JOPERD Table of Contents
How Today's Mentoring Relationships Can Influence Tomorrow's Physical Education
E. Nicole McCluney, Ashley Fallaize & Paul Schempp
Vital to the development of any physical education teacher is having the support and counsel of an experienced mentor. The first contact with a mentor for most is during their student teaching experience. But mentoring does not stop at student teaching. A young teacher entering their first full-time teaching experience can be mentored by any or all senior colleagues. Mentoring can occur formally or informally during the first few years of teaching. Conclusive research consistently finds that those who have been mentored have greater career success and satisfaction (Allen, Eby, Poteet, Lentz, & Lima, 2004; Bloom, 2013).
A mentor can help a protégé feel safe in growing and developing as a professional. With this level of support, protégés may feel more confident in planning and experimenting with new teaching strategies, networking with other professionals, and utilizing more resources, all the while avoiding the feelings of alienation common to beginning teachers (Allen et al., 2004). Consequently, more positive attitudes, higher levels of motivation, and greater job satisfaction can yield increased retention rates (Stewart & Harrison, 2016). With increased career success and satisfaction, protégés are likely to engage in professional activities that enhance teaching and student learning.
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