (2013). Mentoring programs for Indigenous youth at risk. Retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/ Publications/2013/ctgc-rs22.pdf Wilkinson, Z. L. (2007). Recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty in a public university. Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, 69, 168–172.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs  101 Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: design and methods (Vol. 5). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Zarrugh, L. H. (2007). From workers to owners: Latino entrepreneurs in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Human Organization, 66(3), 240–248.

SECTION II THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON MENTORING

chapter 7

The Organization, Culture and Mentoring Andi M. Kent

The purposes and functions of the organizational structures of mentoring programs and relationships are often overlooked. These structures encapsulate the organizational culture, which is comprised of the tangible and intangible values, norms, and behaviors operating within an organization. Organizational culture can hinder or facilitate mentoring endeavors in powerful ways. Thus, they must be considered in their design, development, and implementation. The chapters in this section highlight the impact of organizational culture on mentoring in a variety of settings and countries. They offer a transparent view of how the culture within an organization can foster or inhibit the success of mentoring opportunities. This section opens with a chapter titled, “eMediated Mentoring: Factors that Influence Online Mentoring Experiences for Secondary Science Teachers,” in which Bang, Wong, Firestone, and Luft examined year-long mentoring relationships of 20 pairs of secondary science teachers using an online mentoring program. The authors investigated the factors present in a school’s culture that enhanced or inhibited the success of the online mentoring program. Using a mixed method approach, the cultural dynamics of the school and mentor for each mentoring pair were examined, considering successes and difficulties, and the e-mentoring interactions.

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 105–107 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

105

106  A. M. Kent

Interestingly, the authors present opposing cases demonstrating how online dialog and interactions, the process of negotiations, the school culture, and the learning community impacted the outcome of the mentoring relationship. The findings indicate that the school community that valued mentoring interactions saw the development and cultivation of strong instructional practice. Conversely, when new teachers had to select between the ideal presented by their online mentors and the realities they faced on a daily basis, the new teachers were not successful. This chapter reminds researchers and program developers that a virtual culture must be supported by a positive, real-time culture for an online mentoring program to be successful. Regardless of the mode of interaction, we learn from this research that it is both the prominent and subtle cultural elements of a mentoring program that will impact the degree of success. In the chapter, “Constructing a Professional Learning Community of Mentors and Researchers: Cultural Dimensions of a Process,” authors Reali, Tancredi, and Mizukami investigated the cultural dynamics of a professional learning community. This learning community developed over four years between experienced teachers and Brazilian university researchers as part of an online mentoring program. This chapter presents a different point of view, as here the focus is on the relationships between the experienced public school teachers and the university researchers. This research includes an examination of the mentors’ learning processes, as well the interactions between the mentors and the teacher educators related to the cultural diversity of the group members. The authors provide an overview of the online mentoring context by examining five cultural variables: organizational, patterns of interaction, themes and subjects worked, roles and practices performed, and professional identity. They discovered that organizational and professional cultural dimensions are critical in successful mentoring endeavors. Revelation of the links between partners and successful learning communities were highlighted in Brazil, which could directly enhance global research on this topic. “(Re)Viewing Mentoring Relations: Culture, Contexts, Cameras and the Complexity of being Persons-in-Relation Mentoring” by Craig presents research on a mentoring program for probationary teachers in Scotland. The focus of this research was to explore the use of digital recording as part of an effort to personalize the relational aspects of the mentoring processes. The teachers selected short video clips of their classroom interactions to share with their mentors. It was the examinations of the interactions that occurred during the viewing of the film through which the researcher sought to understand the cultural complexities of the mentoring process. Craig presents a unique view of how the knowledge of reality, based on our experiences, is fluid and impacts the culture of mentoring, which is often overlooked in Western society. Specifically, teachers as mentors are

The Organization, Culture and Mentoring   107

often embedded in cultural assumptions that do not take into account the influence of personal interactions. She stresses the importance of recognizing that the culture of the organization through context, philosophy, and impacts mentoring is situated in a context. “Developing a Culture of Collaboration Using Mentoring Triads in a Preservice Teacher Program,” written by Ambrosetti, Dekkers, and Knight, explores a collaborative mentoring model implemented through an Australian university’s teacher education program. The participants in this triad model include a first year preservice teacher, a final year preservice teacher, and an experienced classroom teacher. While exploring the cultural elements present for preservice teachers, this innovative mentoring model expands to include preservice teachers at varying stages of development. The roles of the mentor and mentees working collaboratively were examined along with the advantages of peer mentoring. Case study methodology was employed to examine the participant interactions of the mentoring triads. The researchers examined the elements of participants, dominance, interaction type, and the specific exchanges between participants. It is interesting to note that the data revealed that the collaborative culture evolved as trust, cooperation, and communication developed and was facilitated through the interactions of the mentoring triad. In the final chapter of this section, “Cultural Influences that Facilitated and Hindered the Mentoring Process: A Longitudinal Review,” Kilburg examined the cultural dynamics of nine school districts’ mentoring programs over an eight-year period. The mentoring teams were made up of veteran teachers (mentors) and beginning teachers (mentees) and the pairs were supported by mentoring program coordinators, and administrators. The purpose of the chapter was to consider the cultural influences that facilitated and hindered the mentoring processes in these nine school districts. This in-depth study supports the notion that the overarching culture of authentic collegiality must be in place in order for mentoring to be successful. If collegiality is present, issues of power, change, trust, the cultural mindset of mentoring of the stakeholders, the view of the institution on the connection between teacher quality and student learning, and the opportunity to cultivate culturally proficient mentoring are embraced as integral to the process.

chapter 8 eMEDIATED

MENTORING

Factors That Influence Online Mentoring Experiences for Secondary Science Teachers EunJin Bang, Sissy S. Wong, Jonah B. Firestone, and Julie A. Luft

The phenomenon of beginning teachers becoming experienced teachers is often described as a complex, vague, and slow process (Trumbull, 1999). Some view this type of change or growth as a process that occurs within the context of the community (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swindler, & Tipton, 2008; Grossman, Wineburg, & Woolworth, 2001; Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 2003; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). Researchers using this type of socio-cultural-historical approach perceive that human beings invariably develop as they are interacting with others within social contexts, and as they share values and practices common to the community. According to Wenger (1998), when a newcomer enters an existing system or community, he or she begins a subtle process of negotiation regarding the ways and means of becoming a working member of that community. In a school setting, this negotiation process largely transpires by way of the newcomer’s teaching practices. Through active participation, new-

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 109–129 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

109

110  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft

comers eventually develop their new identities as teachers. Several core concepts, which characterize this process, are detailed in Holland et al.’s (2003) socially constructed self, Bellah et al.’s (2008) communities of memory, and Zeichner and Gore’s (1990) teacher socialization. Previous studies have explored the professional growth of beginning secondary teachers through the lens of cultural agency. Kagan (1992) reviewed 40 learning-to-teach studies from 1987 to 1991, and found common sequences of change and processes in beginning teachers. Further, a microanalysis of beginning teacher changes can be found in Anderson’s (2002) study, which identified various barriers and dilemmas faced by new science teachers in terms of implementing inquiry-based practices. These included the technical dimension, described as difficulties of assessment or group work; the political dimension, defined as unresolved conflicts among teachers; and finally, the cultural dimension, generally including beliefs and values. Perhaps as a result of some of these challenges, Ingersoll (2003) pointed to a high attrition rate among beginning teachers, with approximately half of all new teachers leaving within five years of starting their careers. The complexity of teaching and the challenges new teachers face is further complicated by the current emphasis in the United States on cultivating highly qualified teachers, and providing education that offers positive experiences for all students (Ingersoll, 2008). With consideration of these needs, various types of induction programs have been investigated to rectify the problems of teacher retention, the appropriate preparation of effective teachers, the streamlining of the process of new-teachers-becoming-veteran-teachers, and finally the planting of relevant reform initiatives within science classrooms (Luft, Roehring, & Patterson, 2003; Luft et al., 2011). Online mentoring programs have recently been explored as a means of supporting and expediting these critical processes. These programs primarily focus on promoting teachers’ abilities with constructivist pedagogies, creating communities of practices, and sustaining dialogues for the intellectual development of teachers (Whitehouse, Breit, McCloskey, Ketelhut, & Dede, 2006). In particular, Jaffe, Moir, Swanson, and Wheeler (2006) developed an online mentoring model specifically tailored for beginning secondary science teachers. Their mentoring program was designed to support new teachers by matching them with content and grade-level specific mentors within an online dialogue-driven community in which the participating teachers could interact with other new teachers, as well as with working scientists. After analyzing 2 years’ of data, they found evidence that their program provided a positive impact for mentees and for mentor teachers, and also promoted the establishment of a healthy online learning community. Yet, after reviewing 40 research articles on online teacher professional development (oTPD), Whitehouse et al. (2006) indicated that there is still a lack of research investigating how new teachers

eMediated Mentoring  111

experience oTPD, and the impact of these types of programs on them and on teacher retention. Purpose The purpose of this research was to examine the results of an online yearlong mentoring program for new science teachers to determine the elements that made these relationships successful or unsuccessful, with a particular focus upon the school settings in which they were operating. The study sought to identify the hidden mechanisms at work that support or do not support beginning teachers as they engage in their first-year of teaching within culturally different school settings. The research questions were: 1. What activities do mentors and mentees engage in during the online mentoring process? 2. What were the elements within the school culture that enabled successful online mentoring? 3. What were the elements within the school culture that hindered successful online mentoring?

Conceptual Framework and Definitions The conceptual framework for this study is aligned with a Vygotskian perspective that emphasizes the role that social interactions play in affecting cognitive development. According to Vygotsky (1986), cultural development first occurs between people (interpersonal), and then within each person (intrapersonal). Yet, the connections between people, and the cultural contexts in which they are embedded, are the most important elements required for genuine learning to occur (Crawford, 1996). In terms of a technological medium, the basic assumption behind the use of online mentoring is that it will provide an excellent context for “collaboration, communication, and interaction” (Hudson, 1999, p. 351). It is also assumed that new sets of values available within this medium can be dialogically established as a result of conflicts between mentors and mentees, and their subsequent resolutions (Bice, 2005). By extension then, it might be assumed that when beginning and experienced science teachers interact within a technologically mediated world, they participate in social interactions that foster the social construction of knowledge. Several key terms are used throughout this paper. In order to guide the reader of this chapter, the working definitions of these terms are:

112  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft

• culture is defined as “an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life” (Geertz, 1973, p. 89). According to Geertz, symbols are considered as “tangible formulations of notions, abstractions from experience fixed in perceptible forms, concrete embodiments of ideas, attitudes, judgments, longings, or beliefs” (p. 91); • inquiry-based teaching is defined as activities within which students develop knowledge and understand scientific ideas (National Research Council, 1996); • negotiation is defined as “an active process of producing meaning that is both dynamic and historical” (Wenger, 1998, p. 53); • online mentoring program is defined as one of the online teacher professional development (oTPD) programs that specifically targets teachers at specific points in their careers, aiming at teacher effectiveness and educational improvement (Dede, 2006). Especially, online mentoring programs for beginning teachers are to “build the capacity of the new teachers to impact the outcomes of kids” (Moir, Barlin, Gless, & Miles, 2009, p. 3); • social landscape is defined as a social world of learning-in-practice, which is “in the process of reproduction, transformation, and change” (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 123).

Relevant Literature Online Mentoring Programs for Beginning Science Teachers Online mentoring programs explored by researchers are generally aligned with fast moving information and communications technology (ICT), and are engineered according to how teachers grow professionally (Anthony & Kritsonis, 2006; Bice, 2005; Bonnett, Wildemuth, & Sonnenwald, 2006; Knapczyk, Hew, Frey, & Wall-Marencik, 2005). Ideal environments within the communities of practice in which members of the communities are considered as individual professionals rather than “interchangeable parts” have been found to be vital to the success of such groups (Weisberg, Sexton, Mulhern, & Keeling, 2009). These communities are ideally ensconced within equitable environments in which new teachers are

eMediated Mentoring  113

empowered to lead their own teaching practices through constant assessment of their own teaching practices, as well as those of their mentors. Online mentoring programs have been found to be especially effective for those who are alternatively certified teachers––those who would be teaching in unsupportive institutional settings, and those who would be teaching low-performing students (Anthony & Kritsonis, 2006). According to Anthony and Kritsonis (2006), beginning teachers in urban school districts were able to learn variable teaching styles as well as successfully implement these styles within their teachings through these online mentoring programs. Studies of the impact of online mentoring programs began in the late 1990s, but were few in number. Muller (1997) indicated that e-mail communications as a mentoring tool could help attenuate status differences (e.g., gender and power), while Davis’s (1998) descriptive report on multimedia telematics indicated that the World Wide Web, e-mail, and computer conferencing could facilitate the harmonization of culture and improvement of educational practices. McMullen, Goldbaum, Wolffe, and Sattler’s (1998) case study on the asynchronous learning of teachers provides useful insights on how the utilization of e-mail, Listserv, and interactive CD-ROMs could help the formation of collaborative relationships by creating links within the K–12 community. Both Maurer (2000) and Thorson (2002) investigated oTPD and reported that teachers in oTPD were able to create collaborative school cultures by participating in efficient and regular online reflective dialogues that modeled collective inquiry. Bice’s (2005) case study on online mentoring elaborated on these early findings by demonstrating that active online discussions afforded positive teacher learning in multicultural teaching knowledge, as well as pedagogical content knowledge. In a more recent study, Bang (2013) examined three different computer-mediated mentoring models by engaging in weekly interactions for lesson-plan studies within their assigned communication platforms (e.g., a Virtual Reality, a Wiki, or a hand-held digital device). It was found that both mentees and mentors improved with respect to their confidence in teaching inquirybased science and in their assimilation of 21st century skills such as effective communication and interpersonal skills. Roles of Online Mentors Way (2001) emphasized the important roles of mentors, showing they can “provide valuable support systems” (p. 5) for new teachers. As role models with an empathetic ear, mentors are expected to demonstrate professionalism when they share their knowledge and experiences

114  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft

(Way, 2001), and when they provide ongoing guidance and consultation (Knapczyk et al., 2005). This type of sharing helps enable mentors and mentees to form a strong atmosphere of professional collegiality, which can prove invaluable in unifying and solidifying communities of practice. However, it appears that this may only be possible if mentees and mentors are well matched (Jacobsen, Friesen, & Clifford, 2004). Further, Gustafson, Guilbert, and MacDonald (2002) claim that both mentors and mentees need to establish a common ground, as well as personal and professional credibility, in order for the transfer of professional knowledge to adequately flow between the pair. MentorNet, which debuted in 2002, was designed to support and foster a sense of diversity in the science and engineering communities of academic institutions, corporations, government labs and agencies, and professional societies. As such, it serves as an excellent example of how an online tool can help achieve harmony between mentors and mentees. In the case of MentorNet, this seems primarily due to the fact that it uses a systematic and effective matching process in order to intelligently assign mentors to specific mentees (Single & Muller, 1999). For instance, MentorNet first asks mentors and mentees to answer questions generated by the program. Then, the program recommends matches based on the answers the program received through their social networking technology. Methods The Online Mentoring Program The online data used for this study were retrieved from an online mentoring program, which used a secure WebCT platform. At the time of the study, this online mentoring program was an innovative mentoring discussion board that was available to beginning science teachers. The primary goal of the program was to create an online center within the science education community that promoted mentoring support for first-year science teachers, and that bolstered the collective leadership among expert science teachers and scientists. This online program consisted of five areas—pair place, content area, inquiry, dilemma, and coffee break—through which the participants could navigate and interact. Participants In this study, 40 secondary science teachers were involved in the first year of the online mentoring program. This cohort of teachers was comprised of 20 mentors, each with more than five years of science teaching

eMediated Mentoring  115

experience, and 20 mentees who had just started their careers as secondary science teachers. The participants were matched based on their disciplinary expertise and the grade levels they taught. During the first year of this study, the beginning secondary science teachers and their mentors participated in online training activities before getting started in the online mentoring program. Once the program started, all participants were encouraged to post at least three or four times per week regarding any issue related to science teaching. Table 8.1 illustrates the demographic profiles of the beginning science teachers. The participants in the mentee groups included 14 female and 6 male science teachers. The mentee group consisted primarily of Caucasian Americans teaching in school systems in Southwestern states of the United States. Ten teachers taught at the middle school level and the rest of the teachers taught at the high school level. Seventy percent of the participating science teachers held bachelor’s degrees, and 30% held master’s degrees. Finally, the participating teachers had an average class size of 21 students who had either high or low socioeconomic status. Data Collection Data were collected throughout one academic year from five data sources: (1) archived activity and written data from the 20 first year teachers, (2) demographic surveys from each participant, (3) monthly semistructured interviews with the mentees, (4) classroom observations of the mentees, and (5) pre- and postparticipation interviews from the mentees. At the end of year one, the total of mentor and mentee activities, as far as “hits”—number of clicks made, “reads”—number of postings read, and “posts”—number of comments posted, were tallied. A total of 2,248 postings were generated within the online mentoring site. Demographic surveys were collected from each mentee. Semistructured monthly interviews were conducted during the academic year, in which participants were asked to answer open-ended questions and report on their instructional practices for 1 week during each month. The interview sessions were audiorecorded with notes taken by the researchers. The duration of the interviews ranged from 25 minutes to 60 minutes. Eight interviews per teacher were conducted over the course of the year. Each mentee was observed four times during the year. The observational instrument protocol combined Lawrenz, Huffman, Appeldoorn, and Sun’s (2002) Components of the Collaborations for Excellence in Teacher Preparation core evaluation classroom observation (CETP-COP), and the Oregon Teacher Observation Protocol (O-TOP) (Wainwright, Flick, Morrell, & Schepige, 2004). Further details on the data collection process and the validity of the instruments can be found in Luft et al. (2011).

116  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft Table 8.1.  Demographic Profile of the Mentees in the Successful and Unsuccessful Groups (N = 20) Mentee

TEP

Content

Grade

Average Class Size

SES (%FRL)

% ELL

Successful

T1 (m)

Master’s

Life Sci.

MS

25

16

11

N = 11

T2 (f)

PostBac.

Life Sci.

HS

25

10

10

T3 (m)

Master’s

Gen.

MS

19

84

29

T4 (f)

Bachelor

Physics

HS

24

10

11

T5 (f)

Master’s

Life Sci.

HS

29

83

21

T6 (m)

PostBac.

Chem.

HS

24

N/A

N/A

T7 (f)

Master’s

Physics

HS

17

43

10

T8 (f)

Bachelor

Gen.

MS

N/A

17

21

T9 (m)

Bachelor

Gen.

MS

18

84

19

T10 (f)

Bachelor

Gen.

MS

24

95

40

T11 (f)

Bachelor

N/A

HS

N/A

N/A

N/A

Unsuccessful

T12 (m)

PostBac.

Chem.

HS

26

15

11

N=9

T13 (f)

Bachelor

Gen.

MS

26

84

17

T14 (f)

Master’s

Chem.

HS

29

10

11

T15 (f)

Master’s

Gen.

MS

30

21

16

T16 (f)

Bachelor

Earth

HS

28

15

11

T17 (f)

Bachelor

Life Sci.

HS

18

N/A

13

T18 (f)

Bachelor

Gen.

MS

17

94

43

T19 (m)

Bachelor

Life Sci.

MS

27

23

12

T20 (f)

Bachelor

Gen.

MS

20

97

64

Note:  Mentee is coded as a number and the gender is identified (m = male/f = female). TEP= Teacher Education Program, which can be either a bachelor’s degree that involves certification (bachelor), teacher certification following a bachelor’s degree (postbac.) or a master’s degree with certification that is completed following a content-based bachelor’s degree (master’s). Content = The content area in which the teacher was certified to teach and in which the teacher taught while in the program. Chem = Chemistry, Earth = Earth Sciences, Gen = All subjects in science, Life Sci – Biology, and Physics = Physics. Grade = to the grade level that the mentee taught. MS = Grades 4–8. HS = Grades 9–12. Ave. Class = Average class size from the periods the teacher was observed. SES (%FRL) = Socioeconomic status of the school, which is indicated by the percentage of students in the teacher’s school who participate in a free or reduced lunch program. %ELL = Percentage of English language learners at the teacher’s school.

eMediated Mentoring  117

Data Analysis A mixed-methods approach was used (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007) in which some of the qualitative data were quantified in order to answer question one. Specifically, the postings made by the 20 matched participants were read and evaluated by using an activity rubric. This activity rubric was adapted from the e-Mentoring for Student Success (eMSS) program (Jaffe et al., 2006) and incorporated the following criteria: (a) frequency of interactions, (b) quality of postings, (c) evidence of trusting relationships, (d) skill of mentor, (e) connections to content, (f) mentee postings, and (g) mentor responses. Each dimension was evaluated with a 3-level scale that consisted of: “below” (0–1 point), “meeting” (2 points), or “exceeding” expectations (3 points). Mentoring relationships that scored, on average, between a 0 and 1 were categorized as “unsuccessful,” and those that scored between a 2 and 3 were deemed “successful.” Following Stake (1995), two cases, Sophia and Ursula, were purposefully selected in order to present a “successful” and an “unsuccessful” mentoring experience. These case studies were analyzed using Wenger’s (1998) concepts of negotiation, peripherality, and marginality, and are presented using these concepts. The negotiations were coded when the mentees and their online mentors collaboratively reflected on topics that were initiated by the mentees. After this reflective practice, the mentees created plans with their mentors, attempting to implement these plans at their schools. Finally, they debriefed with their mentors. Peripherality was coded when the mentees actively participated in their social landscapes, and their nonparticipation was deemed to be an enabling factor (e.g., active observations). Marginality was coded when the mentees’ nonparticipation dominated and was deemed a disabling factor. Results The results indicated that half of the beginning science teachers were actively involved in written dialogues. Yet 41% of the participants were not able to reach the program expectations according to our initial assessment with the activity rubric, which focused on quantitative and qualitative aspects of the paired online interactions. When their “hits,” “read,” and “post” activities were investigated further on the WebCT, some inactive mentees and mentors participated in the areas other than those used to create direct discussions between mentees and mentors. Both mentees and mentors participated in browsing and reading the program contents the most(Mentee Hits M = 585.89, SD = 267.69; Mentor Hits M = 1055.68, SD = 460.76), and posting comments the least(Mentee Post M = 27.57, SD = 9.05; Mentor Post M = 38.50, SD = 14.01) (see Table 8.2).

118  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft Table 8.2.  Descriptive Statistics for the Pair Activity within the Online Mentoring Program During the First Year Minimum

Maximum

Mean

Standard Deviation

Mentor Hits

153

2,255

1,055.68

460.76

Mentor Read

 61

1,723

,,,833.68

382.07

Mentor Post

  9

  ,65

  38.50

 14.01

Mentee Hits

 84

1,098

 585.89

267.69

Mentee Read

 82

  ,946

 448.50

223.37

Mentee Post

  8

  ,44

  27.57

  9.05

Mentor N = 20; Mentee N = 20

According to the interviews, the successful pairs developed additional strategies to make communication more efficient. They used phone calls, district emails, and face-to-face visits, along with the online forms of communication. Most of the topics revolved around classroom management and student behavior, especially as they pertained to English language learners (ELL). When giving advice, mentors generally encouraged the mentees and shared examples from their own experiences. Some mentees expressed the value of the online mentoring program, and tried to implement what they learned from the program within their classrooms. They mentioned their appreciation of resources provided by other science teachers—such as lab ideas, web resources, and lesson plans, as noted in the following statement: T5. I know I have a couple mentors at school, but this is just so much easier, since I am able to sit quietly at home and e-mail you. It just so happens that when I’m able to reflect on my teaching without disruptions, I remember more and am able to express myself more clearly.

However, some beginning science teachers did not like the online mentoring process because they felt inundated with questions by mentors, or because they experienced delayed responses from mentors. The WebCT mentoring platform was also technologically daunting for the beginning teachers. Some of the mentees reported that they would rather have a mentor in close proximity to their classroom. As one participant noted, “It’ll save you time in the long run, but the program isn’t a life-jacket, and when you’re overwhelmed, it’s pretty unlikely that online mentoring will help.”

eMediated Mentoring  119

Sophia’s and Ursula’s Cases We present two sample cases to illustrate the attributes of successful and unsuccessful relationships as a means of capturing the findings of this study. To recap briefly, the successful pairs interacted at the online mentoring site at least twice or three times per week with high quality postings. As a result, the pairs gradually evolved to establish trusting relationships as well as meaningful connections to science content. The unsuccessful pairs interacted less than two times per week over the year at the online mentoring site. Their postings/interactions often went unanswered or unresolved due to inactivity. As a result, the pairs in this group were not able to establish solid relationships or to achieve meaningful connections to science content. Sophia’s case represents a successful mentee group, whereas Ursula’s case represents an unsuccessful one. This approach was used because both cases provided sufficient amounts of written data due to their active participations in the online mentoring program over the year. Additionally, the topics generated in the chosen cases were comparably aligned with those of other data sources, which allowed for appropriate triangulation of the data and a reasonable belief that the findings are representative of all successful and unsuccessful groups within the study. Finally, these two cases were selected because of the similarities in most of their background conditions, including the schools in which they taught (Seawright & Gerring, 2008). For instance, Sophia and Ursula both taught secondary science, were female, middle class Caucasian Americans, and had ethnic backgrounds similar to those of their students. Science teaching practices: Sophia’s process of negotiations. Sophia was trained in biology and taught middle school biology. Most of her students were Caucasian, along with a small number of Hispanic, Asian, and African American students. Initially, Sophia used the lessons suggested by a science teacher, who was her team member at their school. Although the weekly team meetings with this teacher were collaborative, Sophie expressed to her online mentor that the lessons that resulted from the team meetings were “cookbook” style,” rather than lessons demonstrating an inquiry approach. During the first semester, Sophia constantly discussed the inquiry science teaching approaches she wanted to use with her mentor. However, she did not want to create a rift between herself and her team member, so she followed the traditional lessons given to her. This practice started to change when Sophia and her online mentor developed a plan that would help Sophia teach inquiry-based science. Sophia started to research lesson plans that were inquiry-based on the Internet, with the guidance of her online mentor. She also began to convert the lesson plans provided to her by her team member to a more

120  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft

inquiry-based format. The posts below reveal how Sophia and her mentor negotiated Sophia’s instruction: Message no. 90 posted by Sophia. For me, I use her lesson plans and follow whatever she does because it is my first year…. But right now I feel like I am not doing what I was setting out to do originally…. Message no. 149 posted by online mentor. Please don’t be afraid to ask anything, borrow any ideas, complain when you need to, etc. etc. etc. I really want this to be a good and helpful experience. Message no. 235 posted by Sophia. We were doing this boring bookwork...reading right out of the book and going over important notes … I think that those types of activities should come after some sort of engaging activities and exploring activities first. Then do some notes. Message no. 245 posted by online mentor: …What text do you guys use?... We are predominately using SEP-UP and FOSS. We have ordered mini-books from McDougal that we are using as resources only…. Message no. 7589 posted by Sophia. I love this idea of 3-2-1…. This activity also allows you to manipulate the questions into a format which works for your day’s topics … I think I’m going to use this after a jigsaw activity … I usually like to do this in reverse, where students do the lab first ... and [then] clarify with the jigsaw, but the other 7th grade teacher at my school really pushes against this for this particular activity/topic.

Sophia’s case of peripherality. Sophia taught in a school community in which she was able to scrutinize the prevailing teaching practices and freely introduce new teaching practices. In addition, her district constantly provided science-specific professional development opportunities, and her school encouraged her to participate in a local conference. As a result, Sophia was actively involved in exchanging ideas with other beginning and expert teachers. The interactions between Sophia and the teachers who surrounded her socially resulted in ample reflection and changes in her instruction. The findings also indicated that online reflective interactions with her mentor encouraged her science practices to be classified as inquiry-based teaching. Figure 8.1 displays Sophia’s case of peripherality. “E” stands for expert teachers and “OM” stands for online mentoring in Figures 8.1 and 8.2. Science teaching practices: Ursula’s process of negotiations. Ursula taught high school physical science, but she was trained in chemistry. Most of her students were Caucasian. During the first semester, Ursula constantly talked about the fact that she felt overwhelmed by the amount of work involved, since physics was not her major content area in college. Her

eMediated Mentoring  121

online mentor, who taught high school physics and astronomy, suggested she try the concept of modeling within the physics curriculum, and also suggested other strategies to help her efficiency and to ease her workload. Yet, due to rules within her school system, Ursula did not accept these suggestions. Instead she ended up mostly following the textbook.

Figure 8.1.  Sophia’s case.

After Ursula had been inactive for a month, Ursula’s mentor kept trying to get her involved in conversations about her physics teaching. When Ursula finally rejoined the online dialogues, she appeared to be dealing with another problem, in which she had to decrease the number of professional development opportunities she engaged in due to her school’s policies on using substitutes. Towards the end of the year, Ursula expressed that she wanted to try different teaching approaches instead of just teaching from a textbook. The selected dialogue below reveals how Ursula and her mentor negotiated her experiences over the year: Message no. 216 posted by Ursula. I also have a biochemistry background, so my comfort level in the content area isn’t where I’d like it to be… Message no. 467 posted by online mentor. Where are you in physics right now? Are there any questions I can answer or any materials or ideas I can give you? I will gladly e-mail you any materials I have. Or, if you would like, can we lay out your next unit together so I could help out with some of the work?

122  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft Message no. 471 posted by Ursula. Our school has only six science teachers and the courses they teach seem to have changed from year to year. Message no. 1158 posted by online mentor. I haven’t heard from you in a while and I wanted to check in and see how things are going for you. How is physics going? … Do you think you will have any problem getting through all the material? Message no. 2147 posted by Ursula. I am so sorry. These past weeks were difficult as far as time goes. I guess you know that I didn’t go to the conference, mainly because I am really scared of having a substitute…. Message no. 2243 posted by Ursula. I try to vary my teaching approach and have as many activities and labs as I can, but often it doesn’t seem like it is making a difference.

Ursula’s case of marginality. Ursula was located in a community in which beginning teachers were expected to figure teaching issues out for themselves as they followed written outlines. In her school community, new teachers were expected to start their careers without any orientation to the school, and they were expected to follow a textbook that was given to them only two days before the start of the semester. Unlike Sophia, Ursula did not have the luxury of having significant team members, an opportunity to share her ideas with others, or chances to follow the lessons of other teachers at her school. She was just told to follow the outlines and textbook that she was provided. The findings also indicated that her expertise in chemistry was presumed to be transferrable to other areas, particularly physics. Due to the rigidity of interactions, and the closed-learning community, Ursula was doubtful about making differences by using inquiry-based science teachings. Yet, her online mentor offered many suggestions about how to keep her inquiry-based teaching style regardless of her social context. Ursula tried some of the suggestions and started to look more critically at her teaching practices. Figure 8.2 displays Ursula’s case of marginality. Discussion The data indicate that mentoring during the first year in the classroom is necessary, but not sufficient in order to properly support beginning teachers. Mentoring, online or otherwise, can encourage new teachers to perform better practices in the classroom, support teachers in terms of classroom management and pedagogy, and supply much needed resources to teachers in terms of curricula. Overall, successful mentor/mentee pairs embraced the culture of a community of practice that was fostered through

eMediated Mentoring  123

the online program, and developed new strategies to make communication more efficient. Often, online communication acted as the introduction to a community of learners—which continued to grow through phone calls, district e-mails, and face-to-face visits.

Figure 8.2.  Ursula’s case

In these successful pairs, mentors generally encouraged the mentees to engage in the instruction they envisioned, and they shared examples from their own experiences. This helped foster a feeling of “shared experience” that functioned to introduce mentees to the culture of a community of practice. In response, successful participants attempted to implement what they learned from their mentors within their classrooms. Specifically, they worked to utilize resources provided to them by their mentors, such as laboratory activities, Internet resources, and lesson plans. However, all of the support provided by the mentors was found to be insufficient without a supportive administration and faculty within the school (Luft et al., 2011; Windschitl, 1999, 2002). Without support from the community of practice at the school, new teachers often failed to implement the lessons they envisioned or that were provided by their online mentors. Two possible conditions that can lead to new teachers failing to enact envisioned practices are the presence of “an opaque learning community,” or the existence of two competing communities. In the first instance, the school culture that the new teacher finds him or herself within is unsupportive and often isolating. In this type of school culture, new teachers are

124  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft

assigned work with very little direction from the administration and within limiting guidelines. Ursula’s case exemplifies this situation. She was given a textbook, a limited amount of material, and expected to teach within certain constraints but with very little outside help or guidance. When she was presented with materials, lessons, and ideas from her online mentor, she found that the culture of the school stifled her use of these resources. As a new teacher she did not have the experience necessary to address the constraining structures within her teaching environment in order to teach in a more inquiry-based manner. Another possibility for the lack of success in mentoring can be attributed to the competing cultures of the online mentoring system and the school system. The online mentoring milieu provides a culture with structure and hierarchy that allows new teachers to interact with each other and with more experienced teachers. In addition, it provides the teachers with directions, both overt and tacit, about how to teach and, more importantly, how to negotiate their new profession. However, there may be a similar culture already in existence at the school within which the new teacher finds herself. This culture of the school may provide structure and direction for new teachers, both overt and tacit. In contrast to the online mentoring program though, the school culture can be seen as all pervasive. A new teacher interacts continuously with the culture of the school every day. This constant and intense interaction, when compared to the much more sporadic communication with the new teacher’s online mentor, can be overwhelming. By contrast, when these two cultures are in better alignment, there is a higher likelihood of practices that are espoused by the mentoring system activated within the classroom. If the two cultures are misaligned, the beginning teacher will experience cognitive dissonance and will eventually be forced to choose. This choice, between an online mentor that is not physically present and rarely spoken to and a school that continuously reinforces expected behaviors and discourages divergence, leaves the inexperienced teacher with few options. Lessons Learned The findings from the study align with the work of Hodgen and Askew (2007), and Ross and Bruce (2007), in that a community that values interactions among new teachers is important to the cultivation of good instructional practice. However, when cultures clash, beginning teachers are often forced to choose between the ideals espoused by their online

eMediated Mentoring  125

mentors and the realities of the culture of the school in which they find themselves. This drives home the notion that mentoring is not enough; there has to be a culture at the school that is supportive and somewhat in line with the culture of the mentoring program. One way to assist beginning teachers who are caught between two cultures is to ensure that there is the presence of a viable curriculum that can guide the process of the mentor and the new teacher. This curriculum should not only discuss how to teach the content area, but also how to acquire the assistance needed and how to handle situations in which a new teacher needs to maintain the practice she envisions. This chapter has addressed the way the fluidity of interactions and the transparency of the cultures of the schools—in terms of visible and invisible rules and norms within their schools—affect the ways that new teachers become core members of their faculties. Schools with cultures centered around transparent learning communities provide teachers with the latitude necessary to allow them to develop adequately with the help of mentoring programs, while at the same time these teachers are acculturated within the communities of the schools (Feiman-Nemser, 2010). This chapter has also described the ways in which some new teachers are marginalized or excluded from the core of existing teachers in subtle ways. In these schools, with cultures centered around opaque learning communities, the roles of the teachers are restricted in a variety of ways, both overt and subtle, ways that prevent them from developing the resources, skills, and confidence needed to teach in an effective manner. The lessons learned from this study provide insights into some of the difficulties that electronic mentoring programs face. Even in the best designed programs, culture clashes between the values and goals of mentoring programs—and those of their involved schools—may greatly limit the benefits of the programs. Designers of mentoring programs, both electronic and face-to-face, should address potential disparities between the cultures of their programs, and the cultures of the schools involved, in order to intelligently anticipate and mitigate inevitable conflicts. On the surface, this study seems limited due to its emphasis on electronic mentoring—in terms of developing a learning community. However, the lessons learned from electronic mentoring can be applied to mentoring in all forms. Obviously, further study can be useful to further elucidate the development of mentoring cultures in different mediums. Finally, further studies of this type that explore how electronic mentoring impacts the cultures of the schools themselves, would shed light upon the long-term effects of electronic mentoring programs.

126  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION I. Which cultural factors present in this study do you think are key cultural factors that contributed to the success of mentoring relationships? How can these be applied to mentoring programs that you are involved with? 2. Which cultural factors present in this study do you believe contributed to the failure of mentoring relationships? What processes can be put in place to help avoid these factors in mentoring programs? 3. How did the cultural dynamics of the online aspects of this mentoring program impact the findings of this research? Do you think a different type of mentoring program would have changed the outcome? If so, what type of program and how might the outcome be different? Acknowledgments The authors of this study would like to recognize Gillian Roehrig, Irasema Ortega, Taylor Mitchell, and Derek Fay for their help with this project. We would also like to acknowledge the teachers in this study who enthusiastically participated in the interviews and observations. This study was made possible by grants 0550847, 0918697, 0732600, and 0632368 from the National Science Foundation. The findings, conclusions, or opinions herein represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the view of personnel affiliated with the National Science Foundation. References Anderson, R. D. (2002). Reforming science teaching: What research says about inquiry. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 13(1), 1–12. Anthony, T. D., & Kritsonis, W. A. (2006). National implications: An analysis of e-mentoring induction year programs for novice alternatively certified teachers. Doctoral Forum National Journal for Publishing and Mentoring Doctoral Student Research, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.nationalforum. com/electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/ Anthony,%20Taiw anna%20D.%20 An%20analysis%20of%20E-Mentoring.pdf Bang, E. (2013). Hybrid-mentoring programs for beginning elementary science teachers. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, 1(1), 1–15. Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swindler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (2008). Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

eMediated Mentoring  127 Bice, L. (2005). Construction of knowledge about teaching practice and educating students from diverse cultures in an online induction program. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Montana State University, Montana. Bonnett, C., Wildemuth, B. M., & Sonnenwald, D. H. (2006). Interactivity between protégés and scientists in an electronic mentoring program. Instructional Science: An International Journal of Learning and Cognition, 34(1), 21–61. Crawford, K. (1996). Vygotskian approaches to human development in the information era. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 31, 43–62. Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2007). Designing and conducting: Mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Davis, N. (1998). Developing telecommunications within European. In S. McNeil et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 1998 (pp. 1160–1164). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Dede, C. (2006). Online professional development for teachers: Emerging models and methods. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Feiman-Nemser, S. (2010). Multiple meanings of new teacher induction. In J. Wang, S. Odell, & R. Clift (Eds.), Past, present and future research on teacher induction (pp. 15–30). Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York, NY: Basic Books. Grossman, P., Wineburg, S., & Woolworth, S. (2001). Toward a theory of teacher community. Teachers College Record, 103, 942–1012. Gustafson, B., Guilbert, S., & MacDonald, D. (2002). Beginning elementary science teachers: Developing professional knowledge during a limited mentoring experience. Research in Science Education, 32(3), 281–302. Hodgen, J., & Askew, M. (2007). Emotion, identity and teacher learning: Becoming a primary mathematics teacher. Oxford Review of Education, 33(4), 469–487. Holland, D., Lachicotte, Jr., W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (2003). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Hudson, B. (1999). A social perspective on teaching and learning in the context of computer-mediated communication in teacher education. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 8, 349–360. Ingersoll, R. (2003). Is there really a teacher shortage? (University of Washington). Available from Document R-03-4. Retrieved from http://www.cpre.org/therereally-teacher-shortage Ingersoll, R. (2008). The teacher quality problem. In M. Cochran-Smith, S. Feiman-Nemser & D. Mclntyre (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring questions in changing contexts (3rd ed., pp. 527–532). New York, NY: Routledge. Jacobsen, M., Friesen, S., & Clifford, P. (2004, October). Mentoring student teachers into the profession: Intentionally creating a culture of inquiry in the context of media and technology practice. Paper presented at annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Chicago, IL. Jaffe, R., Moir, E., Swanson, E., & Wheeler, G. (2006). E-mentoring for student success: Online mentoring and professional development for new science teachers. In C. Dede (Ed.), Online professional development for teachers: Emerging models and methods (pp. 89–116). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

128  E. J. Bang, S. S. Wong, J. B. Firestone, and J. A. Luft Kagan, D. M. (1992). Professional growth among preservice and beginning teachers. Review of Educational Research, 62, 129–169. Knapczyk, D. R., Hew, K. F., Frey, T. J., & Wall-Marencik, W. (2005). Evaluation of online mentoring of practicum for limited licensed teachers. Teacher Education and Special Education, 28(3–4), 207–220. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Lawrenz, F., Huffman, D., Appeldoorn, K., & Sun, T. (2002). Classroom observation handbook. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota. Luft, J., Firestone, J., Wong, S., Ortega, I., Adams, K., & Bang, E. (2011). Beginning secondary science teacher induction: A two-year mixed methods study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(10), 1199–1224. Luft, J. A., Roehrig, G. H., & Patterson, N. C. (2003). Contrasting landscapes: A comparison of the impact of different induction programs on beginning secondary science teachers’ practices, beliefs, and experiences. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40, 77–97. Maurer, M. (2000). Professional development in career and technical education. In Brief: Fast Facts for Policy and Practice No. 7. (pp. 1–4). Washington, DC: Office of Vocational and Adult Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED443 318). McMullen, D. W., Goldbaum, H., Wolffe, R. J., & Sattler, J. L. (1998). Using asynchronous learning technology to make the connections among faculty, students, and teachers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, New Orleans, LA. Moir, E., Barlin, D., Gless, J., & Miles, J. (2009). New teacher mentoring: Hopes, promise for improving teacher effectiveness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Muller, C. B. (1997, November). The potential of industrial “e-mentoring” as a retention strategy for women in science and engineering. Paper presented at the 27th annual Frontiers in Education Conference, Pittsburgh, PA. National Research Council. (1996). National Science Education Standards (NSES). Washington DC: National Academy Press. Ross, J. A., & Bruce, C. D. (2007). Teacher self-assessment: A mechanism for facilitating professional growth. Teaching & Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 23(2), 146–159. Seawright, J., & Gerring, J. (2008). Case selection techniques in case study research: A menu of qualitative and quantitative options. Political Research Quarterly, 61(2), 294–308. Retrieved from http://prq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/ abstract/61/2/294 Single, P., & Muller, C. (1999). Electronic mentoring: Issues to advance research and practice. Paper presented at International Mentoring Association Conference, Atlanta, GA. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED439683). Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Thorson, A. (Ed.). (2002). By your own design: A teacher’s professional learning guide. ENC Focus, 9(1), 1–103. Trumbull, D. (1999). The new science teacher: Cultivating good practice. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

eMediated Mentoring  129 Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Wainwright, C., Flick, L., Morell, P., & Schepige, A. (2004). Observation of reform teaching in undergraduate level mathematics and science courses. School Science and Mathematics, 104, 322–335. Way, C. (Ed.). (2001). Teacher development: A strategy for school improvement. LAB Education Notes, 3(2), 1-12. Weisberg, D., Sexton, S., Mulhern, J., & Keeling, D. (2009). The widget effect: Our national failure to acknowledge and act on differences in teacher effectiveness. Brooklyn, NY: The New Teacher Project. Retrieved from http://widgeteffect.org/ downloads/TheWidgetEffect.pdf Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Whitehouse, P. L., Breit, L. A., McCloskey, E. M., Ketelhut, D. J., & Dede, C. (2006). An overview of current findings from empirical research on online teacher professional development. In C. Dede (Ed.), Online professional development for teachers: Emerging models and methods (pp. 13–29). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Windschitl, M. (1999). The challenges of sustaining a constructivist classroom culture. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(10), 751–755. Windschitl, M. (2002). Framing constructivism in practice as the negotiation of dilemmas: An analysis of the conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political challenges facing teachers. Review of Educational Research, 72(2), 131–175. Zeichner, K., & Gore, J. (1990). Teacher socialization. In W. R. Houston, M. Haberman, & J. Sikula (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education (pp. 329–348). New York, NY: Macmillan.

chapter 9

CONSTRUCTING A PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY OF MENTORS AND RESEARCHERS Cultural Dimensions of a Process Aline Maria de Medeiros Rodrigues Reali, Regina Maria Simões Puccinelli Tancredi, and Maria da Graça Nicoletti Mizukami

This chapter examines cultural variables present in the construction and development of a professional learning community in an online school/ university mentoring program for novice teachers in Brazil. These cultural variables are important in understanding the collective processes of learning, teaching, professional development and the school/university collaboration involved in the program being examined. The research examines mentors’ learning process as well as the collaboration of experienced teachers with university-based teacher educators conducting an educational research project related to the effects of the diverse cultures of members in conversations. We begin with a brief description of the impor-

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 131–151 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

131

132  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami

tance of mentoring for novice teachers. This is followed by a description of the program being implemented. The next section presents a literature review that describes the methodological approach to the research and the cultural aspects of a “professional learning community” composed of mentors and researchers that was used in the research process. We then present our findings about the cultural variables that permeated the successful construction and functioning of this community. We conclude by examining some critical challenges and lessons learned. Mentoring Novice Teachers Mentoring novice teachers is an important activity within the teaching profession. It is considered a promising avenue for professional development for both inexperienced professionals and those who serve as their as mentors (Darling-Hammond, 2013; Sundli, 2007). Mentoring programs help novice teachers to analyze their professional knowledge base as a means of promoting their students’ learning. Countries such as England, France, Israel, Norway, Finland, Singapore, and Switzerland have created national educational policies that mandate teacher mentoring as part of the induction process (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2005), indicating their recognition of the importance of such initiatives. Mentors should be expert teachers, experienced in daily classroom situations and school matters and capable of helping novices to learn the school philosophy and cultural values as well as of demonstrating a repertoire of professional standards expected by the school community and public policies (Pacheco & Flores, 1999; Reali, Tancredi, & Mizukami, 2008). They can counsel and orientate novice teachers, provide general information, suggest teaching materials, supervise practices, propose solutions to problems, and share experiences (Marcelo Garcia, 2011; Wang & Odell, 2002). Novice teachers should be motivated to examine their beliefs about teaching and learning to teach, to construct teaching practices consistent with research findings, and to develop the disposition to learn how to teach. Imperatives deriving from modern society’s demands should also be included (Vaillant, 2009). Today’s culture and society require teachers to master the specific content they teach and to adopt teaching strategies appropriate to their students’ development level, motivation degree, cultural and linguistic characteristics, learning opportunities, resources and other important teaching and learning variables (Gatti, Barreto, & André, 2011). Teachers and students live in changeable contexts and are confronted with different cultures that demand different roles. Simultaneously there is a tendency to value collaborative professional

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   133

knowledge construction and “shared knowledge,” “shared culture” and “shared identities,” raising a paradoxical situation about the appropriate educational response (International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching [ISATT], 2013). Mentoring novice teachers is a challenging activity because of a number of factors associated with the interactive processes between mentors and mentees: conflicting ideas and attitudes; lack of confidence; partial information; incompatible schedules, and communication difficulties. Other sources of tensions and dilemmas are related to the professional culture of the novices’ schools (Reali, Tancredi, & Mizukami, 2010). In this perspective, reflective practice or inquiry—be it individual or collective—is of great significance. Processes of teaching knowledge production from practical situations should be valued and seen as the starting and finishing point for the teaching of curricular content, considering the possibilities and limitations that school, cultural, social, economic, historic and political contexts impose both on pedagogical actions and on reflecting on them (Rodgers, 2002). Mentoring support involving inquiry practices can promote teachers competence development and the construction of professional learning communities of mentors in collaboration with university teacher educators (Reali et al., 2010; Tancredi & Reali, 2011). Chapter Concerns and Purposes Description of the Program and Context The novice mentoring program examined in this chapter is the Online Mentoring Program (OMP), a distance education initiative in Brazil that encourages frequent communication between mentors and novice teachers on its own platform. Many mentoring programs presuppose that the experienced teachers will be teaching the novices. In this work, we advocate the perspective of reciprocal development, in which experienced and novice teachers—working together and sharing ideas about real problems—put their common knowledge base into action and experience the relationship between theory and practice together. In Brazilian educational contexts, teachers must acquire a set of skills to work in precarious situations characterized by diversity and to view this as a challenge and not as a problem. In this respect, mentors should be prepared to develop interpersonal and reflection skills in their interactions with novices, but also to acquire skills and the disposition to teach theoretical notions and concepts of other natures taking into account the situated nature of teaching and the diversity of the school contexts.

134  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami

The methodological axis adopted in this mentorship model is to have novice teachers reflect on their own practices in view of adults’ learning characteristics and professional contexts. Teaching is conceived of as a situated, systematic, organized, reflective, dialogical process involving problem solving and decision making and related to contextual variables. It demands continual self-assessment on the part of mentors and coparticipation on the part of their mentee. This implies the promotion of connections between everyday knowledge, systematized knowledge and today’s world’s demands. Education is seen as a continual, systematic, organized and permanent process of professional and personal development that allows the construction and reconstruction of knowledge and competencies. The novices’ diverse school contexts and their formative demands are to be considered as a challenge to be faced with commitment. The OMP is directed to novice elementary schoolteachers (with up to 5 years of teaching experience) who are interested in investing in their own professional development. The mentors assist novice teachers to analyze their practical problems and difficulties via teaching and learning experiences. Structured teaching and learning experiences are planned by the researchers and implemented by the teachers from themes the latter deem to be of individual and collective interest, which are then discussed collectively. These experiences are circumscribed processes, which may imply actions with small groups of teachers or in classrooms, involving the teacher and students, and usually derive from practical difficulties related to the understanding of curricular components or challenges posed by public policies or the school’s daily activities (Mizukami et al., 2010). The program goals are to: • foster teachers’ reflection (by advancing a continued self-evaluation process of professional competencies and self-improvement); • encourage a constant process of self-assessment of skills and reorientation of their work; • favor teacher autonomy (by promoting better teaching actions in terms of curriculum development as well as knowledge and classroom management); • improve teaching activities in curriculum development and management of knowledge and classes; • provide novice teachers with pedagogical assistance and support (thus advancing their professional and personal well-being, facilitating their adaptation and critical integration to the educational system, their school and community realities, and peers);

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   135

• help teachers to overcome their uncertainties, doubts, anxieties, and fears (of varied sorts that come up in different moments of their careers), and • contribute to retaining teachers in the profession. The researchers held the following responsibilities: the professional development of mentors and of the novice teachers; interfering when necessary to achieve the objectives of OMP without disqualifying the mentors in their work; leading the group without authoritarianism, and accepting diversity as something enriching, even though at times the paths followed were not those wished. Figure 9.1 presents a portrait of its dynamics.

Figure 9.1.  Mentors, novice teachers, and some teaching and learning experiences.

The OMP Context The OMP may be characterized as flexible and comprising activities adapted to the novices’ individual needs and workplace contexts. Each novice teacher enrolled in the program is assisted by a mentor who guides

136  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami

her or him throughout the program, which consists of two modules (a 120-hour module that takes approximately one year followed by a 60-hour module that lasts 6 months). The OMP has no institutional affiliation with any educational system of basic education. At its inception, its general features were jointly elaborated by the researchers with the collaboration of a group of 10 experienced schoolteachers who became mentors. During its 4 years of implementation, this group helped 41 novice teachers. The option for collaborative work among researchers and mentors implies adopting procedures that favor partnership and mutual learning processes (Cole & Knowles, 1993). It entails the systematic investigation of the collaborative work to change the social relations existing in the context/community under consideration (Aldenam, 1989). It assumes that a teacher’s culture is an important component, if not the most important part of the school culture. The program offers its participants the opportunity to build a collaborative culture focused on reflection among peers. The model adopted allows the mentors to have a voice in and influence decisions by developing a culture of encouragement and support for their learning. The researchers observed, participated and discussed teaching, learning and other educational aspects with the teachers, who are the main actors, in order to study and understand the professional development processes involved. Phases of the Project In the first phase of the project, the program was developed considering the future mentors’ individual and collective conceptions of teaching, learning, knowledge, students, teachers, school and curriculum, as well as including what they thought they needed to learn to act as mentors. The basic features, presuppositions, curriculum, activities, and duration of the program were delineated in the same fashion from a collective perspective. The program activities—for example, readings and discussions on articles, case studies, and written and oral accounts of professional experiences—were jointly conceived by the researchers and mentors-to-be at weekly 2-hour meetings over an 8 month period. The main features and concepts of the OMP may be found at the Portal dos Professores website (www.portaldosprofessores.ufscar.br). In the second phase of the project—when the mentoring activities began by means of the e-mails exchanged between the mentors and their novice teachers—the researchers monitored the mentors’ work closely (individually and collectively) through discussions and studies at weekly meetings, written accounts of activities carried out, and the e-mails between each mentor and their novice teacher partner. In addition to monitoring their

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   137

work, the researchers met with the mentors on a weekly basis to discuss how the mentoring program was evolving, and to assist in their professional development. The main purposes of these meetings with mentors and researchers at the university were to study and analyze the educational process carried out by the mentors and their partner novice teachers, propose solutions to the problems encountered in mentoring, contribute knowledge and experience to supplement individual mentors’ work, and assist them in their professional development. The group of mentors and researchers became stronger and more committed to reciprocal learning through these activities. The meeting agendas were defined from the mentors’ weekly reports on activities carried out by their novice teachers. They represented important forums for exchanging points of view and resolving doubts and dilemmas associated with mentoring. In these meetings, many points of data collection emerged. They included: • oral presentations of the progress of the mentoring process; • discussions of general topics of interest and those more specific to each mentor or mentor-novice dyad; • discussions regarding theoretical articles on different topics, and • seminar presentation by professionals working i n research and teacher education. The researchers have relied on Carrol’s (2005) model to analyze dialogs and collective construction of ideas and Grossman, Wineburg, and Woolworth’s (2001) indicators of professional community building. In methodological terms, this work assumes that apprehending teachers’ reflective processes implies gathering internal and external information concerning the subjects—in this case, the mentors—through activities that will favor the elicitation of their knowledge and beliefs. In this work, the mentors’ conceptions are primarily grasped by systematically following their professional development processes and examining the accounts of their work. With these ideas in mind, the e-mails exchanged between mentors and researchers, were among the other information sources considered. They were considered as tools for eliciting the knowledge and beliefs that underpinned their pedagogical practices and thus permitted us to identify and comprehend the mentors’ personal views. Consistent with the methodology adopted, the analysis of the data has been a collaborative effort between the researchers and the mentors in an ongoing cycle of reflection about the conceived and implemented actions.

