This dissertation challenges the traditional patriarchal conception of mentoring, in which
mentors are cast as experts and the task for novices is to assimilate their mentors'
knowledge and proposes an alternate feminist conception in which mentors and novices
are learner-teachers. The conception is based on practices of conversation and shared
experience, through which mentoring partners develop trust and reciprocity. Through
reciprocity, mentoring dyads move to a practice of thoughtful critique, in which they
trouble taken-for-granted structures within schools. Central to feminist mentoring are
issues of concern to the teachers involved, including issues of gender, race and culture as
experienced in their own lives.
To explore the conception of feminist mentoring, a qualitative research study was
undertaken. Data about four mentoring dyads and one triad were collected through a
series of structured interviews with individuals and pairs of teachers during one school
year. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and the resulting transcripts were
analyzed for common themes.
It was found that more successful dyads formed on the basis of the beginning teacher's
choice and involved considerable time commitment. Successful mentoring dyads
participated in frequent conversations, both casual and planned, in which they talked
about students, shared resources, and co-planned curriculum. Conversations centred on
both work-related and personal issues. The most successful dyad created numerous
shared experiences which provided opportunities for the partners to learn reciprocally.
Mentoring conversations and shared experiences led to two complementary ways of
coming to know about teaching. In percolated learning the beginning teacher came to
know based on hearing and thinking about the mentor's experiences. Thoughtful critique
is a more deliberate mode of learning in which the mentor and beginning teachers
intentionally address issues of common concern.
Although there was some evidence of explicit thoughtful critique emerging within the
mentorships, critique was expressed tentatively and cautiously. I suggest that the
conditions of schools discourage critique and beginning teachers feel discouraged from
being overtly critical. Mentoring dyads may need to work together for more than one year
to develop a sufficient level of trust to move to a more critical feminist reconception of
mentoring that supports and challenges both mentors and beginning teachers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10918 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Thompson, Merrilee Susan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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