TY - JOUR
T1 - Using multilevel mentoring as a situated learning approach to enhance the professional development of teachers in higher education
AU - Owusu-Agyeman, Yaw
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2024/1/2
Y1 - 2024/1/2
N2 - Purpose: Scholarly studies on mentoring have mostly focused on traditional mentor–mentee relationships, with little or no emphasis on how institutionalized mentoring activities that include different pedagogical approaches could be used to enhance the professional development of academics. To address this knowledge gap, this article examines how an institutionalized multilevel mentoring program could be used to enhance the professional development of early-career academics and academics in designated groups in a South African university. Design/methodology/approach: The data for the study were gathered from 18 mentees and 2 program administrators using semi-structured interviews. The data gathered were assessed by way of thematic analysis that involved a detailed process of identifying, analyzing, organizing, describing and reporting the themes that were developed from the data set. Findings: The findings revealed that when mentees participate in different mentoring and professional development activities that are structured based on different pedagogies, they can engage in higher-order thinking processes and develop multidisciplinary experiences within an expanded professional learning community. Enabled by the situated learning setting, mentees can negotiate the meaning of their professional practice within a professional community and comprehend the nuanced pedagogical approaches including scaffolding learning used by mentors to shape their career trajectory and guide them to secure promotions. Originality/value: The current study contributes to the scholarly discourse on situated learning by showing that mentoring could be planned and implemented as a pedagogical endeavor with diverse learning activities and structured as a form of professional development program within a professional community.
AB - Purpose: Scholarly studies on mentoring have mostly focused on traditional mentor–mentee relationships, with little or no emphasis on how institutionalized mentoring activities that include different pedagogical approaches could be used to enhance the professional development of academics. To address this knowledge gap, this article examines how an institutionalized multilevel mentoring program could be used to enhance the professional development of early-career academics and academics in designated groups in a South African university. Design/methodology/approach: The data for the study were gathered from 18 mentees and 2 program administrators using semi-structured interviews. The data gathered were assessed by way of thematic analysis that involved a detailed process of identifying, analyzing, organizing, describing and reporting the themes that were developed from the data set. Findings: The findings revealed that when mentees participate in different mentoring and professional development activities that are structured based on different pedagogies, they can engage in higher-order thinking processes and develop multidisciplinary experiences within an expanded professional learning community. Enabled by the situated learning setting, mentees can negotiate the meaning of their professional practice within a professional community and comprehend the nuanced pedagogical approaches including scaffolding learning used by mentors to shape their career trajectory and guide them to secure promotions. Originality/value: The current study contributes to the scholarly discourse on situated learning by showing that mentoring could be planned and implemented as a pedagogical endeavor with diverse learning activities and structured as a form of professional development program within a professional community.
KW - Early career academics
KW - Multilevel mentoring
KW - Professional community
KW - Professional development
KW - Situated learning theory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85178476200&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/JPCC-03-2023-0016
DO - 10.1108/JPCC-03-2023-0016
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85178476200
SN - 2056-9548
VL - 9
SP - 19
EP - 36
JO - Journal of Professional Capital and Community
JF - Journal of Professional Capital and Community
IS - 1
ER -