138  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami

It is important to point out that these activities are considered formative as well as investigative tools. Methodological Perspective To develop a framework that would allow us to study some of the cultural aspects of a “professional learning community,” we considered that teachers and pedagogical practices should be investigated from alternative perspectives in order to understand the complex processes inherent in school life and its actors’ singularities. In order to carry out their investigations, researchers often begin with demands identified by teachers and other members of school communities. This type of research requires prolonged insertions in schools on the part of the so-called “university partners.” It implies getting to know the realities in which teachers work, what they think, what and why they do something. This process permits teachers and researchers to reflect collaboratively on their lived situations and, whenever necessary, construct together new strategies to overcome teachers difficulties, taking into consideration their schools’ and communities’ specificities. The Collaborative Mode of Interaction and Research Dealing with this type of collaborative research, Slater (2010) states, “Collaboration, whereas it is not a new idea, has provided the mechanisms that purport to change the way school problems are approached” (p. 1). Such collaborative research is a very complex initiative because it involves blending different cultural worlds. The adherence of those evolved is based their interest in the same project (Slater, 2010). There is a proper way to “see” and “act” for the participants related to their culture of belonging, which remains in the interactions, negotiations, and implementation of the collaborative process. The collaborative mode of interaction between teachers and researchers emphasizes the importance of establishing multiple purposes and interpretations. A constructive sense in this kind of interaction is rendered by the presupposition that teaching is an ever-changing process. In this perspective, situations seen as dilemmatic or problematic involve collective decision-making and problem-solving processes. Teachers are involved in the investigation of process lived by themselves (Cole & Knowles, 1993). It goes, therefore, beyond the idea, common in the field of educational research, that teachers are subjects, not producers of educational knowledge (Zeichner & Noffke, 2002).

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   139

On the basis of knowledge generated in these contexts it may be necessary for the university to establish a continual partnership with schools, thus avoiding considering the school members as mere suppliers of research data. This implies considering the learning processes of teaching in all its dynamic complexity and understanding that “professional learning is not only cognitive, but also contextually situated and intrinsic to the contexts within which and with which the individual interacts” (Jurasaite-Harbison & Rex, 2010, p. 268). In collaborative research, during the planning phase teachers negotiate their participation, since they perceive the benefits they will derive from it, and discuss its procedures, thus helping to define how, when and where the research will take place. When the research is carried out, teachers may wish to participate in defining data sources and negotiate collection strategies. Their voices are heard when the data are analyzed and when reports are written (Cole & Knowles, 1993). In turn, the opportunity to work as partners favors the handling of more complex and varied problems, given the combination of motivations, competencies and efforts (Hafernik, Messerschmitt, & Vandrick, 1997). In this research approach, it is fundamental to ensure the collaboration among participants includes both formative and investigative tasks. This collaboration may be characterized as a dialog that requires the participants’ engagement in conversation, exchange, and reciprocal professional development. True collaboration allows mutual understanding and consensus, democratic decision-making, and common action (Clark, Herter, & Moss, 1998; Clark et al., 1996). It entails the predisposition for inquiry aimed at generating new knowledge and addressing everyday school problems. Exposing needs, reflecting, and interpreting reality according to the context where they are inserted—characteristics of the formative/investigation processes carried out in this work—are also collaborative actions. In these actions, multiple points of view are considered to be in dynamic tension as a group of people seeks to make sense of themes, problems, and meanings of a work field (Wasser & Bresler, 1996). These actions can promote the construction of a professional learning community, understood as a community of professionals, which, through interactions, modify or learn new actions and transform their professional identities. The literature indicates that these communities play an important role in teachers’ responsiveness to public educational policies, their commitment to the construction of more adequate teaching conditions for their students and, consequently, in the changes experienced when teaching (Mizukami et al., 2010). Notwithstanding the benefits deriving from teachers’ participation in research groups on teaching, there are some obstacles concerning the

140  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami

relationships established between teachers and researchers due to the specificities of their work. First, there is the difficulty about the nature of constructed knowledge, especially as regards learning-to-teach. Knowledge produced by teachers is not always acknowledged and legitimated academically (Anderson & Herr, 1999). Additionally, it is difficult to imagine that researchers’ and teachers’ communities always attribute the same meaning to research results (Bullough, Draper, Smith, & Birrell, 2004). Another obstacle is the great, though decreasing, distance between these two worlds when one intends to turn research into everyday school activities. It is probable that uncertainties, interruptions, and urgent matters—typical of teaching and schools—place teachers and researchers in separate worlds (Kennedy, 1997). In addition, the definition itself of what characterizes teacher research must be refined, for it differs from the research carried out by academics. The Professional Culture Any analysis related to professional culture (in the case at hand, mentors and researchers) implies taking into account that culture is a social and historical construction able to produce a collective identity inscribed in a social relationship with “the other,” resulting from varied miscegenation. There is a social practice that is inseparable from the analysis of the symbolic social dimensions but never a social practice divorced from the symbolic constructions of social actors. Allowances must be made for the reflexivity that begins to express itself in the use of practical knowledge in social interactions and is therefore not solely part of production and discursive expression. A professional culture is therefore a form of identity and a shared experience that involves a sociocognitive activity that clarifies and formalizes the technical-intellectual work. Consequently, the professional culture may reflect resistance and opposition to the process of rationalization and becomes peripheral to the central power. Convergent identity narratives can also be shared if the aim is to promote strategies that focus upon enhancing professional autonomy (Caria, 2008). The analysis of professional learning requires a series of hypotheses to be developed regarding the conditions, institutions, activities, and social interactions that promote or block processes of reframing the context and transfer of professional knowledge. Neither is produced automatically and spontaneously, and they are necessarily complementary and involved (Caria, 2007). In our study, this approach resulted in implying that the school, university, and group of researchers and mentors involved belonged to specific but interrelated cultural contexts. We considered the

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   141

culture of teachers to be part of the culture of the school. Our study supports Pérez-Gómez’s (2001) definition of it as “the set of dominant beliefs, values, habits, and norms that determine what this social group considers valuable in its professional context, as well as the politically correct ways to think, feel, act, and relate to each other “ (our translation, p. 164). Teachers’ Professional Development Processes and Learning Communities When the focus of the research is on teachers’ individual changes, the proposals usually emphasize knowledge of subject matter, understanding the thinking of students, instructional practices and the concepts that sustain them. When the focus is on collective contexts formed by people who are engaged in a process of collective learning, they generally share the same goal: focusing on what they do or are learning to do. These professional communities are important spaces for teachers to invest in themselves as a person and as a professional. Teachers’ professional development processes should complementarily consider individuals’ formative needs and those of the professional group in the school institution or other arrangement, which demands that teachers coalesce around a common goal (Borko, Elliot, & Uchiyama, 2002), such as was observed with the mentors and researchers in our study. The desired changes result from intentional and planned interventions. These should be conducted in a logical sequence and focus on purposes previously defined. In communities of learning, members define how activities will be developed, including how long for and within what limit (Wenger, 1998). It is not easy, however, to promote these changes when the teaching culture is strongly conservative. The culture reveals itself in the conceptions that teachers have about their role, on the tasks to be performed, the methods they use in their classes, and the orientation of the relationships that they establish with peers, students, families, and administrative staff (Pérez-Gómez, 2001). Gallucci (2003) has found that learning communities can be privileged spaces that put the existing culture into question. This allows for reflection at the individual level and the collective changes that are needed to foment the construction of a new culture, since the participants “create, expand and exchange knowledge about their practices, thus develop their individual capacities” (p. 15). This implies the contribution of each to the group as a whole, although this contribution can occur in different ways and to varying degrees.

142  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami

In professional communities, teachers can rebuild their individual professional identity, build a group identity, define norms of interaction, and understand and accept individual differences over time. They develop, in a negotiated manner, understanding that teacher’s learning and student’s learning are interrelated processes and that there should be a collective responsibility for the individual growth of different participants. As the nature of teaching is articulated within the school context, the interactions between school staff, dialogue, and trust relationships are important in achieving cohesive objectives and practices among community members. These were important ideas for the OMP. The group of mentors had the characteristics mentioned by Wenger (1998) and Gallucci (2003) and a willingness to expand their knowledge by putting into question their values, broadening their willingness to listen, and change in the end.

Findings and Discussion We noted that over the 5 years of the OMP development, mentors and researchers became a professional learning community based on a reflexive teaching collaborative culture. In this process, five cultural variables were uncovered through our joint investigation and dialogue: 1. Organizational (definition of the roles of mentors and researchers and the group identity; establishment of shared norms and values of the OMP; the limits of their actions; the respect of the diversity of mentors’ backgrounds and their professional experiences). 2. Patterns of interaction (the way the dialogues were established; the sharing ideas processes; the requests and the collaboration from others). 3. Themes and subjects examined (the influence of personal and professional experiences). 4. Roles and practices performed (the construction of a distributed or collective mentoring knowledge base). 5. Professional identity (development of an identity of teacher educator). The Organizational Variable The first variable, organizational, relates to the precise definition of the roles of the participants (mentors and researchers), the local (weekly meetings at the university), and periods of dialogue (2 hours in group weekly meetings and other online meetings when mentors talked among themselves).

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   143

The group norms were developed spontaneously, over the course of time; slowly the mentors and researchers built a community identity and norms of interaction. During this process, we sought solutions to conflicts and to overcome them. Each member took the responsibility for their own professional development process as well as those of the other mentors and the novice teachers. One of the mentors described the process in this way: Mentor A. The personal development came through the coexistence with the other mentors and with researchers involved. With this coexistence, I could develop my ability to understand and express ideas, thoughts, and concepts. The meetings in democratic environment, harmonious, relaxed, always favored the debate and discussions of all topics. Always I had the freedom to express my opinions and make my interventions. I also have learned a lot by listening to other mentors.

An example of theoretical disagreement and respect for others’ ideas was marked, as noted below, when the mentors and researchers discussed concepts and practices of literacy, one of the topics most requested by the novices. The group of mentors and researchers had not reached an agreement on which teaching processes were “better.” It was decided, in this case, that each mentor would lead the process with their beginners according to their own beliefs, experience and knowledge. Mentor A in a group meeting. I am having trouble working with beginning teacher A and I would like to socialize with the group. Asking for help once, we have to recognize our limitations. I fell into my own trap. I have asked for help with planning for her and now I do not know how to approach the situation because there are many problems.... I want to ask for help from mentors X and Y who are specialists.

The norms included respect for the knowledge and practice of peers whether or not they had the same teaching philosophy, and the sharing of strategies and assistance when a mentor requested them. Gradually, researchers and mentors acknowledged the importance of a space designed for intentional sharing of knowledge, experience, and action aimed at building a negotiated vision about the novices and their contexts. It was possible to recognize the construction and development of a collaborative culture with a defined identity. As researchers and mentors, we worked together and exchanged ideas about real problems of schools and classrooms of novices. We put our common knowledge base into action and experienced reciprocal relations between theory and practice, contributing to the professional development of one other and mutually enrichment and growth. Anyone was free to recognize their limits. Another mentor statement exemplifies this ability to share and recognize limitations: “All the courses I could do to improve my training I did, but I know I still have much to learn.”

144  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami

Patterns of Interaction Variable The second observed variable was the established patterns of interaction that were created. These patterns favored conversations and dialogues among members and their sense of belonging and well-being in the group. Some aspects were related to the definition of these patterns of interaction: prior knowledge about a particular matter; dealing with the issues and dilemmas commonly experienced by novices; the establishment of a common set of ideas, concepts or practices; and working together in previous professional activities. Partnerships between two or three mentors were born spontaneously and were enhanced by the relaxed atmosphere and respect existing in the group, resulting in a culture of sharing, exchange, and responsibility. Mentor B described one such meeting and the interactions involved. Mentor B. In these weeks meeting we discussed again the OMP format. Even after one year and a half we continue to construct our way. This is very interesting. We evaluate, reflect and seek for news steps. The program was modified ... and then we asked ourselves: How long would it take? What would the mentees be capable to do at the end of the program?... We noticed from the beginning that the OMP is not a course that begins and end in a definite data. We know that each mentor-novice relationship is specific once each mentee shows personal formative needs.… Considering these circumstances and after several analysis and reflections, the ideas were more clear. This is very good because everybody (including myself) had doubt about the OMP shutdown criteria.… Everything now is clearer, more objective. I liked it very much. We need precise shutdown criteria in spite of the focus of OMP the teaching professional development it does not have definite previous contours (each novice is a different person that lives and work in specific context).

Themes and Subjects Examined Variable The third variable refers to the themes and subjects examined and their relationship to aspects of professional work. In the case of professional issues, the clarification of doubts and dilemmas, the request and offer of aid, self-analysis and reporting of activities completed, and discussions of the work of other researchers and mentors encouraged interactions between the participants of the group. This variable failed to strongly affect the group in question as a result of the flexibility of the curriculum and the acceptance of differences. An example of this variable can be identified in the following narrative: Mentor C.… Regina had asked about which would be the best way to define the selection of a novice to a mentor. It followed an excitement moment when all the mentors want to have access to the novices’ files with the objective to choose one that is suitable

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   145 to their profile. After a little confusion it was decided that the best way to match a novice with a mentor would be adopting a raffle. In reality it seems that we didn’t want (Is it because of fear or insecurity?) to assume an eventual didactics or pedagogical difficulties that could happen. It could be a problem which we feel unable to help. I believe that it won’t happen because the interventions will be discussed in the weekly meetings. In these occasions everyone can suggest, can exchange ideas and experiences. We would discuss the best strategies considering the profile of the novice classroom.

Roles and Practices Performed Variable The mode by which the roles or practices are performed configured the fourth variable. Actions relating to listening, analyzing, offering suggestions, questioning, disagreeing, working together, ignoring, changing roles, replacing, and leading were developed and, although unevenly distributed, they favored the consolidation group. At the end of the process it was clear that mentors and researchers had constructed a distributed or collective mentoring knowledge base. Mentor D. Considering children’s hygiene issues we suggested some ways to help her mentee: a) to investigate the two children’s family, social and health contexts; b) to talk individually with each one about their everyday activities, preferred games, etc; c) to provide the children shower opportunities in the school before classes start in a way to not expose them to their peers, and d) to ask for personal hygiene items to be offered by the school…. We talked about the importance of negotiating meanings. This is not an easy task, since each novice belongs to a specific school community.

Professional Identity Variable Related to the construction of a professional identity (profile), the fifth cultural variable, some mentors rebuilt their identity as teachers, connecting it to the teacher educator identity, thus expanding their cultural identity. Mentor C. Being a mentor was a very rich learning process. Each beginning teacher brought a uniqueness that was crucial for the role of each mentor who was herself being was being built throughout the process. Mentors’ collective synthesis about their program participation in one of the final meetings of the project. We do not know if it is possible to learn to be a mentor before being one. Therefore, the development process takes place in service. However, some personal characteristics are necessary for a teacher become a good mentor: to be worry about other people and to wish that other has success; write off from your resume envy, competitive spirit, pride and everything that can create barriers in a good

146  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami relationship; accept people as they are and try to understand them in their thoughts and attitudes divergent of yours; always study and share the findings....

From these excerpts we conclude that to change the practices of teachers and their mentors it is not enough to simply provide domain knowledge or to focus upon mastering new theories or teaching strategies. It is essential to change the concepts, theories, supporting practices, and processes of construction of practical knowledge teachers possess. We observed that in the OMP, practical rationality was the main focus and its development, over time, came from a mix of concepts identified by Cochran-Smith and Lyttle (1999): knowledge-for-practice (researchers generate theories aiming to use it to improvement of practice); knowledge-on-practice (essential knowledge for teaching—practical knowledge or knowledge generated by highly competent teachers—related to the practice and the teachers’ reflections on it), knowledge-of-practice (issues such as what it means to generate knowledge, who generates it, as they are used and evaluated in particular contexts where they are opened and where the universe of knowledge cannot be rigidly divided into formal knowledge and practical knowledge). In other words, mentors went from a passive position as a recipient of knowledge to apply their learning with their mentees to a proactive stance in which they were engaged with and involved in the creation of theory and the application to practice. Lessons Learned It is important to invest in efforts to define the desired profile of experienced teachers who are to become mentors. To be an experienced teacher may not be predictive of becoming a successful mentor. Absences or inaccuracies in defining the role of mentor and misunderstanding its complex nature may hinder the establishment of productive interactive conversations with the mentees and other mentors, especially if the environment and mood are not characterized by mutual respect. Hence, organizational and professional identity dimensions are critical for mentoring success. The interaction patterns were essential aspects for the consolidation of a professional learning community of mentors and researchers. The way the dialogs are conducted and maintained can inhibit and silence member voices or can empower them. It has been noticed that the collective examination of ideas, conceptions and practices facilitates the distribution of knowledge so that a coordinated action based upon someone’s existing professional knowledge may promote the construction of new knowledge for others (Hargreaves, 1999) and a collective knowledge base for all.

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   147

This process most likely occurs with respect to explicit knowledge because it has been decoded by the mentors and researchers or because it can be effortlessly put into words. It seems clear that a collaborative culture that accepts and invests in a broad range of knowledge and conceptions, encourages expression of professional discourse and sharing of ideas by mapping out constructed professional knowledge and existing gaps, can develop when the group engages in group interaction. Diverse ideas, conceptions, and practices can lead to tensions that impact collaboration. Appreciating individual and professional diversity can facilitate community communication and the compromises needed to negotiate mutual decisions. Being attentive to the human and professional needs of all community members appears to be another element to be considered in the mentors’ and researchers’ community growth process. Researchers wishing to promote the building of teachers’ learning communities should closely monitor this process of identity construction of roles and intervene whenever necessary so that there is minimal disruption in the process. These cases highlight the importance of respecting individual cultures, contextual variables, and intervening variables in this kind of initiative. Taking into account the collective cultures is vitally important, especially when plans and goals are open and thus evolving rather than being well defined. Conclusions and Future Research In this chapter we analyzed some cultural variables discovered in the construction and development of a “professional learning community” composed of mentors (experienced schoolteachers) and researchers. The group of mentors and researchers that took part in the OMP configured a teacher learning community as defined by the indicators provided by Grossman and colleagues (2001). Within this group it was easy to identify the following: the construction of group identity and interaction rules; occurrence of conflicts and search for solutions; establishment of group goals such as helping novice teachers as well as mentors with respect to their difficulties, and the understanding that all participants should be responsible for novice teachers’ formative processes as well as their own. As the group developed and became stronger over time, it became a solid and open learning community of mentors and researchers and demanded cultural sensitivity. The weekly meetings became a relevant space for information exchange, in which mentorship-related doubts and dilemmas were dealt with. It was a rich space to uncover diverse realities and blend different professional cultures.

148  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami

The study garnered new information and insights about how professional learning communities operate within the mentoring context, how collaborative research can uncover realities and blend cultures and should be of use to a wide variety of audiences. In view of the increasing importance and demand for teacher continuous formative processes promoted by school-university partnerships, as seem in some Brazilian educational policies, it is necessary to investigate new ways to establish and strengthen links between different partners and understand the factors vital to their ability to create successful learning communities. Our research has uncovered many of those elements but is important to conduct further studies to answer other research questions such as: • How can dialogue between organizational and professional cultures of primary schools and universities be increased? • What are the contributions of a formative process of mentoring for changing school and university professional cultures of universitybased teacher educators, mentors and novice schoolteachers? • How can mentoring be absorbed as a regular process of teacher professional development in different educational contexts? We recognize that there is still much to be accomplished and hope that this study will foster further investigation and the creation of more long lasting and successful learning communities not only in Brazil, but throughout the world. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. Define and discuss the five cultural variables presented in this chapter. 2. Compare and contrast the impact of the cultural variables on the relationships between the experienced teachers and the university researchers. 3. What can you apply to mentoring programs that you are involved with regarding the strengths and challenges that evolved from the development of the professional learning community? References Aldenam, C. (1989). Action research. In H. Seamus & E. Peter (Eds.), Research and evaluation method in special education: Quantitative and qualitative techniques in

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   149 case studies works (pp. 78–93). The Mere, Upton Park, Slough, Berkshire, England: NFER-Nelson. Anderson, G. L., & Herr, K. (1999). The new paradigm wars: Is there room for rigorous practitioner knowledge in schools and universities? Educational Researcher, 28, 12–21. Borko, H., Elliott, R. & Uchiyama, K. (2002). Professional development: A key to Kentucky’s educational reform effort. Teacher and Teaching Education, 18, 969–987. Bullough, R. V., Jr., Draper, R. J., Smith, L., & Birrell, J. R. (2004). Moving beyond collusion: Clinical faculty and university/public school partnership. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 505–521. Caria, T. H. (2007). A cultura profissional do professor de ensino básico em Portugal: Uma linha de investigação em desenvolvimento [The professional culture of the primary school teacher in Portugal : A line of research in development]. Sisifo. Revista de Ciências da Educação, 3, 125–138. Caria, T. H. (2008). O uso do conceito de cultura na investigação sobre profissões [Uses of the concept of culture in research on the professions]. Análise Social, 43, 749–777. Carrol, D. (2005). Learning through interactive talk: A school-based mentor teacher study group as a context for professional learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 457–473. Clark, C., Herter, R., & Moss, P. A. (1998). Continuing the dialogue on collaboration. American Educational Research Journal, 37, 785–791. Clark, C., Moss, P. A., Goering, S., Hener, R. J., Lamar, B., Leonard, D., ... Wascha, K. (1996). Collaboration as dialogue: Teacher and researchers engaged in conversation and professional development. American Educational Research Journal, 33, 193–232. Cochran-Smith, M., & Lyttle, S. L. (1999). Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities. Review of Research in Education, 24, 249–305. Cole, L., & Knowles, J. G. (1993). Teacher development partnership research: A focus on methods and issues. American Educational Research Journal, 30, 473–495. Darling-Hammond, L. (2013). Building a profession of teaching. In M. A. Flores, Ana Amélia Carvalho, Feranndo Ilídio Ferreira & Maria Teresa Vilaça (Eds.), Back to the future: Legacies, continuities and changes in education policy, practice and research (pp. 3–27). Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Sense. Gallucci, C. (2003). Theorizing about responses to reform: The role of communities of practice in teacher learning, an occasional paper. Seattle, WA: Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy. Gatti, B. A., Barreto, E. S. S., & André, M. D. A. (2011). Políticas docentes no Brasil: um estado da arte [Teacher policies in Brazil: A state of the art]. Brasília, DF: UNESCO. Grossman, P., Wineburg, S., & Woolworth, S. (2001). Toward a theory of teacher community. Teachers College Record, 103, 942–1012. Hafernik, J. J., Messerschimtt, D. S., & Vandrick, S. (1997). Collaborative research: Why and how? Educational Researcher, 26, 31–35.

150  A. Reali, R. M. S. P., Tancredi, and M. G. N. Mizukami Hargreaves, D. (1999). The knowledge-creating school. British Journal of Educational Studies, 47, 122–144. International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching. (2013). ISATT annual meeting. Retrieved from http://www.isatt2013.ugent.be/track. php?q=teachersculturesociety Jurasaite-Harbison, E., & Rex, L. A. (2010). School cultures as contexts for informal teacher learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 267–277. Kennedy, M. (1997). The conception between research and practice. Educational Researcher, 26, 4-12. Marcelo Garcia, C. (2011). Políticas de inserción en la docência: de eslabón perdido a puente para el desarollo professional docente. In: Serie Documentos Nro. 52, PREAL.Retrieved from http//www.preal.org/PublicacionN.asp Mizukami, M. G. N., Reali, A., Reyes, C. R. Martucci, E. M., Lima, E. F., & Tancredi, R. M. S. P. (2010). Escola e aprendizagem da docência: Processos de investigação e formação [School and learning to teach: research and formative processes]. São Carlos, SP: EDUFSCar. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2005). Education at a glance: OECD indicators. Paris: Author. Pacheco, J. A., & Flores, M. A. (1999). Formação e avaliação de professores [Teacher education and evaluation]. Porto: Porto Editora. Pérez-Gómez, A. I. (2001). A cultura escolar na sociedade neoliberal [The school culture in neoliberal society]. Porto Alegre, RS: Artmed. Reali, A., Tancredi, R., & Mizukami, M. (2008). Programa de mentoria online: espaço para o desenvolvimento profissional de professoras iniciantes e experientes [Online mentorship program: a space for the professional development of beginner and experienced teachers]. Educação e Pesquisa, 34(1), 77–95. Reali, A., Tancredi, R., & Mizukami, M. (2010). Construção e desenvolvimento de uma comunidade de aprendizagem profissional de mentoras: tensões nos processos de desenvolvimento profissional [Online mentorship program: a space for the professional development of beginner and experienced teachers]). Paper presented at the III Congreso Internacional sobre Profesorado Principiante e Inserción Profesional a la Docencia, Santiago, Chile. Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining reflection: another look at John Dewey and reflective thinking, Teachers Colllege Record, 104(4), 842-866. Slater, J. (2010). Introduction: The meme of collaboration. In J. Slater & R. Ravid (Eds.), Collaboration in education (pp. 1-17). New York, NY: Routledge. Sundli, L. (2007). Mentoring: A new mantra for education? Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 201–214. Tancredi, R., & Reali, A. (2011). O que um mentor precisa saber. Ou: sobre a necessidade de um mentor construir uma visão multifocal [What a mentor needs to know. Or, on the need for a mentor build a multifocal vision]. Exitus, 1(1), 33–44. Vaillant, D. (2009). Políticas de inserción a la docencia en américa latina: la deuda pendiente [Policies of insertion into teaching in Latin America: a remaining question]. Profesorado: Revista de curriculum y formación del profesorado, 3(1), 1–15.

Constructing a Community of Mentors and Researchers   151 Wang, J. E., & Odell, S. J. (2002). Mentored learning to teach according standardsbased reform: A critical review. Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 481–546. Wasser, J. D., & Bressler, L. (1996). Working in the interpretative zone: Conceptualizing collaboration in qualitative research teams. Educational Research, 25, 5–15. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice, learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Zeichner, K. M., & Noffke, S. E. (2002). Practitioner research. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 298–330). Washington, DC: AERA.

chapter 10

(RE)VIEWING MENTORING RELATIONS Culture, Contexts, Cameras, and the Complexity of Being Persons-inRelation In Mentoring Linda Craig

In this chapter I discuss an approach to research concerned with revealing some of the hidden cultural complexities underpinning the processes, policies, and practices of mentoring. I argue that in order to “see” in new ways through the dominant cultures of our current educational systems, we require a shift to an alternative philosophical and theoretical starting point. The research discussed below was part of a larger project coconstructed with 12 pairs of mentors and newly qualified teachers, informed by a mutual interest in Scottish philosopher John Macmurray’s (1953–54) Gifford lectures titled the “Form of the Personal.” Macmurray’s (1957) thesis: “that the self is a person and that personal existence is constituted by the relation of persons” (p. 12) invites consideration of the ways in which our knowledge of reality emerges primarily from our direct experience of dynamic engagement with others. This is in

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 153–166 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

153

154  L. Craig

contrast with knowledge assumed to derive from the more fundamental “material,” “mechanic,” or “organic” categories common to scientific discourses. Adopting a “relational ontological” stance for our research invited a mutual inquiry process into how teachers are coimplicated in the construction and (re)construction of their mentoring relations. This process enabled us to see some of the ways in which our mentoring practices are culturally embedded in Western Enlightenment assumptions of selves as rational, autonomous, and separate. For example, such framing of our knowledge practices casts teachers into the cultural stereotypical roles of “expert” and “novice,” with assumptions with assumptions of teachers as individuals being able to “fit” “abstract” educational standards evaluated by “detached” observation and assessment practices. Though this research is particular to our local Scottish context, our experience suggests that mentoring relations are formed and (re)formed through our relational everyday interactions and through the varied and multiple standpoints that we, as persons, may take up from the affordances of our particular conversational and local cultural contexts. The Purpose Since the idea of mentoring was introduced to Scotland’s schools in 2002 as part of the teacher induction scheme (Scottish Executive Education Department [SEED], 2001), the popularity of “mentoring” has grown. With a range of programs proliferating across Scotland’s local authority areas, “mentoring” has become the “magic bullet” of Scotland’s teacher induction scheme. Two key purposes behind these programs include enabling beginning teachers’ socialization into often challenging contexts within prevailing school cultures (McNally & Blake, 2010), and supporting probationer teachers, also referred to as newly qualified teachers (NQT), to achieve equity in standards of competence as required by the GTCS Standards for Full Registration (General Teaching Council for Scotland, 2012). Such assumptions are evidenced through the discourses of various government publications, including Mentoring in Teacher Education (HMIe, 2008), and Teaching Scotland’s Future (Donaldson, 2011), along with the range of government supported initiatives to increase mentoring and coaching models, including some drawing globally from models such as that offered by the New Teacher’s Center in Santa Cruz, California (HMIe, 2008). Despite attempts to increase and develop the number of mentoring initiatives as part of the overall aim to enhance the induction experience and quality of school relations, what is overlooked are the ways in which mentoring is embedded in unquestioned cultural assumptions that include instrumental goals of “what works” in a “one-size fits all,” “abstract” form

(Re)Viewing Mentoring Relations   155

of “technological enterprise” (Biesta, 2007; Pring, 2012). Little account has been taken of how mentoring programs are socially constructed first and foremost by persons through their numerous daily interactions with one another. Mentoring programs are too often assumed to be stable material entities rather than systems constructed by persons that are constantly in “flux,” “transitory” and “fluid” (Kochan & Pascarelli, 2012). The Context The volunteer coparticipants of this study, recruited in 2008, had initially expressed enthusiasm for exploring the ways in which new visual technologies might afford opportunities to enhance and transform their professional practice(s). This is in part due to the new curriculum in Scotland, the Curriculum for Excellence (SEED, 2004), which aims towards a more holistic approach to education, whereby teachers have to assess children’s becoming “successful learners,” “confident individuals,” “responsible citizens,” and “effective contributors.” This new curricular approach invites teachers to gather evidence of children’s progress in ways that move beyond the norms of test scores as indicators of successful learning. Furthermore, there is an increase in the use of the term “person”’ in recent government and national curriculum documents, which include references to teachers improving “interpersonal skills,” being able to engage in their own “personal” learning, with abilities to develop pupils as “persons,” and so on (Donaldson, 2011). However, there has been little clarification of what is meant by the concept of “person” and, particularly in terms of teachers’ practices, within mentoring contexts. Along with this curriculum change there has been a shift in the way in which schools are inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education, with a reduction in planned inspection visits. This has come simultaneously with the transfer of increasing responsibility and professional accountability to school staff, positioning them to view themselves as a community of learning professionals able to apply skills of critical self-reflection in order to self-evaluate performance practices (HMIe, 2011a, 2011b). Thus, digital cameras in particular have been playing an increasing role in teachers’ repertoires as devices for “capturing” evidence of effective teaching and learning. The proliferation of visual technologies has enabled teachers to experiment with new forms of visual evidence in support of their pedagogical claims towards helping children realize the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence (SEED, 2004). However, the increasing use of technology for accountability practices can also terrorize teachers’ souls (Ball, 2003), as forms of “surveillance” (Foucault, 1977; Haggerty & Ericson, 2000; Staples, 1997, 2000). Visual technologies can therefore both enable and constrain

156  L. Craig

a teacher’s sense of professional identity, health, and well-being. In this research our concern was to explore how digital cameras might support both mentors and NQTs in “positive” and “productive” ways, with a focus on understanding the influence of interactions on the development of relationships and pedagogical practices. Theoretical Orientation (Re)Visioning the Philosophy of Research The theoretical orientation for the project was inspired, by John Macmurray’s “Form of the Personal” the thesis of his Gifford lectures (1953–54) later published as The Self as Agent (1957) and Persons in Relation (1961). Macmurray claims that as human beings our existence from birth depends upon our dynamic interactions with other persons. He draws his illustrative example from the mother with her new born child, which he argues: cannot live at all by any initiative, whether personal or organic, of his own. He can live only through other people and in dynamic relation with them. In virtue of this fact he is a person, for the personal is constituted by the relation of persons. (Macmurray, 1961, p. 51)

This view is more recently supported by ontogenesis research, for example in the work of Stern (1985) and Trevarthen (1993, 2011). Under Macmurray’s thesis, action is prior to thought and it is through our necessary and increasingly intentional interactions with other persons that we gain our capacity for reflection and develop our unique sense of self-awareness. Through our communicative interactions we generate sensations, feelings, interests and perceptions and a conscious awareness of our ways of relating in the world. In other words, we gain knowledge of ourselves as a ‘person’ in and through our processes of relating with others. In interacting with others we engage both the mind and the body and in doing so we transform our relations with the other: “When I act I modify the world” (Macmurray, 1957, p. 91). Macmurray argues that we are so culturally conditioned by the influence of Cartesian dualism with its treatise of “I think, therefore I am” that we fail to recognize that our existence is embodied and dependent on others, “that it has its being in its relationship; and that relationship is necessarily personal” (Macmurray, 1961, p. 17). Macmurray’s thesis is a reminder of how, through our language in Western society, we have constructed metaphorical visual standpoints, acting upon them as though they were matters of fact. Just as the language of colonialism has been exposed as “depersonalizing” the “Other,” the

(Re)Viewing Mentoring Relations   157

language of our educational practices may be positioning us similarly, through cultural norms which we can no longer see. Adopting a ‘Macmurrian’ standpoint, for example, invited us to consider the ways in which social and cultural practices within mentoring and education have led us to assume the Cartesian position of detached knowing “subjects” implying superior knowledge over others as “objects.” As Macmurray (1961) suggests, we have become so accustomed to believing that we are detached observers of the world in which we participate, that we even falsify and deny our participation. In his words: “The Self conceived as ‘spectator of all time and all existence’ itself becomes a mere idea, since it is excluded from participation in what it contemplates” (p. 17). This realization had a profound impact upon how we saw ourselves in relation to our research. Pretending to be detached and “passionless” observers concerned with establishing “truths,” “reliability,” and “rigor” would have falsified our very motivations for undertaking the study. Indeed, it was precisely our intentions and motivations to learn more about the ways in which the camera afforded “sense-datum” of our conversational exchanges, including the ways in which our language and body language was “connecting” or “disconnecting” ourselves to others, that inspired our inquiry. In particular, we wanted to learn through the research experience how we could relate and recognise one another more fully as “persons”; rather than conforming to our functional roles as mentors, NQTs, and tutors. Pretending to be detached from our inquiry process would have been unhelpful and even deceitful. Furthermore, Macmurray drew our attention to how our drawing on Western scientific discourses constructs false dichotomising between “mind” and “body,” and “subject” and “object.” Therefore, he argues, there are two types of knowledge through which we can know the other: The one is our knowledge of persons as persons; the other our knowledge of persons as objects. The first depends upon and expresses a personal attitude to the other person, the second an impersonal attitude.... The first will yield a philosophy of the personal; the second a science of man. (Macmurray, 1961, p. 37)

Drawing on some of these “Macmurrian” ideas, we explored the ways in which we were relating to one another through what we called a “persons-in-relation” research inquiry process. Using the digital camera as a “feedback loop” (Capra, 1997 p. 63), we (re)viewed our interactions to reveal some of the ways in which our social practices, including our mentoring conversations, implicated us in the social construction of culturally conditioned ways of “seeing” and “being.”

158  L. Craig

Relevant Literature The extensive field of research in mentoring is beginning to be thoroughly mapped in ways that address the diversity of theoretical orientations. This is illustrated by Fletcher and Mullen’s (2012) The New Sage Handbook of Coaching and Mentoring and by researchers who have sought to highlight the impact of global and cultural influences (Clutterbuck, Poulson, & Kochan, 2012; Clutterbuck & Ragins, 2001; Cullingford, 2006; Kochan & Pascarelli, 2002, 2012). Thus there is recognition that “Mentoring theory is an educational idea that is inevitably changing, situated, and partial because of its contextual dependency, philosophical rooted-ness, and political idiosyncrasies” (Mullen, 2012, p. 8). Technology is also transforming our cultural practices in mentoring with those seeking to reduce hierarchies and to create more democratic learning opportunities (Dorner, 2012; Lieberman, 2000) and with a proliferation of research into the opportunities afforded by “faceless” mentoring through e-learning opportunities (Akin & Hilbun, 2007; Dorner, 2012; Knouse, 2001; Single & Single, 2005). Our concern in this research though, was with exploring more of the ‘positive’ opportunities afforded by digital cameras towards a more “embodied,” “personal,” and “relational” understanding of mentoring processes. Aiming to decenter the cultural norms of “the capturing, objectifying eye” (Rose & Tolia-Kelly, 2012) and “to re-imagine socio-technical practices in education in ways that can be expressive of friendship and mutuality” (Facer, 2012, p. 722), our concerns were also for what Fielding (2012) calls: “education as if people matter” extending our inquiries beyond our immediate mentoring relations to our wider school community networks and educational systems (Fielding, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2012; Fielding & Moss, 2011). In this way, the camera became a prosthetic device for feeding back the kinds of cultural dynamics at play in our everyday educational communicative practices. However, the research was not only intended to contribute to our knowledge of the formation of mentoring relations, it was intended to provide a platform for conversational contemplation about the kinds of “embodied” experiences that emerged from these observations and conversations. Data Collection Data were gathered between the years 2008 and 2010 from a mixture of 12 primary and secondary school sites in Scotland. Commencing the research process as a form of “appreciative inquiry” (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987), the teachers recorded key episodes of interactions, editing and selecting only those 5 minute segments which they found of positive

(Re)Viewing Mentoring Relations   159

value. This is a “generative” approach to research, rather than a problem solving one, insomuch as it is intended to expand participants’ resources for transformative dialogue (Gergen, McNamee, & Barrett, 2001). This also enabled a local “situated” ethical stance in relation to the teachers being in control of the selection and storage of film clips for their own research purposes. Three rounds of data in total were gathered from each research site during the NQTs’s probationary year, during which official mentoring support is a mandatory part of the teacher induction process. Stage one of the data gathering process commenced with the NQTs filming, then selecting, a clip of their classroom interactions that had aroused their curiosity and interest as being worth sharing and discussing with their mentors. These clips formed the basis of “mentoring conversations” and were also recorded. Together, through their joint action(s) of (re)viewing these mentoring conversations, the teachers then selected and edited these films into short segments which they jointly agreed upon as being of ‘positive’ value for the wider purposes of the project’s aims. This process formed stage two of gathering data. Latterly, the third round of data collection included me, as university tutor and mentor, being filmed in conversation with each pair of teachers as we (re)viewed and probed the kinds of relational responses that emerged from our research process. Ultimately, these “complex conversations” (Smitherman Pratt, 2011) became the source from which we were able to identify and articulate some of the previously unnoticed cultural dynamics that were at play in our relational interactions. Data Analysis As Macmurray advocates, by rejecting the standpoint of Western philosophical tradition where the “I think” is the starting point—and by replacing this with the “I do”—we adopt an immediate standpoint of communication and language as action: “Whether what we thought about were matters of theory or of practice, of action or of reflection.... Our conclusion was not merely that the Self is agent, but that the Self has its being only in its agency” (Macmurray, 1961, p. 15). Therefore, a close consideration of the kinds of everyday language and communication practices we used, helped us to see how we were actively, constructing our local cultural realities. In terms of our attempts to uncover some of the hidden cultural dynamics at play in our language and practices, we were guided by the following research question: How did viewing interactions on film support an understanding of the cultural complexities of mentoring practices?

160  L. Craig

By situating our conversations as “joint action” (Shotter, 1984, 1993) the focus of our inquiries was on the dynamic aspects of our encounters, in contrast to the way in which “role” serves to highlight “the static, formal and ritualistic aspects” (Davies & Harré, 1999, p. 32) of institutional cultures. Thus, we explored the ways in which our conversational positions emerged through our discussions and how our sense-making practices resulted from the specific locations or ‘standpoints’ that we as ‘persons’ took up at any particular moment within a conversation (Davies & Harré, 1999). We also paid particular attention to the way in which our everyday language was shaping our views of our practices. This is illustrated in the short vignette below. The scene is a Scottish Secondary School English Department where I, together with the coparticipant teachers (Adam, the mentor, and Nicky, the NQT) are about to commence a research conversation based on the teachers’ collation of film clips. The episode begins with my “positioning” the teachers by asking them to choose one of the film clips from their collection for the purposes of our research conversation. There is a brief exchange about whether the viewing ought to be Nicky’s filming of a drama lesson showing her class’s noisy reenactment of a scene from Shakespeare’s Macbeth or a more traditional poetry reading. Despite an initial difference of opinions over which clip to choose, Nicky appears to get her way in securing Adam’s agreement that the drama clip is the better choice. However, the conversation turns when, following their viewing, she asks for Adam’s opinion of her interactive drama lesson: Nicky: Well what do you think? A good example of “active learning”... for Curriculum for Excellence I mean? [Nicky is smiling enthusiastically] Adam: Ehm ... the thing that was coming to mind is that there is a gender issue thing—the boys.... [Nicky interrupts Adam’s response before he can finish his words] Nicky: Oh ... that happened when I left the room to get my costume on—so I didn’t see all of this ... but I played the film back and one of the kids became the kind of ring leader and said “right, we are going to do a vote so hands up who wants to play such and such” and then they did a vote so they actually handled it quite maturely.... Three interesting points emerged from our (re)viewing of this recorded conversational exchange and the edited clip of the drama lesson. First, we identified some of the complex “vital simultaneities” (Davies & Sumara, 2006) at play. For example, we each “saw” something “different” in this 3-minute film clip of the drama lesson that pointed towards the diversity

(Re)Viewing Mentoring Relations   161

of our perspectives in relating to the curriculum. In turn, this drew our attention to the multiplicity of possible other focal points of interest that were simultaneously present in the clip but which we chose not to open up for discussion on this occasion. We could see how our differing perceptions related in part to our “personal” cultural experiences of curriculum. For example, Adam, a principal teacher of English for some 15 years, was “conservative” in his views of the curriculum; he looked for children benefitting from the development of their reading skills whilst sitting in their seats and this was not visible to him in this lesson. Nicky, fresh from university, viewed herself as “enacting” the new curriculum with her class through their participation in “active learning.” For my part, as university tutor, I was observing the “inclusive nature” of the activities, seeing the ways in which most of the children, despite their interests and backgrounds, were enjoying a version of “Shakespeare.” Second, beyond what we were “seeing” in this short excerpt of moving images, we observed how the teachers’ words and body language were coconstructing their communicative practices in particularly cultural ways. The following is an illustration from the closing exchanges of this episode: Adam: [Hand on his chin, he is drawing deep breath, and keeping his gaze fixed firmly on the film avoiding eye contact with Nicky, he continues very hesitantly] Well ... when I was watching this I was wondering ... well okay ... what are the benefits of doing it this way rather than your usual kind of reading ... is the extra time worthwhile in terms of what you get out of the end product and whether the extra engagement actually justifies that? Nicky is positioned into justifying her actions but we particularly noted Adam’s physical response: Nicky: I can remember seeing classes doing like the whole of, you know, King Lear and just sitting and reading it out every time ... it was boring.... Adam: phewrrr,rrrr, rrrr yes ... [folding his arms and throwing his head back he looks directly at Nicky blowing a raspberry through his lips] Nicky: I am just ... a firm believer that a play was never meant to be read so that the kids get a visual appreciation of it, it really cements it in their head ... active learning.... Certain cultural assumptions emerge from the teachers’ “sense-making” processes in these exchanges. For example, Adam questions whether Nicky’s activities are justified in terms of what she will get out of “the end

162  L. Craig

product.” Thus, his metaphor of teaching and learning as an “end product” indicates his holding a particular “economic” view of learning, likening the children’s experiences to something “manufactured” and at a “cost.” His words locate knowledge as necessarily “bound” or “packaged.” Similarly, Nicky’s response, despite her seemingly taking up an opposing viewpoint to Adam, indicates her perspective is also influenced by the dominant Cartesian view of education. Her words: “a visual appreciation of it cements it in their head” play on the dominant cultural metaphor of knowledge as “building blocks” thus requiring “cement,” so to speak, to “fix” learning—represented here as an entity “it”—in children’s “heads.” Therefore, Nicky, as much as Adam, is influenced by the dominant rational, autonomous and technical view of pedagogical practices. There are therefore only subtle differences between the teachers’ perspectives. While Nicky had actually engaged the children in an “embodied” and “sensory” experience of curriculum through the enactment of drama, she ends up justifying this towards the dominant cultural interpretation of learning being about “minds” rather than “minds as part of bodies”; whereas for Adam, learning was a much more “rational” experience of reading a text. Therefore, the teachers are creating their local mentoring “realities” through the language they use to construct and (re)construct their pedagogical practices. The third interesting point to emerge from this illustration was our becoming aware of how the teachers’ language and situated practices were shaping their relations. In the beginning Adam and Nicky were very much supportive of one another’s use of filming, but here the emergent tensions between their differing cultural perspectives points towards potential “political” issues that could well inform how they may cooperate in future. Adam has put “a gender issue” on the table, so to speak, implicating Nicky’s choice of pedagogical practice as being unsuitable for boys. Unwittingly perhaps, Nicky has also raised political and cultural questions regarding the school’s local interpretation of the new national curriculum. Issues of status (Adam’s and the school’s) and questions about whose experience counts have begun to shape the teachers’ possible future relations. Recognizing that persons are different from one another or “heterogeneous” because each is unique is a necessary part of being persons in relation. For as Macmurray (1961) explains: “When we expend energy to realise an intention we meet a resistance which both supports and limits us, and know that we exist and that the Other exists, and that our existence depends upon the existence of the Other” (p. 17). In other words, it is precisely in the struggle between our differing discourses, standpoints, intentions and cultural perspectives that we come to know each other, and ourselves, better as persons.

(Re)Viewing Mentoring Relations   163

Discussion and Lessons Learned Adopting a “relational ontological” stance to research using digital cameras was a time-consuming, but nevertheless enriching research experience. Whilst some critics might describe our relational research as “a naval gazing exercise of self-evaluation,” I would suggest that in coconstructing a productive process for contemplative and transformative dialogue, we were expanding our local relational understandings of the complex ways in which our language coimplicates us in the production and reproduction of our cultural practices. Thus, we were able to “see” through some of the cultural complexities we were taking for granted in our everyday mentoring program. Sharing our differing perspectives of how we were viewing our sense-making through our dialogue, discourses, and embodied interactions, highlighted how as “persons” we are nested in simultaneous and multiple layers of invisible cultural practices and politics. Learning how to navigate our relations within the immediacy of these multiple levels of reality with the best possible outcomes in mind where the “other is the centre of value” Macmurray (1957 p. 158), what Macmurray calls “heterocentricity” in contrast to the cultural norms of “individualism,” may be the biggest challenge for future mentoring programs or researchers who employ such a “persons-in-relation” approach. For, once we adopt the standpoint of “persons-in-relation” and know that when we act we are “enabling” as much as “constraining” others’ intentions and that this is reciprocal, then we are faced with ethical decisions about “how” we relate to other persons in and through our everyday practices. Adopting a “Macmurrian” standpoint towards the mentoring process, opens up experiences of “relational becoming” for both persons in the mentoring relationship. New digital technologies can be used to support teachers in (re)viewing how as “persons-in-relation” each is implicated in constructing and (re)constructing their local mentoring realities. Thus, mentoring programs emerge and take shape from the multiple daily interactions between persons rather than being “abstract,” “material,” “reified,” and “individually” oriented. Relationships form and (re)form as teachers, as “persons,” negotiate and navigate their positions and practices with others in the wider educational networks, who are equally embedded in a nexus of “culturally complexified” relationships. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. The premise of this chapter was situated in a literature review that emphasized the dynamic nature of the organizational culture. Consider this perspective and discuss how interactions with others can

164  L. Craig

impact the mentoring culture. Conversely, how might the organizational assumptions negatively impact mentoring opportunities? 2. The researcher states that she adopted a “relational ontological” stance for this study. How does this perspective apply to your mentoring experiences? 3. Consider the use of video as a tool to examine the interactions between mentor and mentee in the context of the culture of the mentoring. What other tools might be useful to uncover cultures present in organizations that impact mentoring?

References Akin, L., & Hilbun, J. (2007). E-mentoring in three voices. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration,10(1). Ball, S. (2003). The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 215–228. Biesta, G. (2007). Why “what works” won’t work: Evidence-based practice and the democratic deficit in educational research. Educational Theory, 57(1), 1–22. Capra, F. (1997). The web of life. London, England: Flamingo. Clutterbuck, D., Poulson, D. M., & Kochan, F. (2012). Developing successful diversity mentoring programmes: An international casebook. Maidenhead, England: OUP. Clutterbuck, D., & Ragins, B. R. (2001). Mentoring and diversity: An international perspective. Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann. Cooperrider, D., & Srvastva, S. (1987). Appreciative inquiry in organizational life. Research in Organisation Change and Development, 1, 129–169. Cullingford, C. (2006). Mentoring in education: An international perspective (Monitoring change education). Aldershot, England: Ashgate. Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1999). Positioning and personhood: Positioning theory. Oxford, England: Blackwell. Davies, B. and Sumara, D. (2006). Complexity and education. New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Donaldson, G. (2011). Teaching Scotland’s future: Report of a review of teacher education in Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. Dorner, H. (2012). Mentoring innovation through online communications in a digital culture. In S. J. Fletcher & C. A. Mullen (Eds.), The Sage handbook of coaching and mentoring in education (pp. 169–183). London, England: Sage. Facer, K. (2012). Personal, relational and beautiful: Education, technologies and John Macmurray’s philosophy. Oxford Review of Education, 38(6), 709–725. Fielding, M. (1999). Radical collegiality: Affirming teaching as an inclusive professional practice. Australian Educational Researcher, 26(2), 1–34. Fielding, M. (2000). The person-centred school. Forum, 42(2), 51–54. Fielding, M. (2007). The human cost and intellectual poverty of high performance schooling: Radical philosophy, John Macmurray and the remaking of personcentred education. Journal of Education Policy, 22(4), 383–409.

(Re)Viewing Mentoring Relations   165 Fielding, M. (2012). Education as if people matter: John Macmurray, community and the struggle for democracy. Oxford Review of Education, 38(6), 675–692. Fielding, M., & Moss, P. (2011). Radical education and the common school: A democratic alternative. London, England: Routledge. Fletcher, S. J., & Mullen, C. A. (Eds). (2012). The Sage handbook of mentoring and coaching in education. London, England: Sage. Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. London, England: Allen. General Teaching Council for Scotland. (2012). The standards for registration. Retrieved from http://www.gtcs.org.uk/web/Files/the-standards/standards-forregistration-1212.pdf Gergen, K. J., McNamee, S., & Barrett, F. J. (2001). Toward transformative dialogue. International Journal of Public Administration, 24, 679–708. Haggerty, K. D., & Ericson, R. V. (2000). The surveillant assemblage. British Journal of Sociology, 51(4), 605–22. HMIe. (2008). Mentoring in teacher education. Retrieved from: http://www. educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/mite_tcm4-712851.pdf HMIe. (2011a). Arrangements for Inspecting Schools in Scotland. Retrieved from http:// www.hmie.gov.uk/AboutUs/InspectionResources.pdf HMIe. (2011b). Principles of inspection and review. Retrieved from http://www. educationscotland.gov.uk Knouse, S. B. (2001). Virtual mentors: Mentoring on the internet. Journal of Employment Counselling, 38(4), 162–169. Kochan, F., & Pascarelli, J. T. (2002). Mentoring from an international perspective. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Press. Kochan, F., & Pascarelli, J. T. (2012). Perspectives on culture and mentoring in the global age. In S. J. Fletcher & C. A. Mullen (Eds.), The Sage handbook of coaching and mentoring in education (pp. 184–198). London, England: Sage. Lieberman, A. (2000). Networks as learning communities: Shaping the future of teacher development. Journal of Teacher Education, 51(3), 221–227. Macmurray, J. (1957). The self as agent: Vol. I of the form of the personal. London, England: Faber & Faber. Macmurray, J. (1961). Persons in relation: Vol. II of the form of the personal. London, England: Faber & Faber. McNally, J., & Blake, A. (2010). Improving Learning in a Professional Context: A research perspective on the new teacher in school. London, England: Routledge. Mullen, C. A. (2012). Mentoring: An overview. In S. J. Fletcher & C. A. Mullen (Eds.), The Sage handbook of coaching and mentoring in education (pp. 1–23). London, England: Sage. Pring, R. (2012). Putting persons back into education. The Oxford Review of Education, 38(6), 747–760. Rose, G., & Tolia-Kelly, D. P. (2012). Visual/materiality: Introducing a manifesto for practice. In G. Rose & D. P. Tolia-Kelly (Eds.), Visual/materiality images, objects and practices (pp. 1–12). Farnham, England: Ashgate. Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) (2001). A Teaching profession for the 21st century. Agreement reached following recommendations made in the McCrone Report. Retrieved from www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/tp21a-00.pdf

166  L. Craig Scottish Executive Education Department. (2004). A curriculum for excellence. Edinburgh: Astron. Retrieved from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/ Doc/26800/0023690.pdf Shotter, J. (1984). Social accountability and selfhood. Oxford, England: Blackwell. Shotter, J. (1993). Conversational realities: Constructing life through language. London, England: Sage. Single, P. B., & Single, R. M. (2005). Mentoring and the technology revolution: How face-to- face mentoring sets the stage for e-mentoring. In F. K. Kochan & J. T Pascarelli (Eds.), Creating successful telementoring programs (pp. 7–27). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Press. Smitherman Pratt, S. (2011). Emerging Changes in Teacher Education. Complicity an International Journal of Complexity and Education, 8(1), 43–49. Staples, W. G. (1997). The culture of surveillance: Discipline and social control in the United States. New York, NY: St. Martin’s. Staples, W. G. (2000). Everyday surveillance: Vigilance and visibility in postmodern life. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Stern, D. N. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant: A view for psychoanalysis and developmental psychology. New York, NY: Basic Books. Trevarthen, C. (1993). The self born in intersubjectivity: The psychology of an infant communicating. In U. Neisser (Ed.), The perceived self: Ecological and interpersonal sources of self-knowledge (pp. 121–173). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Trevarthen, C. (2011). What young children give to their learning, making education work to sustain a community and its culture. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 19(2), 173–193.

chapter 11

DEVELOPING A CULTURE OF COLLABORATION USING MENTORING TRIADS IN A PRESERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM Angelina Ambrosetti, John Dekkers, and Bruce Allen Knight

Preservice teachers undertake the professional experience component of their teaching degree to practice the explicit teaching knowledge and skills studied at a university. Although there are online and triad models in place, generally, preservice teachers are placed with a classroom-based teacher for mentoring during the professional placement in order to make links between theory and practice (Allen & Peach, 2007). The professional experience in Australia requires the preservice teachers to engage in activities such as: • observing and reflecting, • planning and teaching, and • an immersion in the day to day routine and work of a teacher (Walkington, 2004).

