Patterns in mentoring relationships : an exploratory study in a selected educational setting

Induction into teaching is gaining recognition as one of the career's most critical junctures. The concept of mentoring has been established as a developmental]y significant experience in adult socialization. Thus, it is being promoted as a promising avenue of improving the induction process for beginning teachers. However, popularization of mentoring has allowed little time for solid conceptualization of mentoring in education. In an effort to contribute to the limited knowledge base about mentoring in education, the present study examined the formalized and spontaneous mentoring relationships of a selected education setting. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Lyndhurst Alternative Teacher preparation Program was selected because of its use of formalized mentoring relationships as part of the teacher preparation process. The teaching interns and their mentors served as the study's sample. Information was collected through audio-taped, semi-structured interviews. Interview audio-tapes were transcribed into manuscript form and analyzed for patterns in the functioning of pairing, time, and dialogue in formalized and spontaneous mentoring relationships. The study's findings suggest that formalized mentoring in education is at its best when mentor-protege pairings are arranged according to patterns typically associated with spontaneous relationships.