Mentoring focusing on novice early childhood teachers’ professional career development

Straipsnyje analizuojama mentorystė kaip sėkmingos pedagogo profesinės karjeros prielaida. Siekiant atskleisti mentoriaus vaidmenį pradedančiojo pedagogo karjerai, pateikiami skirtingų tyrėjų požiūriai į pradedančio dirbti pedagogo profesinę raidą, jos etapus bei kiekvienam etapui aktualius mentorystės santykius, stilių, lyderystės ir atsakomybės pasiskirstymą. Straipsnyje taip pat pristatomas tyrimas, kuriame ieškota atsakymų į probleminius klausimus: kokius karjeros siekius studentai ir pradedantys dirbti pedagogai numato pirmam profesinės veiklos pusmečiui, per pirmus, penkerius, penkiolika pedagoginio darbo metų; kokias kompetencijas turintis mentorius galėtų padėti profesinę pedagogo karjerą pradedančiajam pedagogui pasiekti užsibrėžtų karjeros siekiųThe article focuses on mentoring as a prerequisite for the successful professional career of the teacher. Following the scholarly literature sources it is stated that the main goal of mentoring is to help an individual with less experience to act efficiently, to experience success in personal and professional life, to develop practical competencies and to set personal career goals. A mentor is determined as an active professional, who promotes his or her learner’s personal, professional development, continuous focus on innovative children’s education that complies with reforms. He or she is a maker of an innovative teacher’s image, an implementer of educational reforms and a nurturer of educational institution culture. Seeking to reveal the role of a mentor in the career of a novice teacher, the attitudes of different teachers towards the professional development of a novice teacher, its stages as well as mentoring relationships, style, distribution of leadership and responsibilities at each stage of teacher’s professional development become relevant. The article sets the following research questions: what are students’ career aspirations for the first half of the year, for the first year, for 5 years and for 15 years of their professional work? Which competences should a mentor have to be able to help novice teachers to seek their pedagogical career and to achieve their set goals. The aim of the research: to reveal the career aspirations of a student and a novice teacher; to reveal competencies of an experienced teacher or a mentor that enable a beginner to seek his/her set career successfully. The sample of the research. The research on career aspirations embraced 50 students of early childhood and pre-primary education and 50 teachers working in Vilnius nurseries with one year of working experience.[...]Vytauto Didžiojo universitetasŠvietimo akademij