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 167–184 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

167

168  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight

Mentoring is considered to be a key component of the professional experience as the classroom teacher undertakes a variety of mentoring roles that support and guide the preservice teacher through their placement. Mentoring develops in cultural practices and needs to be understood in terms of the people, the tasks, and the wider social organization in which it is created. Establishing meaningful, successful, and sustainable practices involves building a collaborative culture that requires participants to organize, connect, and engage in their local community contexts (Cochran-Smith & the Boston College Evidence Team, 2009; Knight & Van Der Zwan, 2013). Mentoring consists of a series of social, emotional, and intellectual interactions between two or more individuals who have unique attributes, personalities, and beliefs (Bearman, Blake-Beard, Hunt & Crosby, 2007; Lentz & Allen, 2007). Given that mentoring is a relationship that is dependent on unique personal qualities, it can be anticipated that not all mentoring relationships will be successful and productive. Mentoring in the preservice teacher context is a formally arranged relationship whereby preservice teachers are placed with mentors with whom they have had no prior experiences. Furthermore, a professional placement in this context occurs for a short period of time and is often task oriented, thus leaving limited time in which the affective aspect of the mentoring relationship can develop. Within the preservice teaching literature it is recognized that the experiences of preservice teachers during the professional placement range from those of a positive nature to those that are not (Allen & Peach, 2007). In order to determine why such variance occurs within mentoring relationships in the said context, an examination of the “culture” that evolves and underpins the relationship is needed. This chapter specifically outlines the interactions that occur within the relationship and the way in which mentoring participants work together. Also examined is the way the mentoring occurs in order to determine the culture of the relationships. The chapter opens by outlining the purpose and context of the research investigation and then highlights key literature concerning mentoring in the preservice teacher context. Findings from the research are presented and discussed, and the chapter concludes with the lessons that were learned. Research Purpose The literature concerning mentoring in the preservice teacher context is abundant, but generally focuses on a dyad structure. Within the preservice teacher education context a dyad model is typically used, whereby an experienced teacher mentors an inexperienced student teacher

Developing a Culture of Collaboration   169

(Walkington, 2005). The dyad model is characteristically a hierarchical one, in which the mentor teacher directs both the relationship and the preservice teacher (Bullough et al., 2003). It has been reported however, that the structure of the dyad model often increases the chance of the mentoring relationship being unsuccessful (Eby, McManus, Simon, & Russell, 2000). In many instances, power, conflict and tension between mentors and mentees prevent the development of a collaborative culture in a professional learning community and therefore prevents learning and achievement in a professional placement (Maynard, 2000). An alternative model, and the one examined in this chapter, is a collaborative mentoring model involving a triad whereby participants have a voice and seek to foster growth and development within the group. This type of arrangement involves creating a collaborative culture in which all are part of a learning community. It is important to understand the behaviors, procedures, and mechanisms that operate within these groups as participants create them. The mentoring triad in this research consisted of a first year preservice teacher, a final year preservice teacher, and a mentor teacher. Specifically the interactions of the participants were examined in order to determine the culture that emerged as a result of the interconnectedness between the participants. The study addressed two research questions: 1. How does the culture develop in the context of preservice teacher education? 2. What type of culture is developed within a mentoring triad?

Description of Context The research that was undertaken occurred in an undergraduate preservice teaching program within the professional experience component, also known as the practicum, at an Australian university. Traditionally during the practicum, each preservice teacher is placed singularly with a classroom teacher to practice teach, however in this research, first year and final year preservice teachers were placed together with a classroom teacher. The mentoring triads were established by the mentor teachers themselves, in that the mentor teacher specifically requested to mentor a first year preservice teacher along with a final year preservice teacher. The university gave approval for this placement structure to proceed. The mentor teachers each discussed the structure and operation of the triad with their final year preservice teachers before the first year preservice teachers joined the

170  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight

triad. It was during this time that the mentor teachers outlined the specific roles of the first year and final year preservice teachers. At the time of the research, the first year preservice teachers had completed 12 day visits; whereas the final year students had completed approximately 40 days that consisted of a combination of day visits and blocks in their assigned classroom. Each of the preservice teachers had opportunities to spend time alone with their mentor teacher in order to develop their social and emotional connections with each other. The first year and final year preservice teachers had specified tasks to complete during their placements. First year preservice teachers were required to teach a series of small group and whole class lessons as well as actively participate in the day to day routines of the classroom. Final year preservice teachers were required to plan and implement an integrated unit of work while assuming 50% of the teaching load during their placement. The three triads were situated in early years’ classrooms and the classroom teachers had previous experience with mentoring preservice teachers. The Mentoring Literature Mentoring in the Preservice Teacher Education Context Mentoring is unique to the context in which it occurs. Mentoring in the preservice teacher education circumstance is structured according to the time span and requirements of a professional placement. Mentoring in this context has been described as complex, purposeful, and mutually beneficial (Hall, Draper, Smith, & Bullough, 2008; Heirdsfield, Walker, Walsh, & Wilss, 2008). Traditionally, the preservice professional placement component of a teaching degree has employed a supervisory approach. The supervisory model is intended to shape the preservice teacher to fit into the school/ classroom environment through enculturation, direction, feedback, and assessment. The supervisory approach is hierarchical in nature and the supervising teacher grades the progress of the preservice teacher within a hierarchical relationship (Walkington, 2005). However, there is a growing recognition in the preservice teacher context that the professional experience is more beneficial when reciprocity, rather than hierarchy, is a key feature (Ambrosetti, 2012; Walkington, 2005). This is the model that has recently been implemented in Australia. A professional placement that uses this type of mentoring approach facilitates the development of both individuals through reflective practices, especially when participants work together to develop shared understandings of students, curricula, and pedagogy (Harris, 2011; Walkington, 2005). In

Developing a Culture of Collaboration   171

the collaborative model, the mentor teacher serves as both a mentor and supervisor who commits to the development of preservice teachers’ skills and practice and to their own development (Ainscow, 2012; Crasborn, Hennissen, Brouwer, Korthagen, & Bergen, 2010; Walkington, 2005). Within this relationship, both the mentor and mentee have specific roles to play in fostering their collaboration (Fullan, 2009). Mentor/Mentee Roles The roles that are undertaken by both mentors and mentees shape the outcomes achieved from their relationship (Cherian, 2007; Scalon, 2008). These roles are numerously interconnected (Ambrosetti & Dekkers, 2010). The roles the participants engage in become dependent on responses and reactions to the interactions that occur (Ambrosetti, 2012). A synthesis of the roles undertaken by both the mentor teacher and preservice teacher as the mentee are outlined in Table 11.1.

Table 11.1.  Roles of the Mentor and Mentee Mentor Roles (Host Teacher)

Mentee Roles (Preservice Teacher)

• Supporter

• Contributor

• Colleague

• Active participant

• Friend

• Collaborator

• Protector

• Reflector

• Collaborator

• Observer

• Facilitator • Role model • Reflector • Teacher • Assessor • Evaluator

As noted in Table 11.1, the mentor teacher has a wide variety of roles that focus on the relationship, the development of the mentee, and the context in which the mentoring occurs (Ambrosetti & Dekkers, 2010). The mentee also has a variety of roles. Although the mentees’ roles focus primarily on their own development they also have responsibilities that contain relational and contextual elements. There are two common roles

172  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight

between the mentor and mentee, namely collaborator and reflector. While both parties have multiple roles in the mentoring relationship, the role of the mentor is more complex and includes guidance for the mentee on the roles he or she will fulfill. Thus, mentors have a critical role to play in fostering collegiality and developing opportunities for all students in the mentoring relationship (Kruse & Louis, 2009). Models of Mentoring Although the mentoring dyad is the traditional model used in most preservice education contexts, alternative mentoring models such as groups that include peers, are being experimented with as they have the potential to develop a collaborative culture in a professional learning community (Bullough et al., 2003; Samimi-Duncan, Duncan. & Lancaster, 2010). Within the preservice teacher education context, peer mentoring usually occurs between individuals who are at the same developmental stage of their teaching degree with few studies including peers who are at different developmental stages (Ambrosetti, 2012). Peer mentoring is an approach that makes use of a peer who shares the same job or study as the mentee, is part of the same organization and is usually similar in age and experience (Parker, Hall, & Kram, 2008; Terrion, Philion, & Leonard, 2007). Peer mentoring is an effective mentoring model because peers that are similar in age and circumstance are better equipped to support each other (McGee, 2001). Research indicates that peer mentoring negates the hierarchical structure that is often common in traditional mentoring dyads (Driscoll, Parkes, Tilley-Lubbs, Brill, & Bannister, 2009; Le Cornu, 2005; McCormack & West, 2006). Since peers will often have had similar experiences and will feel very comfortable with one another, peer mentoring encourages the development of a collaborative culture of all participants in the learning community (Driscoll et al., 2009). Rather than engaging in a hierarchical relationship, peers “become co-learners and co-constructors of knowledge” (Le Cornu, 2005, p. 358). Mentoring groups, in contrast, take the form of triads or larger groups of people and may or may not involve the use of peers. A mentoring group generally contains those in a similar profession or organization wanting to attain similar goals and/or skills (Huizing, 2012; Smith, 2007). Higgins and Kram (2001) suggest that members of a mentoring group benefit from a higher level of mutual trust, learning, and support that promote a collaborative culture more effectively than a traditional one to one mentoring relationship. McCormack and West (2006) indicate that a mentoring group often has a facilitator who guides and supports the members of the group, but there

Developing a Culture of Collaboration   173

is no one person who is considered the mentor. In the context of preservice teacher education, the classroom teacher who serves as a mentor is responsible for the preservice teacher’s development, therefore the classroom teacher would remain “at the helm” and oversee the professional experience and the mentoring that occurs. However, even within this reality, the preservice teachers have the capability to take on roles of both the mentor and the mentee and interchange roles throughout the relationship when peers and others are part of a group mentoring process (Smith, 2007). Culture of Mentoring Since mentoring is a relationship that is dependent on personal qualities and specific contextual factors, it is not surprising that not all mentoring relationships achieve their purpose. Therefore, the outcomes achieved within a mentoring relationship are dependent upon the culture that develops between the participants (Cherian, 2007; Eby et al., 2000; Maynard, 2000). There has been no specific research literature that explores the culture of mentoring in the preservice teacher education context. Thus, there is not a specific description of culture within this context. Culture, as it applies to this research, is defined as patterns of human activity along with the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. Culture is based upon beliefs, values, and principles and these factors will be unique to each of the participants in the relationship. The interactions between the participants determine the relationship and place importance on what is to be achieved. For this reason it may be that the participants themselves determine what the mentoring culture becomes, based on the requirements of the professional placement. Thus, within the context being examined, each mentoring relationship has the potential to develop a mentoring culture that is unique to each circumstance within which participants work collaboratively and share a common set of beliefs that guide pedagogy (Fullan, 2009). Data Collection and Analysis A case study methodology was utilized to investigate the culture of three mentoring triads. In order to investigate the culture of the triads, the focus of the data collection centered on the way the triads functioned. Thus, the interactions and the nature of the interactions that occurred between the triad members were specifically investigated. Two data collection

174  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight

instruments were used: observations of the triads in action and interviews with the individual triad members. Each instrument is described along with the process used in data analysis and its relevance to an understanding of the cultural dynamics of mentoring. Observations provide the basis for establishing how a natural setting operates and how the people in the setting behave. The observations in this research provided opportunities to observe how each triad operated and the types of interactions that occurred between the triad members. As the observer, the researchers undertook the role of a “complete observer” in that they did not participate in the classroom activities. An observation protocol was used to record the observation data (Creswell, 2007). Each triad was observed twice, with each observation session lasting for approximately two hours. The observation sessions included opportunities to observe the triad during teaching times and break times. The observations specifically focused on the interactions that occurred between the triad members and targeted the following variables: • Interaction participants—who was involved in each interaction • Interaction dominance—who was dominant in the interaction • Interaction type—whether the interactions were formal or informal • Interaction exchange—the type of exchange that occurred. The analysis of the observations focused on interactions that revealed the four variables mentioned above. The frequency of occurrence of the variables were counted, coded, and then broken into specific characteristics. Interviews can produce constructive information about an event (Kvale & Brinkman 2009). Within this research, the interviews addressed specific questions about mentoring interactions, personal experiences in the mentoring relationship, and individual roles and responsibilities to determine the cultural dynamics that were operating. As such, each mentoring triad participant was interviewed individually using a semistructured format where each participant was asked the same set of questions. The analysis of the interviews used a coding system that highlighted key words and phrases in the transcripts. The coding system was identified prior to the analysis of the interviews and was derived from the preservice teacher education mentoring literature. The initial codings from the transcripts were then categorized into themes. The first author developed the category themes using a concept mapping tool. The themes were then reviewed and discussed with the other authors to reach consensus.

Developing a Culture of Collaboration   175

Findings As outlined in the previous section, these results are based on a series of observations made while the triads were in action, as well as interviews with each of the triad members. The observational findings are presented first, followed by the findings from the interviews. Observations Interaction participants. The process of developing a culture occurs as participants interact in the community (Bolman & Deal, 1991). The interactions that occurred during the observations of the triads in action did not always involve all three participants. In fact, the interactions that did involve the mentor teacher, first year preservice teacher, and final year preservice teacher were limited in number. The majority of the interactions in each triad occurred between the first year and final year preservice teachers and the mentor teacher and the final year preservice teacher. There were some recorded observations between the first year preservice teacher and the mentor teacher, but it was observed that the final year preservice teacher was involved in 80% of the interactions that occurred. Interaction dominance. Dominance in this research refers to the participant who led the interaction. Although the final year preservice teacher was involved in the majority of the interactions that occurred, as expected the mentor teacher dominated 50% of the interactions. One quarter of the interactions were led by the final year preservice teacher, with the first year preservice teacher only leading 15% of the interactions. There were some interactions where there was no identifiable dominance and these interactions were of an informal nature. Interaction type and exchange. All types of interactions, whether formal or informal, can help develop a collaborative learning community where all participants communicate and build relationships (Harris, 2011). A formal interaction is defined in this research as when the participants show respect towards each other by using eye contact as well as formal speech and tone of voice. Formal exchanges include things such as giving direction, advice or clarification, providing verbal and nonverbal cues, or making general comments. An informal interaction is more casual than a formal one with little or no eye contact and the use of less formal language. It tends to involve general conversation or small talk. The majority of the interactions that were observed were formal. These formal interactions occurred during teaching time. All of the informal interactions occurred during break times or transitions between lessons when the participants were physically away from the children in the classroom.

176  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight

Each triad was different in the formal exchanges that occurred; however directions and verbal cues dominated each triad. Clarification, as a formal exchange, was also common between the three triads. The informal exchanges were equally spread between general conversations and small talk. The exchanges that occurred involved different participants. In triads 1 and 2, most exchanges occurred between the mentor teacher and the final year preservice teacher whereas in triad 3, the majority of the exchanges occurred between the two preservice teachers. Generally most of the informal exchanges involved all three participants of the triads or were kept between the two preservice teachers. This finding suggests that the developing culture encouraged the participants to interact, with supportive mentors focused on sharing knowledge and promoting collaboration (Ainscow, 2012; Kruse & Louis, 2009). Interviews The interview responses indicated that the triad experience was positive for all participants. Many themes emerged from the interview data and there were several themes that were common across the data from the first year preservice teachers, the final year preservice teachers and mentor teachers. However, there was only one theme that was common across the participants that reflected the type of culture that developed within the relationships, namely “a team approach.” A team approach indicates that the participants valued the interchange of ideas, this being the result of strong leadership from the mentor teacher (Deal & Peterson, 1990). The first year preservice teachers indicated that they worked as part of the classroom team. This result demonstrates that learning is their focus as the students can apply their conceptual development and understanding in the classroom context (Fullan, 1998). As part of their role within the team, each of the first year teachers assumed the role of an assistant in the classroom and completed jobs that needed to be done. They seemed to accept this role as they placed an emphasis on working together and helping each other as indicated by the following examples. The final year is very accommodating; she makes sure I am included in planning and the discussions about the day’s plan. I get plenty of time to practice using some essential skills and those sorts of things. (First year respondent, T1) There were always jobs that had to get done, changing the readers and things like that, so whichever one of us was busy teaching our lesson, the other one did what needed to be done. It was good because we just helped each other out with lessons—marking, walking around the room and other things like that. (First year respondent, T2)

Developing a Culture of Collaboration   177 We all just got used to working with each other. That’s one good thing about the final year, I was her equal, she never used me as a teacher’s aide; she was always telling me that I was a teacher here as well. (First year respondent, T3)

The final year preservice teachers indicated that having a first year preservice teacher in the same classroom provided the opportunity for the final year preservice teacher to take on the role of a mentor. Such situations can enhance learning for the final year students as they interact with others, as well as develop leadership opportunities for them (Fasso, Knight, & Knight, 2014). The final year preservice teachers were focused on helping the first year preservice teachers develop their teaching skills, particularly through role modeling. The final year preservice teachers also indicated that they enjoyed the opportunity to work alongside another preservice teacher as this assisted in their own development. There was a time when the mentor told the first year to ask her mentor, so that reassured me that I was mentoring her. The first year was really open to questions and she often came to me for advice. I liked working with her and it helped me to think more deeply about what I was doing. (Final year respondent, T1) I think it’s really good for the first year because she’s got two different people to learn from. I’m not a teacher myself yet, but I guess she can see if my lessons are working and take something away from it. (Final year respondent, T2) I enjoyed having her there, when I first found out that there would be another student with me, I thought that’s fine because I will be able to help her and show her what to do. (Final year respondent, T3)

The interview responses from the mentor teachers indicated that they had purposefully taken a step back during the professional placement so that final year preservice teachers could mentor the first year preservice teachers. This is seen as encouraging shared leadership that promotes colearning and the development of a collaborative culture in the learning community (Fullan, 2009). As indicated in the statements by the mentor teachers they observed the final year preservice teachers take on several mentoring roles. She understood exactly where the first year was coming from. They had some shared experiences and she was then able to take on the mentor role and modeled and explained and did those kinds of things with the first year. (Mentor teacher, T1) Having three people on the team worked well. Sometimes when I was talking with the first year, the final year would give some of his scenarios and tell about his experiences, which was very useful. (Mentor teacher, T2)

178  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight The final year was honest, the feedback was critical, it was to the point, but she told her in a nice way how to fix things up and gave her support in order to make it better. (Mentor teacher, T3)

Discussion of Findings Eby, Rhodes, and Allen (2007) describe a mentoring relationship as “reciprocal, yet asymmetrical” (p. 10). This description reflects the relationship that was developed in the three mentoring triads within this research. First, as noted earlier, the mentor teacher is responsible for the preservice teacher, taking the lead while the preservice teacher is undertaking their professional experience. The mentor teacher is also responsible for the assessment of the preservice teacher. Typically, the assessment of the preservice teachers by the mentor teacher aligns to a hierarchical model of mentoring; however, in this research it seemed that the roles required within the triad model to some extent negated the hierarchy. It appears that a collaborative culture was evolving where participants were working toward a common goal and building professional cultures of trust, cooperation, and responsibility (Harris, 2011). The observations of the interactions in which the mentors participated indicated that they were still “keeping an eye on things” as they gave directions, provided verbal cues, and clarified activities with both the first year preservice teachers and final year preservice teachers. Bullough et al. (2003) reported similar findings in their research in that the mentor teachers in their study slowly withdrew from the activities within the classroom to the sidelines to provide the paired preservice teachers opportunities to develop their skills and abilities, and support each other. Having more than one preservice teacher also assists mentor teachers in determining the preservice teachers’ needs more clearly (Bullough et al., 2002). To a lesser extent the mentor teachers were able to cater specifically to each of the preservice teachers needs in the triad model. The peers in this research became colearners who worked together in the classroom. The participants were supporting each other in building a collaborative culture focused on communicating, sharing intentions, and centered on learning and improving their practice (Fullan, 2009). The final year preservice teacher in each triad took on several mentoring roles with the first year preservice teacher. It can be seen from the findings that the final year preservice teacher became a role model and colleague to the first year preservice teacher by giving advice, including them and working alongside them and helping them with planning and teaching. According to Goodnough, Osmond, Dibbon, Glassman, and Stevens (2009) and Schmidt (2008), peer mentoring is complementary to the mentor teacher

Developing a Culture of Collaboration   179

roles. However, peers as mentors can also assist in making connections between situations and be advocates for one other (Colvin & Ashman, 2010). Documented research in the use of mentoring triads indicates that confidence and growth of abilities are common results reported for preservice teachers. For instance, in studies by both Schmidt (2008) and Goodnough, Osmond, Dibbon, Glassman, and Stevens (2009), the peers’ confidence grew through the supportive nature of peer mentoring and teaching abilities developed through observation, explanation, and collaborative planning. Research results from Bullough et al. (2002), Bullough et al. (2003), Samimi-Duncan et al. (2010) and Schmidt (2008) reported that having a peer made it easier to create, develop, and maintain a relationship with the mentor as the peers can support each other throughout the experiences. The results of this research indicate that the triad setting was conducive to collaborative growth and mutual engagement between the members who shared the common goal of developing teaching practices. In this research the evolving cultures were led by a supportive mentor, who showed evidence of acceptance of all participants and the building of strong relationships that focused on improving students’ knowledge and skills (Harris, 2011). Although the first year preservice teachers had the least experience, they were able to make contributions to the relationship and engage in learning. Both the mentor teacher and final year preservice teacher spent time interacting with the first year preservice teacher and in some instances the interactions occurred as a group of three. According to Maynard (2000), preservice teachers place value on being welcomed, accepted, and included in the classroom as this enables a positive relationship to develop. In this research the acceptance the first year preservice teachers felt, along with the support they received from the final year preservice teacher in particular, enabled a positive relationship with both the mentor teacher and final year preservice teacher. In this situation, the triad participants were led by the mentor teacher and everyone worked together as a team. The triad members utilized collaborative practices where they shared roles, included each other and accommodated all needs. According to Parkay (2013) collaboration can be described as “working together, sharing decision making and solving problems” and requires “a meaningful, authentic relationship” in which to flourish (p. 66). For those learning to teach it has been recognized that collaborative practices and the development of a supportive culture need to be embedded within their profession learning experiences (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Gardiner & Robinson, 2009; Le Cornu, 2005; Samimi-Duncan et al., 2010). Thus, mentoring, as opposed to supervising, provides the opportunity for collaboration to occur between the classroom teacher and preservice teacher due to the lack of hierarchical issues.

180  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight

It was found that a supportive, collaborative culture emerged as a result of participant’s socialization into the communities and the relationships developed in the triad model. The triad model provided opportunities for the sharing of experiences between the first year preservice teachers and final year preservice teachers alongside the mentor. The triad setting allowed collaboration to occur between the triad members throughout the professional placement. The supportive mentor teacher was seen as both the facilitator and mentor while the final year preservice teacher undertook the role of teacher and mentor. The first year, the least experienced member of the group, was the learner and coconstructor. Thus each member of the triads had roles to play and the interconnectedness between the roles encouraged the development of a collaborative culture. Lessons Learned Mentoring is not value-free, but rather is developed in cultural practices. Building a collaborative culture requires considerable effort and organization to evolve. The behaviors, procedures, and mechanisms that operate as participants meet external requirements and internally integrate resources to create a collaborative culture can be complex. As noted earlier, a collaborative mentoring culture is developed as members build relationships in classrooms to develop shared understandings of students, curricula, and pedagogy. A skilled supportive mentor teacher focuses on the development of students’ knowledge and skills by building structural conditions that allow time for interaction and encourages students to take risks in their learning and teaching as they are socialized into the learning community. However a mentor teacher cannot meet all of the needs and demands of a mentee on their own. The triad model enhanced a culture of collaboration among the members and therefore utilized each member of the triad rather than relying solely on the mentor teacher. The role of the mentor teacher was to manage, guide, and empower others to collaborate, build relationships, and create a culture where all participants were committed to the coconstruction of the development of skills and knowledge in an optimal learning environment. The final year preservice teacher became a mentor to the first year preservice teacher along with the classroom teacher and provided an alternative perspective. The first year preservice teacher engaged in mutual learning and was considered a valuable member of the team. It can be concluded from the research investigation that the triad model provided the opportunity for a culture of collaboration to develop within the professional placement. Although the sample size in this research was small, the triad approach was used to stimulate collaboration that may

Developing a Culture of Collaboration   181

otherwise be difficult to embed in a traditional mentoring dyad. Mentoring, in the context of preservice teacher education, is used to create a milieu for learning from others and learning with others. Thus the triads established in this research supported mentoring activities that developed a collaborative culture whereby the participants became committed colearners in their journey to becoming a teacher. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Considering your own professional knowledge and experience, what are the cultural differences likely to be present between dyad and triad mentoring models? 2. How do you think the organizational culture would be different if there were different categorical participants in the triad model? (for example, a university supervisor or a preservice teacher at the same point in their program). 3. Table 11.1 shows the roles of mentor and mentee. Extend the table to reflect the triad mentor model. How does this relate to your own situation? References Allen, J. M., & Peach, D. (2007). Exploring connections between the in-field and on-campus components of a pre-service teacher education program: A student perspective. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 8(1), 23–36. Ambrosetti, A. (2012). Reconceptualising mentoring using triads in pre-service teacher education professional placements. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Queensland. Ambrosetti, A., & Dekkers, J. (2010). The interconnectedness of the roles of mentors and mentees in pre-service teacher education mentoring relationships. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 35(6), 42–55. Ainscow, M. (2012). Moving knowledge around: Strategies for fostering equity within educational systems. Journal of Educational Change, 13(3), 289–310. Bearman, S., Blake-Beard, S., Hunt, L., & Crosby, F. J. (2007). New directions in mentoring. In T. D. Allen & L. T. Eby (Eds.), The Blackwell handbook of mentoring: A multiple perspectives approach (pp. 375–395). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (1991). Reframing organization: Artistry, choice and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Bullough, R. V., Jr., Young, J., Birrell, J. R., Clark, D. C., Egan, M. W., Erickson, L., ... Welling, M. (2003). Teaching with a peer: A comparison of two models of student teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 57–73.

182  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight Bullough, R. V., Young, J., Erickson, L., Birrell, J. R., Clark, D. C., Egan, M. W., ... Smith, G. (2002). Rethinking field experience: Partnership teaching versus single-placement teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 68–80. Cherian, F. (2007). Learning to teach: Teacher candidates reflect on the relational, conceptual and contextual influences of responsive mentorship. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(1), 25–46. Cochran-Smith, M., & the Boston College Evidence Team. (2009). Re-culturing teacher education: Inquiry, evidence and action. Journal of Teacher Education, 60(5), 458–468. Colvin, J. W., & Ashman, M. (2010). Roles, risks and benefits of peer mentoring relationships in higher education. Mentoring and Tutoring, 18(2), 121–134. Crasborn, F., Hennissen, P., Brouwer, N., Korthagen, F., & Bergen, T. (2010). Promoting versatility in mentor teachers’ use of supervisory skills. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 499–514. Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Constructing 21st century teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), 300–314. Deal, T., & Peterson, K. (1990). The principal’s role in shaping school culture. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Driscoll, L. G., Parkes, K. A., Tilley-Lubbs, G. A., Brill, J. M., & Bannister, V. R. (2009). Navigating the lonely sea: Peer mentoring and collaboration among aspiring women scholars. Mentoring and Tutoring, 17(1), 5–21. Eby, L. T., McManus, S. E., Simon, S. A., & Russell, J. E. A. (2000). The protégés’ perspective regarding negative mentoring experiences: The development of a taxonomy. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 57, 1–21. Eby, L. T., Rhodes, J. E., & Allen, T. D. (2007). Definition an evolution of mentoring. In T. D. Allen & L.T. Eby (Eds.), The Blackwell handbook of mentoring: A multiple perspectives approach (pp. 7–20). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Fasso, W., Knight, B. A., & Knight, C. (2014). Development of individual agency within a collaborative, creative learning community. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of information science and technology (3rd ed., pp. 7519– 7528). Hershey, PA: IGI Global Press. Fullan, M. (1998). Leadership for the 21st century: Breaking the bonds of dependency. Educational Leadership, 55(7), 6–10. Fullan , M. (2009). The challenge of change: Start school improvement now (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Gardiner, W., & Robinson, K. S. (2009). Paired field placements: A means for collaboration. The New Educator, 5(1), 81–94. Goodnough, K., Osmond, P., Dibbon, D., Glassman, M., & Stevens, K. (2009). Exploring a triad model of student teaching: Pre-service teacher and cooperating teacher perceptions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(2), 285–296. Hall, K. M., Draper, R. J., Smith, L. K., & Bullough, R. V. (2008). More than a place to teach: Exploring the perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of mentor teachers. Mentoring and Tutoring, 16(3), 328–345. Harris, A. (2011). Reforming systems: Realizing the fourth way. Journal of Educational Change, 12(2), 159–171.

Developing a Culture of Collaboration   183 Heirdsfield, A. M., Walker, S., Walsh, K., & Wilss, L. (2008). Peer mentoring for first-year teacher education students: The mentors’ experience. Mentoring and Tutoring, 16(2), 109–124. Higgins, M. C., & Kram, K. E. (2001). Reconceptualizing mentoring at work: A developmental network perspective. The Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 264–288. Huizing, R. L. (2012). Mentoring together: A literature review of group mentoring. Mentoring and Tutoring, 20(1), 27–55. Knight, B. A., & Van Der Zwan, R. (2013). Teaching innovations: Supporting student outcomes in the 21st century. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Kruse, S., & Louis, K. (2009). Building strong school cultures: A leader’s guide to change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2009). Interviews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Le Cornu, R. (2005). Peer mentoring: Engaging pre-service teachers in mentoring one another. Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 13(3), 355–366. Lentz, E., & Allen, T. D. (2007). Reflections on naturally occurring mentoring relationships. In T. D. Allen & L.T. Eby (Eds.), The Blackwell handbook of mentoring: A multiple perspectives approach (pp. 159–162). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Maynard, T. (2000). Learning to teach or learning to manage mentors? Experiences of school-based teacher training. Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnerships in Learning, 8(1), 17–30. McCormack, C., & West, D. (2006). Facilitated group mentoring develops key career competencies for university women: A case study. Mentoring and Tutoring, 14(4), 409–431. McGee, C. D. (2001). Calming fears and building confidence: A mentoring process that works. Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnerships in Learning, 9(3), 201–209. Parkay, F. W. (2013). Becoming a teacher (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Parker, P., Hall, D. T., & Kram, K. E. (2008). Peer coaching: A relational process for accelerating career learning. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 7(4), 487–503. Samimi-Duncan, S., Duncan, G. W., & Lancaster, J. (2010). The factors that facilitate and impede collaboration between pre-service teachers during a pairedpracticum in a school-based environment. International Journal of Learning, 17(3), 143–162. Scalon, L. (2008). The impact of experience on student mentors’ conceptualisations of mentoring. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 6(2), 57–66. Schmidt, M. (2008). Mentoring and being mentored: The story of a novice teacher’s success. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 635–648. Smith, A. (2007). Mentoring for experienced school principals: Professional learning in a safe place. Mentoring and Tutoring, 15(3), 277–291. Terrion, J. L., Philion, R. P., & Leonard, D. (2007). An evaluation of a university peer-mentoring training programme. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 5(1), 42–57.

184  A. Ambrosetti, J. Dekkers and B. A. Knight Walkington, J. (2004, July). Mentoring pre-service teachers: Recognising the importance of the teachers’ personal and professional self in the mentoring relationship. Paper presented at the Third International Biennial SELF conference. Retrieved from http://www.self.ox.ac.uk/Conferences/2004_Walkington.pdf Walkington, J. (2005). Mentoring pre-service teachers in the preschool setting: Perceptions of the role. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 30(1), 28–35.

chapter 12

CULTURAL INFLUENCES THAT FACILITATED AND HINDERED THE MENTORING PROCESS A Longitudinal Review Gary M. Kilburg

This study is the fourth stage in a continuation of research by Kilburg and Hancock (2006) that investigated 149 mentoring teams in four school districts over a 2-year period. The primary goal in the first phase was to identify mentoring teams that were encountering recurring problems, examine their efforts to manage those problems, and assess the effectiveness of the interventions. From a process of data reduction and analysis, eight areas of concern were identified (Kilburg & Hancock, 2006). In the second stage of the research study, the mentoring program coordinators from the four school districts and the principal researcher identified three case studies from the aforementioned mentoring teams that represented the eight areas of concern and provided a contextual examination of the events that negatively impacted their relationships (Kilburg, 2007). In the third stage of the study, the researchers were interested in identifying the challenges the program coordinators, administrators, planning

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 185–203 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

185

186  G. M. Kilburg

committees, the consultant and trainer, and Critical Friends Group coaches from five school districts encountered on a recurring basis and how they addressed those challenges (Kilburg & Hockett, 2013). Four of these school districts were also a part of the original study by Kilburg and Hancock (2006). The fourth stage, reported in this chapter, is differentiated from the previously published studies in that the researchers investigated the cultural dynamics of nine school district mentoring programs (Table 12.1) and identified the factors that hindered or facilitated the effectiveness of 536 mentoring teams composed of mentors and mentees, mentoring program coordinators, and administrators over an 8-year period. The researcher who assisted in the design and implementation of the mentoring programs also provided training for mentors and coordinated data collection. It is important to note that the vast majority of mentoring team relationships in the nine school districts that this study reports on were successful.

Table 12.1.  School Districts and Mentoring Teams Participating in the 8-Year Study Year

School Districts

Number of Mentoring Teams

1

A

 44

2

A, B, C & D

105

3

B, C, D & E

153

4

E&F

 37

5

G&H

 56

6

G

 28

7

G&I

 59 

8

G&I

 54

In each year of the study, data were collected from mentoring teams, program coordinators and planning committees. Data included surveys, formal and informal interviews, electronic transmissions, focus groups, and anecdotal data from field notes. Data reduction occurred throughout each school year. There was no conscious attempt by the researcher to replicate the commonly occurring themes. This study addressed the following research questions: • What cultural influences facilitated the mentoring process in these nine school district mentoring programs?

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   187

• What cultural influences hindered the mentoring process in these nine school district mentoring program?

Review of the Literature Relationships Within Organizations Educators spend a great deal of time and energy looking for and implementing programs to minimize teacher and administrator turnover. Unfortunately, many of these programs, including some mentoring programs, do not bring the improvement or growth hoped for because the focus is on the programs instead of on what really matters-which is the people involved and the relationships they form. This doesn’t mean that elements of programs will not encourage or support the improvement of people within our schools; however, it is the people, not the program that makes the difference (Whitaker, 2003). Teachers and administrators have the capacity to either enrich or diminish one another’s lives. For those who are unwilling to make the investment, the result is a reluctance to participate in successful change initiatives that improve schoolhouse relationships and generate moral purpose and relational trust (Barkley, 2005; Barth, 2006; Fullan, 2004). Graves (2001) reminds us that educators “need to remember that teaching is an intellectual activity that requires constant nurturing and guidance and time to reflect and that is especially true for those new to the profession” (p. 138). Thus, one method for fostering initial success in school endeavors is the use of mentoring programs. Such programs generally focus on creating relationships and providing support. There are many elements that must be present in order for these relationships to succeed. Of course, those involved must have access to one another in order to build meaningful relationships (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001; Sweeny, 2008). Creating a Culture of Trust Bryk and Schneider (2002) point out that building trust is the key ingredient in creating relationships that are sustainable and nurturing. The more mentoring and collegial interactions that educators have over time, the more their willingness to trust one another will grow. When relationships are part of a high-trust environment, it is much easier to work through the daily challenges that might exist (Brewster & Railsback, 2003; Covey, 2006).

188  G. M. Kilburg

Ultimately, the responsibility for creating a high-trust environment falls on the shoulders of administrators and mentor teachers. These educators need to take active roles in creating the necessary conditions for teacher relationships and mentoring programs to exist (Sergiovanni, 1992). If relationships between teachers are to change significantly, teachers themselves must work to identify trust barriers within their faculty and take the initiative to work collaboratively to improve, repair, and maintain relationships (Blasé & Blasé, 2001; Tschannen-Moran & Hoyt, 1998; Tschannen-Moran, Uline, Hoy, & Mackley, 2000) However, building trust is rarely a simple matter for educators living in a low-trust environment. This is especially true in schools that have high turnover, differences of opinion on policy and procedures, funding problems, and dissention within the faculty and administration (Moir, Barlin, Gless, & Miles, 2009). Change can be debilitating for educators involved in situations like these. They typically see the status quo as a natural act and not as a change (Barkley, 2005; Covey, 2006; Portner, 2005). While there are probably endless grievances that could be listed that have led to low-trust levels within schools, some of the most common barriers to developing and maintaining trusting relationships among teachers, administrators, and other school staff include: • • • • • •

Finger pointing Lack of support and encouragement Hidden agendas Isolation Unstable or inadequate school funding. Top down decision making on all matters

Organizational Values, Norms, Assumptions, and Beliefs One of the strengths that successful mentoring and professional development programs bring to their communities is the inherent quality of sharing the same or similar values, beliefs, and goals (Barth, 2006; Drexler, 2011). Sharing the same body of tenets is not just about agreeing with policy, procedures, and good practices, it is about a particular mental image of what is important not only to the individual, but to his/her colleagues (Hord, 1997). Sharing the same standards is also about valuing the diversity within the school community. When communities create this common ground, they identify a moral compass that will help them constructively

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   189

deal with the differences and challenges that they will encounter based on their beliefs. When educators are not committed to the same standards and beliefs, we can expect to see some of the same challenges that were previously mentioned. These issues contaminate and compromise the integrity of the learning environment for both students and teachers. In the end, everyone pays a price for an environment that is adversarial, lacks direction, support, love, and morality, and that brings important conversations and relationships to an end. Subgroups and Counter Culture Subgroups that support mentoring programs typically have ties with one another and serve as conduits for information as well as provide opportunities for teachers to engage in meaningful conversations about practice and student learning. When subgroups focus on creating a collegial environment that supports mentoring and ongoing professional development, one can expect a high-trust environment (Covey, 2006). It is important for educators, particularly the school leadership, to enhance the coordination among subgroups without suffocating creative thought by challenging conversations and novel ideas from diverse sources (Sung & Oh, 2013). Unfortunately, there is considerable evidence that no matter how honorable the motives of educators are in trying to create a support structure for teachers, it is still up to each individual to make the decision to collaborate based on their values, goals, and concerns (Fullan, 2001, 2004; Graves, 2001). Building trust is rarely a simple matter for these educators because they live in a low-trust environment, where holding onto the past is part of their comfort zone (Brewster & Railsback, 2003). Their perspective is adversarial and if other teachers and administrators beliefs are not consistent with them, then you cannot be a member of their subgroup (Barth, 2006; Covey, 2006). The question that they usually ask of others is, “Can I trust you?” Rarely do they ask the more important question, “Who trusts me?” Power and Authority The way teachers and administrators react to new initiatives and crises says a lot about the school’s culture and values. Even when the initiative is the creation of a formal mentoring program, which is typically a mutually beneficial proposition, there may be a disconnect between actions, words, and agendas. It is up to the leadership of the school, including the leadership

190  G. M. Kilburg

of the mentoring program, to remove barriers that contaminate and hold the initiatives hostage (Fullan, 2004). Nothing can take the place of teachers and administrators that “walk their talk” and help people “feel that even the most difficult issues can be tackled productively” (Fullan, 2004, p. 6). Their personal examples of hope, support, encouragement, and creating safe environments can send a powerful message to the members of the organization. This is particularly true if their practice is ethical, consistent, and collaborative. The focus should be on creating a strong core of educators who care about the environment they work in, who are willing to share their practices, have open conversations about the “nondiscussables,” and are willing to build strong institutions that encourage and support openness, optimism, and trust (Fullan, 2004). In the end, the litmus test of those who possess power and authority is whether they are able to marshal people’s commitment and energy into ethical actions that are designed to create a nurturing and caring atmosphere within which educators can grow. Methodology Data for this study were collected over an 8-year period (2000–2008) from 536 mentoring teams in nine school districts. Districts ranged in size from 45 teachers with 720 students to 1,100 teachers with over 20,600 students. Each year of the study, data were collected from mentoring teams, program coordinators, and administrators. Data included surveys, formal and informal interviews, electronic transmissions, focus groups, and anecdotal data from field notes. Data reduction occurred at the conclusion of the school year during the first and second year. During the third through eighth year, data reduction occurred after each survey and interview. After each iteration of the study, the following steps were used to collect data. The first step was to identify the types of problems that mentoring teams were encountering. Teams were asked to complete an open-ended questionnaire during October, February, April, and June. Participants were then interviewed individually or in a group setting at the host school and interviews were typically around 30 minutes in length. The same survey and interview protocol were used each year of the study. There was no attempt on the part of the researcher to prompt the participants to answer in any specific way. In step two, surveys were read one at a time. Responses from the surveys were analyzed by reflecting on the data and reducing data down to a manageable form. Data were then analyzed by either another researcher or by the program coordinators to determine if the principal researcher was correct in his assumptions.

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   191

The third step involved identifying recurring problems from the list of problems identified in step two. Mentoring team members that were encountering recurring problems were typically interviewed a second time in small groups or individually during the school year at the host school. The purpose of this round of interviews was to clarify the reason for and the impact of recurring problems in the mentoring relationships. The interviewer took field notes that added more detail to the survey data and then transcribed them. The group interviews typically took around 40 minutes and the individual interviews were an average of 50 minutes in length. Additional interviews were also conducted throughout the school year in informal settings that further clarified the information previously obtained. From the data gathered in the first three steps, the researcher applied a standard of selection to determine which problem would be identified as recurring. The problem had to occur on a regular basis for at least four months and for at least 25% of the mentoring teams in order to be considered a recurring problem. Results In responding to the first research question, mentoring program participants identified a variety of recurring themes over the course of the school year. These recurring themes had a positive impact on participants. Tables 12.2–12.4 display a composite of these problems. It is important to note that they are not listed in any priority order. Cultural Influences That Facilitated the Mentoring Program and Process With regard to the first question, mentoring program participants identified a variety of recurring themes that helped to facilitate the mentoring process and mentoring team relationships over the course of the school year. Only recurring themes that were identified as meeting the standard of selection were selected for inclusion in this study. The vast majority of mentoring teams in this study greatly appreciated the investment that program coordinators and district officials made in the mentoring relationship and mentoring program. Mentoring teams were especially thankful for the encouragement, support, and the creation of a high-trust culture for the mentoring teams. Both mentors and mentees were excited about the opportunities to collaborate with one another in a safe environment. One new teacher summed up what most of the other new teachers felt in all nine mentoring programs,

192  G. M. Kilburg Table 12.2.  Recurring Themes That Had a Positive Impact on Mentoring Teams •

Sharing common values and beliefs (encouragement and support)

•

Operating in a collegial environment

•

Fostering a culture of trust

•

Providing Encouragement

•

Having accessibility to one another

•

Engaging in mentor forums

•

Having communication with other mentors

•

Multiple strategies and resources that support new teachers

•

Having someone to go to when there were challenging situations

•

Receiving and giving feedback

•

Developing enhanced leadership skills in mentors

•

Lowering stress levels and frustration

•

Building confidence and competence

•

Reducing isolation

I couldn’t imagine my first year of teaching without my mentor. He was great. My teacher preparation program didn’t prepare me for a lot of the challenges that I encountered. My mentor challenged me, provided me with opportunities to solve my problems, and helped me to step outside of my comfort zone, which was not an easy thing for me to do. When I was lost, I knew that he would always be there to help me. I can’t imagine how isolated I might have felt, had he not volunteered to mentor me.

Mentoring program coordinators and administrators recognized that investing in their teachers was important in creating a high-trust culture that in the end, both teachers and students benefit from an environment where “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17 New International Version). One mentoring team seemed to capture the essence of the mentoring program in which they had participated in the following way: We’ve had a wonderful experience this year in working with one another. Our program coordinator did a fantastic job in creating a place where we felt safe and secure. She has provided us with time to share about our practice, professional development opportunities, time to observe one another and for relationship building. I wish that I would have had the same help my first year of teaching.

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   193

In at least 67 cases, mismatches in subject, grade level, and specialty were a common practice in some of the mentoring programs. This was particularly true in some of the smaller rural districts. For some mentoring teams this was an issue, but for others it was a benefit to have the support of a veteran teacher who was willing to take the time and energy to nurture and guide the new teacher.

Table 12.3.  Recurring Themes That Had a Positive Impact on Mentoring Program Coordinators •

Creating a high-trust environment

•

Sharing similar values and beliefs

•

Building capacity and community

•

Developing collegial environment

•

Developing leadership capacity

•

Engaging in shared leadership

•

Reducing turnover

•

Building relationships

In general, mentoring program coordinators felt that the mentoring programs provided a support system that had not been in place previously. Not only did the mentoring programs create a collegial atmosphere for mentoring teams, they also provided an opportunity to connect on a much deeper level with teachers who were not participating in the mentoring programs. This again was another example of organizational willingness to invest in the relationships and create a culture where similar values and beliefs were the norm. Another area program coordinators and administrators felt was a critical feature of the mentoring programs was the opportunity to develop capacity and build community within their schools. That was especially true for districts that were experiencing high turnover. It created an opportunity to reculturate and create an environment where high-trust was common, where teachers felt valued and shared in the decision making, and there was a much greater focus on student learning. One program coordinator had this to say about the mentoring program: In the past we’ve been plagued by high turnover of administrators and teachers, lowtrust, finger pointing, making decisions for teachers that required their input, and the

194  G. M. Kilburg list goes on. Once we began identifying the elephants in the room and finding ways to have conversations about them, things seemed to change for the better…. It was amazing to see how everyone came together because of this experience.

Table 12.4.  Recurring Themes That Had a Positive Impact on Administrators •

Building capacity and community

•

Creating an environment where adversarial issues are dealt with in a positive manner

•

Developing collegial environment

•

Assuring a cultural fit

•

Sharing leadership and providing faculty with voice

•

Talking about practice

•

Creating high-trust environments

For the most part, administrators worked very hard to ensure that mentoring team members did not have to deal with institutional barriers, including funding. If funding was not available for release time, then at least two-thirds of the administrators were willing to become substitute teachers for mentoring team members so that they could observe one another. For some of the administrators, this was a difficult balance between their already very busy schedules and, in some cases, several mentoring teams that they were trying to help. There were several cases where administrators had made a commitment to substitute, but just prior to the time they needed to be available; there was either an emergency or another issue that surfaced that pulled the administrator away from helping the mentoring teams. For the majority of administrators, implementing a mentoring program became a precursor to conversations about professional learning communities and Critical Friends Groups. Teachers and administrators seemed to be very excited about working as a team and creating a culture where shared authority helps to create a safe environment for those important mentoring conversations to occur. Having the mentoring program really created an opportunity to talk about something much bigger in our district. In the past we have had cursory conversations about the need to create collegial environment for our teachers but have never gotten off the ground. The mentoring program has created an opportunity for teachers to experience the value of working together in a collaborative environment and that has opened up

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   195 the door for other initiatives that focus on the well-being of the faculty and student learning.

Another benefit that administrators experienced as a result of participating in mentoring programs that facilitated their success was the creation of administrative and teacher support teams in their schools. Prior to the mentoring programs, bringing staff together for professional development and providing collaboraive opportunities was not the norm in several schools. But because of the success that mentoring teams were having, several administrators in various districts decided it was in their teachers’ and students’ best interests to bring their teachers together. The purpose of the meetings was to begin talking about the prevelent needs and how they might better support student learning in their respective districts. Due to the efforts of the administrators, teachers expressed the belief that they had been given a voice in the decision-making process, and they felt valued and invested in one another’s professional lives. Cultural Influences That Hindered the Mentoring Program and Process In addition to identifying many elements that facilitated program success, participants identified a variety of recurring issues that hindered the mentoring process over the course of the school year. The problems identified in Tables 12.5–12.7 are a composite of all the mentoring program problems and are not listed in any priority order. Table 12.5.  Recurring Themes That Negatively Impacted Mentoring Teams •

Insufficient time

•

Geography (not in the same building, not in the same school, distance)

•

Subgroups

•

Values and beliefs

•

Lack of trust

•

Imposter syndrome

•

Additional support for ESOL teachers, Special Education and Counselors

•

Mismatched (not at same grade, subject, and specialty)

•

Overlapping responsibilities

•

Personality conflicts

•

Lack of support from mentor

196  G. M. Kilburg

Taming the clock was almost always an institutional barrier for mentoring teams. Whether it was finding time to meet, not having the same prep period or lunch period, traveling to another school to meet with a mentee, finding time to meet for mentoring program forums, too much time spent in forums, time away from family, grading, or planning for class-time was a pervasive issue. Even when mentoring team members used e-mail, Skype, and/or the telephone, they could not always depend on the timeliness of a response to a question or concern. In at least one case, this was made even more challenging by an e-mail system that was not always operational. For several new teachers, however, their mentors were the issue rather than the technology. Overlapping responsibilities was often combined with the time issue. For example, one mentee shared: My mentor from the very beginning said he didn’t have a lot of time to meet with me, and he was right about that. He was coaching and involved in a variety of activities in and out of school and so trying to find time to meet was almost impossible. I finally made the decision to not rely on him anymore and talked to another teacher who had been helping me on occasion and hooked up with him. I also talked with my mentor and the coordinator and both agreed that it was a good idea to make the change to a new mentor. All in all it worked out, but for the most part, I had to do all the legwork.

Another problem that surfaced for mentoring teams was when mentors did not have training or endorsements in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), counseling, and special education. In six of the school districts, the mentoring program coordinators could not provide appropriate mentors for the new specialists because they had previously cut the majority of veteran specialists from the budget due to funding issues. Although the new specialists understood why the district could not provide them with help, it did not relieve the anxiety and frustration they felt almost every day. For some new specialists in special education, the caseload exceeded the district maximum and their lack of experience further exacerbated the problem. In a meeting that took place at one rural school, the ESOL mentee had this to say, It would be helpful to have a mentor who could actually work with ESOL teachers. As an ESOL teacher I felt that my mentor did the best that she could, but there were so many gaps in her ability to understand the connections that need to be made with the students. My mentor had a lot of good suggestions, but I felt that I really needed help with connection strategies and she just didn’t have the experience with ESOL students and wasn’t very much help in that area.

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   197

In five of the districts, one-quarter of the mentors were not always teaching the same grade or subject as the mentee. This was problematic for some of the mentors as well. The mentors understood why they did not match up, but that did not resolve the frustration they felt at not being able to respond to many of their mentees’ questions. In most cases, mentors were able to provide the mentee with another resource; however, they expressed frustration in not being able to answer the questions themselves. One of many interesting phenomena of this study included several mentors from different mentoring programs who experienced frustration and a lack of confidence. This phenomenon was characteristic of at least 11 mentors. All of the mentors were excellent teachers and were successful in the classroom. They were all confident, competent, and had excellent interpersonal skills with students; however, when it came to mentoring another adult, most were out of their comfort zones. One of the reasons for this was that they worked in a culture where isolation and competition was the norm. Mentees, on the other hand, seemed to feel reasonably comfortable with their mentors and knew that they were doing their best. In one case, a veteran teacher was relieved of his position as a mentor because of the negative comments he was making to his mentee regarding the school district’s board of directors and the superintendent. Furious about being relieved of his position, the mentor essentially believed “the administration and school board were out to get me.” In the end, the new teacher was glad he did not have to listen to his mentor belittle the administration and the board anymore. A few mentees were also guilty of inappropriate actions relating to personality conflicts, manipulation, and resistance that compromised the mentoring relationship and the mentoring process. At least one mentee was using the busyness of the workday as an excuse to not get his lesson plans done and relying on his mentor to pick up the slack. It was not unusual for the mentee to ask for the mentor’s lesson plans, because, as he put it, “I never realized how difficult and time consuming teaching is. I never seem to have enough time to get all the work done.” The mentor talked with the mentee on numerous occasions about his management of time, but it seemed to be for naught. The frustration peaked when the mentee asked a third time for the mentor’s lesson plans. At that point, the mentor refused the request and both mentoring team members met with the program coordinator who helped resolve the problem. Another issue that some mentors faced was a high caseload of mentees. At best, it was difficult to complete all of the required observations, particularly if the mentor was not released from all of their teaching duties. It was also true that the distance between schools and finding a parking place became an issue for a few of the mentors.

198  G. M. Kilburg Table 12.6.  Recurring Themes Negatively Impacted Mentoring Program Coordinators •

Lack of time

•

Not all problems are visible

•

Push backs

•

Daily details

•

Subgroups

•

Difficulty with some staff and administrators

•

Funding (no money available, no funding for resources, coordinator not paid

•

Stress

Table 12.7.  Recurring Themes Negatively Impacted Administrators •

Lack of time

•

Loss of teachers to the mentoring program

•

Impact of teacher loss on students

•

Funding

•

Personal agendas

Program coordinators and administrators were in agreement that time was the single most factor that negatively impacted everyone. It is also important to note that each coordinator was also working full-time as an administrator, which further complicated the issue of time. One of two anomalies this study uncovered as a result of examining the impact of mentoring programs was a conflict that existed between two school board members who were not supportive of the mentoring program, the superintendent, or the mentoring program coordinator. In reality, the two board members were not against the mentoring program, they just did not trust the superintendent and some of the past decisions he had made. In effect they were holding the previous culture hostage and because the program coordinator was a colleague of the superintendent, he was guilty by association. Previously, the district had implemented a major change that was not successful and the district encountered a great deal of negative feedback from the community. The second anomaly involved a small rural school district that had been embattled for several years because of an organizational split between the administration and teachers. As a result of conflicts within the district, the

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   199

superintendent had resigned and the school board hired an interim superintendent. One of the ways in which the new superintendent felt he could remedy part of the problem with the teachers was to bring them together in a mentoring program as a support base. He believed that the mentoring program would provide a “healing” environment within the district and hopefully bring a positive response to the existing problems that existed between the teachers and the district leadership. After a lengthy planning process that involved both teachers and administrators, everyone seemed to be on the same page. Unfortunately, not every teacher and administrator was supportive of adding a mentoring program. Initially, the high school principal verbally supported the mentoring program, but his actions proved otherwise. After the mentoring program had been implemented, he was unwilling to provide any time for mentoring activities in his school. He also communicated his negative attitude to his faculty and they began to support his philosophy. As a result of his behavior and the fact that he had been previously admonished, the principal was terminated from his position at the high school. One high school mentor was also relieved from his position as mentor because he was communicating negative opinions about the leadership of the district to his mentee. Lessons Learned This study was undertaken to explore the elements that facilitated and hindered of nine mentoring programs mentoring teams, mentoring program coordinators and administrators over an 8 year period of time. These results have value in strategically targeting potential challenges ahead of time. It is no easy task to create the kind of environments in which mentoring and professional development programs can take hold. Most schools are not structured to sustain fellowship. However, for the majority of schools participating in this study, the mentoring program coordinators, administrators, and mentoring teams worked very hard to create a caring and collegial culture where investing in relationships and conversations about practice were a common theme. These educators recognized that a precondition for having these types of conversations, observing one another, caring for, and empowering one another, would not take place unless a culture of authentic collegiality was in place (Barth, 2006). This study’s significance lies in helping educators to understand what it takes to create a learning environment where teachers have an opportunity to flourish. Based on the results of the study, some of the lessons learned include:

200  G. M. Kilburg

1. Power issues are particularly relevant to the issue of subcultures within a school, and that is especially true when two or more cultures coexist in the same space. Administrators and teacher leaders need to continually read and shape the school’s culture, understanding the historical context as well as analyzing current values and beliefs that impact that culture. The leadership also needs to assess the culture on a regular basis to determine if the culture supports the school’s core purposes and the mission, and which cultures or subcultures hinder achieving valued ends. Finally, the leadership must be proactive in shaping the culture by reinforcing the positive aspects and working to transform negative aspects of the culture. 2. Educational institutions may resist change for many reasons. Resistance may occur when subgroups clash over other existing aspects of organizational culture, such as the policy and procedures, when new initiatives require educators to step outside of their comfort zones, when faculty are left out of decision-making processes in which they should have participated, or when information is withheld. These issues must be considered and addressed if a mentoring program is to succeed. 3. Creating a culture of trust is an essential ingredient in bringing educators together for a common purpose. When relationships are part of a high-trust environment, one can expect to find subcultures that, for the most part are supportive of the “big picture” as opposed to meeting the group or individual’s own need, without concern for others. It is important to remember that in creating high-trust, it is critical that the program is culturally congruent and strategically driven (Zachary, 2007). Developing and sustaining a positive, professional culture that nurtures teacher growth is the task of everyone in the school. When schools promote a positive culture that supports mentoring, professional development, and student learning, then they become places where every teacher can make a difference and every child learns (Peterson, 2002). 4. In planning mentoring program, it is incumbent for the school and/or district leaders to have a clear understanding of each school’s cultural context, which includes the different mindsets that maybe in play that could negatively impact the mentoring program. With this in mind, the leadership, including teachers, needs to address any issue or concern that may compromise the integrity of the mentoring program and the mentoring relationship. Challenging mindsets and inviting those that have questions to the table is an important feature of any reculturing effort (Stoll, 1998).

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   201

5. One of the most important features of any educational institution is how it cares and supports its teachers and the impact that has on student learning. Relationship building among educators should be considered a priority if we hope to retain teachers and administrators. It is important to remember that mentoring program participants cannot give to students what they themselves have not received. If we expect educators to provide a quality learning environment for students, mentoring program participants need the necessary resources to improve their own learning. This will better equip them to create a quality environment where students excel at learning. 6. One way to increase the level of professional conversations between mentoring team members is through culturally proficient mentoring. This method of mentoring mediates the mentors thinking regarding the new teacher’s beliefs, values, and behaviors and provides a cross-cultural approach to mentoring and coaching colleagues.

Considerations for Implementing a Mentoring Program In development any mentoring program, those in authority first need to determine how the mentoring culture will fit the existing culture. “Launching a mentoring program without simultaneously creating a mentoring culture reduces long-term impact and sustainability and decreases the likelihood that a program or programs will grow and thrive over time” (Zachary, 2007, p. 2). It is essential that the mentoring program leadership align itself with the institutions mission and values. If there is a mismatch, then there is more work to be done. Understanding the school’s culture is essential for any internal or external change to occur. Without question the single most important internal feature that mentoring teams, program coordinators, and administrators identified in this study was the lack of time. Whether lack of time was due to the school’s culture or micropolitics, the real issue, it seems, is the belief that “time-is-money.” The researcher recognizes that funding is almost always going to be an issue for some schools. However, the leadership still needs to think and schedule creatively so that teachers across subject and grade levels can talk about their practices and have opportunities to observe one another, because in the end both teachers and students benefit. The difficulty with this approach is that, in most cases, there needs to be a reculturing which, ironically, requires time. It means rethinking old habits, strategically assessing and targeting ways to reallocate time and

202  G. M. Kilburg

money, and making it a priority that is encouraged and not begrudged or resented (Zachary, 2007). Another major consideration in creating and implementing a mentoring program is the rigor that is needed in selecting mentors and pairing team members. It is also critical to clarify roles and expectations, training in culturally proficient coaching, establish ground rules, rubrics for success, support network for mentors, ongoing training opportunities, mediation protocols, and goal setting just to name a few of the most important features of creating a caring and supportive environment. Finally, creating a culture of care is an important aspect of any mentoring program, both in its own right and because it creates conditions which are conducive for learning. Just recognizing the importance of care and collegiality in mentoring programs is insufficient. If we are to create mentoring programs that exist as caring communities, we must continue to explore those contextual factors that can support or hinder the success and effectiveness of mentoring programs. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. Discuss the key cultural factors that facilitated and hindered the mentoring process with respect to the following: mentoring teams; program coordinators; administrators. 2. Considering the information in this chapter, if a new mentoring program was being created, what major factors should be considered in the development of the program? 3. How do the findings of this study relate to your own situation and how might you apply the lessons learned?

References Barkley, S. G. (2005). Quality teaching in a culture of coaching. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Barth, R. S. (2006). Improving relationships within the schoolhouse. Educational Leadership, 63(6), 8–13. Blasé, J., & Blasé, J. (2001). Empowering teachers: What great principals do. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Brewster, C., & Railsback, J. (2003). Building trusting relationships for school improvement: Implications for principals and teachers. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Bryk, A. S., & Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Facilitating and Hindering Factors   203 Covey, S. (2006). The speed of trust: The one thing that changes everything. New York, NY: Free Press. Drexler, J. L. (2011). Nurturing the school community: Teacher induction and professional learning communities. Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Designs. Fullan, M. (2001). The new meaning of educational change (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Fullan, M. (2004). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Graves, D. H. (2001). The energy to teach. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Hord, S. M. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Kilburg, G. M. (2007). Three mentoring team relationships and obstacles encountered: A school-based case study. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership In Learning, 15(3), 293–308. Kilburg, G. M., & Hancock, T. (2006). Addressing sources of collateral damage in four mentoring programs. Teachers College Record, 108(7), 1321–1338. Kilburg, G. M., & Hockett, E. (2013). Addressing challenges encountered by leadership teams in five mentoring programs. ICCTE Journal, 3(2). McLaughlin, M., & Talbert, J. (2001). Professional communities and the work of highschool teaching. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Moir, E., Barlin, D., Gless, J., & Miles, J. (2009). New teacher mentoring: Hopes and promise for improving teacher effectiveness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Peterson, K. D. (2002). Positive or negative. Journal of Staff Development, 23(3), 10–15. Portner, H. (2005). Teacher mentoring and induction: The state of the art and beyond. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Sergiovanni, T. J. (1992). Moral leadership: Getting to the heart of school improvement. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. Stoll, L. (1998). School culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin. No. 9. Institute of Education, University of London, England. Sung, W., & Oh, H. (2013). Relationship-based subgroups and group effectiveness. Retrieved from http://gatton.uky.edu/gradstudents//Downloads/Working%20 Paper_AoM_Sung&Oh.pdf Sweeny, B. W. (2008). Leading the teacher induction and mentoring program (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Tschannen-Moran, J., & Hoyt, W. K. (1998). Trust in schools: A conceptual and empirical analysis. Journal of Educational Administration, 36(3/4), 334–352. Tschannen-Moran, M., Uline, C., Hoy, A. W., & Mackley, T. (2000). Creating smarter schools through collaboration. Journal of Educational Administration, 38(3), 247–271. doi.org/10.1108/09578230010342312. Whitaker, T. (2003). What great principals do differently: Fifteen things that matter most. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Zachary, L. (2007, February). Creating a mentoring culture: The organization’s guide. Retrieved from http://www.centerformentoringexcellence.com/upload/ Creating_a_Mentoring_Culture_Featured_Review.pdf

SECTION III THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIETAL CULTURE ON MENTORING

chapter 13

Society, Culture, and Mentoring Frances K. Kochan

The culture of a society has an influence on the degree to which mentoring is valued, the manner in which it is conceptualized and the way in which it is implemented, as well as on the outcomes that result from these endeavors. The chapters within this section bring this reality to life in a variety of ways. Each adds to our understanding of the way in which societal mores can hinder and foster human growth and that can limit or expand human growth, development, and success. Lunsford and Ochoa begin this section by examining the societal impact of culture on mentoring programs and relationships. Their chapter, “Culture and Mentoring: Teacher Preparation in the U.S-Mexico Borderland,” investigates teacher attitudes and ways of knowing. The authors describe a teacher mentoring network involving beginning and experienced teachers in K–12 environments, and community college teachers with expertise in a content area. They view this from an ecological perspective, maintaining a focus on the sociological context within which the mentoring occurred, in this case the U.S./Mexico borderlands. Their focus is upon the degree to which those involved in this process are culturally aware of their environment and the extent to which the program activities and the mentors in the network fostered and encouraged the development of this

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 207–210 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

207

208  F. K. Kochan

awareness. The authors present a sobering picture of how difficult it is to bridge the cultural divide between mentor and mentee, and teachers and their students, even when there seems to be a desire to do so. The recommendations these authors provide should be of value to all those who wish to create a better cultural understanding in order to truly foster student learning and mutual respect. Suh and Dagley, in their chapter, “Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities through Transformative Mentoring within International Immersion Programs,” continue the focus of the importance of cultural competency and awareness by educators in U.S. schools through their exploration of the personal transformations school counselors experienced as a result of engaging in an international immersion program, which included mentoring as an integral part of the process. They stress the value of these experiences and the absolute necessity of fostering personal transformation of those who work in these schools to assure that they will be able to adequately understand and serve their students and so that they can help create schools that will do the same. The next two chapters examine how the imposition of societal ideologies, built into the political system, have an impact on the development and implementation of governmental policies upon mandated teacher education programs. Unlike the authors of the first two chapters, these writers scrutinize the issue of cultural and societal impact at the macrolevel by examining the issue of policy development and enactment in nationally mandated government teacher mentoring programs. In his chapter “A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust: Comparing Finnish and Swedish Educational Culture and the Impact on National Mentoring Approaches,” Fransson conducts a comparative analysis of the national mandated teacher mentoring programs in Norway and Sweden. He clearly describes how the historical and sociopolitical aspects of these two cultures helped to determine their structure, content and processes. He presents a very clear view of the manner in which these two programs differ as a result of the societal mores and values of each country and the way they impact the perceptions and role of educators within them. He poses powerful questions about these roles and about the impact that these mentoring programs can have upon controlling or empowering people. This author presents a thoughtful analysis of possibilities and problems, and brings into question the degree to which these mentoring programs are building cultures of trust or distrust and what their ultimate aims and outcomes may be. Simmie and Moles continue this thread of questioning in their manuscript, “The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring in the Sociopolitical Context of Teacher Education in Ireland.” Like Fransson, they examine the impact that a nationally mandated teacher education mentoring program in

Society, Culture, and Mentoring   209

Ireland has upon teachers’ classroom and school-based practices, from a sociopolitical lens framed around two pedagogical frames of reference. They do this through the examination and analysis of research conducted by their master’s level graduate students. Their findings indicate that the technocratic power-laden policies within the mentoring framework foster a response from teachers which confines their thinking and actions and causes a reproduction of past practices, rather than a movement toward creative thinking and collaborative inquiry. The authors challenge us to find ways to overcome the barriers to open and free thinking and stress the need to reconceptualize the manner in which others view teachers and the way they view themselves in order to create collaborative environments in which all will grow, learn and become. Geber in, “An Old Tradition and the New Beginning: Mentoring in Africa,” continues the conversation about the relationship of societal culture upon mentoring programs. Unlike Fransson and Mooney Simmie and Moles, who demonstrated the way in which societal mores are embedded into governmentally mandated programs, Geber discusses the lack of integration of African values into mentoring programs within the nation and suggests that this has lessened the value and importance of formal mentoring programs in Africa. She stresses the collaborative nature of African society and the need to maintain and foster it within the organizational climates of schools and businesses. Geber presents an overview of programs that have successfully incorporated these concepts into their mentoring programs by using the African concept of Ubuntu to frame and operationalize mentoring and makes a strong case for the expansion of this approach in mentoring endeavors. She reminds us that although change is inevitable, we must value those traditional mores that honor people and foster their ability to connect with one another. Like the previous two authors, she stresses the need to question mentoring activities that foster power differentiations and the following of rules rather than the fostering of community and thoughtful reflection. Dawood, Konza, and Rolfe move the focus from Africa to Australia and bring us into the world of the Aboriginal people in their chapter, “Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals: Uncovering the Cultural Interface Within Mentoring.” Like Geber, these authors focus on the importance and value of integrating cultural values into mentoring endeavors, particularly when those values are not the primary ones held by those in the larger society. They stress the need to develop mentoring programs that are culturally appropriate and respectful when working with this or any other group that is marginalized within a social structure. The authors conducted an extensive qualitative study with Aboriginal people to examine cultural factors that contribute to and hinder their success and the cultural issues that must be addressed to assure that mentoring programs geared toward

210  F. K. Kochan

providing them professional development will be of value to them. They found that racism continues to hinder the Aboriginal people’s ability to succeed and that because of their small numbers they often have to be the voice of their people, placing an undue burden upon them. The authors found that while Aboriginal mores such as humility sometimes hinder their ability to advance within the competitive environment of the majority group, caring, culturally relevant mentoring relationships could aid individuals in overcoming what might be considered a disadvantage and enable them to succeed. As in Geber’s Ubuntu model, when the Aboriginal culture was considered within the mentoring framework, a sense of community was fostered, which in turn led to individual success. Some important outcomes of these mentoring activities, not dealt with extensively in the other chapters, was the growth in understanding of the mentors, who benefitted richly from the experience, the growth in loyalty toward the organization experienced by the mentees, and the overall enriched environment and success of the institutions that implemented these programs. The final chapter by Campbell and Palmer, “Love Punks, Digital Creativity and Young People Making a Difference,” is a perfect way to conclude our book. In this charming and uplifting story, these authors bring us into the world of mentoring as it occurs in an Aboriginal community. Appropriately, they bring us into this world by providing online sources that can be accessed so that we can fully understand the richness of what is being described in the text. We come to know Birdman, Future Smash, and the other Love Punks as they bring their world into the digital age and, in so doing, engage the entire community on a journey of change. We see youth and age interchanging ideas with mutual respect. Throughout this journey, the Love Punks use their cultural knowledge to build new knowledge through their artistic talents and creative, artful activities. The beauty of their journey, their energy, and their enthusiasm is uplifting and reminds us of the importance of cherishing the differences among us and viewing all people through the lens of strength. This endeavor demonstrates how transformation can occur without the destruction of tradition and in the end enables both the old and the new to enrich one another.

chapter 14

CULTURE AND MENTORING Teacher Preparation in the U.s.-Mexico Borderland Laura Gail Lunsford and Estrella Ochoa

Introduction In the last 30 years, mentoring has emerged as a central aspect of teacher preparation programs (Marable & Raimondi, 2007). In fact, many researchers use mentoring processes synonymously with induction (Hobson, Ashby, Malderez, & Tomlinson, 2009). However, a consensus has yet to emerge about what behaviors constitute mentoring or what mentoring activities are associated with positive teacher outcomes. Further, there is a dearth of research on how culture might influence mentoring relationships, despite the fact that teaching pedagogy is embedded in cultural values (Alexander, 2001). Understanding diversity and culture is an increasingly important aspect of teacher education because it is related to being able to motivate students to learn. “How to do this in practice is dependent on the subject matter and the characteristics of the learner—their prior experience, level of mastery,

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 211–228 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

211

212  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa

and individual and sociocultural values” (Wieman, 2012, p. 5, emphasis added). It is likely that during their career most teachers will deal with students who have different sociocultural values than their own. For example, in the United States, students have become more ethnically diverse while teachers remain mostly White and female (Wang & Odell, 2002). About one in six U.S. residents are Hispanic, but by 2060 this number will increase to one in three (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Thus, it is important to know more about how mentoring relationships for new teachers might prepare them to teach an increasingly diverse student population. Knowledge about culture has a direct relationship to enhancing student learning. Purpose The purpose of this chapter is to present the findings of a study on the importance of cultural awareness in student teacher mentoring programs. The study focuses on a master’s level teacher education program that prepared students to work in high-need schools in the Arizona borderlands (within 100 miles of the border with Mexico). The research was part of an evaluation effort to assess the cultural awareness of teachers and the extent to which mentoring relationships could help student teacher protégés learn about the cultural contexts of their students. The study is framed by the thesis that mentoring involves relationships, which occur in cultural contexts. This research helps narrow the gap in the literature on the role of culture in mentoring student teachers. The chapter begins with a description of the mentoring program under study. Next, an ecological systems perspective is described as the framework for the study. The literature on mentoring student teachers is then presented, followed by the study’s method and findings. The chapter concludes by sharing some lessons learned, which may be useful for other mentoring program directors. Program Context and Description The mentoring program explored in this study, The Mentoring Network, was part of a master’s degree for secondary science and mathematics teachers. Applicants to the degree program all had an undergraduate degree in mathematics or science. A branch campus, located in the Southwestern part of the United States, offered the program. The coursework was mostly online, with two face-to-face components: monthly meetings and observations of student teaching. The online coursework made it possible for protégés to student-teach in rural, high-need school districts. Five of the

Culture and Mentoring   213

seven student teachers were hired as full-time teachers to fill open positions while they were completing their master’s degree. The Network was a pilot program funded by a Department of Education Grant, which sought to increase the number of math and science teachers in high-need, middle and high schools. The program started in August 2012. The participating student teachers will be referred to as protégés in the rest of the chapter. Each protégé was paired with a high school teacher (mentor), usually, but not always, in their content area and a community college instructor (content coach) in their subject area of math or science. There were four elements of the Mentoring Network: a 2-day Mentoring Institute; 7 monthly workshops; an online community; and observations of protégé teaching by coaches (see Table 14.1). The Mentoring Institute was held at the beginning of the academic year. The Institute focused on increasing participants’ (protégés, mentors, and coaches) self-awareness about their personality, strengths, communication preferences, and beliefs about learning. Protégés, mentors, and coaches were trained together so that lessons for mentors would be explicit for protégés, who were groomed to become mentors in future years. Self-assessment activities initiated the mentoring and coaching relationships; protégés worked in small groups with their mentor and coach. The Mentoring Institute included sessions dealing with the stages of mentoring relationships, how to communicate well and build rapport, set goals, and how to ask for and provide feedback. The monthly workshops focused on mentoring and professional development activities and were attended by all Mentoring Network members. Some workshops allocated time for mentors and coaches to discuss their progress, concerns, or challenges.

Table 14.1.  Elements of Mentoring Networks and their Focus Element

Focus

Mentoring Institute

Self Awareness, Growth Mindset, Rapport

eNetwork

Online Resources, Discussion Board, Announcements

Observations

6 per protégé; provide feedback on teaching

Workshop 1

Reflective & Growth Mindset, Goals, Common Core

Workshop 2

Developmental Mentoring & Constructivist Approaches

Workshop 3

Avoiding Dysfunctional Mentoring and Technology in the Classroom

Workshop 4

Classroom Management and Action Research

Workshop 5

Border Culture and Teaching Math and Science

Workshop 6

Culture & Teaching Math and Science

Workshop 7

Mexican American Culture and Student Research

214  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa

Literature Review This literature review begins with an overview of an ecological systems perspective, which framed the study. This review is followed by a summary of the literature on mentoring student teachers, while the final section reviews findings on mentoring and culture. Ecological Systems Perspective An ecological model highlights the importance of contexts for relationships, including mentoring and coaching relationships (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). This perspective suggests that individuals develop and learn within a nested set of systems. The direct interactions an individual has with others are described as a microsystem. The dyadic relationship in traditional oneon-one mentoring is an example of a microsystem. Individuals also have direct interactions with others, who may themselves interact infrequently or not at all. For example, a protégé may have a mentor from the university, one microsystem, and a mentor from their school placement, a second microsystem. The university mentor and school mentor might not interact with one another. The set of all the microsystems comprise the mesosystem. The exosystem is comprised of the individuals who make decisions that influence an individual, but with whom they usually have no direct contact (e.g., a school superintendent). Finally, the macrosystem reflects the cultural norms and values that influence the micro, meso, and exosystems. The ecological perspective provides a broad lens that may reveal how culture influences student teacher mentoring and teacher preparation. Mentoring Teachers Mentoring is an integral aspect of student teacher preparation (Bullough, 2012). Yet, there is surprisingly little empirical evidence about mentoring outcomes or best mentoring activities (Brondyk & Searby, 2013). For example, some researchers tout increases in teacher retention as an important outcome of mentoring programs (Moir & Hanson, 2008). In contrast, other researchers (Long et al., 2012; Waterman & He, 2011) report equivocal support for claims that mentoring increases teacher retention. We do know that mentoring has been associated with emotional and task support, for example building confidence and resiliency among new teachers and helping them to become effective mentors (Coburn, 2011). Teachers have reported formal or informal mentoring as supportive factors in their first year (Marable & Raimondi, 2007). Hennissen, Crasborn,

Culture and Mentoring   215

Brouwer, Korthagen, and Bergen (2011) also reported that preservice teachers found mentoring to be a source of emotional and task support. Similarly, Marable and Raimondi (2007) surveyed teachers and found that they believed mentors provide emotional support and resources to firstyear teachers. A recent study identified characteristics and experiences related to high quality mentoring interactions for student teachers, including being in the same grade and spending an adequate amount of time with their mentor (LoCasale-Crouch, Davis, Wiens, & Pianta, 2012). Hobson and colleagues (2009) also concluded that protégés experienced emotional support (e.g., less isolation, increased confidence, and selfesteem) and task support (e.g., improved classroom management skills) from mentoring. Mentors reported benefits such as increased reflection on their teaching practice. These researchers also highlighted the negative aspects of mentoring, in terms of costs and inappropriate or insufficient support from mentors. Researchers have called for a better understanding of how mentoring relates to preparing expert teachers. Bianchini and Brenner (2009) noted that new teachers needed to learn from students, inquire into their own practice, and become members of professional communities. Waterman and He (2011) reviewed the literature and echoed this need to better understand the process of mentoring and the effects of relationship quality. However, when the “black box” of mentoring is examined, it is not clear that mentors do in fact promote reflection and inquiry or community. For example, one team of researchers found that mentors were more likely to be “imperators,” who introduced topics in directive ways and who wanted to cover material with student teachers, rather than serving as role models for reflective practice (Crasborn, Hennissen, Brouwer, Korthagen, & Bergen, 2011). As Bianchini and Brenner (2009) suggested, new teachers need to become part of a professional community. One route to entering such a community is through membership in a community of practice, learning community, or a network of mentors. This model of mentoring may promote a sense of community and increased professional development among teachers (Hobson et al., 2009). Moir and Hanson (2008) noted that the value of the New Teacher Center has been to help teachers develop a community of practice, which requires that time be set aside for relationships to develop. However, while researchers have broadened their thinking about effective mentoring to include such a network, this thinking is rarely reflected in practice. Bullough (2012) noted that one of the three trends in the literature on mentoring teachers is a continued focus on one-on-one relationships. The research on reflection in teacher mentoring and the quality of mentoring relationships raises questions about the value of teacher mentoring

216  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa

initiatives in fostering the kind of teachers needed in today’s classrooms. Further, questions remain regarding the degree to which mentoring is preparing novice teachers to be successful in the culturally diverse classrooms in which many of them will work. This literature guided the development of the Mentoring Network in this chapter. Clearly, there is an opportunity to learn more about mentoring, culture, and teacher preparation. Culture and Mentoring Wang and Odell’s (2002) review reported that novice teachers needed to understand the whole student in order to engage in reformed teaching. An understanding of the “whole student” includes understanding the cultural milieu of student learning. Similarly, Kochan (2013) calls on coordinators of mentoring programs to examine and strengthen cultural factors that facilitate mentoring, while minimizing factors that are barriers. However, questions remain as to how student teachers are to acquire an understanding of the “whole student” from their mentors and precisely how mentoring programs can strengthen cultural factors and minimize barriers to cultural understanding. Mentoring programs often focus on academic standards rather than on supporting new teachers to be effective in classrooms with students from a diversity of cultural backgrounds (Achinstein & Athanases, 2005). Addressing this need 2 decades ago, Barrett (1993) called for multicultural teacher education that relied on experiential learning to promote a multicultural disposition. Moore (2006) advocated for dispositions that promoted multicultural perspectives in the classroom to increase teacher self-awareness and awareness of their students’ cultural backgrounds. Robertson, Munter, and Garcia (2006) also wrote about culture when working with MexicanAmerican students. They emphasized that teachers need to be prepared for the cultural diversity in their classroom by promoting “active learning in culturally responsive contexts” (p. 50). These researchers provided examples of engaging student teachers in activities that increased parent involvement, for example by using simple English rather than technical jargon for homework assignments. Tan (2001) discussed multiculturalism as “the value a school places on cultural diversity and the extent to which diverse backgrounds and points of view are included in the curriculum” (p. 35). She found that when Mexican American students felt their teachers were multicultural they were more likely to enjoy school and believe they would graduate from high school. Yet, as noted above, the mentoring literature focuses on emotional and task support, rather than on mentoring processes or how mentors and protégés reflect on or learn about culture. The ecological systems perspective is useful in examining mentoring because it highlights the important of context. Few mentoring researchers

Culture and Mentoring   217

in education have adopted this perspective, which may be why studies on culture and mentoring are relatively scarce in the educational literature. We did locate one study of teacher mentoring that used an ecological framework. Achinstein and Athanases (2005) surveyed teachers in Northern California school districts to understand the nested contexts of students’ communities and how the local community operated. Their bi-level model suggested a focus on teachers and students, with an emphasis on mentoring as a way to address equity needs in schools with diverse students. A few researchers imply that culture is important in mentoring, even when they do not discuss culture explicitly. For example, Devos (2010) noted that a problem of standardizing mentoring programs is that the standards may not recognize individual teacher differences nor reflect local conditions. Another study presented a student engagement model to recruit and retain Latino teachers, even though the researchers did not explicitly address Latino culture (Flores, Clark, Claeys, & Villarreal, 2007). Finally, some researchers do discuss culture in terms of the school, but the extent to which “school culture” reflects the sociocultural values of students is not clear. Schools exert a powerful influence on new teachers, but learning about their school context is challenging for new teachers (Long, et al., 2012). Bianchini and Brenner (2009) found that prior experience and school culture were stronger influences on new teacher effectiveness than were their induction programs. They caution that teachers (and teacher mentors) may reinforce the status quo rather than help new teachers to grow and change. It is also important to note that principals have a strong influence on the creation of school cultures that facilitate new teachers’ success (Long et al., 2012). CONCLUSIONS FROM THE LITERATURE REVIEW Although mentoring has generally been associated with emotional and task support, culture is rarely mentioned. Cultural competencies have been seen as a skill that all teachers should develop. Thus, researchers have focused on individual skill development rather than on how culture influences mentoring relationships. There is thus an opportunity to learn more about how mentoring relationships might help teachers to increase cultural awareness. This research study examined this issue. Research Questions The study explored the extent to which mentors and coaches supported their protégés in developing cultural awareness to teach in schools in the Arizona borderlands. The study required us to first assess the participants’

218  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa

awareness of borderland culture. Second, we investigated one element (a workshop) of the Mentoring Network that might increase reflection on culture. Third, we explored the extent to which culture was explicitly discussed in these mentoring and coaching relationships. Thus, we investigated the micro and macrosystems of the student teachers. The three questions listed below guided our inquiry: • How aware were Mentoring Network members about borderland culture? • To what extent does a workshop on culture influence Mentoring Network members’ thinking about border culture, teaching, and learning? • To what extent do mentors and coaches support protégés to learn about culture in the context of teaching and learning? Method A multimethod approach was used to collect data from online surveys and from focus groups. The sample, instruments, procedures, variables, and analysis are described in this section. Sample There were seven protégés (student teachers), eight mentors, and six coaches in the sample. These 21 participants all lived and worked in Arizona within 100 miles of the Mexican border. Instruments and Procedures An invitation was e-mailed in January 2013 to the Mentoring Network members to take an online, anonymous, 21-item survey to assess cultural knowledge. Questions were adapted from a questionnaire developed to measure the ethnic beliefs of Cuban Americans (Gonzales, 2013). Section one had 10 questions about how Hispanic individuals identified themselves and about their Spanish fluency. A representative item was “Below is a list of names that are used to describe persons of Spanish heritage. Select all the terms you prefer to use for yourself.” The second section had two questions that assessed knowledge about panethnic Hispanic identity.

Culture and Mentoring   219

A representative item was, “I think that Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics are culturally [select one]: ‘very similar,’ ‘similar,’ or ‘not very similar.’ ” Section three had seven questions about discrimination and how Latinos on the border were classified and two questions about their role (protégé, mentor, or coach) and any experiences in the degree program that influenced their understanding of culture. The survey was administered a second time, after a day-long workshop on culture, to assess any changes. A lower response rate made a comparison of changes statistically impossible, but an additional question on the survey was analyzed. That short-answer question was, “Describe how, if at all, the February Super Saturday influenced your thinking about culture.” Focus Groups Focus groups were conducted to gain an understanding of the cultural knowledge of the Mentoring Network and how mentors and coaches discussed culture with their protégés. Three focus groups were conducted by role as protégé (n = 7), mentor (n = 8), or coach (n = 3), during the monthly workshop held in January. The focus groups each lasted about 20 minutes. An undergraduate researcher recorded the responses and transcribed the tapes. The four open-ended questions are provided below: 1. Thinking about the school where you teach or student-teach, describe the extent to which you feel students are from a similar or different cultural background than you? 2. In what ways is culture, your own or students’, present in your classroom? 3. Is the culture along the border the same or different from nonborder areas? [If yes this follow up question was asked: Can you describe its elements?] 4. Thinking about your mentoring and coaching relationships, to what extent has culture influenced them? School Culture Data The preliminary findings were shared with the Mentoring Network members. Their discussion about school culture led us to examine the mission statements in the five schools they represented (see Table 14.2). The statements were analyzed for any reference to culture or diverse learners.

220  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa Table 14.2.  Mission Statements by School School

Mission

1

Students will have opportunities to achieve their potential and to graduate as competent, life-long learners who will continue to grow as productive citizens.

2

School and culture that believes in progress and positive change

3

Respect, responsibility, high standards, success

4

To provide a safe and welcoming learning community that prepares students to be competitive and productive citizens.

5

Educating the whole child with high expectations in a positive, community based climate.

Analysis Frequency counts were computed from the survey responses. These responses were compared with survey data from a previous study of high school students, from schools in which the protégés taught, and parents, all of whom took the same survey. The full report of that study is beyond the scope of this chapter; however, the comparisons are reported in the findings to illustrate the student teachers’ mesosystem. High school students and parents of Spanish descent referred to themselves as Hispanic or Mexican American. One-fourth of the high school students and parents spoke Spanish with family and friends all the time; half of these respondents spoke Spanish with family and friends “some of the time.” About 40% of high school students and community members were fluent in Spanish. The high school students and community members felt discrimination was present along the border, but were divided between considering it a major (40%) or minor (50%) problem; a minority of these respondents (10%) felt discrimination was nonexistent. The focus group responses were coded using a deductive, constructivist approach (Hatch, 2002). The responses were coded into initial categories. The first round of coding led to the addition of examples of cultural differences. The final codes and themes are presented in the findings. When the analyses were completed, they were shared with the respondents and discussed to triangulate and validate the data analysis. Findings The demographics of the respondents are described first, after which the findings related to each research question are presented. The questions focused on awareness of a borderland culture, the extent to which a

Culture and Mentoring   221

workshop on culture influenced participants’ thinking about culture, and whether discussions about culture were part of the student teacher mentoring and coaching relationships. Demographics Six of the seven protégés completed the first survey and all the protégés participated in the focus group. Two protégés were men and five were women. Two protégés were Hispanic and the rest were Anglo American. All the mentors (one man and seven women) completed the first survey and six mentors participated in the focus group. Four of the six coaches, three women and one man, completed the survey. Three of six coaches participated in the focus group. The ethnicity of the mentors and coaches was not recorded by the program director, but we know from discussions with the mentors and coaches that none were Hispanic. Awareness of Borderland Culture The survey responses suggest that most Mentoring Network members were not aware of how Hispanics along the border identified themselves. Two-thirds of the Mentoring Network members did not know how Latinos along the border ethnically identified themselves, nor did they have any idea upon what such an identity might be based, for example country of origin, food, or language. One-third of the Mentoring Network members felt ethnic identification might be based on cultural characteristics like the country of origin, speaking Spanish, or hearing how others referred to themselves. Most Mentoring Network members did not speak Spanish (n = 15). They felt discrimination was a major (28%) or minor (60%) problem; only 12% felt discrimination was nonexistent. The two protégés of Spanish descent preferred the terms Hispanic, Mexicano(a) or Mexican American, while friends and colleagues referred to them as Hispanic. The borderland mesosystem was illustrated by responses from a similar survey administered in a border community to high school students and parents (N = 210). The majority of the respondents (87%) were of Spanish descent and these respondents selected the term Hispanic (n = 34) or Mexican American (n = 26) as the top two frequently preferred ethnic identity terms. Almost half (40%) of the respondents were fluent in Spanish and spoke Spanish with family and friends all (25%) or some (50%) of the time. The majority of community members felt discrimination was a major (40%) or minor (50%) problem; only 10% felt discrimination was

222  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa

nonexistent. These results indicated the presence of a Mexican American culture in the Arizona borderlands. The focus group responses suggested that the Mentoring Network members recognized that students were from different cultural backgrounds than their own, even if they did not know how their students ethnically identified themselves. The Mentoring Network members described a border culture influenced by Mexican culture, with an emphasis on family and speaking Spanish. For example, one respondent said, “I mean everyone loves their family, but like a Hispanic culture, really family is everything.” A protégé observed that, “lots of my kids do go over the border and they speak Spanish so when they come home they are speaking Spanish, so that is different for me because I came from a completely white community.” The respondents observed differences in religion because some schools enrolled many Mormon students. The responses suggested the presence of a “border culture” but some Mentoring Network members struggled to describe it and when asked to do so made comments like, “I do not think I can answer that.” However, most respondents felt the culture was a hybrid culture of Mexican and American. They identified characteristics of the border culture relating to food, language, and Mexican holidays. The respondents noted that there was more acceptance of differences in border communities and schools. This point is reflected in this comment, “it is just life here and they have never known any different.… I don’t really even think I hear people talk about it.… It is not an unusual thing to have different cultural [from AngloAmerican] backgrounds here.” They mentioned that divisions were based on socioeconomic differences or immigration recency rather than ethnicity. Some respondents noted the presence of Mormon communities and how those students were part of the border culture. In summary, most protégés, mentors, and coaches did not know how to ethnically identify people of Spanish descent, did not speak Spanish, and had different perceptions of discrimination. The focus group responses indicated an awareness of cultural differences. However, at the microsystem level of the mentoring relationships, individuals were not prepared to address the cultural milieu of the borderlands. Can a Workshop on Culture Influence Cultural Awareness? The program director organized a workshop on culture to increase participants’ awareness about borderland culture. The speakers used a Chicano identity framework to discuss culture. The postworkshop survey was completed by 13 of the 21 members in the Mentoring Network. About

Culture and Mentoring   223

half of the respondents, three protégés and four mentors, reported that the workshop did not influence their thinking about culture. A representative comment was the person who wrote, “No change in thinking.” One protégé, three mentors, and two coaches indicated that the workshop did influence their thinking about culture. An example of this response was, “I have really been thinking about the differences in schools across the line, and how our American expectations are different.” Thus, the workshop did influence some, but not all, of the participants’ awareness of borderlands culture. Does Mentoring Promote Learning About Culture in the Classroom? Some, but not all, mentors drew upon Mexican American culture in their lessons. For example, one mentor talked about how she brings their culture into the classroom and her efforts to understand the experiences of her students. Another mentor said, “I go into the class every day, so my culture automatically comes in.” Two mentors discussed how they connected their lessons to Hispanic cultural themes like the quinceañera (coming of age party at 15 years old). In contrast, the protégés and coaches did not draw on border culture to design their lessons or to motivate their students. One mentor noted the culture in her class focused on “science or pigs.” Two mentors said there was a “culture of learning” in their classroom. It was unclear what a culture of learning meant. Thus, we asked about this when the preliminary analyses were shared with the Mentoring Network. The phrase “culture of learning” originated from a question on their teacher evaluations. Further, when protégés were asked about how culture influenced their lessons they talked about geographical differences. They discussed how they were from a different state or talked about the outdoors or science. One protégé said that, “my culture [in the classroom] is based on wildlife.” Coaches discussed how the age of students influenced their classroom or how the community college campus near the border was different from the campus further (by 30 miles) from the border. About half the Mentoring Network members did not feel culture entered into their mentoring conversations. Indeed half of the protégés noted culture was not a factor in their mentoring relationships. These individuals made statements such as, “My mentor has a pretty similar background.” or “I really have not had any conversations about culture.” The protégés sometimes sought out school support staff from the area to understand cultural differences among their students. One protégé said what, “has been super helpful is that there is one of the support staff ... and we have

224  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa

sat at least once a week and talked about the kids and the culture.” Another noted, “it would have been handy to have had a Hispanic mentor because I use the janitor during my phone calls to talk to the parents.” When borderlands culture was discussed it was only in the mentor-protégé dyads. Some mentors noted that culture had come up in discussions with their protégés when the protégé broached the topic or when the mentor observed student behavior with the protégé. Culture was never a topic of conversation in any coach-protégé relationships. The responses suggest that the Mentoring Network members felt culturally different from their students. With an exception of some of the mentors, most of the Mentoring Network did not seem aware of border culture, nor were they sure how to gain information about it or how this knowledge might enhance their teaching. The protégés expressed a desire to know more about border culture, and while they appreciated their multicultural course in their degree program they felt it was disconnected from their classroom experiences. For example, in their course they were told not to refer to students as “Mexican” and yet they heard their students using that term for each other. Borderlands Versus on the Border These results were shared with the Mentoring Network members. They agreed with the analysis and provided two more observations. First, the mentors noted that there was a difference between schools located on the border versus in the borderlands (but not on the border). Students who are U.S. citizens can cross the border daily to attend schools on the border, but this daily crossing is not possible in schools further from the border. Second, there is a ranching culture in the borderlands that was not well represented by the teachers in this study. Protégés and some coaches did not know about these cultural differences. Their observations, along with a discussion that the only culture present in some of their classrooms was a “culture of learning,” prompted an investigation of school mission statements. None of the school mission statements (see Table 14.2) included references to border culture or multicultural appreciation, but rather focused on potential, change, and success. Lessons Learned The aim of the program was to develop effective mentoring support for middle and high school student teachers in math and science, who will teach in high-need, border schools. An ecological model framed the

Culture and Mentoring   225

examination of culture and mentoring. A strength of this approach was to triangulate the findings from different sources and different methods. Four main lessons emerged from the findings and may also be useful to other program directors. The first lesson was not to assume mentors and coaches, even expert ones, are aware of sociocultural values in the borderlands. Mentors (teachers) were aware of cultural differences and some mentors had an appreciation about how to use that knowledge to motivate and teach their students. However, the results show that this knowledge was not always transmitted to protégés, nor did all the mentors or coaches possess this knowledge. At the microsystem level, mentors and coaches were often unsure about how to talk about cultural differences with their protégés or did not discuss borderlands culture at all. Thus, mentoring might reinforce the status quo, as was suggested by Bianchini and Brenner (2009), at the microsystem level. The second lesson was that some protégés are open to learning about cultural differences, but may not be sure how to do so. Protégés, for example, asked school staff (not teachers) questions about their students’ culture. We were astonished to find that two thirds of the Mentoring Network members did not know how Latinos along the border identified themselves. All the mentors and coaches had been teaching in the borderlands for at least three years. There were also differences in perceptions of discrimination, which may negatively influence student learning, between the Mentoring Network and community members. The mesosystem of the schools, as represented by their mission statements, suggest that borderland culture was also invisible in the school culture. Thus, protégés, who were trying to learn about teaching diverse students, were in micro and mesosystems that did not support their learning about the micro and mesosystems of their students. Third, at the exosystem level, the university has an opportunity to embed knowledge about local culture in teacher preparation. The surveys and focus group identified a disconnect between the culture of community members and those entrusted to teach students. This study increased our awareness of this gap. For example, the mentoring network activities included speakers who were experts in culture, but their Raza and Chicano perspectives might need to be better explained in a borderland region where those terms are unfamiliar. Not one community member selected that term as one that was used in the borderlands in Arizona. The results of the survey question about the workshop on culture suggested that such professional development might benefit some teachers, but not all of them. The multicultural class for protégés was also mentioned as a source of information. Thus, an ecological systems approach highlighted the need for more activities on border culture at the individual, micro, meso, and

226  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa

exosystem levels to encourage discussions about borderlands culture in mentoring relationships. Finally, an ecological systems perspective was useful in guiding the data collection and thinking about the mentoring relationships that unfold in micro and mesosystems. The border presents a unique cultural context, with ranching, religious, and Mexican influences. As this program is developed there will be more opportunities to support individuals in these mentoring and coaching relationships to discuss and learn about culture, their own and their students, as it relates to learning. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. This research demonstrates how societal beliefs influence mentoring programs and outcomes. What governmental, organization, or program policies may be influencing your mentoring relationships or programs in positive or negative ways? What steps might be taken to foster positive outcomes and mitigate negative ones? 2. What other elements in the society may have positive or negative upon your relationship or program and what might you do to foster those that are positive and overcome those that are negative? 3. To what degree are elements of trust and distrust present in your mentoring relationship or program and what might be done to foster trust? How can you increase trust and reduce distrust? Acknowledgments We acknowledge the Department of Education Transition to Teach Grant for supporting this work and thank Drs. Kralovec and Orozco for their comments on a draft. We could not have completed this work without the help of our research assistants: Larry Corrales, Amanda Fosmire, Alfredo Perez, and Carrie Smith. References Alexander, R. J. (2001). Border crossings: Towards a comparative pedagogy. Comparative Education, 37(4), 507–523. Achinstein, B., & Athanases, S. (2005). Focusing new teachers and diversity and equity: Toward a knowledge base for mentors. Teaching & Teacher Education, 21, 843–862. Barrett, M. (1993). Preparation for cultural diversity: Experiential strategies for educators. Equity & Excellence in Education, 26(1), 19–26.

Culture and Mentoring   227 Bianchini, J., & Brenner, M. (2009). The role of induction in learning to teach toward equity: A study of beginning science and mathematics teachers. Science Education, 94, 164–195. Brondyk, S., & Searby, L. (2013). Best practices in mentoring: complexities and possibilities. International Journal of Mentoring & Coaching in Education, 2(3), 189–203. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bullough, R. J. (2012). Mentoring and new teacher induction in the United States: A review and analysis of current practices. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 20(1), 57–74. Coburn, A. (2011). Building social and cultural capital through learning about equality in youth work. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(4), 475-491. Crasborn, F., Hennissen, P., Brouwer, N., Korthagen, F., & Bergen, T. (2011). Exploring a two-dimensional model of mentor teacher roles in mentoring dialogues. Teaching & Teacher Education, 27, 320–331. Devos, A. (2010). New teachers, mentoring and the discursive formation of professional identity. Teaching & Teacher Education, 26, 1219–1223. Flores, B. B., Clark, E. R., Claeys, L., & Villarreal, A. (2007). Academy for teacher excellence: Recruiting, preparing, and retaining Latino teachers through learning communities. Teacher Education Quarterly, 53–69. Gonzales, R. G. (2013). Same and different: Latino college students’ perceptions of themselves and others on campus. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 12(3). doi:10.1177/1538192712440173. Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Hennissen, P., Crasborn, F., Brouwer, N., Korthagen, F., & Bergen, T. (2011). Clarifying pre-service teacher perceptions of mentor teachers’ developing use of mentoring skills. Teaching & teacher education, 27(6), 1049–1058. Hobson, A. J., Ashby, P., Malderez, A., & Tomlinson, P. D. (2009). Mentoring beginning teachers: What we know and what we don’t. Teaching & Teacher Education, 25, 207–216. Kochan, F. (2013). Analyzing the relationships between culture and mentoring. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 21(4), 412–430. LoCasale-Crouch, J., Davis, E., Wiens, P., & Pianta, R. (2012). The role of the mentor in supporting new teachers: Associations with self-efficacy, reflection, and quality. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnerships in Learning, 20(3), 303–323. Long, J. S., McKenzie-Robblee, S., Schaefer, L., Steeves, P., Wnuk, S., Pinnegar, E., & Clandinin, J. D. (2012). Literature review on induction and mentoring related to early career teacher attrition and retention. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 20(1), 7–26. Marable, M. A., & Raimondi, S. L. (2007). Teachers’ perceptions of what was most (and least) supportive during their first year of teaching. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnerships in Learning, 15(1), 25–37. Moir, E., & Hanson, S. (2008). A learning community for teacher induction. In A. P. Samaras A. R. Freese, C. Kosknik, & C. Beck (Eds.), Learning communities in practice (Vol. 4, pp. 155–163.). New York, NY: Springer Science.

228  L. G. Lunsford and E. Ochoa Moore, F. (2006). Multicultural preservice teachers views of diversity and science teaching. Research & Practice in Social Sciences, 1(2), 98–131. Robertson, W. H., Munter, J. H., & Garcia, C. (2006). Science education on the U.S./ Mexico border: Field-based studies for future teachers in bilingual/binational schools. Journal of Praxis in Multicultural Education, 1(1), 44–60. Tan, G. (2001). “I Want My Teachers to Like Me”: Multiculturalism and school dropout rates among Mexican Americans. Equity & Excellence in Education, 34(2), 35–42. U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). U.S. Census Bureau projections show a slower growing, older, more diverse nation a half century from now. Retrieved from https://www. census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb12-243.html Wang, J., & Odell, S. J. (2002). Mentored learning to teach according to standardsbased reform: A critical review. Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 481–546. Waterman, S., & He, Y. (2011). Effects of mentoring programs on new teacher retention: A literature review. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 19(2), 139–156. Wieman, C. (2012). Applying new research to improve science education. Issues in Science and Technology, 1–8.

chapter 15

ENHANCING MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE AND COMMUNITIES THROUGH TRANSFORMATIVE MENTORING WITHIN INTERNATIONAL IMMERSION PROGRAMS Suhyun Suh and John C. Dagley

The American educational system currently faces a number of significant challenges. In recent years, shifting populations have produced a dramatically more diverse student body in terms of race, culture, geography, and ethnicity. At the same time, academic demands have greatly expanded, both in the content of instruction as well as the methods and processes of teaching. These changes have combined to create an extensive and expanding pace of change that schools and students today often find staggering. Within this context, the global economy, unencumbered as in previous generations by national boundaries and corporate career limitations, has encouraged the world’s workers and their families to go “where the jobs are” in pursuit of “boundaryless” careers (Chudzikowski et al., 2009).

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 229–251 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

229

230  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

Consequently, workers are pursuing their life’s work in countries across the globe. No longer are careers comprised of single trajectories as they were in earlier times, at least in America, where students tended to finish school and go to work for a company or large corporation, oftentimes staying on for life, often in the communities where they were born and raised. A relatively high percentage of new employees went to work for very large companies like “Ford,” and “U.S. Steel,” or the local A&P Grocery, the Sears store, or Woolworth’s Five and Dime store. Others just stayed on the farm. Few graduates or dropouts ventured out of their town, county, or state, and even fewer out of their region or country. A career was considered a choice at a single point-in-time. Thus, in earlier generations, change in the world of work and in schools came about at a much slower pace, and rarely in a globally interconnected way as is the case today. Today’s employment picture is quite different around the world, especially in the “developed” countries. Vibrant economies have fueled international investments in all directions. The relative strength of the American economy in recent decades has grown significantly more enticing to international investment. The same is true in the other direction as well. Asian and European economies are attracting a growing number of American investments. The result around the world is a growing internationally mixed workforce. Multicultural Competence: An International Imperative There is no doubt that school systems throughout the United States are continuing to become more ethnically diverse (Constantine, 2002). Immigrants come to America from around the world for a myriad of reasons in a rather continuous flow. One such reason, as briefly alluded to above, is the opportunity for employment. Another reason is also economic in origin, but in a reverse direction of sorts, whereby international businesses are building and opening companies in America, and sending workers to open up and manage, or partially staff, branch operations of these global companies (i.e., Samsung, Hyundai, Sony, Shell, Siemens). Robust economies in South Korea and China have opened up new markets and manufacturing facilities in America, adding significantly to the usual immigration numbers, not just of workers, but also their families, to the point that Asian Americans have become one of the fastest growing segments of the American student population. While some of these new students have thrived in a new home environment and in a different school system, others have not. Unfortunately, a number of these children suffer from severe adjustment

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   231

problems including loneliness, isolation, withdrawal, rejection, anxiety, low self-esteem, and interpersonal distress (Zhou & Siu, 2009). For these and other adjustment issues, educators in America’s schools today can no longer view multicultural competence as a luxury. Nor can they expect the instruction of newly arriving immigrants to become the sole responsibility of language specialists, or teachers of ESL (English as a second language). Multicultural competence needs to become a full-school initiative, not just an occasional need, or the concern of small groups of specialists. It is our contention that today’s educators should set their basic framework upon the philosophy that our entire educational enterprise is multicultural in nature; sociopolitical and historical forces influence our ways of teaching and learning. Therefore, beliefs, values, practices, and worldviews of students and educators,’ as well as ethnicity, culture, race, language, and other dimensions of diversity, need to be factored into our professional training programs (Akos & Ellis, 2008; Arredondo & Arciniega, 2001). Culturally competent educators need to be aware of their personal cultural values and biases, as well as their students’ worldviews. Those who actively attempt to understand their own cultural identity enhance their ability to recognize the potential impact of their thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and beliefs on their relationships with students who come from all kinds of cultural backgrounds, including other countries and continents. By taking this approach, educators can become more comfortable and multiculturally oriented (Akos & Ellis, 2008). Purpose and Overview This chapter focuses on a program designed to foster multicultural competency among school counselors and other educators as a first step in the development of a school-based, community-wide multicultural environment. The program includes an international immersion experience for future school counselors and practicing K–12 educators. Although there is some question as to whether multicultural competencies are different for teachers, administrators, counselors, and students than for the general population, for the most part such fundamental attitudes as openness and commitment to cultural growth and cognitive/affective expansion seem fundamental no matter what one’s profession might be and such competence is important for all those connected to schools and communities, most particularly students (Alexander, Kruczek, & Ponterotto, 2005). Thus, the experiences reported in this chapter should have relevance for all educators.

232  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

An integral element of this program that is often missed when creating international programs is a mentoring program focused on preparing and supporting participants through this journey of change. In this study, the mentoring program was integrated into the entire immersion experience, so although the immersion and mentoring programs are discussed individually, they were integrated parts of a whole and program outcomes are the result of the entire experience. We begin the chapter by defining multicultural competence. This is followed by a description of the elements of successful international immersion programs. The next section presents an overview of our program, including its structure, activities, the framework for the mentoring component, and the manner in which this part of the program was implemented. The research methodology is then described, followed by a report of the findings and a discussion of them. The chapter ends with lessons learned that should help guide readers as they seek to apply the information to their own practice or research. Defining Multicultural Competence Some have articulated a belief that “multicultural competence” is a term that suggests more definitiveness, certainty, and finality than is possible (Dean, 2001; Horne & Mathews, 2006). The term “culture” tends to be used to describe a wide-ranging set of constructs that are always changing because of the relative permeability of boundaries between and among individuals and groups. Therefore, it may be more useful to refer to multicultural competence as a process rather than a product. Defining the construct of multicultural competence as a “process of knowing” reflects a continuous commitment to learning, valuing, and skillfully interacting in increasingly more effective ways. It may seem to some that a preference for a term that reflects a fluid process, rather than an identifiable product is too loose. For us, the commitment to enhancing one’s “multicultural competence” is a process rather than a product. We prefer Laird’s (1998) descriptive term of “informed not-knowers” (p. 30). We want to inspire “informed not-knowers” who are in the process of learning (always), and thereby knowing more. The key is to be “fully interested and open, but always tentative in our knowing, and in what we understand about cultures” (Dean, 2001, p. 629). One of the most fundamental steps in building multicultural competence is to develop an intentional practice of continuously seeking and processing information about the experiences of others. If multicultural competence is a construct that is somewhat difficult to define, it certainly is difficult to measure. In the past, there has been a lack of empirically based information examining how well teachers and school

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   233

counselors are able to work competently with children of various ethnic and international backgrounds (Constantine, 2002). Effective multicultural competencies are virtually impossible to develop through one course or by reading a single textbook. It is our belief that the learning process may start with reading and study, but it must extend outward. Effective multicultural learning programs should be multifaceted, comprised of a wide range of learning vehicles, including practical, direct, and meaningful experiences. Some learning experiences may stretch an educator a bit beyond personal comfort zones, and possibly even involve some communication exchanges that produce temporary discomfort, fear, ambivalence, and even resistance. Those feelings and responses are important parts of the whole process. Research suggests that real interactions and experiences with people from cultures other than one’s own are the most productive. International immersion programs need to be developed to provide professional educators and graduate students with new ways to stretch their global mindsets and frameworks (Alexander et al., 2005). One of the best ways is through an international immersion program. Elements of Successful International Immersion Programs The central focus of a quality international immersion program must be on an international trip to a target country. It is prudent to limit this trip to a single country to give participants the chance to gain first-hand experiences at a level that is as deep and broad as possible in the relatively short time available. While substantive work must be done before and after an actual trip abroad, it is the physical excursion to another country that is most critical. Traveling to a country where the citizens speak a language different than one’s own is a critical step in the implementation of a quality multicultural program. Learning to handle all the challenges that may confront a traveler with limited second-language skills can be an exceptionally formative and impactful experience. Three distinguishing characteristics of high quality international immersion programs include location, participation in a wide variety of experiences, and pre- and postorganizational promotion and integration of the program into local schools and communities. A practical setting means someplace outside one’s physical comfort zone if possible, with the ideal location being another country, as mentioned above. While it is possible to experience multiple cultural perspectives in a single location, it is highly desirable to set up an immersion experience in several locations within a country which has served as the home country for the largest proportion of your target groups. For example, if Asian American students

234  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

comprise a significantly growing percentage of your student population, as it does in our community, then it makes the most sense to locate the immersion experience in one of the countries in Asia, perhaps China, Korea, or Vietnam. Over time, it would be highly desirable to set up experiences in a number of countries that are home-places of students served by educators in local systems. Minimally, these programs need to provide educators an immersion experience in places that are demographically different from schools in the United States. Additionally, international immersion programs should expose educators to several aspects of life that have the potential to have influenced the historical and present life experiences of the children and parents who have become a part of the educators’ home communities. We focused on Korea, South Korea specifically, primarily because our state has attracted a number of Korean companies who have collectively built nearly four dozen manufacturing plants and related company offices here. The International Immersion Program In our initial planning efforts we set as a primary bottom-line goal that we would make a strong effort to provide as many of the diverse experiences (work, leisure, schooling, parenting, culture arts, philosophy, history, and religion) as we could schedule (Alexander et al., 2005), while at the same time retaining at least some free, unplanned time for educators to experience the culture as they wished. To help in the planning and organization of the immersion experience, we surveyed the educators in our local community. Through this approach, we were able to identify five areas of priority interest that seemed to include nearly all of the hundreds of suggestions and requests we received. The core elements that emerged were: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Social/cultural/historical traditions; Family life and educational expectations and involvement; The teaching profession; The educational system—curriculum, instructional approaches, and student-teacher relationships; and

A typical student’s daily life. Thus, we focused our immersion program on these identified areas of interest. The immersion program was developed as a 2-week study abroad program. Seven graduate students and 12 public school teachers, counselors and administrators participated in the program. The travel experience was preceded by a comprehensive program of instruction and a learning activities program offered in the

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   235

form of a three credit hour graduate course for the students and an equivalent number of continuing education units for teachers and administrators. We met with students on campus and conducted off-campus orientation sessions for school personnel bimonthly for 2 hours during the spring semester prior to the 2-week long educational and cultural activities. The meetings focused specifically on many topics of interest, including the areas of interest that emerged from the survey mentioned earlier. Within these categories, all activities and lectures were focused towards the general goal of increasing participants’ knowledge base about the country, Korea. Class topics covered Korean culture, religion, education, history, politics, geology, and any other topics that the participants brought to the class for discussion. Basic Korean language was also taught. An integral part of this whole experience was a mentoring component. Transformative Mentorship and the International Immersion Program Mentoring as a construct is most often applied to the process through which an individual with more experience facilitates the personal growth and professional development of a person with less experience (Funk & Kochan, 1999; Klausmeier, 1994). The general expectation is that the mentor will act as a “safety net” (Reed, Phillips, Parrish, & Shaw, 2002) for the younger and/or less experienced person to allow him or her to stretch and grow in new, unfamiliar ways without the worry of a dangerous “fall.” Beyond age and experience, mentors are also expected to possess considerable interpersonal skills, and supportive attitudes (Bell, 2000). It is important that mentors use these attitudinal and affective competencies to help their mentees grow as persons and as professionals, both affectively and cognitively. Mentoring is a leadership and learnership activity which is done within a relationship; in the end, interpersonal relationships underpin the reception and retention of knowledge (Maughan, 2007). Special knowledge and skill-sets are needed for mentors to be effective in such a context. Psychological comfort and courage are important foundational characteristics for mentors in international immersion programs, primarily because of the possible discomfort of mentees when experiencing new and different events and situations in a country with residents speaking a different language. Intellectual curiosity and openness to experience are important baseline competencies for all international travel team members. Regardless of the form the mentorship takes, it is critical that a mentor serves as a role model for the mentoring relationship to be successful (Barker & Pitts, 1997). The importance of modeling may come from the

236  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

notion that mentoring deals “not only with knowing and doing, but also with the process of becoming” (Kochan & Pascarelli, 2012, p. 186). Kochan and Pascarelli (2012) present mentoring present mentoring as operating within three types of cultural frameworks: traditional culture, transitional culture, and transformational culture. In the traditional cultural framework, mentors transmit established cultural knowledge and practice to mentees to help preserve them for future generations. In the transitional cultural framework, both mentors and mentees grow together as change agents. Within this perspective, both are seen as important contributors to cultural roles and expectations that are changing over time. This type of mentoring goes beyond the traditional form, in that there is a sense of ever-changing shifts in culture. A mentor’s role is not limited to merely transmitting knowledge, but includes keeping pace with continuously evolving beliefs, norms, and practices. In this type of cultural change and evolution, both mentor and mentee experience uneasiness, ambiguity, confusion, and continued questioning. In the transformational cultural framework, both mentors and mentees work together to facilitate cultural change where needed. In this situation, mentor and mentee roles are fluid and focus on continual change and growth. Our mentoring model focuses on this notion of becoming and transformation, so that mentoring also becomes a mechanism for facilitating organizational and community change by influencing the development of individual professionals who are in a position to foster such change. The Mentoring Process Considering the inconsistent research reports on the effect of matching mentoring pairs by demographic factors (Crutcher, 2007; Davis, 2008; Kochan & Pascarelli, 2003; Liang & Grossman, 2007; Rass, 2010; Wales, 2003), early attention in the program planning stages was given to building a leadership team that reflected key leadership characteristics and competencies as well as aspects of the whole travel team, rather than simply reflecting their demographic characteristics. One mentor’s recognized expertise was in group dynamics, and the other mentor’s recognized specialty expertise was in the study of collectivism’s influence on modern life. Both mentors had a passion for contributing to the development of multicultural competencies. Through intensive international immersion experiences, both faculty members modeled a deep appreciation for the cultural aspects of human life, and an appreciation for the growing need for less-experienced, young professionals-in-training to gain international immersion experience for their optimal development as educators. As mentors, we worked with students in whole group, small group, and individual one-on-one sessions.

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   237

Our first step in the mentoring process was to select the participants who would become our mentees. We followed four criteria in our selection. First we chose participants who exhibited a positive view of themselves, showing in their communications a natural, comfortable confidence in their own abilities and in their approach to life. Second, we selected individuals who held similar views of others. In their discussions, they were able to communicate a faith in students’ abilities to learn if they as teachers could find a way to teach. Similar to teacher efficacy, we were screening for a belief in the educational process as a two-way process between teacher and student, with confidence in both. Third, we wanted participants who were open to new experiences. We wanted to avoid perfectionists or those who need a highly controlled and predictable environment. Fourth, we wanted to select individuals who felt “connected” to the world beyond their own specific personal characteristics, in terms of heritage, color, and economic circumstances. Mentoring commenced when we started biweekly orientation sessions in the semester before embarking on the program. These sessions continued throughout the immersion program while we were abroad and did not end until we came back from the trip. We carefully listened to participants’ concerns about taking an international trip to a foreign country located on the other side of the globe. Although they were enthusiastic about the trip, it was clear to us that they were also anxious about flying on a 14 hour-long flight and entering an environment where their communication ability would be limited due to language differences. We needed to address whatever concerns they brought into the predeparture meetings to release their anxiety and to increase their sense of comfort about going into a unknown world. In addition to addressing emotional and psychological issues, we also facilitated meetings to help prepare them for the trip intellectually. Participants studied various aspects of South Korea including the educational systems and students’ school and after-school life and we made ourselves available to answer their questions as needed. They were encouraged to call or e-mail and, if needed, we met in person. While abroad, our mentoring relationships were even more intense. We were available 24/7 as we stayed in the same hotel as the participants and provided an emergency phone number to the mentees. We spent many hours providing one-on-one mentoring to students as needed. .

Cultural Immersion Experiences It is helpful to spend considerable time before an international trip reading about another country, particularly translations of works prized for their historical content, works considered of literary importance to

238  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

a country’s residents, or just stories that have become favorites. Among others that were used in our program, we included a current Korean bestseller, Please Look After Mom, that allowed our team of international travelers opportunities to discuss, in a pretrip Book Club-fashion, apparent intergenerational shifts as well as various issues, insights, and cross-cultural comparisons stimulated by the author (Shin, 2011). The 2-week immersion experience consisted largely of two major types of activities: seminars and field trips. Our biweekly educational meetings continued in a form of intensive 5-day educational seminar sessions conducted in Seoul, Korea. The education sessions were held at two separate universities, one for students and the other for educators for 5 hours per day. For example, students from both countries (United States and Korea) presented preselected topics: career guidance, bullying in schools, special education and rehabilitation counseling, response to intervention (RTI), and other mental health and behavioral issues such as body image and suicide among adolescents. Field trips to various educational, cultural, and historical sites included prearranged learning experiences such as hands-on cooking classes, etiquette classes, pottery classes, and additional historical/ cultural classes on rhythmic drumming, and formal tea-drinking. Special arrangements were also made for visits to several schools (K–12), a number of universities, family homes, Buddhist temples, a mega-church, palaces, museums, traditional villages, the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North Korea and South Korea, and also traditional markets across the country. The basic pedagogical and experiential activities for the travel team focused on intellectual stimulation, practical knowledge-building lectures, attendance and participation in a coordinated series of visits and cultural events that included operas and church services, as well as visits to historical sites and museums, and experiential learning activities (cooking and music lessons). Such approaches are considered effective teaching and learning strategies (Lowe, & Kerr, 1998; Norton, Russell, Wisner, & Uriarte, 2011; Roholt & Fisher, 2013; Schon, 1983). A sample of specific events included: an international colloquium on bullying and discipline in schools; lectures by university professors on schools, students, and curriculum; cooking lessons and music lessons; opera; military zones; government assembly halls; the ancient Confucian scholars’ village; modern classrooms; a river cruise; visits with families; nature walks; fish markets; museums; manufacturing facilities; churches; historic sites; island; technological exhibits; the Olympic site; and classic restaurants. Overview of Research Study Research findings were gleaned from three data sources: student journals, focus groups, and leaders’ observation notes. Participants were instructed

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   239

to write a minimum of one journal entry before and after the trip and eight journal entries during the trip. They were asked to use two guiding questions to reflect on critical incidents that became a learning moment. However, they were also told that they were free to address any other cognitive and emotional experiences if they wished to. The guiding questions were: (1) How did the critical incident make you feel and what impact did these experiences have or are likely to have on your development as a person and a professional? and (2 ) If you were in a position to advocate for the population that you were dealing with in this critical incidence, what actions would you like to take? There were two focus group activities. Participants were organized into three groups. We conducted a focus group session with each of these groups in Korea, after the educational sessions were completed. The second focus group session was conducted as a post-trip activity after the group returned home. Questions addressed included what they had learned, the manner in which they planned to apply their knowledge to Korean and non-Korean students, things that are likely to change in their classrooms, and the greatest benefit of the experience. Focus groups were recorded and transcribed for further analysis. Open coding and the creation of code families were adopted to identify emerging themes from the three data sources. The two researchers independently conducted a qualitative analysis of the journals and the focus group transcripts and used open-coding to identify emergent themes related to students’ assessment of their experiences. Findings Our findings suggest that the international immersion experience, combined with transformational mentoring, was personally impactful for the teachers and counselors. Open coding elicited approximately 60 codes grouped into ten basic themes. These themes include: (a) emotional experiences, (b) increased self-awareness, (c) knowledge of other cultures, (d) recognizing similarities and differences (cultural comparison), (e) insight into text book knowledge through immersion, (f) empathy development, (g) attitudinal change towards international immersion, (h) behavioral changes projected, (i) development of international network (globalizing professional relationship), and (j) once-in-a-life-time, life-changing experience. These are considered in turn below. Theme 1: Emotional experience. Emotional experience was the theme most often expressed by the participants. Participants often started their journal entries with descriptions of emotions that they experienced during the day. Venturing to a foreign country for the first time in their lives, especially to a place located at the other side of the globe where verbal

240  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

communication would be limited because of language difference, seemed to be an “emotional” adventure for many participants. Before departure, throughout the trip, and after the trip, students experienced and shared many emotions on a continuum of fear and anxiety on one end and excitement and astonishment on the other end. Positive emotions outweighed negatives by a large measure. More than any other emotion, participants experienced and described deep feelings of appreciation for the opportunity to be part of the international travel experience. A quick glimpse of the positive emotions experienced was apparent in a simple comparative count of emotional expressions in their journals: Feelings of fear and anxiety were expressed a total of 7 times-positive comparing more than 200 times for positive emotions. They often used the following descriptors: “amazed,” “astonished,” “excited,” “fascinated,” “happy,” “moved,” “enjoyed,” “interesting,” “entertaining,” “surprised,” and “unforgettable.” Theme 2: Increased self-awareness. Engaging and interacting with a culture that is foreign to the participants often caused them to reflect on their pre-existing perceptions and biases. This reflection contributed to the examination of prejudices and biases that they may have held, and then to a realization of the impact that their socialization has had on their worldviews. This realization ultimately helped them alter their views of themselves and the world. The following quote captures the essence of this theme. Dr. A presented today on bullying in South Korea. Although I had not heard about “wangtta” (group bullying) until today, it seems logical to expect that if bullying occurs in a collectivist culture, it would be by a group of bullies rather than by an individual. I guess this shows a bias on my behalf, because I just assumed that bullying would be the same here as it is at home, and that the whole concept was pretty universal.

Theme 3: Confidence and insecurity as variables. It seems there are variables that either promote or hinder the students’ voluntary participation in cross-cultural interactions. A personal characteristic that seemed to serve as a positive internal stimulus was openness to experience, as noted by this participant. Last night we arrived at Youngju Scholar’s Village. We were told many months ago that we would spend the night at a traditional village, highlighted by sleeping on the floor. I was not thrilled to do this, as I am not an “outdoors/camping girl.” But, I do like new experiences, especially those that are once-in-a-lifetime-opportunities.

Theme 4: Knowledge of a second culture. Acquiring knowledge of Korean culture was a highly prized feature of the international immersion experience reported by the participants. They seemed to deeply

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   241

appreciate the opportunities to acquire broader and deeper knowledge about Korea. Experiences included a wide range of learning opportunities related to Korean history including hands-on visits and experiences, lectures on ancient customs, religions, the relationship between North and South Korea, people, religion, music and art, traditions, food, life styles, educational systems, and social issues related to mental health. One participant said after her visit to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and joint security area (JSA), As a former World Geography teacher, every spring my students studied North and South Korea briefly, but I made sure to include a discussion about the DMZ to the best of my knowledge and include videos to further expand their understanding of the conflict surrounding the creation of the DMZ. This same information I shared with my classmates prior to our departure, as I knew we would visit the area. However, I do not believe that reading about the area and watching videos fully prepared me for the visit. Actually seeing the two countries’ soldiers and having to observe the various rules of the areas actualized the assertion that this is indeed the most dangerous border in the world. It was very frightening to stand on the actual line of demarcation between the two countries and know that at any point fighting could resume, as the Korean War was officially not over.

A participant described her new understanding of the Korean society. One thing that surprised her was that she felt so safe. Another comment was about Korean’s attitudes towards education. I never would have thought that there exists a modern society that has a low crime and drug rate, and a high respect for their culture and ancestry; a society that values education and is willing to work hard and make sacrifices to achieve a high standard of education…. Some of the most shocking information I absorbed on the trip related to the Korean SAT-type test. The stakes of this test and the pressure on students to excel on it are overwhelming. My heart goes out to these children who study tirelessly in preparation for this assessment that will determine the course of their future. The value Koreans place on education seems to have its pros and cons. It was interesting to hear educators and students refer to “academic fever” and its absurdity. As we shared the difference of priorities within the United States, we all agreed that a balance between the two extremes would be ideal for the overall well-being of children. The sacrifices that Koreans parents make for their children are inspiring.

Theme 5: Recognizing similarities and differences. Participants recognized similarities between the two cultures as well as differences through the immersion experience. Reassurance regarding the universality of human life provided relief and confidence for some participants, who highlighted and tried to stress how people are more alike than they are different. Nevertheless, more differences than similarities caught participating students’ attention. Among many others, the participants identified

242  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

differences in education, people’s behaviors in troubled situations, and government policymaking. The participants observed differences between the two countries’ attitudes to education in both its quality and focus. Another big difference that was identified by the participants was the time it took for the government to respond to a crisis situation in the society. Reflecting on a lecture that was given in one of the educational sessions, one participant stated that: Dr. A mentioned the recent legislation on bullying that South Korea just passed. I find it phenomenal how quickly and efficiently the government handles things here. He said that they had one instance where a student committed suicide at the end of 2011, and by the beginning of 2012, the new law against bullying went into effect. The U.S. has yet to really address the issue of bullying, yet we have kids killing themselves nearly every day.

Theme 6: Insight into text book knowledge. It was clear that through the immersion experience many participants experienced that what they had learned in many classes, including the class Counseling Diverse Populations, came alive through living in another culture. It was as if puzzle pieces fell into place and made the process of making sense of it easy. As one student stated: You can preach that and say it, but this experience, like, proved to me the words that I was saying and it made me a believer of what I had been saying all along. And it wasn’t so much just like reading some articles for classes and for the trip. For educators, counselors, teachers, whomever, having a chance to be immersed in another culture is really important; that’s the greatest teacher for diverse populations and multicultural counseling; it’s the greatest teacher ever because it goes beyond just the population that you’re dealing with but just various people, period. It teaches you how to work with various people and be accepting and be open to people that are different from you.

Theme 7: Empathy development. Participants reported their own development of empathy for the international student populations and English language learners. Through the immersion experience, the participants are now more able to put themselves into newcomer’s shoes. I have a better understanding of what people are looking for when they come to America and what they’re missing when they’re coming to America. So if I’m working with certain students, especially Korean students and education is just as strong in China as well, I know how to find resources in the community to help support them and give them the extra things that they need and explain to better communicate with their teachers and other faculty and staff members what the parents and the students are looking for and really to just have to dig deeper to what people are looking for like

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   243 what’s really missing here; not only think about my point of view, but other people’s point of view, as well.

Interestingly one participant also said that this trip had allowed her to not only be tolerant of people of different cultures but of “all people period, most importantly Americans and their differences.” “As a future counselor,” she continued, “I know I will encounter working with a variety of different students and families, so it’s important to me that I am accepting and understanding of all people.” Theme 8: Attitudinal change towards international immersion. This global study experience inspired participants’ future travel plans. Said one participant: I can definitely say that after the experience of this whole trip it has encouraged me to really just want to travel to other countries and really get to know other cultures so I can understand them on a personal level cause now when it comes to Korean people I understand why they work so hard; I understand why they want to be the top because this is what they were brought up as. For me it’s like every year I need to go out of the country and learn about another culture. We gotta plan that, everybody.

A participant longed to travel abroad, not only for her personal desires, but for transformative reasons. She wanted to set a model for her future students to follow. Many children, especially those in urban school systems, have never traveled abroad or even traveled outside of their state or region of the United States. Also, many urban children will not ever have the opportunity to travel abroad…. I will be able to tell my students, “Hey! I’ve been there and have really seen that!”

Theme 9: Projected transformational changes. Participants discussed what they would like to accomplish once they begin to work as school counselors thanks to the experience that they had abroad. Examples of actions they came up included the following: Advocate for new equipment and technology in schools, develop school-wide multicultural events, implement multicultural classroom guidance activities, and help multicultural competency development among schools’ stakeholders. One participant highlighted the role of technology in education and her desire to advocate for the provision of advanced technology in schools: The American educational system is in need of serious reform. America prides itself on being a major superpower in terms of technological advancements. However, today’s visit demonstrated how far behind the curve America really is and will remain … if it does not make a better commitment to educating its youth. As a school counselor, I will

244  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley encourage not only my principal to use school funds in a way that supports equipping our students with the technology and skills to compete globally, but I will petition educational administrators and lawmakers on the local, state, and if necessary national level to do this as well. As an educator, even in the capacity of a counselor, it is my duty, along with other educators, to ensure that our students are prepared to live and thrive in an ever-changing technological world.

Another participant, who observed the educational system in Korea, expressed her desire to work “as a school counselor in promoting the total development of students while also motivating a child’s entire family to get involved in that child’s academic matriculation.” In order to enhance a positive school climate that is responsive to multicultural student populations, another participant expressed her desire, as a school counselor, to “recommend an international week that highlights the various ethnic groups and countries represented in the school.” As a way to enhance a positive school climate that is responsive to the multicultural composition of today’s American schools, one participant wanted to create a guidance lesson that “demonstrates the “alikeness” of the people of the world” to avoid unnecessary conflicts while collaborating for common goals. Another emphasized the importance of helping students revisit their heritage to develop pride in themselves, saying After today’s activities, I have realized that it is important to teach our children about their cultural traditions while also exposing them to traditional activities of other cultures. This will instill a sense of pride in students about their own heritage while simultaneously promote awareness, appreciation, and sensitivity of other cultures. I believe I will be able to do this by having students research their ethnicity (Irish American, Indian American, Nigerian American, etc.) and share their findings and cultural traditions at a traditional cultures festival.

Another stressed the importance of working not only with students but also with stakeholders: This experience encouraged me to promote diversity awareness and cultural sensitivity not only with my students, but all stakeholders within my school community - teachers, administrators, parents, and community leaders. I want those that I work with day in and day out to be culturally competent in all of their interactions because all humans are the same and the few differences between us should be celebrated and embraced.

Theme 10: Once-in-a-lifetime, life-changing experience. As a whole, the participants reported that this international immersion program provided them with a personally powerful experience. As was indicated earlier in this chapter, just immersing oneself in a different country, especially within a highly organized and structured program that provides diverse educational, cultural, and social opportunities for the participants

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   245

can be a springboard for transforming cultures. Some experiences are so life-changing that they inspire participants to new levels of understanding, awareness, personal strengths, and new commitments for transforming people and environments. The trip experience served as a reference point for the development of participants after coming back home. A participant wrote in her posttrip journal that I remember sometimes at night feeling like I didn’t have enough time to write in my journal because, I mean I would be completely exhausted. But even now I still have random thoughts where I’ll get a new thought or idea from that trip and it’s like oh I should have written that in my journal. Like something that happened today that’ll make me think of something in Korea, then I’ll put the two together. So it’s like every day I’m learning from it. Even then I couldn’t have come up with everything to put in my journal because every day is still inspiring me in so many different ways.

Travelers clearly realized the transformative character of the trip and the mentoring relationships with the professors that prepared and supported the change, which was far beyond tourism. Cause in all honesty it was tiring, but I appreciated the structure, because the fact of the matter is for me to go to other countries and do other things, but I will never have that full immersion; the way that I did during this experience. I mean I can always save money and go back to Korea and go shopping again or go eat at another restaurant, but to get the experiences that we got while we were there is really once in a lifetime, priceless, it can’t be replaced in anyway shape or form. Because I look forward to going and visiting different countries, but I know that I won’t get that full experience like I did in South Korea; because we visited different parts of the country and then we got to go to another culture, so I mean it was amazing.

Discussion Through this study we found three critical issues related to implementing a short-term international immersion program. First and foremost, it is clear that a short-term international immersion program combined with focused, consistent mentoring is effective in providing transforming experience for participating graduate students. Participating students reported that it was an eye-opening, life-changing experience. They showed improvement in all three areas of multicultural counseling competencies: awareness, knowledge, and skills. They were able to better understand their worldviews as well as worldviews that are different from theirs. They were able to learn about Korean people and their historical, social, cultural, and

246  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

religious contexts from which they are coming and identify the similarities and differences. Their textbook knowledge came to life and gave them insights into multicultural issues. The participants were able to identify faulty preconceptions and erroneous superficial knowledge about Korea, and Korean people, and develop positive image of Koreans. They were able to see the difference of two cultures with informed perspective rather than a product of a judgmental lens produced by an ethnocentric, monocultural perspective. They had a direct experience of becoming a member of a minority who felt helpless without getting help from the member of the community who can speak Korean. All was new to them and they learned how frustrating it is to adjust a foreign society. This international immersion program placed the participants in a position of experiencing a variety of emotions; thus, it helped them to become more empathetic with internationals living in America. As a result, they reported changes in their attitudes and behaviors towards global issues as well as educational and social issues facing international minorities in their home country. They also expressed their appreciation for developing international professional networks and their willingness to explore more cultures by traveling abroad. At the end it became clear that the students had become more appreciative of different cultures in general, and had raised their consciousness of self and their own culture. Particularly, as future school counselors, they have been trained to work with school systems on several levels to change the school climate, and to work with other community stakeholders. Their development of multicultural competency is well-aligned with comprehensive school counseling (e.g., ASCA) model standards, and with international immersion programs. Overall, program components and processes were successfully shaped for participating students to produce meaningful and productive outcomes. The results are not a surprise given that many scholars have envisioned international immersion programs as critical medium to cultural competency development for helping professionals. Participation in this program helped some participants go beyond stretching their global mindsets and framework, to the point of making actual plans on how to change (transform) the school environment as future school counselor or present educator. This seemed to demonstrate that a short-term international immerging program could be effective in developing competencies, and also in bringing institutional change in the campus climate as well as the revamping and redirecting the curriculum toward more of a multicultural agenda (Sue & Sue, 2013). In short, such a program can indeed result in a school system and community becoming a richer, more multicultural environment (Davidson, Waldo, & Adams, 2006).

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   247

Lessons Learned The students shared that even though they are willing to take more international excursions in the future, they expressed concerns that those trips would not have as much impact on them as this carefully planned program. Perhaps future program coordinators can build around the significant structural foundations of this immersion experience, at least to the degree that organizers find it possible. The program components can be largely categorized into five domains (a) a semester long predeparture orientation, (b) educational sessions with Korean graduate students and faculty at a Korean university, (c) social hours with Korean peers, (d) educational, historical, and cultural site visits, and (e) transformative mentoring. Multicultural counseling competency development of school counselorsin-training has been a goal of counselor educators for some time. In fact, all counseling programs that are CACREP accredited provide multicultural counseling competency training to their students by either offering an independent course or incorporating its contents into diverse courses provided in the program, or by adopting both approaches. In order for those courses to be effective in helping students to develop multicultural counseling competencies, Buskist and Groccia (2011) suggest that such courses should include the following components:(a) a consciousness-raising component, (b) an affective/experiential component, (c) a knowledge component, and (d) a skills component. Sue and Sue (2013) also postulated that “lived experience” should be used to supplement knowledge acquired through readings and lectures to better understand culturally different perspectives of people from different cultures. According to Kolb’s experiential learning model when these first-hand experiences are followed by reflection activities, it can promote the formation of noble knowledge through the process of analysis and synthesis of previously retained and newly acquired information (Sugarman, 1985). Along with the emerging force for the internationalization of counseling and education then, along with an ever-expanding globalization movement across the globe, the time seems to have arrived to strongly encourage study-abroad programs to provide students with cultural immersion experiences to increase their knowledge, awareness and skills (Ng, Choudhuri, Noonan, & Ceballos, 2012). The results of this study are very promising. However, in order to provide convincing evidence for the effectiveness of short-term international immersion programs, more rigorous studies should be conducted. Our findings also suggest that the transformative mentoring model integrated into this immersion program served as a powerful model for changing a community. We started with the assumption that if you want to change a community, it is best to build on the foundation of schools serving that community. We also started with an assumption that an International

248  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley

Immersion Program can best be built on a strong foundation constructed by having its contractors (teachers and counselors) experience the safety and instructional support that can best be provided by experienced mentors. The mentoring model of program development enabled participants to reach out to the community in a way that is constructed on the basis of personal experience, and with courage and confidence that they can make a positive difference in their communities. Transformative mentoring has the power to move what was once referred to as Study Abroad programs to more impactful “International Immersion” experiences. Participants can then benefit from deep foundational experiences upon which they can build new partnerships with community leaders, new corporate partners representing all corners of the globe and, of course, students and teachers. Based on the current corporate-sponsored International Immersion Program, international corporations would rather support effective cultural programs that enhance communities’ and their workers’ lives, than be asked to add to communities’ general governmental funds. In this way, International immersion experiences can go beyond individual participants to become genuine transforming communities. The teachers and counselors who participated in this program used this to introduce cultural enrichment programs and activities into their schools that have a chance, over time, to transform our communities, beyond providing employment opportunities and simple artistic performances. Our teachers and counselors began changing our community, and especially our schools, immediately upon their return, and continue to do so. For example, one teacher developed a new understanding of why the little international student in her kindergarten class was “unable” to look at her directly when she was trying to give him positive assurance of her appreciation of him. No longer will she say “please look at me” because she understands at a deeper level how some international customs and traditions discourage such an action by young children. The transformative part of this experience lay in the fact that this teacher taught her entire cohort of teachers, sharing her new awareness of that custom and many others like it. Similarly, after learning how much parental involvement there is Korean schools, teachers in our communities’ schools built new partnerships with individual parents and with groups of parents. In turn, these partnerships led eventually to new international festivals at schools to introduce students, teachers, and community members to “traditional” foods and celebrations that were otherwise not readily available in our community. Teachers and counselors are exemplary transformative mentors. Few adults in a community can touch so many parts of the community, and affect so many lives on a regular basis as teachers and counselors. The future, in many ways, will belong to those who would have learned how to appreciate and interact with people throughout the world. Global

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   249

interconnections will develop more quickly and more substantively in schools and communities with transformational mentors. QUESTIONS FOR REFECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. What group or group in your organization or cultural context is being excluded and how could mentoring activities be a part of changing that situation? 2. What kinds of structural systems might you put into place that would encourage you to serve as a transformative force in your school, and then in your community? Identify a core group of fellow transformative mentors who could serve each other as a board of planners to implement some of your short-range goals: who might be included—some of your fellow travelers? 3. How might you introduce adults and children from other cultures and countries to experience a part of your culture of which you’re particularly proud? References Akos, P., & Ellis, C. M. (2008). Racial identity development in middle school: A case for school counselor individual and systemic intervention. Journal of Counseling & Development, 86(1), 26–33. Alexander, C. M., Kruczek, T., & Ponterotto, J. G. (2005). Building multicultural competencies in school counselor trainees: An international immersion experience. Counselor Education & Supervision, 44(4), 255–266. Arredondo, P., & Arciniega, G. M. (2001). Strategies and techniques for counselor training based on the multicultural counseling competencies. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 29(4), 263–273. Barker, R. T., & Pitts, M. W. (1997). Graduate students as mentors: An approach for the undergraduate class project. Journal of Management Education, 21(2), 221–232. Bell, C. R. (2000). The mentor as a partner. Training & Development, 54(2), 52–57. Buskist, W., & Groccia, J. (2011). Evidence-based teaching: Now and in the future. New Directions for Teaching & Learning, 128, 105–111. doi:10.1002/tl.463. Chudzikowski, K., Demel, B., Mayrhofer, W., Briscoe, J., Unite, J., Milikic, B. B., ... Zikic, J. (2009). Career transitions and their causes: A country-comparative perspective. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 82(4), 825– 849. doi:10.1349/096317909X474786 Constantine, M. G. (2002). Racism attitudes, white racial identity attitudes, and multicultural counseling competence in school counselor trainees. Counselor Education & Supervision, 41(3), 162–174.

250  S. Suh and J. C. Dagley Crutcher, B. N. (2007). Mentoring across cultures, Academe Online, 93(4), 44–48. Retrieved from www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2007/JA?Feat/crut. htm Davidson, M. M., Waldo, M., & Adams, E. L. (2006). Promoting social justice through preventive interventions in schools. In R. L. Toporek, L. H. Gerstein, N. A. Fouad, G. Roysircar, & T. Israel (Eds.), Handbook for social justice in counseling psychology (pp. 117–129). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Davis, D. J. (2008). Mentorship and the socialization of underrepresented minorities into the professoriate: examining varied influences. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 16(3), 278–293. Dean, R. G. (2001). The myth of cross-cultural competence. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 82, 623–630. Funk, F. F., & Kochan, F. K. (1999). Profiles in mentoring: Perspective from female school and university voyagers. In C. Mullen & D. Lick (Eds.), New directions in mentoring: Creating a culture of synergy (pp. 87–103). New York, NY: Falmer Press. Horne, S. G., & Mathews, S. S. (2006). A social justice approach to international collaborative consultation. In R. L. Toporek, L. H. Gerstein, L. H., N. A. Fouad, G. Roysircar, & T. Israel (Eds.), Handbook for social justice in counseling psychology: Leadership, vision, and action (pp. 388–405). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Klausmeier, R. L. (1994, Sept/Oct). Responsibilities and strategies of successful mentors. Clearing House, 68(1), 27–29. Kochan, F. K., & Pascarelli, J. T. (2003). Culture, context, and issues of change related to mentoring programs and relationships. In F. K. Kochan & F., & J. T. Pascarelli (Eds.), Global perspectives on mentoring: Transforming contexts, communities, and cultures. through mentoring (pp. 417–428). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. Kochan, F. K., & Pascarelli, J. T. (2012). Culture and mentoring in the global age. In S. Fletcher & C. A. Mullen (Eds.), Handbook of mentoring and coaching in education (pp. 184–198). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Laird, J. (1998). Theorizing culture: Narrative ideas and practice principles. In M. McGoldrick (Ed.), Re-visioning family therapy (pp. 20–36). New York, NY, Guilford. Liang, B., & Grossman, J. M. (2007). Diversity and youth mentoring relationships. In T. D. Allen, & L. T. Eby (Eds.), The Blackwell handbook of mentoring: A multiple perspectives approach (pp. 239–258). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Lowe, P. B., & Kerr, C. M. (1998). Learning by reflection: The effect of educational outcomes. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27(5), 1030–1033. Maughan, B. D. (2007). Mentoring among scientists: Implications of interpersonal relationships within a formal training program. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 68(6-A), 2007, 2881. Ng, K., Choudhuri, D. D., Noonan, B. M., & Ceballos, P. ( 2012). An internalization competency checklist for American counseling training programs. International Journal for Advancement of Counselling, 34, 19–38. Norton, C. L., Russell, A., Wisner, B., & Uriarte, J. (2011). Reflective teaching in social work education: Findings from a participatory action study. Social Work Education, 30(4), 392–407.

Enhancing Multicultural Competence and Communities   251 Rass, R. A. (2010). The new teacher induction programme in Bedouin schools in the Negev, Israel, Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 36(1), 35–55. Reed, C., Phillips, A. L., Parrish,T., & Shaw, L. C. (2002). Joint reflections on mentoring: Creating a legacy of care. In F. K. Kochan (Ed.). The organizational and human dimensions of successful mentoring across diverse settings (pp. 103–115). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. Roholt, R. V., & Fisher, C. (2013). Expect the unexpected: International short-term study course pedagogies and practices. Journal of Social Work Education, 49, 48–65. doi:10.1080/10437797.2013.755416 Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books. Shin, K.-S. (2011). Please look after mom. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2013). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Sugarman, L. (1985). Kolb’s model of experiential learning: Touchstone for trainers, students, counselors and clients. Journal of Counseling & Development, 64(4), 264–268. Wales, S. (2003). Breaking barriers in business: Coaching women for career advancement in the United Kingdom. In F. K. Kochan, & J. T. Pascarelli (Eds.), Global perspectives on mentoring: Transforming contexts, communities, and cultures (pp. 165–186). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. Zhou, Z., & Siu, C. R. (2009). Promoting cultural competence in counseling Asian American children and adolescents. Psychology in the Schools, 46(3), 290–298.

chapter 16

A CULTURE OF TRUST OR AN IDEOLOGY OF DISTRUST Comparing Finnish and Swedish Educational Culture and the Impact on National Mentoring Approaches Göran Fransson

Uncovering the cultural dynamics in mentoring is the theme of this book. This ingenious title titillates the imagination and awakens curiosity, but at the same time includes a number of challenges. For instance, what are cultural dynamics, and what kinds of approaches are relevant when trying to uncover the hidden and often taken-for-granted assumptions that are part of a culture? This chapter seeks to address these issues. Its purpose is to uncover how culturally embedded norms, values, relations, and prerequisites operate in national government developed and controlled mentoring systems by connecting policy development and implementation to cultural processes. The research into policy implementation is minimal (Fransson & McMahan, 2013), so this approach adds to the scant body of literature on this topic and will help enable the reader to see policy in action through a cultural lens. I do this by contrasting the case of Sweden

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 253–271 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

253

254  G. Fransson

with that of Finland. Although these neighboring Nordic countries have a great deal in common, their educational systems have taken different directions, especially with regard to the mentoring of new teachers (Aspfors, Fransson, & Heikkinen, 2012; Bjerkholt & Hedegaard, 2008). These differing approaches to mentoring are largely culturally embedded and are the result of specific social, cultural, educational, philosophical, and political conditions. I will analyze these culturally embedded preconditions for mentoring at a macrolevel rather than a microlevel, which typically examines such things as how culture influences the concrete conversation between mentor and mentee and is more often the focus of mentoring research. Before describing the cases of Finland and Sweden, I will highlight the dynamics of culture at a conceptual level to provide a framework for understanding the comparisons and the conclusions reached. The Dynamic of Culture McDaniel, Samovar, and Porter (2012) state that culture encompasses “shared values, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, norms, material objects, and symbolic resources” (pp. 10–11). These aspects are shared by specific groups that are defined and delimited by age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, class, religion, occupation, organizations, or association (e.g., the teenage culture) (Savage, 2007). In this sense, culture is how members of a specific group create and share a common understanding of the world (Hall, 1997). There can be overall principles of culture and, within this, subcultures with different values, beliefs, and behavior. For instance, it is possible to talk about the culture of sport, but also about the specific norms, values, and behaviors that construe the culture of a specific sport, such as football (Finn & Giulianotti, 2000). In educational contexts, there could be an overall educational culture at the national level, whereas at the school level the existence of specific norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors could construe specific school cultures that influence the lives of teachers and pupils alike (Kennedy, 2000; Meier, 2012). Thus, to borrow McDaniel, Samovar, and Porter’s (2012) words: “culture is the rules for living and functioning in society” (p. 11, italics in original). Different concepts of mentoring have been identified within diverse cultural settings. For instance, Wang, Strong, and Odell (2004) demonstrate how culturally embedded norms, curriculum structures, and ways of organizing teaching and mentoring create different foci and forms of mentoring conversation among mentor-mentee pairs in different countries. More specifically, Wang (2001), when comparing mentors’ beliefs in China, the United States, and the United Kingdom, found that curriculum and assessment policy in each country contributed to conceptual commonalties

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   255

among the mentors. Thus, overall structural regulations and norms – cultures—construed specific beliefs among mentors (Wang, 2001). In another professional field, business, mentoring in the United States is often performed by a superior with power and influence, who sometimes also expects favors. The mentee’s career and position in the organization is often emphasized before his/her learning. If we take the cultural setting of the Scandinavian countries, in general, it is the mentee’s learning that is emphasized, and the mentor is seldom in a superior or power position regarding the mentee (Clutterbuck, 1998). While the aspects that construe what we call culture—the shared values, attitudes, beliefs, behavior, norms, material objects, symbolic resources, and so on—impact mentoring programs and relationships, it is important to note, that these cultural elements are not fixed and stable (Hall, 2007). On the contrary, they are construed, negotiated, and renegotiated in human interactions and are thus always in the process of transformation. These transformations evolve in a tension between stability and change. Therefore, while some powers strive to maintain the status quo, others challenge this resistance. Within the mentoring domain, culture has either been recognized as an activity that deals with the tension between socializing newcomers into the existing culture, or as an activity for development and change (cf. Bullough, 2012; Fletcher & Mullen, 2012). Kochan and Pascarelli (2012) and Kochan (2013) offer the cultural mentoring framework as an analytical tool for examining cultural aspects of mentoring in terms of three mentoring constructs: traditional, transitional, and transformative. The purpose of the traditional construct is to transmit the existing culture to newcomers, thus recognizing cultural norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors as timeless and appropriate. The underlying foundation of the transitional construct is changing and reconstructing of norms and behaviors, mixing present traditions with new ones to create modifications and joint understandings of possibilities. For example, changing the preconditions, such as changing teachers’ tasks or emphasizing certain perspectives of teaching and learning, may lead mentors to modify some processes and messages. Mentor and mentee both bring ideas to the situation and we find examples of this in efforts to move towards constructivist pedagogy (Orland-Barak, 2005) or in mentoring to develop micropolitical skills (Achinstein, 2006). The rationale of the transformative construct is, according to Kochan and Pascarelli (2012), to move beyond the transitional construct by questioning norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors, and in this way, contribute to cultural change. In a transformative construct, mentoring may take the shape of networking and learning communities with evolving and transforming roles that challenge and change the concepts of mentoring, for instance

256  G. Fransson

into “musing” (p. 195). This framework offers insights into the different aspects of (possible) cultures and the dynamic of cultures, that is, the mechanisms for how culture changes, evolves, and may be challenged. Thus, the changing preconditions for educational systems and new aspects and ideas all become intertwined with the cultural conditions, and results in culturally-bound outcomes. These insights are important to bear in mind when considering the descriptions and analyses of the two cases presented here. The Approaches to Mentoring in Finland and Sweden— A Brief Overview Before describing, comparing and problematizing the cultures of education in Sweden and Finland, and discussing these two cultures’ very different approaches to mentoring, I would like to highlight a number of issues. I am reminded of the fact that every historical description is dependent on the perspective from which it is (re)told. In other words, in every description—historical or situational—it is possible to identify, but also construe, different descriptions and “narratives” depending on the backdrop, the foreground, what is emphasized, what is downplayed (or not mentioned at all), and the time at which a narrative is (re)told (Bansel, 2013; Chan, Keyes, & Ross, 2012). In addition, it is almost impossible to describe educational systems in a way that does justice to the complexities of all the factors that influence the system, such as historical, cultural, pedagogical, philosophical issues or legislation, norms, values, and patterns of actions. Thus, a reductionist perspective is inevitable. This is something that every author needs to handle with care, in order to avoid overemphasizing some aspects or downplaying others. In this chapter I have tried to be as balanced as possible. In Finland, the mentoring of new teachers came into major focus in 2010 with the launching of the national program, Osaava Werme, which was funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, and is a part of the wider Osaava Ohjelma program for teachers’ in-service education. Local councils and teacher education institutions cooperate in the Osaava Werme program and mentoring is organized as peer-group mentoring (PGM) (Heikkinen, Jokinen & Tynjälä, 2012).1 In practical terms, mentoring is organized in groups of 4–10 early career teachers in their first to fifth year. In any one academic year, they participate in six to eight seminars lasting from 1.5 to 3 hours that are facilitated by an experienced and specially trained teacher. This program, which is voluntary, has evolved out of

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   257

research and a series of pilot projects and action research programs (e.g., Heikkinen, Jokinen, & Tynjälä, 2008; Heikkinen, Jääskela, Kärkkäinen & Kitola; Jokinen & Välijärvi, 2003, 2006). In the early 2000s the first pilot projects on mentoring were based on classical one-to-one-mentoring, but gradually mentoring became organized in groups and in 2006–2010 several action research projects led to the development of the model that came to become conceptualized as peer-group mentoring (Heikkinen, Jokinen, & Tynjälä, 2012). In one of these action research projects, the Werme program, the groups include both early career teachers and more experienced teachers. In contrast, the Osaava Werme program focuses on early career teachers from different schools and with different subject skills. In Sweden, the mentoring of new teachers came about as a result of the Swedish Parliament’s decision in 2011 to implement a teacher registration reform and a mandatory probation year for new teachers. The reform requires new teachers to have a mentor, and to be evaluated as to whether he/she is competent enough to be registered. From 2011–2014, principals performed this evaluation by following the relevant national standards.2 A new organizational body called the teachers’ responsibility board has been set up that has the right to withdraw a teacher’s registration or issue warnings. When it comes to mentoring, one-to-one mentoring is emphasized in the policy documents (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011). The idea of implementing mentoring for newly qualified teachers is not new in Sweden. In 1995, a national agreement (ÖLA, 2000) was reached between the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and the two teachers’ unions (the National Union of Teachers in Sweden and the Swedish Teachers’ Union). One of the components of the agreement was that newly qualified teachers would have the right to be supported by a mentor and to participate in an induction program. However, while in some municipalities carefully prepared induction systems emerged, in other municipalities more ad hoc solutions materialized, and in some municipalities very little happened at all. These two different approaches to the organization of mentoring—the Finnish peer-group mentoring approach, which includes teacher input and the Swedish mandatory national approach—could be seen as the result of educational approaches rooted in different historical, cultural, and political conditions. Thus, the overall culture of education is a major concern for those involved in an educational system, and also for the development of the system and its parts. The culture of education will be elaborated on in the following comparative analyses of the Finnish and Swedish educational systems, with a special focus on cultural aspects and their impact on the development of the two different approaches to mentoring.

258  G. Fransson

Recognition, Social Position and Professional Autonomy Both Finland and Sweden are recognized as well-developed welfare states. At an overall level, the countries have a lot in common when it comes to matters like political aims, policies, and influence (Oftedal Telhaug, Asbjørn Mediås, & Aasen, 2006). Being a welfare state impacts the educational system, sets good preconditions for children, and is highlighted as one of the reasons why Finland has performed so well in international comparative studies, such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) (OECD, 2010; Sahlberg, 2011). In both Finland and Sweden, the idea of equality and social justice within a welfare state has been a guiding principle. This creates a culture of care for and commitment to children. However, in this case, Finland seems to have developed the idea that everyone should have the same opportunities. In Finland, there is very little difference between “low- and high-performing” pupils (OECD, 2004, 2010), whereas in Sweden, pupils’ social background is regarded as related their results. From an international perspective, the differences in results between Swedish schools have been rather small, although this appears to be changing. In fact, in the last 20 years, the difference in the results between Swedish schools has doubled (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2013). The culture of education that determines the mentoring approaches is also highly influenced by a country’s history, especially in the Finnish case. Finland only emerged as an independent nation in 1917, after the Russian Revolution and a bitter civil war. Participating in the Second World War, and living under the threat of invasion from the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, had a great cultural impact. Thus, the issue of building a nation and a national identity has been very important for the Finns. Education is considered an essential part of this nation building, and teachers have been recognized as transmitters of the Finnish culture and identity (Sahlberg, 2012). As a result, teachers in Finland are now held in high regard and “the Finnish parental corps and general culture is very positive towards education” (Nyroos, Korhonen, Linnanmäki, & Svens-Liavåg, 2012, p. 627). Teachers are trusted and have a wide decisionmaking authority (Auguste, Kihn, & Miller, 2010; Sahlberg, 2010). They also have a high degree of professional autonomy and are responsible for their own professional development. Traditional, compulsory in-service training has been downsized in favor of school- or municipality-based programs or individually designed opportunities for learning. Thus, the culture of professionalization and professionalism has been anchored,

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   259

and professional development is seen as a right rather than an obligation (OECD, 2010). Although this high level of autonomy has many advantages, it may also have some disadvantages. For example, it has been identified as creating a culture of individuality rather than one of sharing (Wågsås Afdal & Nerland, 2012), which in some respects can lead to different outcomes and requirements among schools in evaluations (Sahlberg, 2007). This autonomy may mean that Finnish teachers do not always cooperate and collaborate with one another in the most effective way (Jokinen & Välijärvi, 2006). This could be problematic, since education policies in Finland are focused on school rather than teacher effectiveness, which requires collaboration among teachers to succeed (Sahlberg, 2013). Against this cultural backdrop, the Finnish approach of peer-group mentoring appears to be a logical way of bringing teachers together with the ambition of creating and facilitating learning communities, rather than implementing one-to-onementoring as is done in Sweden.3 Swedish teachers do not appear to have the same degree of social standing as those in Finland. In Finland, teachers have a status that is in line with that of lawyers and doctors. In Sweden, in a ranking of the 100 most respected occupations, upper-secondary teachers are positioned in 44th place, and teachers in compulsory secondary school in 52nd place, while physicians are ranked in second and lawyers in fifth place (Ulfsdotter Eriksson, 2006). This is also reflected in teacher education. In Finland, admittance to teacher education is highly competitive, and only about 10% of the applicants are accepted for teacher education at the primary school level (Sahlberg, 2012), while in Sweden almost every applicant is accepted. There is thus a high degree of trust in the 5-year long Finnish teacher education program, which since the 1970s has led to a master’s degree. In comparison, Swedish teacher education has—rightly or wrongly—been a target in the “blame game” for the declining results in the Swedish educational system. So, while Finnish teachers are highly respected, Swedish teachers and the Swedish educational system have been under systematic attack over the last 2 decades, mainly from neoliberal positions. Although Finland has performed very well in international comparative studies like PISA and TIMSS (OECD, 2010), the Swedish results are perceived as mediocre and in some respects are deteriorating (Ringarp & Rothland, 2010). This has led to a more polarized educational debate in Sweden than in Finland. An analysis of public opinion on education shows that in Finland there is almost no political polarization. In Sweden, public opinion is polarized in that supporters of the Social Democratic Party and “left-wing-voters” are mostly positive toward the educational system (Fladmoe, 2012). However, since 2006, when a center-right coalition government came to power in

260  G. Fransson

Sweden, the degree of polarization seems to have decreased somewhat. This may be a result of the critique of the educational systems during the 21st century and the fact that the Social Democratic Party’s school policy has “moved to the right” (cf. Ringarp & Rothland, 2010). The change of government is one result of “the move to the right” in Swedish politics. This ideological positioning frames mentoring within a specific type of culturally embedded norms, values, and structural prerequisites. This will be elaborated on further in the next section. Neoliberalism, New Public Management, and Reform Development Sweden is not the only country in which neoliberal ideology and rhetoric has become more prominent. Over the past 30 years, it has become a dominant global ideology, emphasizing, among other things, a free market for education and critiques of the teaching profession and teacher education. Perspectives such as accountability, competitiveness, and performativity have also become stronger globally (Compton & Weiner 2008; Sleeter, 2008). This ideological shift, its bureaucratic consequences and its steering model, which is sometimes referred to as new public management (NPM), has been implemented in Sweden to a very high degree (Dyrdal Solbrekke & Englund, 2011; Lundahl, Erixon Arreman, Lundström, & Rönnberg, 2010; Lundahl & Waldow, 2009). As an outcome, the high degree of decentralization that had been evolving in the Swedish educational system since the 1980s has, in the last decade, assumed increased elements of state control and regimes of accountability. The market-based system has been adopted with independent schools, a choice of schools, and an increased number of high-stakes tests, all of which have meant an increased burden of documentation for teachers. As a consequence of the increased focus on control, inspection, regimes of accountability, and the evaluation of teachers, the traditional cultural view of how new teachers are conceptualized and developed has been challenged. From being regarded as a colleague, albeit one who is not yet very experienced, the implementation of the Swedish teacher registration reform—with a probationary year, mentoring, and a standard evaluation of a new teacher’s competence—positions the newly qualified teacher as someone “in-between” a student teacher and a fully qualified and competent teacher (Fransson, 2010). These reforms have to be seen against the changing ideological, political, educational, and cultural backdrop of control, new public management and accountability-especially as the reforms emphasize the importance of evaluating new teachers. Surprisingly however, in July, 2014, this evaluation was dropped from the requirements. Whether this is

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   261

a sign of a reduction of the impact of ideologies or accountability structures is as yet unclear. I will return to this issue in the discussion section. In Finland, neoliberal ideology has not been implemented in any extensive way, but has rather been resisted (Sahlberg, 2007, 2012). Finland has not moved in the direction of school accountability and extensive evaluation systems. Instead, a culture of “intelligent accountability” is embedded in Finland, where schools and teachers are trusted, have a high level of responsibility, and are able to take initiative for pupils’ learning. Also, education authorities, policymakers, and politicians are accountable for setting good preconditions (Sahlberg, 2010). In contrast to the Swedish system as originally designed, the Finnish model of peer-group mentoring does not include any element of formal evaluation. The reasons for this can be found in the embedded culture, where neoliberal ideology and new public management have not been as deeply rooted as in Sweden. Also, researchers have concluded that the peer-group model is suitable for the Finnish culture of education that highlights teacher autonomy and assumes that formal evaluation of new teachers is not necessary because teachers are already regarded as competent. Thus, Finnish teachers do not consider that the new regulatory measures influence their daily work to any great extent, while Swedish teachers do (Houtsonen, Czaplicka, Lindblad, Sohlberg, & Sugrue 2010). Educational Change and Reform Processes Another cultural component that distinguishes the Finnish and the Swedish educational systems is the rapidity with which educational reforms are implemented and how carefully they are investigated. In the last decade, major educational reforms have been proposed and implemented in Sweden, often very rapidly. The earlier approach of broad parliamentary investigations has to some extent given way to “one-man” investigations and a more rapid implementation of new ideas and approaches. In Sweden, this has led to many reforms being modified after a short period of time. This also applies to teacher registration reform. In Finland, on the other hand, the tendency has been for “slow implementation” (Sahlberg, 2010) with a sustainable leadership. This has been facilitated by the high level of political consensus about education, which is a consequence of the good results, the trust placed in teachers, and the careful investigations that have been carried out before making any changes to the educational system. The different approaches to investigating and implementing mentoring in Finland and Sweden are reflective of the implementation approaches described above. The Finnish approach of peer-group mentoring has

262  G. Fransson

evolved out of research, a series of pilot projects, and action research programs, with the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER) and associates as key players (e.g., Aspfors, 2012; Heikkinen et al., 2008; Jääskela et al., 2004; Jokinen & Välijärvi, 2003, 2006).4 The Swedish approach is mainly a result of a state initiated policy of borrowing and lending, with systems from Scotland and Canada as the main influences. Whereas the Swedish reform is a state initiated top-down initiative, Finnish peer-group mentoring is regarded as a bottom-up initiative that has been adopted as a national approach. This bottom-up approach is driven by highly regarded, innovative, and creative researchers via research-based pilot projects, and within the cultural frame of highly regarded and autonomous teachers and researchers. One of their key contributions has been the development of the philosophical, methodological, and organizational frames for the Finnish version of peer-group mentoring (Aspfors & Hansén, 2011; Heikkinen et al., 2008, 2012; Jokinen & Välijärvi, 2006). Thus, the development of peer-group mentoring can be traced back to a handful of knowledgeable scholars. They have also succeeded in having key funding organizations, such as the Finnish Work Environment Fund and the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, adopt and support the ideas. In Finland, this kind of process is common, because many of these cutting-edge researchers are active within the Finnish Institute for Educational Research, which is heavily involved in this kind of research and development. Thus, in Finland, educational researchers are respected and have a high credibility, and educational reforms are often research-based and piloted. In Sweden, educational researchers do not currently have the same status and impact as their counterparts in Finland. During the educational reforms of the 1960s and 70s, educational researchers had a major impact on the structure of educational systems, the development of new curricula, and changes in teacher education. Once these major restructurings of the educational system had been implemented, their influence slowly decreased, but researchers continued to have some impact on the system, especially during the 1990s and the first years of the 21st century. For instance, in the 1990s, several Swedish researchers were appointed to the position of Director General of the Swedish National Agency for Education. However, in the last decade the influence of educational researchers has been reduced, and in recent years they have even been blamed for the shortcomings of the educational system (Pålsson, 2011; Wiklund, 2006). To some extent this can be seen as part of the political, ideological, and rhetoric game of politicians trying to position themselves. In neoliberal positioning it would seem that educational science researchers are either held responsible for the challenges posed by the educational systems, or are accused of having no suitable solutions to such challenges (Apple, 2009). Although the high status of Finish researchers and their influence

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   263

on educational policy and reforms appears to be culturally embedded, the present position of educational researchers in Sweden appears to be an outcome of present-day ideological, political, and rhetorical positioning, rather than something that is culturally embedded within the society itself. In Sweden, pilot projects similar to those in Finland have been carried out, although these have had little or no impact on the structure of the officially implemented teacher registration reform in Sweden. Somewhat ironically, it may be that these pilot-projects have had a greater influence on Finnish peer-group mentoring than the initiatives from the Swedish state. Two of Finland’s key researchers visited Sweden in 2005 and met some of the researchers, mentors, and new teachers who had taken part in so-called “discussion seminars” (samtalsseminarier). In these seminars, 8–10 newly qualified teachers met to talk about their experiences, challenges and strategies, with the aim of learning from each other. These seminars were either facilitated by the coordinator for teacher induction issues in the municipality and/or a researcher from a teacher education department. The idea itself and examples of how these seminars might be run were published and shared with the Finnish researchers (Fransson & Morberg, 2001; Morberg & Gustafsson, 2007). The extent to which these Swedish projects have influenced the development in Finland is difficult to ascertain, although some recognition of these influences has been acknowledged. Notwithstanding, the Finnish approach has developed out of a more solid, explicit and communicated philosophical, methodological and organizational frame, and—most importantly—has had considerable impact at national level and the adoption of a national strategy.5 Lessons Learned The analyses that have been described in this article enable me to draw certain conclusions. First, the development and the preconditions that I have sketched can be understood as Finnish educational researchers enjoying the culturally embedded position, trust, and ability to realize research-based pilot projects-the outcomes of which influence national policy and become more widespread. This culturally embedded trust in educational researchers and Finnish teachers has significantly influenced the development of peer-group mentoring. However, the claim that these highly regarded teachers have not optimized opportunities to cooperate and learn from each other makes the idea of peer-group mentoring and collaborative learning more interesting—and perhaps also more necessary—than one-to-one-mentoring. This innovative aspect of peer-group mentoring has been developed through pilot projects.

264  G. Fransson

Second, referring to Kochan and Pascarelli’s (2012) cultural mentoring framework of traditional, transitional, and transformative cultural constructs, it appears that the Finnish form of peer-group mentoring (PGM) operates as a transitional construct, but is very close to the borderline of a transformative construct. It is noteworthy that the example used by Kochan and Pascarelli to describe the transformative culture construct has the character of a peer-group that can empower group-members to reshape the organization, rather than be shaped by it (Angelique, Kyle, & Taylor, 2002). However, as peer-group-mentoring is a rather new phenomenon in Finland, the model is still under development and could warrant further elaboration and research. One challenge may be that if only early career teachers attend peer group mentoring, this may not influence the school culture as a whole. For school development, the importance of a wholeschool approach has been stressed (Fullan, 2001; Hargreaves, 2003). Third, I understand the Swedish top-down initiative – of a teacher registration reform with mentoring and the initial, but later abolished evaluation of new teachers—as a reform that challenged a number of culturally embedded ideas. An especially challenging part of the reform was the system of formal evaluation of new teachers. This seemed at odds with traditions and norms in Sweden. As a consequence, the culturally embedded idea of a mutually beneficial and “risk-free mentoring process” was questioned (Fransson, 2010). However, in its current form the reform still places mentors in the challenging situation of having to deal with the supportive role of mentorship as framed by national standards and teacher registration (Fransson & Grannäs, 2012). In terms of the cultural construct of mentoring, my interpretation is that the Swedish approach to mentoring can, and will, operate as a transitional construct that could also be enacted as a “traditional construct,” especially if mentoring is performed in such a way that the mentor becomes more of “a teacher” and the new teacher “a learner” or “a student.” However, the two approaches, of peer-group mentoring distanced from the teaching practice and one-to-one mentoring performed in close connection with the teaching practice, have advantages and disadvantages. In view of this, it is important to be careful when discussing these two approaches in a normative way. Fourth, the reasons for the withdrawal of the formal evaluation of new teachers as a part of the Swedish approach (Björklund, Sirén, Jansson, Knape, & Valtersson, 2013), needs to be researched from a cultural perspective and a policy-learning approach. It is not clear how this announcement is to be understood. Could it be understood as an insight that the evaluation of new teachers challenges the existing culture of mentoring? Is that the reason for the policy retreat? If so, is it to be regarded as policy learning or is it simply an effect of political bargaining and compromises with teacher unions, the Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR)

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   265

and the providers of independent education?6 My cautious interpretation is that it is a result of political bargaining, an adaptation to the realities of the school context and the challenges of implementing the reform. However, the extent to which this is due to practical and financial reasons or to actual concerns over the challenges facing mentors is an issue for further research on policymaking and policy learning. As the policy-learning processes consist of adaptations to local historical, social, economic, political, educational, and cultural circumstances (Chakroun, 2010; Lingard, 2010), researching policy-learning processes may also deepen our understanding of culturally embedded norms, values and patterns of action. Fifth, while Finnish teacher education and the teaching profession seem to be in a “positive circle of recognition” (Välijärvi & Heikkinen, 2012), Swedish teacher education and teachers appear to be in a “negative circle of recognition.” Thus, Finnish teachers seem to be living in a culture of trust, while Swedish teachers appear to have to fight an ideology of distrust. From that perspective, Finnish peer-group mentoring without the evaluation of early career teachers appears to be a logical approach to developing teachers and the teaching profession. Likewise, a Swedish teacher registration reform, with one-to-one-mentoring and the evaluation of each new teacher, is also logical.7 Conclusion In this article, I have shown how a number of culturally embedded prerequisites have influenced and shaped the development of different mentoring systems in Finland and Sweden. The cultural dynamics of mentoring have to some extent been uncovered. However, further research and analyses are needed in order to expose other culturally embedded aspects that both shape and reshape mentoring practices and the way that mentoring “is lived” in practice. In short, what “mentoring becomes” in a culture of trust or an ideology of distrust warrants further research. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. This research demonstrates how societal beliefs influence mentoring programs and outcomes. What governmental, organization, or program policies may be impacting your mentoring relationships or programs in positive or negative ways and what steps should be taken to foster those that are positive and overcome with those that are negative?

266  G. Fransson

2. What other elements in the society may be having positive or negative impacts upon your relationship or program and what can you do to foster those that are positive and overcome those that are negative? 3. To what degree are elements of trust and distrust present in your mentoring relationship or program and what should be done about this? Notes 1. Peer-group mentoring is not a new phenomenon. It exists in many national and occupational contexts and has been extensively researched and theorized (e.g., Huizing, 2012). However, the historical, cultural, philosophical, and educational backdrop of various systems with peer-group mentoring could be more or less explicit. In the Finnish case, these aspects are documented, theorized, and made explicit. 2. On June 3, 2013, at a press-conference and in a debate-article in the influential Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (Björklund et al., 2013), the intentions were presented as excluding the evaluation of new teachers and that registration would be granted when a teacher graduated from teacher education, not after a probationary year. These changes to the initial reforms were implemented, July 1, 2014. There is therefore a major policy difference between the original intentions and the current system. 3. I sketch a broad picture here. One-to-one-mentoring does exist, for instance in the Helsinki region in a project influenced by the United States. 4. In 2008–2012, the Finnish Work Environment Fund funded some action research projects (Osaava Verme). The knowledge base is also connected to the research program Teachership-Lifelong Learning (TeLL): Supporting Teachership in a Changing Work Environment, funded for 2002–2006 by the Life as Learning (LEARN) research program of the Academy of Finland. Teachership-Lifelong Learning (TeLL): Supporting Teachership in a Changing Work Environment was funded by the Life as Learning (LEARN) research program of the Academy of Finland. Cooperation within the project Supporting Newly Qualified Teachers through Collaborative Mentoring (NQT-COME), funded by Nordplus and participating organizations, is an important knowledge-base, as is the cooperation within the network: Newly Qualified Teachers in Nordic countries— Working Conditions, Support and Professional Development funded in 2005–2007 by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS). 5. That similar ideas, activities or inventions may appear in different places at the same time is a historical fact (cf. the telephone). Simultaneous with its development in Sweden, peer-group mentoring was used in Finland in the city of Kokkola in 2003, mainly as a response to the lack of mentors and the cost-effectiveness of the organizational model and method. In later stages of the development of peer-group-mentoring the philosophical, methodologi-

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   267 cal and educational base has been elaborated (e.g., Heikkinen, Jokinen, & Tynjälä, 2008, 2012). 6. Policymaking processes are often influenced by a diverse number of factors, considerations and logics and where commissions, trusted experts, “thinktanks,” the media and consumers have been shown to have a greater impact than academic research (Bridges & Watts, 2008). However, what actually influences policy-making processes in a specific context must be analyzed in relation to national and cultural circumstances. 7. Even though the evaluation of the new teacher may be excluded in the future, other elements of critical examination have been announced, in order to evaluate suitability for the teaching profession before entering formal teacher education and to provide stricter evaluations during teaching practice (Björklund, et al., 2013).

Acknowledgment This work has been supported by AFA Insurance, Sweden (Grant number 120292) as a part of the research project Head Masters Working Conditions and the Evaluation of Newly Qualified Teachers, and by the University of Gävle, Sweden. References Achinstein, B. (2006). New teacher and mentor political literacy: reading, navigating, and transforming induction contexts. Teachers & Teaching: Theory & Practice, 22(2), 123–138. Angelique, H., Kyle, K., & Taylor, E. (2002). Mentors and muses: New strategies for academic success. Innovative Higher Education, 26(3), 195–209. Apple, M. W. (2009). Some ideas on interrupting the right: On doing critical educational work in conservative times. Education, Citizenship & Social Justice, 4(2), 87–101. Aspfors, J. (2012). Induction practices: Experiences of newly qualified teachers. (Dissertation). Vasa: Åbo Akademi University. Aspfors, J., Fransson, G., & Heikkinen, H. L. T. (2012). Mentoring as dialogue, collaboration and/or assessment? In P. Tynjälä, M.-L. Stenström, & M. Saarnivaara (Eds.), Transitions and transformations in learning and education (pp. 271–290). Berlin: Springer. Aspfors, J., & Hansén, S.-E. (2011). Gruppmentorskap som stöd för lärares professionella utveckling [Peer-group mentoring as support for teachers’ professional development]. Helsingfors: Söderströms. Auguste, B. G., Kihn, P., & Miller, M. (2010). Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining top-third graduates to careers in teaching: an international and market research-based perspective. New York, NY: McKinsey. Bansel, P. (2013). Same but different: Space, time and narrative. Literacy, 47(1), 4–9.

268  G. Fransson Bjerkholt, E., & Hedegaard, E. (2008). Systems promoting new teachers’ professional development. In G. Fransson & C. Gustafsson (Eds.), Newly qualified teachers in northern Europe—Comparative perspectives on promoting professional development. Teacher Education: Research Publications No 4. (pp. 45–75). Gävle: Gävle University Press. Björklund, J., Sirén, E-L., Jansson, B., Knape, A., & Valtersson. M. (2013). Tio förändringar som ska rädda den svenska skolan [Ten changes that will save the Swedish school]. Dagens Nyheter (debate article). Retrieved from http://www. dn.se/debatt/tio-forandringar-som-ska-radda-den-svenska-skolan Bridges, D., & Watts, M. (2008). Educational research and policy: Epistemological considerations. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42(1), 41–62. Bullough, R. (2012). Mentoring and new teacher induction in the United States: A review and analysis of current practices. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnerships in Learning, 20(1), 57–74. Chakroun, B. (2010). National qualification frameworks: From policy borrowing to policy learning. European Journal of Education, 45(2), 199–216. Chan, E., Keyes, D., & Ross, V. (Eds.). (2012). Narrative inquirers in the midst of meaning-making: Interpretive acts of teacher educators. Bingley, England: Emerald. Clutterbuck, D. (1998). Learning alliances. London, England: CIPD House. Compton, M., & Weiner, L. (Eds.). (2008). The global assault on teaching, teachers and their unions: Stories for resistance. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Dyrdal Solbrekke, T., & Englund, T. (2011). Bringing professional responsibility back in. Studies in Higher Education, 36(7), 847–861. Finn, G. P. T., & Giulianotti, R. (Eds.). (2000). Football culture: Local contests, global visions. London, England: Frank Cass. Fladmoe, A. (2012). The nature of public opinion on education in Norway, Sweden and Finland—Measuring the degree of political polarization at the mass level. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 56(5), 457–479. Fletcher, S. J., & Mullen, C. A. (Eds.). (2012). The Sage handbook of mentoring and coaching in education. London, England: Sage. Fransson, G. (2010). Mentors assess mentees? An overview and analyses of the mentorship role concerning newly qualified teachers. European Journal of Teacher Education, 33(4), 375–390. Fransson, G., & Grannäs, J. (2012, April). Mentors, mentoring and dilemmatic spaces: A contribution to theoretical renewal for understanding mentoring. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference, Vancouver, Canada. Fransson, G., & McMahan, S. (2013). Exploring research on mentoring policy in education. International Journal of Mentoring & Coaching in Education, 2(3), 218–232. Fransson, G., & Morberg, Å. (Eds.). (2001). De första ljuva åren—lärares första tid i yrket [The first wonderful years—Newly qualified teachers’ first year in the teaching profession]. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Fullan, M. G. (2001). The new meaning of educational change (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Hall, S. (Ed.). (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. London, England: Sage.

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   269 Hargreaves, A. (2003). Teaching in the knowledge society: Education in the age of insecurity. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Heikkinen, H. L. T., Jääskela, P., Kärkkäinen, M.. & Kitola, A. (2004, September). Understanding mentoring: A poetic journey into professional growth in the footsteps of odyssey. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Rethymnon, Crete. Heikkinen, H. L. T., Jokinen, H., & Tynjälä, P. (2008). Reconceptualising mentoring as a dialogue. In G. Fransson & C. Gustafsson (Eds.), Newly qualified teachers in northern Europe—Comparative perspectives on promoting professional development (pp. 76–106). Teacher Education: Research Publications No 4. Gävle: Gävle University Press. Heikkinen, H. L. T., Jokinen, H., & Tynjälä, P. (Eds.). (2012). Peer-group mentoring for teachers’ professional development. London, England/New York, NY: Taylor and Francis. Houtsonen, J., Czaplicka, M., Lindblad, S., Sohlberg, P., & Sugrue, C. (2010). Welfare state restructuring in education and its national refractions: Finnish, Irish and Swedish teachers’ perceptions of current changes. Current Sociology, 58(4), 597–622. Huizing, R. L. (2012). Mentoring together: A literature review of group mentoring. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 20(1), 27–55. Jokinen, H., & Välijärvi, J. (2003, September). Induction in supporting novice teachers’ professional development. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Hamburg. Jokinen, H., & Välijärvi, J. (2006). Making mentoring a tool for supporting teachers’ professional development. In R. Jakku-Sihvonen & H. Niemi (Eds.), Research-based teacher education in Finland: Reflections by Finnish teacher educators. Research in Educational Sciences 25. Turku: Finnish Educational Research Association. Kennedy, M. M. (2000). Learning to teach in a different culture. Teachers & Teaching: Theory & Practice, 6(1), 75–100. Kochan, F. (2013) Analyzing the relationships between culture and mentoring, Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 21(4), 412–430. Kochan, F., & Pascarelli, J. T. (2012). Culture and mentoring in the global age. In S. Fletcher & C. A. Mullen (Eds.), Handbook of mentoring and coaching in education (pp. 184–198). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Lingard, B. (2010). Policy borrowing, policy learning: Testing times in Australian schooling. Critical Studies in Education, 51(2), 129–147. Lundahl, L., Erixon Arreman, I., Lundström, U., & Rönnberg, L. (2010). Setting things right? Swedish upper secondary school reform in a 40-year perspective. European Journal of Education, 45(1), 46–59. Lundahl, C., & Waldow, F. (2009). Standardisation and “quick languages”: The shape-shifting of standardized measurement of pupil achievement in Sweden and Germany. Comparative Education, 45(3), 365–385. McDaniel, E. R., Samovar, L. A., & Porter, R. E. (2012). Using intercultural communication: The building block. In L. A. Samovar, R. E. Porter & E. R. McDaniel (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader (13th ed., pp. 4–18). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

270  G. Fransson Meier, L. T. (2012). The effect of school culture on science education at an ideologically innovative elementary magnet school: An ethnographic case study. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 23(7), 805–822. Morberg, Å., & Gustafsson, L. (2007). Söderhamnsmodellen—mentorsstöd för nybörjarlärare i yrkesutveckling och lokal skolutveckling [The Söderhamn modelmentor support for new teachers in professional development and local school development]. Teacher Education: Research Publications No 3. Gävle: University of Gävle. Nyroos, M., Korhonen, J., Linnanmäki, K., & Svens-Liavåg, C. (2012). A crossnational comparison of test anxiety in Swedish and Finnish grade 3 pupils: Measured by the CTAS. Education Inquiry, 3(4), 615–636. OECD. (2004). Learning for tomorrow’s world: First results from PISA 2003. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris: Author. OECD. (2010). Chapter 5. Finland. Slow and steady reform for consistently high results. In Lessons from PISA for the United States, strong performers and successful reformers in education (pp. 117–135). Paris: Author. Oftedal Telhaug, A., Asbjørn Mediås, O., & Aasen, P. (2006). The Nordic Model in education: Education as part of the political system in the last 50 years. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 50(3), 245–283. ÖLA 2000 (2000). Överenskommelse om lön och allmänna anställningsvillkor samt rekommendation om lokalt kollektivavtal m.m. [Agreement on salaries and general terms of employment and recommendation of local collective agreements, etc.]. Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). National Union of Teachers in Sweden (Lärarnas Riksförbund, LR) and the Swedish Teachers’ Union. Orland-Barak, L. (2005). Cracks in the iceberg: Surfacing the tensions of constructivist pedagogy in the context of mentoring. Teachers & Teaching: Theory & Practice, 11(3), 293–313. Pålsson, M. (2011). Ideologi har fått styra pedagogiken i skolan [Ideology has been allowed to direct the teaching methods in school]. Svenska Dagbladet, Brännpunkt. Retrieved from www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/ideologi-styrpedagogiken-i-skolan_6468594.svd#after-ad Ringarp, J., & Rothland, M. (2010). Is the grass always greener? The effect of the PISA results on education debates in Sweden and Germany. European Educational Research Journal, 9(3), 422–430. Sahlberg, P. (2007). Education policies for raising student learning: The Finnish approach. Journal of Education Policy, 22(2), 147–171. Sahlberg, P. (2010). Rethinking accountability in a knowledge society. Journal of Educational Change, 11(1), 45–61. Sahlberg, P. (2011). Finnish lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland? New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Sahlberg, P. (2012). A model lesson: Finland shows us what equal opportunities looks like. American Educator, Spring, 20–27 & 40. Sahlberg, P. (2013). What if Finland’s great teachers taught in U.S. schools? The Washington Post. Retrieved from www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/ wp/2013/05/15/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-notwhat-you-think/

A Culture of Trust or an Ideology of Distrust   271 Savage, J. (2007). Teenage: The creation of youth culture. New York, NY: Viking. Sleeter, C. (2008). Equity, democracy, and neoliberal assaults on teacher education. Teaching & Teacher Education, 24(8), 1947–1957. Swedish National Agency for Education. (2011). The Swedish National Agency for Education’s regulations on the introduction period and competence profiles of teachers and preschool teachers. Decided 2011-05-12. Reg. 62-2011:672. Stockholm: The Swedish National Agency for Education. Swedish National Agency for Education. (2013). Skolverkets lägesbedömning 2013. [Progress report from the Swedish National Agency for Education, 2013]. Stockholm: The Swedish National Agency for Education. Ulfsdotter Eriksson, U. (2006). Occupation, status and gender – A sociological study of occupations on a segregated labour market. (Doctoral dissertation). Department of Sociology, Göteborg University. Välijärvi, J., & Heikkinen, H. L. T. (2012). Peer-group mentoring and the culture of teacher education in Finland. In H. L. T. Heikkinen, H. Jokinen, & P. Tynjälä (Eds.), Peer-group mentoring for teachers’ professional development (pp. 31–40). London, England/New York, NY: Taylor and Francis. Wågsås Afdal, H., & Nerland, K. (2012). Does teacher education matter? An analysis of relations to knowledge among Norwegian and Finnish novice teachers. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. doi:10.1080/00313831.2012.72 6274 Wang, J. (2001). Contexts of mentoring and opportunities for learning to teach: A comparative study of mentoring practice. Teaching & Teacher Education, 17(1), 51–73. Wang, J., Strong, M., & Odell, S. (2004). Mentor-novice conversations about teaching: A comparison of two U.S. and two Chinese cases. Teachers College Record, 106(4), 775–813. Wiklund, M. (2006). Kunskapens fanbärare. Den goda läraren som diskursiv konstruktion på en mediearena [Standard-bearers of knowledge. The good teacher as a discursive construction in a media arena]. Örebro Studies in Education, 17, 237.

chapter 17

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring in the SocioPolitical Context of Teacher Education in THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Geraldine Mooney Simmie and Joanne Moles

The mentoring literature indicates a variety of discourses framing the continuing professional development of mentor teachers through collaborative and evidence-based practices (Fletcher & Mullen, 2012; Wang & Odell, 2007). In the Republic of Ireland1 and internationally, official policy discourses in relation to mentoring are connected to the recent panoptic of performativity and public accountability found in new managerialism. These policies continue to subordinate the field of education to neoclassical economics, which favors market control over democratic control and collaborative practices (Allais, 2012; Ball, 2012; Ball, Maguire, & Braun, 2012; Day & Sachs, 2004; Lynch, Grummell, & Devine, 2012). This preference has resulted in an official policy rhetoric that seeks to continually assure

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 273–293 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

273

274  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles

quality, excellence, and consistency in teaching and mentoring through prescriptive knowledge frameworks and national standards (Apple, 2012). An outcome of this approach has been the rise of competing discourses in relation to the autonomy of the school and autonomy of the teacher (Lipman, 2011; Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). The relationship between the State and school has become highly contested and is increasingly mediated by market forces. In Ireland, mentoring of newly qualified teachers, the nature of teacher education, classroom observation, and formative feedback are presented within official policy discourses as technical routines and habits of mind that are mostly presented as unproblematic and unrelated to context, culture, and sociopolitical environment (Department of Education and Skills [DES], 2010, 2011, 2013; Teaching Council, 2011, 2012). These policies, discourses, and ways of conceptualizing teaching and learning challenge educationalists to inquire into age-old fundamental questions dealing with issues such as the purposes and control of education (Apple, 2013; Furlong, 2013). In this chapter, we critically examine the purpose and conception of mentoring and teaching within the context, culture, and power dynamics exemplified in official policy documents through the analysis of eleven master’s theses from a postgraduate class of students concerned with mentoring in teacher education in Ireland. We explore questions of central importance in relation to mentoring and teaching in contemporary Ireland using a critical lens that explores the dissonance found between the official policy and policy discourses in practice. We ask “What appears to be the dominant contemporary purposes of mentoring and teaching and what background context, culture, and power dynamics relate to them?” We begin the chapter by presenting our research methodology, which includes the theoretical grounding for our study. This is followed with background information about the context of the master’s studies in the university setting. We then present our conceptual framework for the master’s study based on the principles of what we have defined as “productive mentoring” (Mooney Simmie & Moles, 2011). This is followed by some selected literature in relation to mentoring across the continuum of teacher education. The next section presents our findings. Finally, we consider some implications for the continuing education of the mentor teacher in a turbulent national and global landscape and suggest some productive ways in which this arena of dissonance may provide a positive frame within which to address future critical analyses. Research Methodology This section describes the research method and the rationale for its selection. It then presents an overview of Basil Bernstein’s theory, which provided the theoretical framework used to conduct the study.

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   275

Research Methods The study involved a critical analysis to unearth the living contradictions with regard to mentoring and teaching in the Irish policy context, by examining relevant documents and the master’s theses produced by a university class. The year 2011 was selected for this study as it was the year when the Teaching Council, a newly founded statutory body with the stated aim of developing the teacher as a professional, introduced a Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education, the first such document in the history of the state, and a revised Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers (Teaching Council, 2011, 2012). A critical analysis was used because it makes “more obvious and explicit use of theoretical concepts and ideas” as it examines the “assumptions that underpin any account (say, in a document) and a consideration of what other possible aspects are concealed or ruled out” (Sapsford & Jupp, 1996, p. 299). A critical analysis seeks to analyze documents, using an iterative cycle of reading and reflecting within a strong theoretical framework (Bernstein, 2000) in terms of inequalities and the dominant hegemony of oppressive structures and power relations. Jupp (1996) cites Worrall (1990, p. 8), who claimed that this type of analysis embraces “all aspects of a communication—not only its content, but its author (who says it?), its authority (on what grounds?), its audience (to whom?), and its objective (in order to achieve what?)” (p. 300). The analysis therefore sought to address two research questions: 1. What appear to be the dominant contemporary purposes of mentoring and teaching? 2. What background context, culture, and power dynamics relate to this? Findings were positioned within Bernstein’s (2000) theoretical framework which posits competing policy discourses in relation to professionalism, politics, pedagogy, and philosophical inquiry in contemporary Ireland and internationally (Apple, 2012; Bernstein, 2000; Biesta, 2010; Day & Sachs, 2004; Lingard, Hayes, Mills, & Christie, 2003; Lynch et al., 2012; Mooney Simmie & Moles, 2011, 2012). This framework, which will be described in more detail in the next section, posits two pedagogical modes—an official recontextualizing field (ORF) and a pedagogic recontextualizing field (PRF). The analysis examined the gap in the policy discourses between these two discourses as exemplified in relevant Irish policy documents and the pedagogical recontextualizing policy discourses identified in these theses.

276  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles

Policy Discourse Framework In a lifetime of theoretical work, Bernstein (2000) consistently interrogated the interrelationship between power, control, and knowledge and used the conception of the “pedagogic device” to explicate the principles and rules by which official knowledge becomes transmitted and translated into a pedagogic communication. He recognized that knowledge made in the field of production was contested among a number of dominant social groups in the upper reaches of education—“symbolic rulers of consciousness”—including the state, the academy, and, more recently, large economic institutions such as supranational corporations. In this way, Bernstein identified the underlying moral discourse at the heart of education. He distinguished between different forms of knowledge in much the same way that Durkheim’s and his analysis of religion in former times differentiated between mundane and sacred knowledge (Durkheim, Childress, & Swain, 2012). Bernstein distinguished between two classes of knowledge in education: “thinkable” knowledge contextualized to the specific practice setting and “unthinkable” knowledge—esoteric, abstract, generalized, decontextualized knowledge. Bernstein (2000) also distinguished between two recontextualizing fields—the official field (ORF), where policy documents such as policies related to mentoring and teaching are mediated by the state and state agencies, and the pedagogical field (PRF), where official policy documents are translated and transformed into a pedagogical communication in the school setting by agents such as mentor teachers, teachers and teacher educators. Bernstein argued that the power, control, and regulation exerted by the ORF creates a paradox whereby a gap opens in the ORF-PRF policy discourse(s) generating an opportunity to fashion an alternative discourse. Bernstein believed that the autonomy of the teacher and autonomy in the field of education require that this policy discourses continues to be maintained as an arena of dissonance and contestation The contemporary Irish context reflects Bernstein’s (2000) analysis of the ways in which government policies can have an impact on classroom and school-based practices. The analysis used the conception of the “pedagogic device” to describe the gap in the ORF-PRF policy discourses in relation to the policy documents and theses and to ascertain to what extent this gap might be described as an arena of dissonance and a protector of the autonomy of the mentor teacher in the field of education. Background and Context to the Master’s Study Program While in the master’s study program, these students —practicing teachers and educational leaders from primary, secondary and, in some instances,

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   277

higher education—used theory to interpret and critique mentoring in national and global policy documents as they sought to critically interrogate the hidden assumptions underpinning the cultural contexts of their everyday practices (Apple 2012; Day & Sachs, 2004). Students were involved in debating two competing policy discourses in relation to pedagogy and teacher professionalism, comparing the four pillars of “good teaching” identified in the “productive pedagogy” research findings by Lingard et al. (2003), with the features of good teaching indicated in reform pedagogy argued by large-scale state sponsored studies (Hattie, 2012; Vieluf, Kaplan, Klieme, & Bayer, 2012). In relation to teacher professionalism the students engage in the competing discourses between managerial professionalism, and democratic professionalism (Day & Sachs, 2004, p.10) and the features of teacher professional knowledge identified by Cochran Smith and Lytle (1999). In addition, master’s students explore the nature and effects of a variety of sociopolitical interjections in their practice settings. The master’s students conducted their research studies using lenses provided by the sociology of education, philosophical inquiry, and humanistic psychology (Bernstein, 2000; Biesta, 2010; Csikszentmihalyi, 1997; Gewirtz & Cribb, 2009; Noddings, 2012). The titles of the 2011 master’s studies show that students in this cohort followed these two distinct lines of inquiry in their studies: either mentoring to improve some aspect of pedagogy or mentoring to improve some aspect of professionalism in their practice settings (Table 17.1). The theses highlight the frustrations, cultural challenges and minor successes achieved by these mentor teachers and school leaders in their tentative efforts to develop a broader conception of mentoring and teaching within the cultural and contextual confines of contemporary official policy discourses (ORF) and practice settings (PRF). The master’s study follows a 3-year timeline with a modular structure. Students enter the program in year one and can exit the program at three different points: at the end of the first year with a graduate certificate, at the end of the second year with a graduate diploma, and at the end of the third year with a master’s degree in education (Mooney Simmie & Moles, 2011, 2012). In the first year, students complete a critical reading of suggested literature and interrogate their own positioning and practices. They do this using a coinquiry and reflexive approach supported through multiple perspectives—self-evaluation, peer evaluation, evaluation with tutors, and the lens of the literature—to gain a deep and systematic understanding of the complexity of mentoring within their educative settings (Brookfield, 1995; Carr & Kemmis, 1986). In the second year, students undertake a small scale pilot research study with ethical approval, generally, but not exclusively, in their professional practice setting as a 10,000 word project. In the third and final year of the study, students delve deeper into their

278  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles Table 17.1.  Titles of Master’s Theses in Education Awarded at the University Of Limerick In 2011 Titles of Master’s Theses 1

An examination of the role of mentoring in developing a culture of learning and caring in one DEIS school in an urban environment.

2

An investigation of the fears and restraints preventing Irish teachers from engaging in pedagogical collaboration and the implications for the development of structures to support pedagogical collaboration in an Irish school context.

3

The role of mentoring in developing the continuing professional learning of primary school principals.

4

An exploration of school based mentoring as a framework to develop professional learning communities.

5

Developing a mentoring programme within one postprimary school in a university city in Ireland.

6

Teaching practice tutors’ perspectives of teaching and mentoring—implications for a collaborative approach to mentoring teaching practice students

7

The Cooperating Mentor Teacher: an untapped resource for continuing professional development.

8

Mentoring—an exploration of the structures, scaffolds, and supports for continuing professional development for post primary teachers in Ireland.

9

Mentoring to drive pedagogical change within one postprimary mathematics department.

10

A study of the perceptions of the need for formal mentoring in promoting a supportive and caring environment within one postprimary school.

11

Can mentoring be used to support critical reflection in education?

chosen mentoring topic and complete a 20,000 word research project that generates new knowledge consistent with the academic criteria for a master’s study (University of Limerick, 2013). These studies occurred within the cultural and sociopolitical context of Irish education at a time of national and global financial austerity, rapid diminution of state funding in public education, competing discourses of professionalism, and demands for increased productivity (Lynch et al., 2012; Mooney Simmie, 2012). Thus, the students’ research findings provide an important snapshot in time of the way Irish mentor teachers and school leaders interpreted official policy discourses in relation to the enactment of mentoring policy in their practice settings. On campus for one day a month, students begin with a keynote lecture designed to be rich in theory related to education, mentoring, and teaching. This is followed by a study circle where students, tutors, and peers collaborate to critique a selection of academic readings through dialogue and interaction. The seminars are designed using the study

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   279

circle literature developed in school/university partnerships in the Nordic countries (Rönnerman, Moksnes Furu, & Salo, 2008). This differs from much of the conventional Anglophone literature in the emphasis placed on the need for theoretical frameworks and philosophical coinquiry in the interaction between schools and universities. Similar to Bernstein’s (2000) conception of the “pedagogic device” the Nordic study circle literature recognizes the primacy of the moral discourse (regulative discourse) over the instructional discourse in relation to pedagogy. This is at variance with previous experiences of the majority of these students, for whom an expertnovice model of education is the most familiar discursive form. Our Philosophical Positioning in Relation to Mentoring The master’s studies aimed to raise awareness and critical consciousness of what we term “productive mentoring” constructed within an educative, critical, and caring discourse consistent with a holistic and person-oriented view of education as a public good, in the context of an emerging pluralistic society in the Republic of Ireland (Lonergan, Mooney Simmie, & Moles, 2012; Mooney Simmie & Moles, 2011, 2012). We positioned productive mentoring as mentoring to educate and liberate rather than mentoring to indoctrinate and maintain the status quo. We were concerned to avoid simply reproducing the inequalities of the existing societal hegemony in contemporary Ireland, which coincides with a changing Europe and global world (Chomsky & McChesney, 2011). Internationally, official policy discourses in relation to pedagogy and professionalism have all become politically hardened through forms of restricted trust and by a strong power distance panoptic of bureaucratic inspection and monitoring (Perryman, 2007). School leaders and mentor teachers are expected to continually assure successful outcomes for all learners, irrespective of their sociopolitical and cultural environments. Our philosophical positioning is supported by research evidence that indicates that innovative teacher practices require flat and sophisticated structures for effective policy enactment in a school setting rather than strong power distance and hierarchical systems (Mooney Simmie & Lang, 2012; Vieluf et al., 2012). In a large scale synthesis of research in relation to teacher professional learning, Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, and Fung (2007) contend that experienced teachers in systems where large power relations dominate are justified in feeling concerned with regard to policy leaders’ unrelenting demand for consistency (control) and increasingly fear for their jobs and tenure. MacLure (2010) argues that the role of theory is an invitation to interrupt the prevailing discourse—to interrogate what are the educationally sound reasons being put forward by policy leaders in this regard (ratio-

280  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles

nale), who is asking (power and social relations), and who appears to benefit from this framing of education (critical coinquiry). We believe that all mentor teachers, teachers, and school leaders need to continually engage in this “pedagogy of interruption” (Biesta, 2010) that supports and challenges existing practices. In this way the cycle of reproduction is challenged through inquiry and a continuing dialectical interplay between what Bernstein (2000) defined as “thinkable” and “unthinkable” knowledge. Lingard et al. (2003) in their productive pedagogy research identify four pillars of good teaching: intellectual content, social connectivity between learners, content knowledge needing to be contextualized for learners and, finally, respect for diversity. These four pillars of “productive pedagogy” go some way toward understanding the complexity of teaching and helped shape our conception of “productive mentoring” (Mooney Simmie & Moles, 2011). We argue that mentoring in teacher continuing education needs to have an intellectual dimension (requiring mentor teachers to engage with theory and unthinkable knowledge); necessitates social connectivity and interaction (study circles); requires mentors to relate mentoring to the culture and context of the practice settings (mentoring in context) and the capacity to celebrate diversity (agency). Therefore. we support a conceptual framework for mentoring that brings an inquiring mind (critical thinking and theory) to the imaginative heart work of mentoring (care and agency) and facilitates mentor teachers’ describing, defending, challenging, and transforming their practices. In this way, mentor teachers proactively use their agency and autonomy within their cultural and contextual settings (Mooney Simmie & Moles, 2011). We have identified four key principles that describe our espoused values: 1. The holistic, learner-centered nature of teaching and mentoring is supported within a commitment to caring for each person working within education. Interaction and dialogue are the preferred ways of sharing knowledge. 2. Teaching and mentoring are both viewed as a profession with their own standards and codes of practice. We resist the reductionist definition of teaching and mentoring as a set of skills or competencies (although we defend teachers, and mentor teachers, as being very skilful and competent in their work). 3. Within the traditions of academia, the participants on the mentoring course interrogate education and mentoring in a critically reflective way. The school-university partnership is celebrated as a mutually enriching relationship. 4. We acknowledge the complexity of teaching and mentoring and confront the difficult issues which surround contemporary education within a rapidly changing and challenging society.

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   281

Mentoring Across the Continuum of Teacher Education The official policy rhetoric in relation to mentoring and teaching is supported by a proliferation of research and policy studies, often Statesponsored, claiming to have found definitive answers and certainty in achieving quality and excellence. These studies present validated data claiming to have objectively identified the competences and dispositions required for teachers, acting as partners in learning with their students, for the achievement of visible outcomes (Hattie, 2009, 2012). These research studies dovetail with a postideological economic view of schooling which regards the contemporary student as an individual competitive worker in a global knowledge world. The rapidly changing nature of the relationship between the State and the school has resulted in an uncritical celebration of active learning using evidence-based practices and oversocialized forms of lifelong and constructivist learning and (re) training. This view of knowledge continues to be highly contested, notably by some postgraduate students of Basil Bernstein and other contemporary educationalists, such as Singh, Thomas, and Harris (2013), Wheelahan (2011), and Young and Muller (2011). Biesta (2010) challenges the assumption that teaching young people is solely about cognitive development. He argues that teachers instinctively know that they are engaged in something more than cognitive development in their teaching of young people and that good teaching is about other equally important dimensions such as enculturation into national value systems, politicization into active citizenship, and supporting a diversity of human development needs. This is further explored by Hogan (2010), who contends that teaching is in fact “imaginative heart work.” The primacy of relationship is argued by Hederman (2012) who challenges the contemporary economic rhetoric of education and argues for the need to (re)define teaching as an imaginative relationship that involves a dynamic interplay between cherishing and challenging young people. In a similar way, Nodding’s (2012) theory of care connects teaching to the need for an ethic of care and integrity. In this chapter we maintain that mentoring equally has moral and social as well as intellectual dimensions. In a global policy context, increased productivity dominates the framing of mentoring in teacher education. This has resulted in measurable outcomes providing a managerial solution to the problem of teacher lifelong learning, (re)training, and the urgency to change teachers’ pedagogical preferences from transmission methods to an exclusive constructivist framing. This coincides with a neoliberal ideology of competitive individualism. It has resulted in the intensification of mentor teachers’ workloads as official mentoring policies for newly qualified teachers and student teachers are increasingly aligned within discourses that position mentoring as

282  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles

an expert-novice relationship between an experienced teacher (mentor teacher, cooperating teacher), and a novice teacher. Internationally, the official policy literature on mentoring consistently fails to take culture, context, and power relations into account and frames mentoring as a “public good” within a “good practice” of mentor teachers and mentee teachers working collaboratively and reflectively to improve the learning needs of their students (Fletcher & Mullen, 2012; Wang & Odell, 2007). In this framework, mentoring is positioned as having a number of predefined levels, where skills, competences, and an apprenticeship of observation logically precede critical constructivist inquiry. Background culture, context, and the sociopolitical perspective on mentoring are not taken into account. However, several research studies to date have shown that mentoring is not “unproblematic” and that when experienced teachers mentor beginning teachers, or student teachers, they often fail to engage in critical coinquiry in relation to mentoring practices. Hargreaves and Fullan (2000) recognize this as the dark side of mentoring—when the well-intentioned and unreflective mentor becomes more of a tormentor than a mentor. It appears that the failure of mentoring occurs, when it is presented, as “unproblematic”—when mentor teachers fail to engage with theory and principled ways that interrupt and interrogate the living contradictions of their practices in the context of their cultural and sociopolitical environments (O’Brien & Christie, 2005; Sundli, 2007). Findings in the Official Recontextualizing Policy Discourses (ORF) In this section we analyze the text and sub-text found within two Teaching Council documents: the Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education (2011) and the revised Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers (2012), and two documents in relation to mentoring newly qualified teachers, one published by the Department of Education and Skills (DES, 2006)—the National Pilot Project on Teacher Induction—and the other an unpublished Mentor Guide produced by the National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT, 2012) in secondary schools. The Teaching Council presented the Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education as a framework for the “reconceptualization of teacher education across the continuum” (Teaching Council, 2011, p. 1). Some statements in the document are related to a holistic and person-oriented conception of teaching, with mention of “a love of learning” (p. 12). However, in many respects the document aligns well with the contemporary neoliberal discourse of “best practice,” “high quality,” “innovation,” “standards,” and teachers as “life-long learners” (Teaching Council, 2011, pp. 6–9). Using

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   283

a managerial conception, teachers are expected to meet individual learning needs, implement national policies such as literacy and numeracy, and engage in systematic searches for evidence (Teaching Council, 2011, p. 16). Overall the document stresses the role of the teacher as a “public servant” (Teaching Council, 2011, p. 10) more than as a “public educator” or “public intellectual,” as envisioned by critical sociologists such as Giroux (1988). Throughout the document, the role of theory is never made explicit and the focus remains firmly on professional development rather than on the continuing “education” of the teacher. Apart from one mention of teacher professional knowledge (Teaching Council, 2011, p. 34), the document remains silent in relation to the need for experienced teachers to continue their connection with theory and with the theoretical knowledge of disciplinary knowledge systems. Disciplinary knowledge is reduced to a neoliberal policy imaginary of subject matter knowledge specifically for teaching “Where academic elective subjects form part of the program, they should incorporate material appropriate to the teaching of the subject in the relevant sector” (Teaching Council, 2011, p. 13). This preoccupation with relevance and utility acts as a brake on mentor teachers’ efforts to explore challenging abstract concepts with their students and uses a reductionist conception of knowledge for contemporary schooling (Young & Muller, 2011). Continuing professional development is consistently defined as a collaborative and experiential process of lifelong learning that “comprises the full range of educational experiences designed to enrich teachers” professional knowledge, understanding, and capabilities throughout their careers (Teaching Council, 2011, p. 19). The document presents an image of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) providers grappling with the identification of teachers’ needs and providing teachers with opportunities for “reflection, joint problem solving, networking and systematic sharing of expertise and experience” (Teaching Council, 2011, p. 20). Within this rhetoric of professional development, there appears to be little or no requirement for experienced teachers to engage with any form of theoretical, esoteric, or abstract knowledge—Bernstein’s (2000) “unthinkable knowledge”—for philosophical inquiry and the enactment of a “pedagogy of interruption” (Biesta, 2010). The conception of the teacher as a “public servant” is further developed through regulation by 33 external standards for professional conduct in the revised Code of Professional Conduct (Teaching Council, 2012, p. 10). Within both of these policy documents, the purpose of teaching is positioned as one of reproduction— compliance with standards and knowledge frameworks—and socialization through a culture of “public service,” with the suggestion that this will lead

284  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles

to “enriching schools as learning environments” (Teaching Council, 2011, p. 16). The National Pilot Project on Teacher Induction, published by The Department of Education and Skills (DES, 2006), reports on the findings from the initial pilot study on mentoring newly qualified teachers in both primary and secondary schools in Ireland. This induction program is presented as “rewarding loyalty to the school and the profession” (p. 1) and “helping newly qualified teachers cope with the reality shock of full-time teaching” (p. 2). In this respect, mentoring is defined within a socially reproductive and novice-expert paradigm: Mentoring is a complex, interactive process, occurring between individuals of differing levels of experience and expertise which incorporates interpersonal or psychosocial development, career and/or educational development and socialization functions into the relationship … to the extent that the parameters of mutuality and compatibility and role fulfilment will result. Further, the mentoring process occurs in a dynamic relationship within a given milieu. (p. 13)

The Mentor Guide produced by the National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT, 2012), a national support service of peers working under the supervision of departmental inspectors, presents an apprenticeship framing for mentoring of newly qualified teachers. The resource is a compilation of templates in relation to lists of core activities, additional activities, tasks and behavior management. Mentor teachers who want to become trained mentors within the national program are required to attend workshops in relation to a range of prespecified topics such as child protection, practical assessment, differentiation, inclusion, working with parents, working as a professional, planning and preparation, literacy, numeracy, classroom management, and the transition from primary to postprimary education. These workshops are presented using a top-down approach, with no space allocated for authentic dialogue between the mentor teachers, their peers, inspectors at the Ministry, and other policy leaders. The Mentor Guide does not seek to engage mentor teachers in problematizing their mentoring practices using theoretical or disciplinary knowledge in a school culture largely defined by new managerialism (Lynch et al., 2012). In conclusion, our analysis revealed that mentoring and teaching are portrayed in these official policy documents as strongly positioned within an apprenticeship of observation and a discourse of reproduction and socialization. There is some effort made to frame teacher continuing professional development as a “problem” that is concerned with “professional identity” (p. 11) in the Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education, but overall, the dominant conception of the teacher is one of public servant

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   285

in the documents issued by the teachers’ professional organization—The Teaching Council (2011, 2012). There is no effort to disguise the rhetoric of competency-based training in the official policy documents issued by the Department of Education and Skills in relation to mentoring newly qualified teachers (DES, 2006; NIPT, 2012). The technical narrative of new managerialism and reproduction in these official policy documents firmly positions mentoring and teaching as collaborative and reflective activities within a framework of thinkable and experiential knowledge, with little or no space in the official policy discourses for philosophical inquiry, access to theoretical and disciplinary knowledge frameworks, or dissonance within a sociopolitical perspective (Lonergan et al., 2012). Findings in the Pedagogical Recontextualizing Policy Discourses (PRF) We analyzed the findings from the master’s theses under the following headings: the purpose and conception of mentoring and the teacher; the contextual and culture constraints and power relations; and the possibilities identified for bridging the gap in the policy discourses. Purpose and conception of mentoring and the teacher. In their theses, mentor teachers tended to advocate for informal ways to cope with the cultural constraints and power relations in their practice settings and preferred to engage using a supportive rather than a critical discourse in relation to mentoring and teaching. Interrogation of the theses showed that students largely framed mentoring in terms of reproduction and new managerialism—a model of technical mentoring with predefined and trainable skills and competences and managerial professionalism—in preference to a productive mentoring more suited to thinking mentors and teachers within the cultural dynamic of a school/university partnership. Respondents declared: It is about knowing the organization of the school and being up to date with the timetable, programs and events of the school and the various school policies. It is about knowing the school rules and the discipline system so that all teachers are on board and that everyone knows how to act when a situation arises. But it is also a support system whereby the new teacher to the school does not feel isolated or alone and they have someone to talk to. (mentor teacher) Teachers are engaging in mentoring in an unstructured way, mainly using apprenticeship and humanistic models, which leaves little room for mutual reciprocity, reflection, or coinquiry which would be the most valuable means of using mentoring as a professional support for teachers … the doors to

286  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles their classrooms remain firmly closed, with few engaging in professional dialogue with their department colleagues. (mentor teacher)

Steeped in thinkable knowledge—everyday practical knowledge in context—mentor teachers and school leaders in these master’s theses experienced a challenge in drawing from theoretical frameworks to conceptualise their practices in the context of larger discourses that help inform, describe and make meaning of their practices. In another thesis: the author identified that there was a general lack of awareness among principals in relation to the theory surrounding mentoring and the various frameworks. Lack of appropriate mentor training and lack of time also came to the fore as major issues in the current mentoring landscape in Ireland … there was also a lack of in-depth analysis into the changing face of education and its implications for the noncollaborative, isolationist nature of teaching. (school principal)

System needs in relation to the continuum of teacher education in Ireland and internationally have identified diverse forms of teacher networks, mentoring practices and communities of learning as the solution to a quality professional practice going forward. However, there was one word of caution in this regard. One master’s thesis, a case study reporting the collaborative activity of a group of mathematics teachers in their enactment of a policy reform, showed that teachers’ working collaboratively, while necessary, was not sufficient to ensure that critical engagement for authentic educational change was occurring: (when) analyzing this data the words that stand out are confusion, uncertainty, lack of sufficient time, lack of structure. Amidst this haze of uncertainty there are only two positive words observed—fair and improving, which in my opinion are not very inspirational. Remember, this is coming from a group of teachers who have been working together as a team over the last two years, having regular departmental meetings in the hope of creating an inquiry-oriented, reflective, higher order collaborative practice ... if the teachers have a sense of uncertainty moving forward, how do we expect the students to (become critical thinkers)? (mentor teacher)

Contextual and cultural constraints and power relations. The culture and context for these master’s students in their practice settings was largely described as one of isolation, with privatization of teaching, competitive individualism in the staff room and fear of being unfairly criticized in peer observation. This concern is captured in the following comments: A lot of teachers see themselves as being master of their own domains, of their classroom, of their setups and of their students. A lot of the time some

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   287 of the greatest benefits can come from de-privatizing what you do in the classroom and going in and watching others, allowing others watch you and watching yourself. But there is a fear that you will be judged by your peers … there’s also a fear that by their nature teachers can be somewhat competitive as well. I’m not saying that it’s a dominant factor, but I certainly think it’s an important factor … we (also) take it very personal, what we do because this is our lives. I do think it’s a vocation, we do take it personally, and nobody wants to be criticized … if we could get past that, if we can actually see that (a) you would have a lot to offer as a teacher to another colleague, and (b) they might have a lot to offer to you, and (c) that it is for everyone’s mutual benefit. (mentor teacher) (new) teachers would be able to discuss classroom situations without fear of been seen as weak or incapable. I believe school would benefit greatly from formal mentoring … it would break down barriers and would help the new teacher feel part of a team rather than a sole trader. (mentor teacher)

The cultural context did not appear supportive of teachers’ taking professional risks and learning with and from one another in this regard: High levels of trust create safe spaces for critical inquiry and the creation of new knowledge for teaching and learning. There needs to be openness among staff. Professionally we need to trust each other and we need to trust ourselves as well. (school principal) Cultural barriers were highlighted, including insecurity on the teacher’s behalf, communication, time, mindset of the teacher is to be independent, and also a competitive edge that might exist in particular for part-time teachers. (mentor teacher)

The school cultural settings in these studies were largely defined within the studies as hierarchical cultures where everyone knew their place in the organizational chart and where reduced forms of trust were in evidence: The majority of staff still viewed mentoring in terms of the apprenticeship model or technical mentoring … many staff have a hierarchical view of leadership. (school principal) There isn’t a culture of openness and sharing. Most new teachers have to find their own way and only lean on other teachers if they really need it. They get little support in the area of professional training/assistance—class planning, content help, dress code, and how to handle students properly. If a more open climate existed among all teachers, the new teachers wouldn’t find it as purely targeting on them. It would be a natural part of our professional practice. (deputy principal)

288  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles

Bridging the gap in the policy discourses. The theses identified the need for more sustainable supports for mentor teachers to bridge the gap between existing mentoring dyads of reproduction and the newer types of partnerships needed to engage mentor teachers and school leaders in critical coinquiry and the generation of new knowledge of practice through new physical and physic spaces: … promoting a culture of coinquiry in our schools, whereby mentor teachers create experiences for newly qualified teachers that engage them in decision making, inquiry into their own practice and critical thinking. Mentoring can be an agent of change, but this is dependent on more sustained state-schooluniversity partnership initiatives. (mentor teacher) Build the “psychological space” where teacher learning in community is valued, and reflection and critical coinquiry are seen as important professional activities in the work of the teacher. Create the physical space by providing time for teachers to engage in mentoring partnerships for learning as part of their professional activities during the school day. (school principal)

Discussion and Implications Our analysis revealed that mentoring is being advanced by national official policy discourses in expedient ways to generate consistency and ensure that all experienced mentor teachers and school leaders comply with standardized knowledge frameworks in contemporary Ireland. Irish teachers, mentor teachers, and school leaders in these master’s theses showed a distinct preference for this technical and managerial view of mentoring and were strongly challenged by competing discourses in relation to “productive pedagogy,” “productive mentoring,” and “democratic professionalism” (Day & Sachs, 2004; Lingard et al., 2003; Mooney Simmie & Moles, 2011). This was largely in keeping with national policy frameworks for mentoring of newly qualified teachers and teacher education as a continuum (DES, 2006; NIPT, 2012; Teaching Council, 2011, 2012). The conception of the teacher as a “public servant” was the dominant discourse, with little or no requirement for the mentor teacher, or experienced teachers, to engage with theory or coinquiry in ways that challenge them to think deeply about their professional practices. In this research, we have looked beneath the veneer of what is often presented as unproblematic in relation to mentoring and teaching within the power relations of a dominant hegemony in the school setting and the expediency of an education system urgently seeking teacher education as a lifelong learning continuum. In the last decade, the moral imperative for

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   289

capacity building with practicing mentor teachers and school leaders has been increasingly (re)moved from national policy agendas and (re)framed as the individual and competitive responsibility of teachers and school leaders themselves (Ball, 2012; Ball et al., 2012; Biesta, 2010; Lynch et al., 2013). Our findings in this Bernsteinian analysis of the ORF-PRF gap in the policy discourses in relation to mentoring and teaching reveal a dominant technocratic discourse where culture, context, and power relations remain largely unproblematized and consigned to the political margins in contemporary Ireland. As explained at the outset of this chapter, we attempted to scaffold these studies with theoretical frameworks that would interrupt the everyday practices of these mentor teachers and school leaders and challenge them to think in deeper ways about their practices. We had limited success in this regard. The cultural and contextual constraints with hierarchical social relations and strong power distance meant that mentor teachers and school leaders appeared more concerned with enacting a discourse of compliance using thinkable knowledge than engaging in a challenging discourse of critical coinquiry using unthinkable knowledge. As a result of this analysis, we concluded that these mentor teachers and educational leaders are confined within what can best be described as a “pragmatic public service cage,” where there is a strong power distance in social relationships within social managerial culture. Mentor teachers, if they do engage in conversations about their teaching, learning and mentoring, prefer to do this in a practical way without accessing the intellectual resources, contestation, and systematic thinking facilitated by theory, research, and philosophical inquiry. These findings have implications for what actually counts in a mentoring relationship in teacher continuing education in preference to what is more often counted by policy leaders in this regard. This has serious implications for the retention of a cultural dynamic of dissonance in the ORF-PRF policy gap for the continuing autonomy of the mentor teacher and the field of education. The rhetoric of official policy documents in mentoring and teaching often fails to acknowledge the sociopolitical perspective and as a result silence the cultural and contextual constraints that are often far more challenging to teacher education than a simple enactment of technical and managerial change (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). The international literature argues that strong power distance cultures such as found within Ireland provide a contextual background that is not conducive to developing the core professional activities required for higher order collaborative practices among teachers and school leaders (Timperley at al., 2007; Vieluf et al., 2012). If mentoring in contemporary Ireland is to become more than simply reproducing existing inequalities in education, we need to find

290  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles

ways to conceptualize and communicate mentoring practices that take the sociopolitical perspective into account. In this chapter, we have argued for the use of theory and the acknowledgment of the need for a sociopolitical perspective to continue to define the gap in the ORF-PRF policy discourses as an arena of dissonance and autonomy for the mentor teacher. We concur with Apple (2012), who argues that new ways require different power and social relations between all education policy actors: Models of curriculum and teaching need to be developed, ones that, for example, reduce the division between conception and execution and mental and manual labour…. This requires us to communicate with each other in both formal and informal ways…. In the process, educators can educate these groups, at the same that they (the educators) are being educated themselves. (p. 158)

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. To what extent do you believe the two discourses addressed in this study are present or absent in the mentoring discourses in your situation? 2. To what extent do you believe the two discourses addressed in this study are relevant to your situation? 3. Is there any action that should be taken as a result of your response to question 2? Note 1. Ireland refers to the Republic of Ireland, unless otherwise stated.

References Allais, S. (2012). “Economics imperialism,” education policy and educational theory. Journal of Education Policy, 27(2), 253–274. Apple, M. W. (2012). Education and power (2nd ed.). New York, NY/Oxon, England: Routledge. Apple, M. W. (2013). Can education change society? New York, NY/Oxon, England: Routledge. Ball, S. J. (2012). Global Education Inc.: New policy networks and the neo-liberal imaginary. New York, NY/Oxon, England: Routledge.

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   291 Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Braun, A. (2012). How schools do policy: Policy enactments in secondary schools. New York, NY/Oxon, England: Routledge. Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control, and identity: Theory, research, critique. (Revised ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Biesta, G. J. J. (2010). Good education in an age of measurement: Ethics, politics and democracy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm. Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming critical. Lewes, England: Falmer Press. Chomsky, N., & McChesney, R. W. (2011). Profit over people: Neoliberalism and global order. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press. Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1999). Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities. Review of Research in Education, 24, 249–06. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Day, C., & Sachs, J. (2004). Professionalism, performativity and empowerment: Discourse in the politics, policies and purposes of continuing professional development. In C. Day & J. Sachs (Eds.), International handbook on the continuing professional development of teachers (pp. 3–32). Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Department of Education and Skills. (2006). National pilot project on teacher induction: Report on phase 1 and 2, 2002–2004. Dublin, Ireland: Author. Department of Education and Skills. (2010). Incidental inspection findings: A report on teaching and learning of English and mathematics in primary schools. Inspectorate Evaluation Studies. Promoting the Quality of Learning. Dublin, Ireland: Author. Department of Education and Skills. (2011). The national strategy to improve literacy and numeracy among children and young people, 2011–2020. Dublin: Author. Department of Education and Skills. (2013). School self-evaluation guidelines for postprimary schools: Inspectorate guidelines for schools. Dublin, Ireland: Author. Durkheim, E., Childress, S. A., & Swain, J. W. (2012). The elementary forms of the religious life. Classics of the social sciences. New Orleans, LA: Quid Pro. Fletcher, S., & Mullen, C. (Eds.). (2012). The Sage handbook of mentoring and coaching in education. London, England/New York, NY: Sage. Furlong, J. (2013). Education: An anatomy of the discipline rescuing the university project? London, England/New York, NY: Routledge. Gewirtz, S., & Cribb, A. (2009). Understanding education: A sociological perspective. Cambridge, England/Malden, MA: Polity Press. Giroux, H. (1988). Teachers as intellectuals towards a critical pedagogy of learning. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2000). Mentoring in the new millennium. Theory into Practice, 39(1), 50–56. Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital transforming teaching in every school. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. London, England/New York, NY: Routledge. Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, England/New York, NY: Routledge.

292  G. M. Simmie and J. Moles Hederman, M. P. (2012). The boy in the bubble: Education as personal relationship. Dublin, Ireland: Veritas. Hogan, P. (2010). The new significance of learning imagination’s heartwork. London, England/New York, NY: Routledge. Jupp, V. (1996). Documents and critical research. In R. Sapsford & V. Jupp (Eds.), Data collection and analysis (pp. 298–316). London, England: Sage Publications and the Open University. Lingard, B., Hayes, D., Mills, M., & Christie, P. (2003). Leading learning. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Lipman, P. (2011). The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the right to the city. New York, NY/London, England: Routledge. Lonergan, J., Mooney Simmie, G., & Moles, J. (2012). Mentoring to reproduce or change discourse in schools. International Journal of Mentoring & Coaching in Education, 1(2), 104–119. Lynch, K., Grummell, B., & Devine, D. (2012). New managerialism in education: Commercialization, carelessness and gender. Hampshire, England/New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. MacLure, M. (2010). The offence of theory. Journal of Education Policy, 25(2), 277– 286. Mooney Simmie, G. (2012). The pied piper of neoliberalism calls the tune in the Republic of Ireland: An analysis of educational policy text from 2000–2012. The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 10(2), 485–514. Mooney Simmie, G., & Lang, M. (Eds.). (2012). What’s worth aiming for in educational innovation and change? Berlin, GermanyNew York, NY: Waxmann. Mooney Simmie, G., & Moles, J. (2011). Critical thinking, caring and professional agency: An emerging framework for productive mentoring. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 19(4), 465–482. Mooney Simmie, G., & Moles, J. (2012). Educating the critically reflective mentor. In S. Fletcher & C. Mullen (Eds.), The Sage handbook of mentoring and coaching in education. London, England/New York, NY: Sage. National Induction Programme for Teachers. (2012, August). Draft consultative postprimary mentor guide: Induction and mentoring in post-primary schools and further education settings. Dublin, Ireland: Author. Noddings, N. (2012). Philosophy of education (3rd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. O’Brien, J., & Christie, F. (2005). Characteristics of support for beginning teachers: Evidence from the new teacher induction scheme in Scotland. Mentoring & Tutoring, 13(2), 189–203. Perryman, J. (2007). Inspection and emotion. Cambridge Journal of Education, 37(2), 173–190. Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2010). Globalizing education policy. London, England/New York, NY: Routledge. Rönnerman, K., Moksnes Furu, E., & Salo, P. (2008). Nurturing praxis action research in partnerships between school and university in a Nordic light. Rotterdam, the Netherland: Sense. Sapsford, R., & Jupp, V. (eds.). (1996). Data collection and analysis. London, England: Sage Publications and the Open University.

The Cultural Dynamics of Mentoring   293 Singh, P., Thomas, S., & Harris, J. (2013). Recontextualising policy discourses: A Bernsteinian perspective on policy interpretation, translation and enactment. Journal of Education Policy, 28(4), 465–480. Sundli, L. (2007). Mentoring: A new mantra for education? Teaching & Teacher Education, 23, 201-214. Teaching Council (June 2011). Policy on the continuum of teacher education. Maynooth, Ireland: Author. Teaching Council (2012). Code of professional conduct for teachers (2nd ed.). Maynooth, Ireland: Author. Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fung, H. (2007). Teacher professional learning and development. Auckland: New Zealand Ministry of Education. University of Limerick. (2013). Academic handbook of regulations and procedures. Approved by Academic Council (11May and 19 June 2013). Limerick, Ireland: Author. Vieluf, S., Kaplan, D., Klieme, E., & Bayer, S. (2012) Teaching practices and pedagogical innovation. Evidence from TALIS. Paris: OECD. Wang, J., & Odell, S. (2007). An alternative conception of mentor novice relationships: Learning to teach in reform-minded ways. Teaching & Teacher Education, 23, 473–489. Wheelahan, L. (2011). Vocational qualifications and access to knowledge. In G. Ivinson, B. Davies, & J. Fitz (Eds.), Knowledge and identity concepts and applications in Bernstein’s sociology (pp. 124–139). London, England/New York, NY: Routledge. Young, M., & Muller, J. (2011). Three educational scenarios for the future: Lessons from the sociology of knowledge. European Journal of Education, 45(1), 11–27.

chapter 18

AN OLD TRADITION AND THE NEW BEGINNING Mentoring in Africa Hilary Geber

An old man sits under an acacia tree in Lesotho, shielded from the blazing sun by his Basotho blanket and his conical straw hat, smoking his pipe. At his feet sits a young man, now no longer a herd boy, but a strapping young adult bound for Johannesburg to begin working as an accountant for a large mining house. The old man talks of beads and cattle and ponies on the steep mountain passes and the water flowing in the river to the Khatse Dam. In telling the story of Monyohe, the great snake of the deep waters, the elder indirectly reminds the younger man of what the Basotho regard as honorable behavior, how to deal with conflict and obstacles and how he is expected to plough back some of his good fortune and experience into his community in Lesotho. The continuity of Basotho values, despite changing times and global workplaces is the emphasis of the old man’s story.

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 295–306 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

295

296  H. Geber

Introduction The older man in this story is a mentor to the younger one, in the African cultural tradition. The issue for mentors in Africa, born and brought up in the country, whatever their race or ethnicity, is incorporating local and indigenous mentoring which sits comfortably with Africans, especially if they operate in the world of multinational companies, whether they are located in African cities or in other parts of the world. There are two important questions to be addressed. First, can Africans incorporate their honoring of their culture of Ubuntu, a worldview that sees all beings and nature as interconnected and which prioritizes relationships, and still benefit from Western experience and knowledge of mentoring? Second, do African cultural practices enhance our concepts of mentoring overall? African writers who have studied mentoring practices in Malawi, Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe have some answers to these questions. The purpose of this chapter is to argue for the development of a culturally consistent mentor training approach that could assist transformation in South Africa. An indigenous model may also provide a viable model for other multicultural situations worldwide. I look at mentoring from an African perspective and the importance of values, context, metaphor, interconnection, and place in the mentoring process. I consider Western models of formal mentoring programs in the African context and how these intersect with underlying notions of African mentoring. Few African writers are building theory around mentoring or offering definitions that reflect the unique context in Africa. There is a need to focus more clearly on cross cultural knowledge and on African values such as Ubuntu, a term more fully discussed below. Defining Mentoring Mentoring is a term used ubiquitously to cover a wide range of activities such as academic support for students, professional development and training, career development, career networking internships, and work placements. Mentoring practice in Africa is widespread, but at the same time it is elusive and often difficult to describe. I have searched through the literature to find a definition that would best suit what happens in Africa. In mentoring work in Southern Africa, I find that mentoring can best be defined as a transformational process that involves establishing learning alliances for professional development, and a commitment to social and organizational change (Geber, 2003).

An Old Tradition and the New Beginning   297

The connection between Ubuntu and mentoring lies in the pervasive sense in African adults that they have a duty to engage with younger members of the community to preserve African values and actively role model a compassionate, developmental way of being in whatever circumstances Africans find themselves. The mentoring projects discussed later in this chapter use this definition as their foundation. It is critical for Africans, regardless of ethnicity and gender, to be exposed to mentoring early in their careers so that they can compete globally. It is important for mentoring to become an integral part of workplace culture to achieve this aim. At their best, many models of mentoring are helpful and rewarding and can be life changing. Often, Western style mentoring programs in parts of Africa are rocket launched, with lots of noise and spectacular flashy pyrotechnics. The question of the viability and sustainably of such mentoring programs in this context remains unanswered. Western mentoring models, often used in these programs, do not generally build on the cultural strengths and practices of non-Western nations (Geber & Nyanjom, 2009; Haretsebe & Manwa, 2007; Malunga, 2006). Although few indigenous models of mentoring in Africa have been reported in the literature on formal mentoring programs, those mentoring programs which have used Ubuntu principles common to African oral traditions have been reported as being successful in South Africa (Van Zyl, Kleynhans, & du Plessis, 2011). For those who are not familiar with Africa, the concept of Ubuntu may be strange and not an easily accessible concept. Yet, it pervades traditional African culture throughout the continent and has a fundamental link to mentoring. An overview of the Ubuntu paradigm which could form a foundation for mentoring approaches in Africa is presented in the section that follows. Ubuntu and Mentoring in Africa Ubuntu as a value system is not unique in the world, but it is central in African culture. In this culture, the community exists as an interconnected being which is joined with its ancestors and nature—to a living world seen and to the world unseen. Africans are expected to fulfil the community’s aspirations. Thus, sharing is an important African value so that people with different qualities, talents, and resources share in a spirit of cooperativeness for positive living (Broodryk, 1997). The principle of Ubuntu is congruent with and closely linked to the concept of mentoring.

298  H. Geber

Some important attributes of Ubuntu include: • Collective ownership of responsibility, opportunities and challenges • Primacy of relationships: one becomes human only in the midst of others • Harmony, humility and helpfulness as desirable qualities and aims • Spiritual guidance as a natural part of problem solving • Moral standards based on ancestral precedents, which may be difficult to change • Consensus seeking, which may require time to develop (Keane, 2007; Malunga, 2006; Van Zyl et al., 2011). In Africa, the individualism of the West is seen negatively, as unrestrained competitiveness in which individual interest rules supreme and society or others are regarded as a means to individual ends. This is in stark contrast to the African preference for cooperation and group work (Louw, 2001). Although competiveness is increasing in academic and business contexts in Africa, traditional collaborative values endure. Although Black Africans form about 79% of the population in South Africa and there are increasing numbers of Black African leaders and executives in business and academia, most mentors, mentor trainers and researchers in South African are white (COMENSA, n.d.). Of the top 25 Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed companies, the majority have White CEOs or managing directors (MD). Two mobile phone service providers each have a Black CEO or MD. The largest coaching and mentoring conference held annually in South Africa recorded a growth of Black delegates from 12% in 2007 to 36% in 2012 (Knowledge Resources, personal communication, 2013). In the context of mentoring and leadership development most organizations still rely, by default, on Western paradigms and values with little innovation, or even awareness, of the cultural bias that this may impose. In general, African cultural values, indigenous reference points, as well as emerging democracy tensions, are ignored in mentoring in Africa (Geber & Nyanjom, 2009). Although Ubuntu principles are neither included nor overtly addressed in most mentoring relationships and programs and relationships in Africa, they may be subtly intertwined in ways we are just beginning to explore, and in some situations they are becoming incorporated into mentoring endeavors. This provides opportunities for research. The next section provides a foundation for such investigation. It begins with an overview of the research on mentoring related to African culture and then presents information about mentoring programs in Africa that are seeking to recognize and honor African values in their mentoring programs.

An Old Tradition and the New Beginning   299

Mentoring Studies in Africa Mentoring research conducted primarily in Western countries, has highlighted the importance of mentors and mentoring to an individual’s career success. However, in a Zimbabwean study Manwa and Manwa (2007) question the applicability of the Western concept of mentoring to African organizations and maintain that the generalizability of these findings to an African organizational culture has not been established. A study of senior and middle managers that they conducted in banks and hotels in Zimbabwe showed that mentoring as a top down relationship between one mentor and one mentee was not relevant to African organizations. They suggest a new way of conceptualizing mentoring from an African perspective, “the homeboy/girl syndrome,” which has evolved from traditional African settings. In their study, informal networks were found to be more powerful and more appropriate to career success than having individual mentors. Their conclusion is that mentoring that ignores traditional African values is not optimal in African organizations. Van Zyl et al. (2011) suggest an appropriate and relevant way in which First World leaders can understand and approach their Third World workforce in Africa.1 This is not easy to understand, as the authors do not give definitions of First World leaders or of the Third World workforce and, as South Africans, this is perhaps their way of avoiding politically charged terminology. It is confusing to readers because First World leaders could be expatriates or they could be South African leaders who are educated according to Western standards (i.e., most White business leaders and executives). Although this is not overtly racist, it is still a reminder of the hegemony of Western models and systems of categorizing ethnic groups. If Van Zyl et al. are referring to South African White business leaders, I agree that there is a need for more cultural knowledge and more inclusive practice in South Africa. Mentoring leaders about this is important, as is the need for mentor training based on deeper cultural knowledge, as well as sensitivity to past political brutalities. Sensitivity to such values as Ubuntu is included by implication in this inclusion of cultural intelligence in mentoring programs in Africa. Geber and Nyanjom (2009) explored mentor development in higher education in Botswana. They found that mentors can develop their mentoring abilities through reflective practice and an overt transformational approach to mentoring. Their findings indicate that reflective practice contributes effectively to mentor learning and development and improves mentoring ability by integrating African cultural values into the mentoring process. This study is important for its insight into the sparsely researched area of mentor development and its contribution to organizational change and transformation in the context of Ubuntu and African values.

300  H. Geber

Newenham-Kahindi (2009) studied the transfer of South African management business models abroad. He examined the case of four South African multinational companies and the ways that they implement distinctive business models of human resource management strategies in the service sector in Tanzania. He looked at multinational corporations from emerging economies and at the distinctiveness of their national institutional systems, as well as the ways they attempt to strike a balance between global integration and local differentiation in managing human resource management (HRM) practices abroad. Based on a case study conducted of ABSA Bank on Standard Bank (Stanbic), South Africa-Tanzania Vodacom, and Sanlam African Life Assurance services in Tanzania, he described how South African multinational companies in this particular sector internationalize their HRM strategies by incorporating the crosscultural interface management practices of Ubuntu and Indaba and those of the host nation’s characteristics into their subsidiary operations. Newenham-Kahindi concluded by illustrating how diverse forms of hybrid HRM strategies have enabled emerging South African organizational service industries to develop high-performance work practices in the midst of global competitiveness. For example, each of the multinational companies in the study has a resource learning center that serves as an incubator for cross-cultural management learning. Its purpose is to explore new work values and expose employees to new ways of organizing and managing the internal work complexities and dealing with external business challenges. Employees and mentees responded by developing a high commitment to and acceptance of engagement in the organizational setting. This reciprocal relationship was created through the introduction of a more flexible employment system that reflected both the organizational settings of the multinational companies and the local cultural context. The incorporation of African values has been attempted in other professional fields across the continent in order to meet community and individual needs. One of these involves programs focused on health care in sub-Sahara Africa. Mentoring Across Sub-Saharan Africa The population of Africa is growing rapidly and many African countries have poor healthcare facilities. Large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa have effectively no health care at all, with only 600,000 healthcare workers for a population of 682 million in this part of the continent. Mentoring in healthcare is scarce as a result. In Ghana, there are 9 doctors to every 100,000 patients. Only 60 of the 500 doctors trained in Zambia since independence are still there, and Mozambique has a meager 500 doctors for a population of 18 million (Johnson, 2005). This is the situation all over Africa, which continues to have frail, malnourished children in the care of

An Old Tradition and the New Beginning   301

their siblings and grandparents because the twin scourges of warfare and HIV/AIDS have wiped out their parents. One very large mentoring project that has focused on trying to ameliorate this situation was developed by the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA, n.d.), which is a project within the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. CARTA has been aware of the effects of the African brain drain for many years and the project aims to decrease the continuing loss of healthcare professionals through its mentoring programs (http://www. cartafrica.org/). CARTA has brought together nine academic and four research institutions from West, East, Central, and Southern Africa and selected northern partners in a variety of related disciplines essential to enhancing health, wellbeing and livelihoods in Africa. The project managers are very aware of the effectiveness of mentoring for early career health professionals and have integrated mentoring into all aspects of the project. The CARTA mentoring program for 2011–2012 commenced with a three day workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, in March 2011 and was followed by a Joint Advanced Seminar at the University of Witwaterstand, South Africa, in November 2011. The second cohort of participants attended a Joint Advanced Seminar in 2012. The 25 participant Fellows in the 2011 cohort are employed by Makerere University, Uganda; Moi University, Kenya; the National University of Rwanda; Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; the University of Dares Salaam, Tanzania; the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; the University of Malawi; the University of Nairobi, Kenya; and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. The preliminary workshop on monitoring, supervision, mentoring, and support of postgraduate students in Nairobi in March 2011 was attended by all the Fellows, who also subsequently attended a series of residential joint advanced seminars (JAS) designed to enhance doctoral candidates’ skills and knowledge, propel them through the research process, and provide a foundation for building networks of researchers, peers, and mentors. Residential training offers an advantage for the program in that students are able to focus on specific program tasks, learn collaboratively, interact with local and international facilitators, and develop and consolidate professional networks. CARTA also aims to strengthen healthcare by sharing and teaching strategies that promote the faculty’s capacity to train, supervise, and mentor graduate students, win research grants, and conduct high-quality research and manage collaborative research projects. It includes the mentoring of PhD supervisors and doctoral students. The data collected annually from the first three and subsequent cohorts in the CARTA program will track participant completion rates of PhDs, research grants awarded and numbers of publications. Since the program

302  H. Geber

has clearly defined objectives and an emphasis on mentoring using good practice, data are expected to produce verifiable longitudinal evidence of retention rates of health professionals in Africa. If it is successful, this program will begin to decrease the brain drain from participating countries and support the retention of the academic and research skills so necessary for the welfare of the African population. Because the project is continuously monitored, it will also address the research question about Africans incorporating their culture of Ubuntu and benefiting from Western experience and knowledge of mentoring. It will provide some data on whether African cultural practices enhance our concepts of mentoring in this particular academic and public health environment. There are very few formal reports of mentoring in Africa and in South Africa. Many initiatives are publicized, but there is very little follow up on programs and data are difficult to access. Some that have been published internationally are reviewed in the section that follows. Mentoring in South Africa One local mentoring program which has longitudinal data is of global significance for biodiversity in Africa and worldwide. The program highlights an innovative South African approach to mentoring novice professionals in biodiversity management (Ivey, Geber, & Nänni, 2013). In South Africa, there are a limited number of trained and experienced biodiversity professionals and therefore mentoring of young scientists is crucial to address the effective management of the country’s rich resources and combat invasive alien species. In 2008, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) established an Early Detection and Rapid Response Program (ED & RR) to manage invasive plant species in four different climatic regions. As South Africa still has a legacy of underdevelopment of young scientists from communities disenfranchised under apartheid, this program has had to employ many inexperienced staff. An innovative mentoring initiative was embedded into the program to develop staff capacity and to provide access to established networks of experienced scientists in invasion biology and environmental sciences to transform and diversify the demographics in these fields. Data were gathered from all participants in the programs in the first cohort for 3 years, from 2008 until 2010, and further data collection is being undertaken. The first cohort of mentors and mentees provided data on their experiences during the initial stages of the program, midway through the second year, and at the end third year in the program. The program emphasizes the use of an African perspective in all training and development and ongoing relationships.

An Old Tradition and the New Beginning   303

The mentees have experienced several very important shifts in thinking during their mentoring relationships. They said that they had started to think of themselves as biodiversity professionals. They are no longer simply graduates or postgraduates working for the ED & RR program, but serious players in their field and competent young professionals, increasing their expertise and experience and are now taken seriously when they interact with other stakeholders in their regions. Mentees said that the connections they had made through their mentors’ networks had allowed them to operate at levels beyond their expectations and to speak to senior officials and CEOs much earlier in their careers than they would have otherwise. They now have some influence in the field because their mentors have expert reputations. They spoke about their growing confidence in seeing themselves and acting as biodiversity specialists and that such personal development was important to them. The way they think about ecology and biodiversity has changed and they are generally less rigid and more open to changes in the science they are engaged in. Field trips were included in the 16 hours per month which the mentors spent with their mentees. The mentees said that the field trips with their mentors were very valuable and necessary and that they learned an enormous amount during those trips which could be compared to a clan gathering (a lekgotla) of elders and youngsters, both in expressing their experiences and seeking advice in traditional African ways. Retention of novice scientists, their training in the field, and the progress they have made in eliminating invasive alien species all showed that the mentors had devoted an enormous amount of time to passing on their expertise and also becoming aware of the cultural and traditional values of the rural communities where the novice scientists had to work. The allocation of 16 hours per mentee per month for the first 6 months is exceptional and extremely unusual. Most formal mentoring programs devote much less time to the process. SANBI itself has benefitted in that the team is still intact and functioning well, so no additional costs of recruiting and training have been incurred. The mentors have given the team sharp focus and helped it to function effectively quite quickly, so much so that the program may be used as a model by SANBI for other programs in the organization. Mentors have gained insight into mentoring young scientists from African cultures and have encouraged them as individuals and team members. The study of the ED & RR mentoring program is ongoing and more longitudinal data are being collected. Many other countries have invasive alien plant control and elimination programs, but none had built mentoring into their programs when this mentoring program was presented at an international conference in 2010. Other biodiversity professionals outside

304  H. Geber

of Africa regard the ED & RR mentoring program as a pioneering model in biodiversity worldwide. Lessons Learned The findings of both research and practice indicate that mentoring programmes need to be designed with the recipients in mind. If the mentees are Africans, attention needs to be given to African cultural values and traditions and Ubuntu should be discussed and integrated into the mentoring program and into the mentoring process. Examining the programs presented in this chapter, it appears that when Ubuntu is acknowledged as an underlying value, programs are more successful than when it is ignored. Mentoring is an important strategy for sustaining the next generation of academics in all disciplines in Africa. Tettey (2006, 2010) notes that mentoring postgraduate students is a vital mechanism for getting them through their programs and encouraging them to embark upon an academic career. It is also of vital importance in sustaining young scholars as they make their way through their professional careers (Mathews, 2003). Institutions need to have well-organized mentoring programs in place within each department or faculty that match new colleagues with more senior staff. Established academics can help new colleagues acquaint themselves with important career-advancing and fulfilling strategies, provide them with guidance and support as they navigate the challenges of the academy, and involve them as collaborators in research endeavors. However, whatever the situation or setting, the culture of those being mentored and the cultural context within which they function must be considered and integrated into the relationships and programs formulated. Although this chapter probably shows only the tip of the iceberg of all the mentoring programs in higher education, academia, and workplaces in Africa, it is likely that the analogy of taking culture into consideration when applying mentoring processes would fit quite well, no matter what the program goal. Most of what is happening is so deeply submerged that it is really hard to ascertain the extent of mentoring in African higher education, academia, and workplaces. It is even rarer to find reports on how the concept of Ubuntu can be integrated into mentoring programs and schemes in Africa. Cross-cultural issues in mentoring, whether the mentors are White Africans or from countries outside Africa, are particularly challenging because there is a general lack of understanding and knowledge of African culture, rural and township life, poverty, lack of access to education, and other factors unique to Africa such as the need to take responsibility for younger

An Old Tradition and the New Beginning   305

siblings, the increasing numbers of child-headed households, and the mounting death rate in adults between 25–40. The question of how viable and sustainable African mentoring programs are remains unresolved at present. It may be too soon to give any but the sketchiest data. Africans can integrate the culture of Ubuntu and still benefit from Western experience and knowledge of mentoring. African cultural practices do enhance our concepts of mentoring, as African researchers in Malawi, Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe have shown. Further research would be valuable in ascertaining the effectiveness of mentoring programs which include Ubuntu. Conclusion Mentoring is a pivotal tool in African higher education and workplaces since it assists organizational transformation and global competitiveness. Mentoring strategies enable organizations to empower employees to add value to their working relationships in ways that do not ordinarily occur in organizational structures between employees and their managers. In Africa, harnessing the traditional, time-honored traditions can give mentoring a feel of homecoming to those braving the global workplace. Transformation can come about in ways that are significant for all employees, and change can be implemented in respectful, nonthreatening, and trust-building ways. All participants can benefit if mentoring programs are carefully planned and consistently implemented and monitored, and program evaluation generates important lessons for the ongoing sustainability of mentoring in African organizations and traditional Ubuntu values. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. What is your reaction to Geber’s definition of mentoring? 2. What is your reaction to the author’s notion that concepts of Ubuntu should be the model of mentoring programs in Africa? 3. Is there a way in which you believe that the concepts of Ubuntu could or should be incorporated into your mentoring endeavors? Note 1. The author notes here the inherent cultural bias in such terms of 1st & 3rd World: defined largely by Western countries on perceived priorities of wealth and technology as defining “development.”

306  H. Geber

References Broodryk, J. (1997). Ubuntu management and motivation. Johannesburg: Gauteng Department of Welfare. Pretoria: Ubuntu School of Philosophy. COMENSA. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.comensa.co.za/ Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa. (n.d.). Retrieved from http:// www.cartafrica.org/ Geber, H. M. (2003). Fostering career development for Black academics in the new South Africa. In F. Kochan & J. Pascarelli (Eds.), Global perspectives on mentoring: Transforming contexts, communities, and cultures (pp. 107–128). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. Geber, H., & Nyanjom, J. (2009). Mentor development in higher education in Botswana: How important is reflective practice? South African Journal of Higher Education, 23(5), 894–911. Haretsebe, M., & Manwa, F. (2007). Applicability of the western concept of mentoring to African organizations. Journal of African Business, 8(1), 31–43 Ivey, P., Geber, H. M., & Nänni, I. (2013). An innovative South African approach to mentoring novice professionals in Biodiversity Management. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 11(1), 85–111. Johnson, J. (2005). Stopping Africa’s medical brain drain. British Medical Journal, 331, 2–3. Keane, M. (2007). Science learning and research in a framework of Ubuntu. Education Policy Unit Conference, 6–8 March, 2007, Sunnyside, Johannesburg. Louw, D. J. (2001). Ubuntu and the challenges of multiculturalism in post-apartheid South Africa. Retrieved from uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/4316/Louw.pdf. txt?sequence=3 Malunga, M. (2006). Learning leadership development from African cultures: A personal perspective. INTRAC: International NGO Training and Research Centre, Praxis Note No. 25. Manwa, H., & Manwa, F. (2007). Applicability of the western concept of mentoring to African organizations. Journal of African Business, 1(8), 31–43. Mathews, P. (2003). Academic mentoring: Enhancing the use of scarce resources. Educational Management and Administration, 31(3), 313–334. Newenham-Kahindi, A. (2009). The transfer of Ubuntu and Indaba business models abroad: A case of South African multinational banks and telecommunication services in Tanzania. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 9(1), 87–108. Tettey, W. J. (2006). Staff retention in African universities: Elements of a sustainable strategy. Washington, DC: World Bank. Tettey, W. J. (2010). Challenges of developing and retaining the next generation of academics: Deficit in academic staff capacity at African universities. Status Report, commissioned by the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa. Van Zyl, E. S., Kleynhans, R., & du Plessis M. (2011). Understanding and approaching the cultural gap between First World leaders and their Third World workforce: An African focus. African Journal of Business Management, 5(17), 7171– 7178.

chapter 19

ENHANCING CAREER SUCCESS FOR ABORIGINAL PROFESSIONALS Uncovering the Cultural Interface Within Mentoring Al Dawood, Naomi Konza, and Ann Rolfe

“The value of human rights is not in their existence; it is in their implementation.” —Mick Dodson, 2010

This chapter explores the cultural relevance, unique benefits of, and increasing opportunities for mentoring as a means to enhance the career success of Aboriginal professionals in Australia. It reviews the applicability of mentoring methodologies to culturally relevant learning and communication. In addition, the chapter incorporates an overview of strategies which are required to support effective mentoring programs. In order to fully understand the context in which this mentoring program operates,

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 307–325 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

307

308  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe

this chapter also provides a brief history of how racial discrimination and prejudice has influenced career opportunities for Aboriginal people. The chapter includes rich qualitative research which delves into the perceptions and experiences of Aboriginal people regarding cultural influences on their career success, including barriers to it. Of note are the firsthand accounts by Aboriginal mentees of the benefits of mentoring, drawing out the power of mentoring as a tool for promoting career success and capturing an emotive measurement which is not always depicted in purely quantitative data sets. Purpose The purposes of this chapter are to: highlight the cultural influences that underpin success factors and barriers to professional development for Aboriginal employees; share compelling findings which identify mentoring as a particularly suitable method for the personal and career development of Aboriginal professionals; and discuss a framework for facilitating successful mentoring programs for Aboriginal professionals that addresses the cultural context within which they live. Contextual Background To begin to understand the requirements and significance of supporting professional development of Aboriginal staff, an appreciation of the history of loss, discrimination, disenfranchisement, and dispossession is vital if readers are to understand the concepts presented in this chapter. Dating back to the illegitimate acquisition of sovereignty of the land and nation by outsiders in 1788, consecutive policies and practices have reinforced the continued disadvantage of Aboriginal peoples throughout Australia. It has only been since the 1960s that Aboriginal people have been equated as full citizens of the mainstream society, with access to education, welfare, health care, and the right to vote (Australian Human Rights Commission [AHRC], 2003). The complexity of this history and present day situation is well documented (see, e.g., Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation [CAR], 1998; CAR, 2000; Davidson & Jennett, 1994) which resulted in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2010) of which Australia, after initially being one of the four countries to vote against it, now formally supports it, as of April 3, 2009. The United Nations Declaration contains references to education, information, and employment under Articles 14–17. Furthermore, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s Social Justice Report (2005) explicitly states that:

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   309 The inequality gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians remains wide and has not been progressively reduced. With a significant proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in younger age groups, there is an additional challenge to programs and services being able to keep up with the future demands of a burgeoning population. (p. 9)

The disadvantage faced by Aboriginal people continues to manifest itself for many in the shape of significant health problems, high unemployment, low attainment in the formal education sector, unsatisfactory housing, over representation in the corrections and juvenile justice system, and high levels of arrest, incarceration and deaths in custody; as well as the despair and distress manifesting as high rates of substance abuse, domestic violence, suicide, and generally significant signs of social dysfunction (ARHC, 2003). The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Partnership Agreement for Indigenous Economic Participation (2009) recognizes that workforce participation has been shown to increase the social and economic wellbeing of individuals and families, in turn reducing intergenerational social disadvantage. For this reason, Closing the Gap in Indigenous Disadvantage (COAG, 2013) was created, citing “halving the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade” as a primary target. Ensuring economic participation is an imperative for a successful framework for addressing Aboriginal disadvantage. With this comes the need to be able to identify and leverage off one’s inherent strengths and acquired knowledge. Ensuring people understand their talents, potential, and interests, as well as understand how to relate these to the available education and jobs, can make a significant contribution to every individual as well as to achieving national social inclusion and equity goals. Career development support that involves intensive information, advice, community role models, and mentoring can be particularly valuable in contributing to equity goals through helping to raise aspirations and motivation (Breunig, Cobb-Clark, Dunlop, & Terrill, 2003, as cited in Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2012a). Barriers to Professional Development The benefits of a lifelong career path (through school, further education, training and employment, continuing throughout a working life) for individuals with timely, quality career development support have long been understood. Those benefits include such things as increased confidence, better informed decisions, smoother transitions to employment or further

310  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe

education, and higher job satisfaction. In the last decade, many governments have begun to accept not only that career development support and services benefit individuals, but also that they can make substantive contributions to many key public policy objectives in education and in the labor market, to promote equity and productivity (DEEWR, 2012b, p. 2). Despite these advances in understanding and the initiatives that have resulted from them, there continue to be barriers for Aboriginal peoples seeking to access high quality professional development. Participants in the research endeavor reported here were asked to express their own perceptions and considerations of these issues, with the final report attempting to incorporate the voices of all participants in an objective manner to give credence to their participation. It is important to acknowledge that not all realities could be represented in their entirety, since each person brings with them a spectrum of lived experiences, resulting in a continuum of knowledge, insight, and awareness that can never be captured in total. However, the findings revealed definite themes regarding barriers and supports to professional advancement for Aboriginal professionals that are relevant when creating and evaluating mentoring programs that can provide the kind of professional development and personal support that will foster success. Literature Review In 2010, the NSW Department of Premier & Cabinet’s Public Sector Workforce published a research study regarding the barriers Aboriginal staff face in progressing within the public sector and found that while there are Aboriginal people in the public sector who have attained higher positions, the majority occupy lower graded roles. In Making It Our Business: Career Planning Guide for Supervisors and Managers of Aboriginal Staff (2010), they outline a variety of real or perceived, personal or institutional barriers that prevent Aboriginal staff from progressing. Discussions surrounding the comfort and security that identified roles (that is roles specifically targeting and designed for Aboriginal staff) offer, can deter Aboriginal professionals from moving into nonidentified roles. Aboriginal identified roles often sit within a support network that may be more cognizant of familial and cultural obligations, an understanding which Aboriginal staff may fear losing if they move into a mainstream role. Furthermore, the deep-seated feeling of community obligation experienced by Aboriginal people can create a sense that if the professional is to work within a designated or identified role, they are upholding their responsibility to their community. Examining these issues, Purdie, Frigo, Stone, and Dick (2006) write:

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   311 The disadvantage that accrues from Indigenous unemployment is unrelenting and immense.… A low Indigenous employment rate is generally seen as an underlying factor of Indigenous poverty, poor health and emotional well-being, inadequate housing, and low participation and attainment in education.… Summaries of … key evaluations of the effectiveness of Indigenous employment policies demonstrate clearly that there are barriers to Indigenous employment that have persisted over time.… Factors that seen to contribute to these high unemployment levels included low levels of formal education and training; discrimination and racism; a high concentration in the younger age groups; and, especially in remote locations, a lack of conventional employment opportunities. Today, similar key barriers are repeatedly referred to in both the anecdotal and research literature: lack of engagement with Indigenous communities; low levels of education and training outcomes in the Indigenous population; a lack of understanding of cultural differences leading to discrimination in the workforce; and geographic location. (pp. vii–viii)

As a means of espousing Aboriginal career development, the Making It Our Business paper (NSW Department of Premier & Cabinet, 2010) identified a dominant theme surrounding the involvement that conviction, self-esteem, and a supportive mentor/manager play in supporting Aboriginal professionals to aspire to career advancement. Purdie et al. (2006) also reviewed effective tools for enhancing the career opportunities of Aboriginal Victorians. Their review of mentoring programs identified mentoring’s capacity to foster a learning environment by offering a confidante and an advisor to the mentee. These researchers assessed mentoring as a particularly effective tool for use across induction, retention, and career development of Aboriginal Australians on the proviso they are structured with social and cultural considerations in mind. This requires the development of a partnership based on mutual respect for each other’s values and a requirement that stipulates the need for cross-cultural communication skills and knowledge which may be exhibited in the mentor in the following ways: Supports; doesn’t rescue Encourages; doesn’t condescend Offers constructive advice; without being opinionated Helps identify opportunities; without being paternalistic Encourages mutual discussion and problem solving; doesn’t dictate Promotes personal empowerment and builds a mutual, equal learning relationship; isn’t hierarchical • Is aware of own cultural values; and doesn’t judge the cultural values of the mentee

• • • • • •

312  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe

• Listens; more than talks • Facilitates decision making; doesn’t tell or instruct • Gets to know the whole person; not just the work person (Council of Australian Governments, 2013). Correlations can be drawn between the role and dynamics of mentoring and the symbolic and tangible importance of Elders in Aboriginal communities. Within Aboriginal communities, Elders are the knowledge keepers of their people’s history, stories, culture, and language (Australian Bureau of Statistic, 2010). Elders hold the wisdom, knowledge, and spirit of Aboriginal people and, as such, they fulfil the role of models, care providers, and educators (Walker, 1993, pp. 51–53). Correspondingly, building knowledge and capacity in other Aboriginal people was reiterated throughout the research behind this chapter, with participants talking about the importance of formal and informal cultural mentoring. This was articulated by participants who felt they were able to “act as an interpreter for Aboriginal clients who are culturally challenged.” For another participant, the responsibility of working for their community went to the very heart of what motivates them and drives them to pursue the plight of Aboriginal people. One person expressed this responsibility in this way: “As an Aboriginal person you still need to fight at times to ensure Aboriginal people are getting a fair go.” Methods The study employed qualitative methods using data collected primarily by Konza (2012). The methodology was developed in line with the Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2012). The use of a qualitative approach was identified as the most appropriate as it gives life and meaning to the situation from the perspective of those involved. A total of 45 participants took part in the research via a combination of individual and group face-to-face interviews, phone interviews, and online surveys. Thirty-five Aboriginal professionals employed by a state government organization and ten managers of senior staff from that cohort participated. The interviews, each lasting about one hour, were not recorded, but responses were documented with notes and quotes written at the time. All participants engaged on a voluntary basis, gave informed consent, and have had their confidentiality and privacy maintained. The development of the questions was informed by a consumer rights discourse and strengths-based practice. Important components of these

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   313

theories and practice codes are the concepts of free and informed consent, culturally competent practice, self-determination, empowerment, respect for persons, social justice, and professional integrity. Thematic analysis was used to analyze findings, draw reflections, and build conclusions. The findings of this study were reviewed by the authors in conjunction with their own experience of mentoring programs for Aboriginal people, evaluations, and participant feedback from previous Aboriginal mentoring programs. The authors have facilitated and participated in Aboriginal mentoring programs in both the public and community sectors; and have incorporated their own experience of working with Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people in learning and development, career development, and mentoring to provide a lateral analysis of the area. The objective was to identify consistent patterns and themes upon which to build future strategies to support career success for Aboriginal professionals with a particular emphasis on mentoring. Key Issues in Fostering the Careers of Aboriginal People Informed by the research, mentoring programs, professional wisdom, and insights described above, the research uncovered three key findings related to the career success of Aboriginal people, which will be discussed in detail in this chapter. These are: 1. There are specific cultural influences that underpin and contribute to creating barriers and fostering success in the careers of Aboriginal people; 2. Mentoring has the capacity and cultural relevance to enhance career success for Aboriginal professionals; and 3. Facilitating successful mentoring programs for Aboriginal professionals must address the cultural context.

Cultural Influences That Underlie and Contribute to Barriers and Success in the Careers of Aboriginal People The results of our study indicate that culture both hinders and facilitates success in the careers of Aboriginal people. These influences include: the experience of real, perceived, intentional, or unintentional racism; the cultural identity that they bring to their work and personal life; their ability to

314  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe

identify skills, strengths and talents; and their relationships with managers. These are considered in turn below. The Experience of Racism The most powerful theme that emerged from this study that serves as a barrier to success was the manner in which the participants experience real, perceived, and unintentional racism within Australian society at large. From the perspective of these individuals, racism perpetuates the social structures and continues to foster the discrimination that Aboriginal people and communities continue to experience. While difficult to document, the very real lived experience, either first or second hand, of Aboriginal professionals makes racism an important factor. Throughout the interviews, participants shared a variety of experiences regarding racism. Despite the employer organization having mechanisms to respond to overt, purposeful racism, racism that was felt and experienced by participants at work was often unintentional, but still very real. One participant commented that it is their ability to “understand that some people are naïve” that has enabled them to manage this, while others have had to take more formal action. What is important when discussing unintentional racism is to be aware of the impact it has on career success for Aboriginal people. Participants spoke honestly about the ramifications of racism on self-esteem, confidence, self-identity, and self-determination. Without strong, confident perceptions and belief of and in oneself, career success is almost an unobtainable goal. Cultural Identity For Aboriginal professionals, cultural identity permeates every level of their lives. Using their skills to work in the community is seen as a responsibility at the very heart of some Aboriginal staff ’s practice. Some quotes which capture this essence are: • I’m able to speak at all levels, to community, to academics, and to bureaucrats—I try and break through misunderstandings, break this down on all sides. • I teach people—you know you can go your whole life without knowing, when everyday is survival, so I teach people.... That’s what we need to break.

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   315

Aboriginal staff who are the only Aboriginal staff member in their team carry an excessive amount of extra work associated with their perceived cultural obligations; a burden compounded by having to provide a “voice” for a whole and diverse culture as only one person. Sharing about this issue, one participant stated: • There are a lot of good opportunities at [work], but as an Aboriginal worker, you have a lot of pressure to manage your own load and do all the consultation for other people—it’s hard being a solo Aboriginal worker. Many participants spoke in depth about providing cultural insight, consultations, and education for other staff. A clear paradox exists for them, on one hand feeling pressure, burdened and responsible for providing this cultural support, versus the desire and commitment to do so to ensure best practice for Aboriginal children and families. Aboriginal workers who work in the community have the added pressure of not being able to leave work at work. Said one of them, “Working in community, you don’t log off, community comes to you.” Aboriginal mentors have spoken about the need for Aboriginal professionals to set boundaries and have provided guidance to their mentees to help them negotiate community expectations, their own sense of obligation and personal and professional priorities. Developing skills for stress management, and self-care have been a feature of recent mentoring programs. All conversations with participants reinforced the principle that self-determination, respect, relationships, and responsibility are central to the empowerment of Aboriginal people. Some managers involved in the research recognized how participants’ harness their cultural responsibilities for the benefits of their career and the outcomes of their clients, commenting that the participants’ strength lies in being able to juggle their community obligations and organizational obligations with skill despite the delicacies this requires. One comment that captures this idea was: • [They are] able to effectively wear two hats. One hat as an Aboriginal [person] who advocates for [their] community and has a strong commitment to culturally competent practice. And another hat as a worker whose role it is to [effectively do their job]. [They] wear the first hat to complement and inform the second hat.

316  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe

Cultural Issues in Identifying Skills Strengths and Talents When the research participants were asked to reflect on their skills and strengths and, in particular, times when they discovered a talent or who helped facilitate that process for them, many participants verbalized a great fundamental discomfort with this. It was evident from the conversations that, as articulated by one participant “Culturally, Aboriginal people don’t boast about talent.” For those participants who spoke about their talents, many had received and harnessed their talents from their parent’s own behaviors. • My Dad said [being Aboriginal] you have to work twice as hard for twice as long to get the same. I always have this, this is my inner monologue … now if I meet my own standards I’m happy. • I came from an impoverished background and saw my mother’s plight, this was a driver to become talented and not be poor—I’ve always known this about myself and knew I had to become educated to escape that life and get the life I wanted. • Mum was so strong and positive, nothing was ever handed to us— we worked for everything. Participants did, however, identify that much of the acknowledgement of their talent later in life has been provided by people, quite often mentors or managers, who participants respect and value: • After coming out of a meeting, my manager told me “you get it”— for me that was being acknowledged that I was on the right track. • During performance review a manager said that she thought I knew more than she did and she praised the work I did—I thought I must be good. • When I left a previous job, my manager didn’t want me to leave and offered me two months leave to try out the new role. In attempting to look more closely at what helps facilitate a successful career for an Aboriginal professional, research participants were asked to reflect upon what had assisted movement through roles, whether horizontally or vertically. Consistently, conversations circled around the nexus between confidence and competence. It is clear that for Aboriginal professionals the presence of these two factors is a requisite for career success.

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   317

Participants were in agreement that organizations need to build a culture that reaches out to staff, taking the time to identify people that are suited to certain positions: • Aboriginal people need to be approached and offered opportunities • You need someone to connect the person with the possibilities • People above you need to identify your strengths Feedback from mentoring program participants indicates that mentors help build both competence and confidence. Activities and tools that increase awareness of strengths and potential, featured in mentoring programs have been welcomed by participants and described as “eye-opening.” Encouraging Manager Relationships The strongest enabling factor that brought participants to the point of confidence and competence was the encouragement of management. In a significant proportion of discussions, participants who had transitioned, in particular to management roles, had been prompted to do so by their own line management. Comments surrounding management support often focused on participants’ desire to progress, but lack of confidence and self-doubt prevented them from doing so and it took encouragement from others for them to be confident enough to try to move beyond their present roles: • Without [my manager] I wouldn’t have gone for it • I didn’t think I was ready, I felt unconfident until my manager was supportive • Having [my manager] mention it a few times, it built belief, especially when my manager also mentioned to me you don’t need to know everything • I had encouragement from my management, in particular the [senior manager] • I would not have gone for [this] role if not prompted and encouraged • Management support made me jump at it, but I probably would’ve gone for it eventually

318  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe

The Role of Mentoring in Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals The overall findings suggest that those participants who moved into senior roles appeared to have the confidence to identify their skill development needs and ask for help in fostering these competencies. They identified mentoring as helpful in their professional transition as shared in the following statement: • I recognized I needed help if I was going to move up—I arranged mentoring for 3 months to help me in my new position.... We’d speak about my career, struggles, and possibilities. A manager also spoke about the fact that some Aboriginal staff would not feel comfortable communicating their needs to their manager, which hindered their ability to help the mentee: • I can see the barriers for others who aren’t confident to speak up— it’s shame, not having the skills or having fear, you don’t articulate that. Participants identified the benefits of mentoring as enabling Aboriginal professionals to have a role-model who could be approached to seek out answers, have discussions with and who would act as a sounding board, without prompting shame or embarrassment on the part of the mentee. The use of mentoring on the job enabled participants to engage in active learning, teaching them applied skills through guidance and support. One participant commented that for on the job learning, working under a mentor enabled him to be exposed to a role model by stating, “Rolemodelling is the best you can do…” Participants who had taken part in mentoring programs cited the process as providing opportunities for self-reflection and the construction of management skills. Throughout the interviews, informal and formal mentoring was repeatedly named as vital to career success, with the majority of participants identifying very clearly people they identified as mentors who had aided in their development. Feedback from an Aboriginal mentoring program, facilitated by the authors, which focused on supporting Aboriginal staff transitioning into management positions unveiled some powerful stories. Participants spoke of renewed self-belief, which resulted from being able to share with their hopes and aspirations with their mentors and having their skills and abilities acknowledged and validated by them. This, in turn, helped them to become confident enough to apply for job promotions. They stated that

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   319

without this mentoring support, they would have felt diffident and overwhelmed with the recruitment process and the possibility of failure and would not have sought such advancement. Another benefit of the program, not initially considered, was that the sense of connection and belonging that the program established, transferred into a commitment to the agency. Participants spoke of the impact of feeling valued, where previously they often felt marginalized. The program reduced burnout and staff turnover, and increased morale and a renewed sense of commitment and engagement. Participants could now see their long term career and professional growth opportunities within the agency. Not to be ignored either is the benefit of this experience to the mentor. Many mentors are non-Aboriginal staff in senior positions. They also gained better insights and understanding of Aboriginal culture and how Aboriginal staff perceive and experience their work. Mentors experienced a renewed sense of purpose: “I was able to experience the passion, vision and newness and revisit why I got into this industry” or “I was honored to be a part of the process and awestruck at the development of the mentee.” What is more, participants and facilitators spoke of a multiplier outcome, a positive ripple effect that mentoring created not just for the mentee and mentor, but also those in their orbit—other staff, supervisors, clients, and the community. The success of the participants has a symbolic role modelling effect on other Aboriginal staff that helps them believe that they too can be valued for and proud of their work and that they too can reach their full potential. One mentee commented on their involvement in an Aboriginal mentoring program by sharing: “It’s given me more courage—firstly believing in myself and then believing in others. It’s reassuring me that the experiences I’ve had through life are now something I have to give.” From these conversations, it became apparent that there is an opportunity for mentoring relationships to support Aboriginal staff to build capacity and confidence in a way that does not have to include elements of shame that may emerge in line management relationships. These experiences benefit not only the individuals involved, but the entire organization and the cultural context within which it functions. Facilitating Aboriginal Mentoring Strategies Must Address the Cultural Context In Australia, mentoring is emerging as an effective strategy to address the disadvantages experienced by Aboriginal people, to develop their abilities and leadership potential and to build their confidence and help them to advance in education, sport and career. Because of the many issues previously described that impact Aboriginal people, it is vital that organizations

320  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe

approach mentoring systematically and address the cultural context of Aboriginal professional and career development. Best practice requires a comprehensive plan that includes consultation and communication with all stakeholders, preparing participants for the mentoring experience, providing ongoing support for mentoring with feedback and monitoring and adjustments throughout the life of the program. The elements of this model are presented in Figure 19.1.

Source:  Rolfe (2012).

Figure 19.1.  Mentoring strategy.

These principles are what make mentoring so valuable at the cultural interface. It is the individualized and personal nature of the experience that makes mentoring particularly suitable for Aboriginal people in contrast to other generic forms of training. When combined with a mentor who is respectful and empathic, the result can be “a safe space” for dialogue and exploration. Whatever the workplace, mentoring should engage stakeholders and result in informed decisions about how to implement mentoring to produce outcomes that are valued by participants and the organization. It is particularly important to consult Aboriginal elders and other identified community leaders and invite their input into the program. A high level of sensitivity to their needs is required to ensure authentic consultation which

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   321

hears needs and incorporates these in the plan. When this is the case, commitment to and support of the mentoring program is more likely. In an organizational context, promoting mentoring involves two-way communication with all stakeholders. Positive messages about mentoring, including the strategic value to the organization and personal benefits of mentoring are designed to attract participants and gain support from their managers and coworkers. In some environments, a backlash against “special” treatment for minorities and women has been evident. Therefore, it is important that clear reasons for the mentoring program and why it targets a particular group, be articulated and championed by managers and especially by those in high power positions. Preparing participants for mentoring means providing information so that they make informed decisions about involvement, have input to the matches made, and are trained for their roles. Training builds on people’s experience and natural skills. It focuses them on the outcomes desired of mentoring and equips them with tools and techniques to do it well. Good training demonstrates a serious commitment to mentoring. Cultural awareness and appropriate training methodology, images and language are needed in workshops. As well as respecting the needs of Aboriginal participants, care for non-Aboriginal mentors, trainers, and coordinators is important because they are often concerned about inadvertently giving offense to the very people they wish to assist. There have been some rare occasions when a non-Aboriginal mentor has caused unintentionally offense. For example one memorable incident happened when a non-Aboriginal young female did something as apparently innocuous as tapping an older male Aboriginal person on the elbow to gain his attention. This was considered to be culturally inappropriate. While this incident is atypical it does serve as an illustration of the potentially fraught terrain being travelled when connecting peoples of different cultures with one another. Additionally, in an effort to develop rapport, some non-Aboriginal people try to be overly familiar and use Aboriginal language such as “mob” and “yarn.” This is considered to be fake and off-putting by Aboriginal people. Ironically, “be yourself ” and “treat others as you would want to be treated” are perhaps the keys for a good relationship to develop. The role of the mentoring facilitator in creating a culturally safe space for conversation and honest feedback in the group cannot be underestimated. Trust needs to be built and defences must be lowered by both parties for success to be achieved in mentoring encounters. One method for fostering positive and comfortable relationships is to have well-designed online or face-to-face forums that allow participants to ask questions, interact with their peers, and get feedback. Such two-way communication and engagement fosters continued education and

322  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe

development. Participants need guidelines, information, and reference materials that are easily accessible over the life of the program in hard copy or online, with regular reminders about what is available and how to access it. Separate gatherings for mentors and mentees have been welcomed by participants. A midpoint review session that allows people to get together can re-energize mentoring and help participants resolve issues or challenges. More frequent networking events can combine social support with practical activities and further education or skill development. The role of the program coordinator is very important after the initial training. The coordinator is the “go-to person” that participants can talk to if they have difficulties and should be readily accessible by phone or online, for quick answers, reassurance, or an in-depth discussion. Coordinators should regularly check in with participants, with a phone call to see that pairs have had their first meeting within a month of initial match-up and through personal contact at regular intervals. The coordinator should have his or her finger on the pulse of mentoring relationships and be alert to potential issues and help resolve them, quickly. This person can also facilitate a graceful exit from any mentoring partnership that is not working out. Mentoring programs for Aboriginal people are not to be taken lightly. The value they offer can make significant differences in people’s lives and careers and have a ripple effect that spreads the benefits beyond the immediate participants. However, mentoring must be properly planned, resourced, and supported. Otherwise, there is a very real danger that it can become yet another well intended, but poorly implemented initiative that fails Aboriginal people. Lessons Learned The lessons learned from the research study, feedback from participants in mentoring programs for Aboriginal staff, and reflections on the information summarized in this chapter have been rich and positive, offering insights that can be transferred across industries and utilized to support Aboriginal staff development in a myriad of ways. Among the most significant are: • Aboriginal people have a strong sense of pride and identity, and effective learning methodologies must enable learning to occur in a way that fosters and responds to this reality; • Supporting Aboriginal staff requires an understanding of the individual within their cultural context and in their various frame-

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   323

•

•

•

•

•

works), that is, as an individual person, a professional worker, and a member of the Aboriginal community/communities); While shared experiences exist, the diversity within the Aboriginal culture necessitates that a “one size fits all” approach is not suitable. Professional development will look different for each person, dependent on the cultural values, beliefs, practices, and experiences an individual staff member may bring. Consultation, selfdetermination, and collaboration are fundamental for success; Support from managers, mentors, Elders or respected people, and role models is a determining factor in building the confidence of Aboriginal people; Mentoring is identified as powerful in career success and as an immensely valuable tool for promoting the professional development of Aboriginal people by providing the nurturing environment which acknowledges a need for skill and knowledge development in an environment of respect and dignity; Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people can mentor Aboriginal people. The effectiveness of mentoring partnerships is enhanced with the awareness and application of cultural influences; and Above all, self-determination, respect, relationships, and responsibility are core to supporting Aboriginal people.

QUESTIONS FOR REFECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. What is your reaction to the authors’ notion of conceiving of the mentee from a strengths’ perspective? 2. Are there elements in your mentoring relationship or programs that are thinking about others from a deficit rather than a strengths perspective which need to be addressed? 3. What group or group in your organization or cultural context is being excluded and how could mentoring activities be a part of changing that situation?

References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2010). The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: Demographic, social and economic characteristics: Language, culture and socioeconomic outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.abs. gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/lookup/4704.0Chapter230Oct+2010

324  A. Dawood, N. Konza, and A. Rolfe Australian Human Rights Commission. (2003). International Review of Indigenous issues in 2000: Australia. Retrieved from http://www.humanrights.gov.au/ publications/international-review-indigenous-issues-2000-australia Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. (2012). Guidelines for ethical research in Australian Indigenous studies. Canberra, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/_files/research/ethics/ GERAIS.pdf Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. (1998). Towards a benchmarking framework for service delivery to indigenous Australians: Proceedings of the Benchmarking Workshop, 18-19 November 1997. Canberra, Australia: Author. Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. (2000). Overcoming disadvantage. Canberra, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.reconciliation.org,au/ overcoming_disadvantage/index.htm Council of Australian Governments. (2009). National partnership agreement for indigenous economic participation. Canberra, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/skills/economic_ participation/national_partnership.pdf Council of Australian Governments. (2013). Closing the gap in indigenous disadvantage. Canberra, Australia: Author. Retrieved from https://www.coag.gov.au/ closing_the_gap_in_indigenous_disadvantage Davidson, B., & Jennett, C. (1994). Addressing disadvantage: A greater awareness of the causes of indigenous Australians’ disadvantage. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Publication Service. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. (2012). COAG Indigenous Reform Circular: Applying the Indigenous workforce strategy principle into all major COAG reforms. Retrieved from http://docs.employment.gov.au/ system/files/doc/other/coag_indigenous_reform_circular.rtf Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. (2012). National career development strategy green paper. Retrieved from http://acpet.edu.au/ uploads/CAREERSTRAT.docx Dodson, M. (2010). Foreword. In Amnesty International Australia, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved from http://nationalcongress.com.au/wp-content/ uploads/2013/08/DeclarationSumary.pdf Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. (2005). Social justice report. Canberra: Author. Retrieved from http://www.humanrights.gov.au/ publications/social-justice-report-2005-home Konza, N. (2012). Supporting the career success of Aboriginal staff within community services. Department of Family and Community Services & Charles Sturt University, Sydney, Australia. NSW Department of Premier & Cabinet, Public Sector Workforce. (2010). Making it our business: Career planning guide for supervisors and managers of Aboriginal staff. Retrieved from http://www.miob.nsw.gov.au/assets/miob/pdf/CareerPlanning-Guide.pdf Purdie, N., Frigo, T., Stone A., & Dick, W. (2006). Enhancing employment opportunities for Indigenous Victorians: A review of the literature. Australian Council

Enhancing Career Success for Aboriginal Professionals   325 for Educational Research. Retrieved from http://research.acer.edu.au/ indigenous_education/19/ Rolfe, A. (2012). Aboriginal mentoring in community services. In D. Clutterbuck, K. Poulsen, & F. Kochan (Eds.), Developing successful diversity mentoring programs: An international casebook (pp. 192–196). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill and Open University Press. United Nations. (2010). Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. New York: Author. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/ DRIPS_en.pdf Walker, Y. (1993). Aboriginal family issues. Family Matters, no. 35. Retrieved from http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fm1/fm35yw.html

chapter 20

LOVE PUNKS DIGITAL CREATIVITY AND YOUNG PEOPLE MAKING A DIFFERENCE Stuart Campbell and Dave Palmer

Preface The Love Punks—aka, a group of Aboriginal young people from Roebourne in Western Australia’s Pilbara—have wild imaginations, too much energy to sit still for longer than 2 minutes, and have been quietly taking the digital animation world by storm over the past 2 years. Eleven-year old Ashton Munda, aka “Birdman,” just had 1.25 litres of Coke and a bag of mixed lollies for lunch. Ashton’s wearing a big grin, looking left and right like a nervous bird. This isn’t why he’s called Birdman, but it certainly adds color to his character. Birdman is his “Love Punk” name in the fictional comic book series called NEOMAD. He got the name because he wears a bright yellow bird mask that we found at the local two-dollar shop. He seems to like being Birdman, so much so that when strangers meet him in his hometown of Roebourne he introduces himself in this way.

Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics in Mentoring Programs and Relationships: Enhancing Practice and Research, pp. 327–344 Copyright © 2015 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

327

328  S. Campbell and D. Palmer

Not all Love Punks have an attention span like Birdman. When this work began, Birdman couldn’t sit still in front of a computer, in a classroom or have a conversation with an adult. However, when it came to playing footy, he was the first one on the oval and the last one to leave. On the field he takes the lead, picking the teams, sending kids off the field, and giving instructions. He’s got opinions and freely speaks his mind. “Do you like computers Birdman?” Stu asks. “Nup,” he says matter-of-factly. “Do you wanna learn anything?” “Mmmm … nup!” This time he’s smiling like he’s toying with you. Birdman is brutally honest. He knows what he likes. He doesn’t like “learning” as much as he doesn’t like “school.” The more others try to convince him of the importance of school, the faster his eyes glaze over. He seems to have instinctually tapped on to a truth…. “If it’s that good, why are you trying to sell it to me?” Birdman knows what’s good. Riding around on his bike popping wheelies is good. Chasing a goanna, catching it, and eating it is good. Playing footy is too good. Leading others is even better. We don’t know enough about Birdman to speculate where and how he has learned such fearless audacity. But we find it amazing that an 11-year-old could harbor such an individual personality. Through his involvement in the Love Punks project, Birdman has discovered many new worlds. He’s acted in short films, directed others in performances, created the voices for the interactive comics series and has, on occasion, colored his comic character in using Photoshop. During the week there are daily Photoshop workshops with the Love Punks. Over the past two years these workshops have taken many different turns and seen young people move from complete novices to highly accomplished digital artists in their own right. The workshops revolve around creating the latest NEOMAD episode, bringing to life cartoon images of the Love Punks by digitally coloring the work. A great deal happens while this work is being done. There is plenty of opportunity to talk about life while you are working. Stu likes to drop a few words of wisdom here and there. Perhaps this is because discussion comes easier when you are ensconced in something other than earnest talk. Perhaps working side-by-side allows a more authentic, even egalitarian relationship of respect to develop. Perhaps it is because we feel more confident when we are mastering an art like digital coloring. On another occasion Birdman raised his hands in front of his face and nodded excitedly when Stu pointed out that he had a nervous twitch. “They’re twitching because you just polished off that big Coke and now you’ve got loads of sugar racing around inside your body. In a minute you’re gonna find out that shaky hands make it real hard to color in.” Birdman takes this remark as a challenge. Stu opens the birdman comic file

Love Punks  329

in Photoshop and hands him the Wacom Digital Pen, a substitute for the computer’s mouse. He snatches the pen as if ready to rise to the challenge and plays with the pen as if it is a magical wand that moves things around the computer screen. Early in the work, this captures Birdman’s interest. However, now that he has been around for many workshops this interest is beginning to fade. Today’s interest is spiked by the challenge of “shaky hands.” Birdman knows enough about Photoshop to understand that he has to use the brush tool to carefully color between the lines of his character. He presses “b” on the keyboard (a short cut to activate the brush tool) and attacks the drawing with wild uncontrollable strokes, laughing manically as the strokes venture well outside the lines. “You waadangnarrli shaky hands!” Stu laughs. Waadangnarrli is a way of saying “going off ” or “you’re crazy” in the Yindjibarndi language. Stu puts on his reassurance voice, “That’s ok BUT the next important step is to carefully erase all the stuff that is outside the lines. Do you remember how to use the eraser tool?” “E is for eraser,” Birdman repeats the classroom mantra as he presses the E key. He activates the eraser tool and begins sorting his mess. “Slowly now,” Stu urges. “Remember you can make the eraser smaller by pressing the left bracket button ‘[.’ ” Birdman furiously presses the left bracket repeatedly so the image is so small it’s almost invisible. He laughs again as the tool barely erases a thing. “It’ll take you a year to erase it if the tool’s that small. Press the right bracket ‘]’ to make it bigger.” He gives it a shot and nods in agreement at the revelation. Birdman has learned two new tricks. Stu looked at the clock and sees about 7 minutes have passed. Last time, he couldn’t get Birdman to sit there for 3 minutes. Introduction In 2011, a group of young people from Roebourne got together with community arts and theatre company Big hART’s Yijala Yala team to make a zombie film about how to work on things that get “stuck.” The intent was to get young people “involved” by making a fun, slightly crazy short film about harnessing youthful energy to keep individuals and communities healthy and strong. The idea was that zombies (representing bad habits and ill health in the community) need Love Punks (representing health, life and energy) to “doctor them up” with a bit of love and fun.1 This kicked off something big. The kids wanted to do more “Love Punk” stuff, including creating a virtual Roebourne website, where visitors are shown the fun and vibrant side of the town. Soon a string of digital and

330  S. Campbell and D. Palmer

literacy skills and processes began to be passed on, with kids using Photoshop to create over 2,000 frames of animation. Over the past year and a half, they have worked on interactive comics for iPad that combine animation, music, voice overs, live action films, and text that tell stories that connect people to their country. This work is beginning to win national acclaim including being showcased on television, local media, winning media awards, and being featured on Australian Broadcasting Commission’s RAGE music show. Part of the approach taken by Big hART is encouraging “mentoring” relationships on at least four levels; (1) bringing artists, performers, and other talent into a community to live, work, and develop high quality art “side-by-side” (artist/community mentoring); (2) encouraging work across the generations amongst people within the community (intergenerational mentoring); (3) providing opportunities for people to extend their relationships with new and emerging technologies (social technology/community mentoring); and (4) supporting established and ancient Indigenous practices and ways of “carrying” young people into culture and law (mentoring across the Indigenous cultural domain). This chapter brings the reader to this rich and exciting project. It starts by allowing the reader to see, hear, and “feel” how music, dance, story, and old knowledge can be combined with film, digital media, music, and the energy of young people to bring about cultural transmission. It includes a discussion of the methods used to establish “mentoring” relationships across the generations, between artists and young people, and through the use of new and creative technologies. In this way, the chapter provides a case study of lessons being learned by those working in a remote part of Australia with communities which are keen to support culture and their young people. As the Yijala Yala Project is “alive” and regularly producing digital content, the chapter provides a unique opportunity for the reader to read and visit project stories through constant references to web-based content. The Background The story is set in Roebourne, one of the oldest towns in the West Pilbara region of Western Australia. Roebourne sits about 1,500 km north of Perth, the state’s capital. From the late 19th century to the 1960s it was the biggest settlement between Darwin and Perth, created by an extended period of mining of resources such as gold, copper, tin, and iron ore. Due to the creation of larger towns since the 1960s, Roebourne has lost the majority of its non-Aboriginal population, maintaining itself as home to families with Ngarluma, Yindjibarndi, and Banyjima heritage. Currently, the relatively

Love Punks  331

young population is 1,150 and growing (Shire of Roebourne, 2013). Until the 1960s, there were strict controls and curfews placed on Aboriginal people’s movement to and within the town. Indeed, most of the senior people grew up confined to camps and reserves on the other side of the river. Today, there is no shortage of challenges facing these same families (Edmunds, 2012). At the same time there is a “second story”2 of extraordinary strength and resilience in and around Roebourne. Law and culture is healthy, many local organizations are taking on leadership in housing, education, land and sea management, and heritage preservation. Locally produced fine art, media and business enterprises are on the rise.3 The project became possible with support from Woodside’s Conservation Agreement. This agreement was made in 2007 between Woodside Energy Ltd., Australia’s largest oil and gas company, and the Commonwealth to support projects that work to protect, identify, manage, and transmit knowledge about the heritage of the Dampier Archipelago. The Burrup (as it has come to be called) and surrounding islands, contain one of the densest concentrations of Aboriginal rock engravings in the world with some sites containing tens of thousands of images. The rock engravings include etchings of birds, fish and animals, schematized human figures, figures with mixed human and animal characteristics and geometric designs. The area also includes many ceremonial standing stones, stone pits and circular stone arrangements. The richness of this “art” is unparalleled in Australia and is considered exceptional by international standards (Australian Government, 2012; Bird & Hallam, 2006). During the early stages of the Yijala Yala Project, Big hART staff set out to build relationships and “softly land” in the community. At this point a group of 15 young men and 2 young mothers came together under the mentorship of a professional filmmaker, choreographer and actor to make a short film. The process of making the “Love Sweet Love Punks” film4 included workshops in camera and sound set up, operation and technique; steady camera operation; sound composition; song writing; lighting; set design; choreography; costume design and makeup; acting; directing, photography; and behind the scenes documentary film-making. It provided young people with a chance to have fun, create contemporary stories, and star in a short film. The Love Punks Yijala Yala workers saw how much young people loved working on this small project and also noticed how involved they became with technology such as phones, computers, and iPads whenever they had the chance. During the next school term, digital media artist and illustrator Stu

332  S. Campbell and D. Palmer

Campbell teamed up with the IT and Computing teacher at the local school, purchased multiple Photoshop licenses, and asked tablet producing company “Wacom” to donate five electronic tablets. The idea was to build training in stop motion animation into class teaching and at the same time, to provide workshops after school hosted by Yijala Yala. To begin, existing footage was used from earlier film-making workshops where the young people had featured as “Love Punk” characters. The footage was broken down into frames and students were asked to remove their character images from the background. To do this, they learned to create a file; import an image for stop-motion animation; make a mask and navigate through the animations once they were created. These workshops ran for four days a week at the school and soon became so popular that several students began working with Stu after school in the Yijala Yala digital media room. Through these workshops, over 2000 frames of animation were created for an interactive online game.5 One profound moment in the development of this work occurred during an early workshop in the digital suite. Stu had been working with three young men, sharing the use of the animation software with one particularly talented young man while the other two watched from behind. At one point the young man proceeded to demonstrate his prowess by wrestling the tablet and digital pen from Stu. Keen to further show his mastery, the same young man then asked Stu to give up sitting in the “driver’s seat” so he could teach the skill of animation to both his peers. In this one moment, he had graduated from student to mentor; from apprentice to master; from the initiate to the initiator.6 As a consequence of these experiences, these young people are now capable of completing the entire process by themselves, cutting out all the frames, exporting them in the appropriate size, and creating an animation. They now know about 20 tools in Photoshop, how to access the interface and read it to differentiate what tool does what. It is important to understand that each tool has approximately four options or variables that can be tweaked to manage an array of creative functions. This work represents opportunities for an assortment of literacy development. It also means that, through the exercizing of these tools, the young men can make creative assessments, allowing them to exponentially multiply the functions they can use. As Stu says, from a cognitive and motivational point of view, this represents a very adaptive learning environment: It is really exciting to watch. You can almost see the synapses going off in the young people’s minds as they start to apply the knowledge learned for one function to other scenarios.7

Love Punks  333

By combining the resources of the local school and the Yijala Yala Project, noticing what drives young people’s interests, encouraging them to “play,” and employing some of the latest “cutting edge” technology, impressive things began to happen in education and cultural heritage transmission. The work has used a “Quick Win” approach. Here, young people get to start with simple tasks—such as cutting out one frame of an animation, building an animation, and then creating a website. This produces quick moments of gratification and success. It also involves young people in doing what they love to do, producing interactive digital resources, influencing the production of cultural heritage, helping preserve language, and extending their digital literacies across an array of virtual and real spaces.8 NEOMAD and Other iPad Apps These activities led to the third stage of the project—the creation of an imaginative and interactive digital comic series that comes to us in the form of iPad apps. One of the stories involves a young boy and his father going out hunting for kangaroo down at a place called “Deep Gorge,” on the Burrup Peninsula. It is a “real story” in that it has happened many, many times in the past. It is fictionalized history in that a local Ngarluma man, Tyson Mowarin, has scripted the story and worked with two young men and the Yijala Yala team.9 It is the story of an Aboriginal boy’s first time hunting. He travels along with his father, watching, listening, moving, and learning in the traditional Ngarluma way. After carefully tracking the animal the 11-year-old boy hurls his boomerang through the air, killing it instantly through the combined power of weight and distance. Respectfully, they take the animal down to a small section of Deep Gorge, making a fire to singe the fur and begin the process of preparing it for a meal. All of this occurs within close proximity to a spot where the boy proceeds to carve a petroglyph of the kangaroo onto a rock. His father looks on with admiration and pride, watching his son place his art-work beside a piece of his own creation, an emu created some 20 or so years earlier, when he too recorded his first kill. To create this story, Tyson and the Yijala Yala crew took a number of Ngarluma young men down to Deep Gorge, an important heritage site on the Burrup Peninsula. The first lad is EJ, another member of the “Love Punks.” He plays a young man living 30,000 years ago, actually rehearsing what it is like to transmit culture and heritage across the generations. At one and the same time he is learning to use some of the latest and cutting edge technology while being mentored in the traditional way, respecting and being respected by two older generations of Ngarluma men. He is also replicating ancient storytelling conventions and shifting across time.

334  S. Campbell and D. Palmer

There are a number of beautiful moments of mentoring in this act. Tyson, a middle-aged law man and talented filmmaker, is acting as the cultural boss, directing the shoot at the same time he is guiding the cultural learning on the country. James, a young man of fathering age, takes instruction from his elder at the same time as acting as the teacher of the younger 11-year-old. EJ learns through observation and action, showing respect and giving honor to the two older men. In this way, new technologies are being used to encourage the transmission of ancient knowledge across the generations. There are five participants in the mentoring relationship: a “boy,” a young man, a more senior man, an arts worker, and the technology itself. Together they walk through the story “on country.” This replicates a Ngarluma way of telling the story, where people “walk the line,” traveling the song or story line while they sing and act out or dance the content. As people travel this path they see and notice things that provoke memories and remind them of elements of the story that may have been forgotten if they were telling the it while abstracted from the place. This is the spirit of Aboriginal storytelling that stretches back thousands of years. Through this mentoring process, new technologies are being used to help bring people “back to country.” Throughout the storytelling process, many details came out that hadn’t been put in the original script. For example, it was important that filming of the various scenes was carried out late in the day. This was necessary because kangaroos conventionally spend the middle of the day sitting in the shade to avoid the heat. This necessary decision helped determine the look and feel for the story, creating a red and orange color palette for the young “Love Punk” artists to work on. As they worked on how to hold the boomerang, Tyson explained the importance of emu oil to varnish the boomerang, preserving it from weathering. This was a detail that prompted the team to experiment with creating a glistening shine to the boomerang, embellishing the idea that the boomerang was a sword or a jewel that was refracting the sun’s light. In addition, the fact that EJ had an embodied experience “on country” gave enormous richness to later illustration workshops, as he colored in a drama that he literally played a part in. He got to experiment with and discover some basic physical principles about light, shade, shadows, and space in ways that he saw as really cool. Later, in workshops, the group played with what happens when the sun shines in certain directions. Another of the apps used in this process is called NEOMAD. It is a threepart series that allows people to oscillate between old and new stories about the adventures of young people from Roebourne.10 This fictional fantasybased interactive comic is made available through the iTune Store.11

Love Punks  335

You navigate your way through NEOMAD by sliding your finger across the iPad. This allows you to hear the real voices and sounds of the Love Punks at the same time as reading the speech bubbles. It begins and ends with live-action films that star the Love Punks. Episode 1: Space Junk, starts with 14 Love Punks crammed on a hover quad speeding through a digitised desert. When a rocket booster crashes into their community branded with a mysterious petroglyph, its discovery leads the Love Punks on an epic journey across the cosmos, complete with spy bots, pranks, and magic crystals. As they struggle to maintain their traditional cultural identity in a modernizing world, the Love Punks regularly seek guidance from real elders in their community.12 The second episode sees the characters run into a number of senior people. The story is narrated by a group of young girls who play the “Satellite Sisters,” characters that were inspired by old Aboriginal stories about the formation of the Pleiades, the cluster of stars that help explain the journeys of the great ancestral beings. During this episode the Love Punks are warned by the charismatic Nana Tootsie about the dangers of messing around with petroglyphs on the Burrup. As a way of reconciling themselves for their previous carelessness, they are instructed to go and work for the Murujuga Aboriginal Ranger team. In this way, old knowledge about cultural safety is being transmitted through the story at the same time as it is being orchestrated through the production of the episode. Learning Lessons About Mentoring This project is partly a story about finding ways to encourage literacy development for Aboriginal young people. Partly it is a story about how to use creative ways to protect and transmit heritage values across generations. It is also a story about how to produce wonderfully beautiful and high quality art and creative products for distribution across a global audience. In addition, it is a rich story of mentoring and the lessons that can be learned about fostering respectful relationships (Buckley & Zimmermann, 2003; Dubois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002; MacCallum & Beltman, 2002) and working with Indigenous communities (Agbo, 2001; Bisanz et al., 2003; Klinck et al., 2005; MacCallum, Beltman, Palmer, Ross, & Tero, 2005; Palmer et al., 2006; Woods et al., 2000). It is now worth reflecting upon some of the lessons learned that can be applied to mentoring, no matter what the cultural context. Perhaps the first observation to make about the work of the Yijala Yala Project is that it is not specifically designed to respond to social disadvantage. In particular, the work does not start from what can be called a “deficit” approach to working with community (Butler 2005). Rather, the

336  S. Campbell and D. Palmer

project was initially supported within a funding regime that sets out to encourage the transmission of cultural heritage across the generations. As a consequence, the work seeks to buttress the strengths and positive qualities of local people, showcasing and drawing into the public arena the cultural and heritage achievements of a community which is a custodian of an area with national heritage values. This is in contrast to the history of work that uses the idea of mentoring to “improve” or “change” or “enhance” the lives of those who are considered as deficit because they are different from the norm. The approach taken within this project reflects the fact that many local people have profoundly different ways of conceiving what is important to them and their families. The story of the Love Punks started because members of the Yijala Yala team drew on these ideas, concepts and ways of doing business. For example, the idea of “heritage protection and conservation” taken up by governments, researchers, and other outsiders is markedly different from what Roebourne people think. Many of us conceive of heritage as that which is steeped in the past and in need of protection from modern forces. In contrast, many local Aboriginal people see it as a process that is tied up with the transmission and reproduction of knowledge from the old through the middle ages to the young. In other words, for Aboriginal people from the West Pilbara, heritage is as much a verb as it is a noun, reliant upon intergenerational practice and exchange, the interconnection between past, present, and future and the weaving of old stories in new ways. Indeed, the name of the project pays homage to the Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi words for “now,” symbolizing that the health and involvement of today’s generations is the foundation stone upon which heritage can be conserved. In this way, heritage is not rarefied or truncated from the everyday lives of people, locked away in museums, special precincts or managed by experts. Rather, heritage is maintained through the process of it being transmitted across the generations (Palmer, 2012). The idea of young people experimenting with the use of new technologies to help preserve and maintain ancient heritage initially seemed a little courageous. When most people think about conserving heritage, particularly Aboriginal heritage, they tend to start with the premise that skilled technicians and researchers need to “capture” the history of senior people before they pass away by recording oral history, carrying out archaeological surveys of sites and commissioning anthropological work. Conventional wisdom has it that precise and rare heritage is fossilized in the past, available to be mined through various technical extraction techniques carried out by experts. One local Ngarluma man, Tyson Mowarin, calls this the “sleeping archive” approach to heritage conservation, and points out that it contrasts with how local Aboriginal groups Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi innately carry out “heritage” work. In this case, new and interesting digital

Love Punks  337

technologies were drawn into the relationship, not only stimulating young people’s involvement, but also acting as a “third partner” in the mentoring relationship between young people and the Yijala Yala team. Let us quickly explore how this happened. It is vital to recognize that high levels of young people’s participation and work were needed in the process of creating illustrations for an interactive story. The Love Punk project is particularly labor or artist intensive. Indeed, when people use the products such as films, the online game, and the apps they are literally seeing work that young people have built frame by frame, creating the story, shaping the design, and coloring all the illustrations.13 The connection between this use of the new technologies, alternative pathways in education, economic development, development of literacies, intergenerational contact, work on-country and the recording, production, and transmission of cultural and language has been carefully researched by ANU academic Inge Kral (2010a, 2010b). She concludes that new technologies are opening up Indigenous young people’s social and cultural networks. As a consequence, they are fast becoming familiar with new ways of expressing culture, in ways that often draw upon old Aboriginal cultural forms, but are expressed using new tools and with contemporary finesse. She notes that although they are rapidly acquiring digital media skills and using mobile digital media hardware such as MP3 players, mobile phones, iPods and digital cameras, many young people are still highly reliant on distinctly Aboriginal expressions of culture, language, and creativity. The process also opened up learning across digital and written literacy modes. For example, in order to start the process for painting something like a Warlu (the old creation serpent) the creators had to type in the word “snake.” This demanded that they think about what the words look like and how to type them into the computer. They read the interface to find what other tools were necessary. Literally, when they hovered the mouse over a certain tool, a little yellow box came up to read. In this way, new technologies were being used to help develop literacy, allowing the young people to switch between standard English and digital codes. Part of the reason for this revolution in cultural production is that music, video, and other recording and editing is no longer an arduous process requiring the expertise and involvement of outside “experts” and professionals. As Kral (2010b) shares, it is now much easier for all of us to self-learn software such as iPhoto, Garage Band, and Final Cut Pro allowing us to generate our own postproduction work as musicians, songwriters, filmmakers, photographers, and multimedia artists. Slater’s (2008) description of this process of digital production in Aurukun offers a sense of how young people have begun to move from passive consumer of global culture to active producer of distinctly (but

338  S. Campbell and D. Palmer

none-the-less reconfigured) Aboriginal forms of culture. Particularly powerful here has been the challenging of taken-for-granted ideas about Aboriginal young people. For example, perceptions of Aboriginal dysfunction, which stand in the way of people seeing more healthy aspects of people’s lives, values, aspirations, are being countered by young people’s use of film (Martin, 2006). In this way, Aboriginal culture, mediated and made available through new technologies, is used to allow Aboriginal young people to promote and receive positive, active, and nuanced visions of what it means to be Aboriginal in a world that otherwise has rendered them absent, silent, dysfunctional, and bereft (Slater, 2008). In part these activities and experiences have encouraged young people to succeed with short-term goals and have given them reasons to build their relationships with a variety of people including youth workers, outside technicians, teachers, consumers of the products and, critically, older people from their own families who act as storytellers, actors, singers, and editors of the work. Thus, they are being mentored and are mentoring. It also often gives them instant gratification and the experience of finishing something in very short time. This project is also a story about creating pathways for young people, preparing them to create commercially marketable products and encouraging them to develop skills that can feed into a myriad of industry areas such as cultural heritage maintenance, land management, cultural tourism, cultural education, digital design and creation, graphic design, illustration, advertising, media, producing language, culture, and health resources. In this case, they learned how to use Photoshop, digital coloring in tools, to lay things out, to manage layers of content to superimpose elements. They are learning to be stills and film camera operators, understanding light, focus, framing, following the protagonist, uploading their photos to the computer, using iPhoto to review the shots and assess before culling. They are also learning sound recording, gaining experience in both field and studio recording, using a process called ADR to sync studio recordings to live action in a postproduction environment. Although experimenting in a basic format, the concepts and skills are fundamental in professional industry practice. They are going out on site, using recording equipment, checking levels and monitoring proximity to the camera. These basic skills, of listening, watching levels and adjusting the appropriate knobs to find a balance, are what sound recordists do every day. They are learning to prompt each other as subjects of the sound recording, the same process that documentary recorders do to keep their subjects talking. These are also important lessons for communicating in everyday life. In some ways it is also a system of comentoring and group mentoring. Another important lesson from this work is the powerful way that new technologies can be used to support Aboriginal modes of caring for young

Love Punks  339

people. When they arrived, the Yijala Yala team noticed that the adults of Roebourne have enormous interest in and respect for young people. As Elder Allery Sandy, who also stars in the comic as the mentor for the Satellite Sisters, recently commented “hearing the kids’ voices in the digital story is consistent with the Aboriginal tradition of orally passing down a story.” This reflects old traditions that value the importance of children and young people being “held” by their seniors. McCoy (2008) discusses this “holding” in his book based on fieldwork in the Western Desert region, describing the Kukatja idea of Kanyirninpa. Kanyirninpa is “expressed in a number of interconnected ways. It includes nurturance, but it also involves older people taking responsibility and offering protection for those they hold. This relationship between the generations is specifically named as ‘respect.’ ”(p. 22). Kanyirninpa is also expressed in relationships that involve teaching and learning where older people help young people “grow up the right way.” As Myers (1991) says, “this is because this style of passing on knowledge is rooted less in command than in responsibility, the relationship of ‘holding’ not only defines the juniors, but it is the very basis of the status of seniors” (p. 213). Another critical element in the work is the part “country” plays in holding relationships and the work together. Since the development of the first film, “country” has literally and symbolically been a key actor in the production process. The filming is all carried out “on country,” in the absence of studio work. Since its inception, the online game was designed as an experience for players to “walk through country” and negotiate their way in and out of a new Roebourne. The subject of all of the IPad app episodes is young people’s relationship with Ngurrara or country. This is also because at the heart of the Love Punks enterprise is the act of taking care of country and heritage. In part, this is because for Ngarluma, Yindjibarndi and Banyjima, country is literally and symbolically an extension of family and self. Rose (2002) puts it beautifully when she says In Aboriginal English, the word “country” is both a common noun and a proper noun. People talk about country in the same way they talk about a person: they speak to country, sing to country, visit country, worry about country, grieve for country and long for country. People say that country knows, hears, smells, takes notice, takes care, and feels sorry or happy. Country is a living entity with a yesterday, a today and tomorrow, with consciousness, action, and a will toward life. (p. 14)

The final observation to make is that at every stage of the project, young people are having fun. This is partly because young people love to experiment with new things. Most of the young people love playing computer games. In Roebourne, where opportunities for having fun are not as diverse as in many other places, going online and playing games is

340  S. Campbell and D. Palmer

as popular as skateboards and yo-yos in the 1970s. This seems to be even more so for those young people who struggle to get excited about school. Indeed, when the work first started, 2 minutes wouldn’t go by without the boys begging to play on a computer game. And it was this love of games that created an opportunity for teaching, creating, and capturing culture all at once (see MacCallum et al., 2005; and Saggers, Palmer, Royce, Wilson, & Charlton 2004, for a discussion of the centrality of fun). Conclusion One of the Love Punks recently had a dream: I was doing Photoshop, coloring in, and all these people were watching me. They wanted to pay me to make a comic. I then got flown to New York with Brodie and EJ (fellow Love Punks) to make a comic.14

This Love Punk is Nathaniel Edwin, aka, Future Smash, and unlike Birdman, Future Smash loves computers. He is regarded in the comic and in real life as the “techy” guy. Future Smash is one of many young students in years 6 and 7 at the Roebourne District High School who are hooked on Photoshop. He practices the keyboard shortcuts in his head on his way to school and asks if he can attend Photoshop class every day. During the school holidays he and his friends walked 20 minutes in the boiling 40°C Pilbara sun to the office to ask if they could do more Photoshop. They then sat at their computers for the next 5 hours, with music blasting, clipping photos, and creating animations transforming the workshop space into a bustling design studio. Future Smash has been around since the inception of the Yijala Yala project. Two years on, he has his regular Wednesday Photoshop session slotted in, with the option to come any other day that suits him. He’s now a proficient Photoshop user. He happily comes in the afternoon, sits himself down at “his” computer, and cues a YouTube playlist of music videos to play in the background as he smashes away at half dozen Photoshop files. Some days he requests challenging ones, other days he says “it’s been a long day, give me some easy ones.” Due to his unmatchable attendance and passion for the workshops, Future Smash was one of two Love Punks chosen to travel to South Korea to attend the Bucheon International Comic Festival. There, alongside Stu and Maverick (another Love Punk), he taught a classroom of Korean kids how to use Photoshop to create their own Love Punk identities.15 While Birdman still won’t admit to liking computers, he has read the NEOMAD story on the iPad more than any other kid in Roebourne and can easily recite almost every single line in the series including the lines in lan-

Love Punks  341

guage. When in the company of other youngsters, he will read the story to them and shout at them to “quieten down and listen up.” In the live action film attached to the third episode of NEOMAD, Birdman was instrumental in the formation of the narrative. He decided, being a veteran, that it was time for him to recruit the next Birdman, now known as Baby Birdman. He guided his 8 year old nephew Jackson through the filming process, taught him his lines and advised him to “get over shame and look at the camera!” all with archetypal Birdman authority and charisma. Jackson rose to the occasion screaming “I’m Baby Birdman!” while veteran Birdman watched on, beaming a smile like a proud dad—now a mentor with his own mentee. Future Smash and Birdman are two very different young men. However, the Love Punks story belongs to both of them because it is using creative, new, and exciting forms of digital technology that goes beyond belonging to any one person. Perhaps more importantly, it is also a story about imaginative and sensitive ways of working with Aboriginal young people and their families. It is a story about how to stimulate learning; relationships across generations; cultural transmission; and reconfiguring how people imagine themselves and in turn how they are seen by those outside their community. In this way, it provides ideas about how youth work practice may be carried out with creativity, respect, and cultural relevance in an environment where lives are changing, but relationships are still being held. It is mentoring at its best. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION 1. Are the ways that traditions in your cultural context might be used to enrich that which is new through mentoring? 2. Are there individuals in your environment whose talents are being overlooked who might benefit from diverse mentoring experiences such as those in this story? 3. What is the most powerful lesson you gleaned from reading this chapter and how can it be applied to your mentoring activities? Author NOTE Lessons learned from this chapter are integrated into the visual and other items provided online by the authors. Acknowledgment This project described in this chapter was only possible because of resources made available through a conservation agreement between Woodside Energy and the Commonwealth Government.

342  S. Campbell and D. Palmer

Notes 1. For more details of the project go to http://www.yijalayala.bighart.org/ 2. For a discussion of the importance of looking for the “double-story” in community work, see Denborough (2008). 3. Take a look at the film River Girls to see a different story of Roebourne: http://vimeo.com/38900784 4. Check out “Love Sweet Love Punks” at: http://www.yijalayala.bighart.org/ category/love-punks/page/4/ 5. Other work has been screened nationally on ABC’s Rage. Check out the “Junk Punks” at: http://www.yijalayala.bighart.org/category/love-punks/ page/3/ 6. Look at the film Photoshop Workshop at: http://www.yijalayala.bighart.org/ category/love-punks/page/4/ 7. Try this yourself by visiting the game at: http://www.yijalayala.bighart.org/ 8. Visit the “We Made the Love Punks Game” at: http://www.yijalayala.bighart. org/category/love-punks/page/3/ 9. Check out the Ngurrara app available on the iTunes store. 10. View the short documentary “NEOMAD: Rockets and Rehearsals” on: http:// www.yijalayala.bighart.org/category/love-punks/page/2/ 11. iPad users can download NEOMAD by visiting the App Store. 12. View the “NEOMAD Trailer” at: http://www.yijalayala.bighart.org/category/ love-punks/ 13. An example of this is shown on the film called NEOMAD: we made this comic. http://vimeo.com/47348199 14. Look at this evocative short film about Future Smash’s dreams: http://vimeo. com/43650829 15. See this first hand on: http://vimeo.com/52725073

References Agbo, S. A. (2001). Enhancing success in American Indian students: Participatory research at Akwesasne as part of the development of a culturally relevant curriculum. Journal of American Indian Education, 40(1), 31–56. Australian Government. (2012). The potential outstanding universal value of the Dampier Archipelago site and threats to that site. A report by the Australian Heritage Council to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Canberra, Australia: Heritage Council of Australia. Bird, C., & Hallam, S. J. (2006). A review of archaeology and rock art in the Dampier Archipelago. A report prepared for the National Trust of Australia (WA). Bisanz, J., Cardinal, C., da Costa, J., Gibson, N., Klinck, J., & Woodard, K. (2003). Prospects for Aboriginal mentoring: A preliminary review. Retrieved June 9, 2006, from http://www.cup.ualberta.ca/documents/CUP_Annual_ Report_2003.doc

Love Punks  343 Buckley, M., & Zimmermann, S. (2003). Mentoring children and adolescents: A guide to the issues. Westport, CT: Praeger. Butler, A. (2005). A strengths approach to building futures: UK students and refugees together. Community Development Journal, 40(2), 147–157. Denborough, D. (2008). Collective narrative practice: Responding to individuals, groups and communities who have experienced trauma. Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Center. Dubois, D., Holloway, B., Valentine, J., & Cooper, H. (2002). Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: A multi-analytic review. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 157–197. Edmunds, M. (2012). Remote focus and pilbara Aboriginal people. Alice Springs, Australia: Remote Focus. Klinck, J., Cardinal, C., Edwards, K., Gibson, N., Bisanz, J., & da Costa, J. (2005). Mentoring programs for Aboriginal youth. Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health, 3(2), 110–130. Kral, I. (2010a). Generational change, learning and remote Australian indigenous youth. Canberra, Australia: CAEPR. Kral, I. (2010b). Plugged in: Remote Australian indigenous youth and digital culture. Canberra, Australia: CAEPR. MacCallum, J., & Beltman, S. (2002). Role models for young people: What makes an effective role model program? Report to the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme. Hobart, Australia: Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies. MacCallum, J., Beltman, S., Palmer, D., Ross, C., & Tero, C. (2005). Indigenous mentoring pilots project 2001–2004: National Evaluation Report. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training. Martin, D. F. (2006). Why the “new direction” in federal indigenous affairs policy is as likely to “fail” as the old directions. Topical Issues in Indigenous Affairs. Canberra Australia: Center for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU. McCoy, B. F. (2008). Holding men: Kanyirninpa and the health of aboriginal men. Canberra Australia: Aboriginal Studies. Myers, F. D. (1991). Pintupi country, Pintupi self: Sentiment, place and politics among western desert aborigines. Berkley, CA: University of California. Palmer, D. (2012). Spinning a yarn for community: Noongar women and the Narrogin doll making project. Perth, Australia: Community Arts Network of WA. Palmer, D., Watson, J., Watson, A., Ljubic, P., Wallace-Smith, H., & Johnson, M. (2006). Going back to country with bosses: The Yiriman Project, youth participation and walking along with elders. Children, Youth and Environments, 16(2), 317–337. Rose, D. B., (with D’Amico, S., Daiyi, N., Deveraux, K., Daiyi, M., Ford, L., & Bright, A.) (2002) Country of the heart: An indigenous Australian homeland. Canberra Australia: Aboriginal Studies. Saggers, S., Palmer, D., Royce, P., Wilson, L., & Charlton, A. (2004). Alive and motivated: Young people, participation and local government. Canberra Australia: The National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS). Shire of Roebourne. (2013). Roebourne. Retreived from http://www.roebourne. wa.gov.au/Townsites%20-%20Roebourne.aspx

344  S. Campbell and D. Palmer Slater, L. (2008). Aurukun, we’re happy, strong people: Aurukun kids projecting life into bad headlines. In S. Konishi, L. Lui-Chivizhe, & L. Slater (Eds.), Borderlands [e-journal], 7(2). Retrieved from http://www.borderlands.net.au/ vol7no2_2008/slater_aurukun.htm Woods, W., Wanatjurra, E., Colin, T., Mick, J., Lynch, A., & Ward, N. (2000). Atunypa wiru malparara malparara: The strength of working together. In W. Weeks, & M. Quinn (Eds.), Issues facing Australian families (pp. 91–100). Sydney, Australia: Longman.

About the Authors Angelina Ambrosetti is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Central Queensland University. Her research interests and experience deal with mentoring in the preservice teacher education context, with an emphasis on reconceptualization of the process. She has presented and published her work at the state, national, and international levels. EunJin Bang is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Iowa State University. Since 2008, she has been involved in leading two hybridmentoring programs for beginning science teachers at K–8 levels in the state. Her focus on supporting new teachers has led her to a number of collaborative projects with schools and the university. Stuart Campbell (Sutu) is a digital artist and animator and the Yijala Yala Project’s Director of Digital Media. He is an award winning illustrator and cross-platform digital creative artist and has been working with members of Western Australia’s Roebourne community for the past 2 years. He is cocreator, with young people from Roebourne, of the award winning Neomad animation series. Linda Craig, a former English teacher, is a Teaching fellow in education at the University of Aberdeen. Her interest in Macmurray’s philosophy followed a meeting with John Costello, his biographer, in 2000. Linda teaches in the initial teacher education program. Her research interests include relational ontologies, social constructionism, complexity theory, and mentoring relationships.



345

346  About the Authors

Al Dawood is the director of Robust Learning in Sydney. He has 20 years of learning and development experience covering needs analysis, design, development, delivery/facilitation, evaluation, and assessment. He specializes in inspiring positive change through innovative and creative development options. In recent years, Al has become interested in the human development potential of Aboriginal and other vulnerable communities. John C. Dagley is a professor in the Professional Studies Department at the University of South Alabama. He has served as a visiting professor in five countries during his career, focusing his research and instruction efforts in counseling and psychology on the construct of encouragement, and on career development competencies. Joyanne DeFourBabb Joyanne is currently enrolled in a full-time Master of Business Administration program at the Henley Business School University of Reading, UK. She is a former adjunct professor at American University, Egypt. She has extensive educational and teaching experience in a wide variety of countries including: Trinidad, Jamaica, New Zealand, England, Egypt, and the United States. Joyanne has authored and coauthored book chapters and journal articles in international publications and has presented at numerous international conferences. John Dekkers is a research professor at Central Queensland University,, where he previously served as professor and head of the Distance Education Center. His research interests are in the use of Interactive Communications Technologys for teaching and learning and in approaches to staff professional development in the higher education sector. Jonah B. Firestone is an assistant professor of teaching and learning, science education at Washington State University, Tri-Cities. His research focuses on beginning teacher support from preservice through induction, preservice and beginning science teachers’ beliefs about teaching and the nature of science, and the long term effect of university-based mentoring programs on teacher development. Göran Fransson is an associate professor in education at the Faculty of Education and Business Studies, University of Gävle, Sweden. His research centers on Interactive Communications Teachnology (ICT) firstphase professional development, induction and mentoring in different professions, with a primary focus on teachers. He leads the Induction Research Group and ICT Learning at the University of Gävle.

About the Authors   347

Manju P. George is an assistant professor in the PSG Institute of Management, India. She has been a key member of several initiatives at the Institute, including Anubhav 2012—an experiential learning project, the World Human Resources HR Day initiative, a faculty mentorship workshop, and the extended weekend internship program. Hilary Geber is an industrial and organizational psychologist. She owns the mentoring and coaching consultancy Mentorfundi. She worked as an academic at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Development. She was also Program Director of the Masters in Business and Executive Coaching. She has published extensively on cross-cultural and diversity mentoring in post-Apartheid, South Africa. André M. Green is an associate professor at the University of South Alabama, working on leadership, teacher education, and chemistry. He is an Alabama Department of Education mentor trainer and a successful grant writer. Andre received his institution’s College of Education Early Career Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Excellence in Teaching Award for Outstanding Innovation. Heather Hagenbuch is the program coordinator for the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at the University of Buffalo, State University at New York. She holds a master’s of education degree in school counseling and is completing a PhD in higher education administration from this institution. Her research focuses on the K–20+ educational pipeline. Andrea M. Kent (Andi) is the associate dean for student affairs and professor of reading education in the College of Education at the University of South Alabama. Her research interests include mentoring and induction of educators as they enter new aspects of their career, literacy development in all content areas, and meaningful technology integration. Anne L. Kern is an associate professor in curriculum/instruction, science education at the University of Idaho. Her research focuses on using placebased pedagogies in understanding STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content), particularly with American Indian students and communities. She is the principal investigator for the National Science Foundation grant Back to Earth. Gary M. Kilburg is professor of education and director of the Mentoring Institute for the School of Education at George Fox University, where he

348  About the Authors

received the Graduate Teacher of the Year Award. He has published and presented on his mentoring research in varied venues and served on the International Mentoring Association Board. Bruce Allen Knight is a professor of education at Central Queensland University. His research focuses on a variety of topics related to gifted and talented students and students with learning disabilities. He has presented his work internationally and it is widely published. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Research in Learning Disabilities. Frances Kochan is a Wayne T. Smith distinguished professor at Auburn University, in Alabama, where she previously served as dean. She served on the International Mentoring Association Board and was cochair of the AERA Mentoring SIG. She is the recipient of the University Council on Educational Administration Scribner Mentoring Award. She is editor of the Information Age Press Mentoring Perspectives Series. Naomi Konza is a social worker who has worked in the human services industry in Australia since 2000. Her focus is on adult and organizational learning and development, community development, case management and systems advocacy Naomi’s research background encompasses community development, Aboriginal staff development, and the social impacts of climate change. Julie A. Luft is the Unviersity of Georgia Athletic Association professor of mathematics and science education at the University of Georgia. She studies different aspects of science teacher education, with her recent research focusing on beginning science teachers. She has held varied leadership positions and received numerous awards from national science education associations. Laura Gail Lunsford is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, where she teaches courses in social and organizational psychology. Her research focuses on the psychology of mentoring. She has published on mentor behaviors and dysfunction. She received the 2007 International Mentoring Association Dissertation Award. Brenda Marina is an associate professor and director for the Center for Global Education and Research at Georgia Southern University. She is a board member for the International Mentoring Association and serves as peer reviewer for the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education. Marina’s research background encompasses leadership though

About the Authors   349

mentoring, women in leadership, mulicultural competences in higher education, and global education issues. Maria da Graça Nicoletti Mizukami is a member of the Mackenzie Presbyterian University’s Graduate Program in Education, Art and Cultural History. She holds a doctorate in social sciences from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her research interests include knowledge bases for teaching and the development of teachers. Joanne Moles has worked in teacher education for over 40 years. She is codirector of the master’s study in mentoring at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Her dissertation examined Physical Education teachers who were working prior to the introduction of a prescribed curriculum and whose practice was identifiably child-centred. This, and subsequent research, is positioned within theory primarily informed by Basil Bernstein’s structural analyses. She is committed to education as a joyful process where delight in learning is not suffocated by tedium and values and working with teachers in a mutually enriching environment. Geraldine Mooney Simmie is a lecturer in education at the Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick, Ireland. She is director of a master’s study in mentoring and leads a research cluster in school-university partnership, PLUS (Partnership in Learning between University and School). She has published articles internationally in a wide variety of venues in many of the top journals on mentoring and education. Cathleen Morreale is an assessment specialist at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She has a PhD in higher education administration from the Universitiy of Buffalo. Her work has focused on assessment, program/curriculum development, experiential learning, community engagement, student support, and career development. Estrella Ochoa is a master’s of arts Candidate at the University of Arizona. She has presented at the University of Arizona Mentoring Institute and her research focuses on culture, youth, and resilience. As a research assistant she has assessed a mentoring network for teachers and was selected to attend the University of Arizona’s Summer Research Institute. Dave Palmer is senior lecturer in community development at Murdoch University, Australia. He is working with a number of community-based conservation heritage projects supported through Woodside’s Conservation Agreement. His teaching and research interests include examining

350  About the Authors

the value of art, performance, and digital creation in fostering healthy consequences for Indigenous communities. Aline Maria de Medeiros Rodrigues Reali is a professor in the Pedagogical Theories and Practices Department and the Graduate Education Program of the Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil. She holds a doctorate in psychology (São Paulo University, São Paulo, Brazil). Her research interests are the professional development of teachers, teacher continuing education, and online mentoring and teacher education. Roxanne Reeves is a part-time professor of leadership studies at Renaissance College, University of New Brunswick (UNB) Canada. She is a recent PhDgraduate, She is a former l’histoire du travail au NouveauBrunswick. (LHTNB) fellow and a Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS) doctoral fellowship recipient. She has worked in Colombia, Italy, and Japan. While in Japan, Roxanne was president of the Cross-Cultural Association. She has presented and published her work at the provincial, national, and international venues. Ann Rolfe is founder of Mentoring Works. She has 30 years of experience in learning and development, 20 specializing in mentoring. She has implemented mentoring programs in fields as diverse as health, construction, energy, communications, law and government, and spoken at national and international conferences in Australia, Canada, China, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States. Suhyun Suh is associate professor in the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling at Auburn University, Alabama. She founded and coordinates two international programs involving intensive educational and cultural immersion experiences in South Korea. Her research activities focus on dropout prevention, and school, multicultural, and cross-cultural counseling. Regina Maria Simões Puccinelli Tancredi teaches in the graduate programs in education, art, and cultural history of the Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Brazil. She holds a doctorate in education from the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil. Her research interests focus on teacher professional development, and teaching and learning processes. Ann Unterreiner is a research associate with the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity. She has a background in teacher education preparation and special education, with an emphasis on diversity

About the Authors   351

and social justice. Her scholarship includes pedagogies of social justice and equity and informal mentoring of women faculty in higher education. Sissy S. Wong is an assistant professor of science education at the University of Houston, Texas. Her research focuses on the professional development of beginning science teachers, specifically, in the areas of induction programs, mentoring, beliefs, and teacher knowledge. Additionally, her research explores preservice and practicing teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science. Ke Wu is an associate professor at the University of Montana, Department of Mathematical Sciences. Her research interests include statistical modeling, statistics education, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning, and multicultural curriculum. She is the Principal Invesitgator on two “Montana Math Teachers’ Circles” projects funded by AIM (American Institute of Matematics and NAMC (National Association of Math Circles).