Mentoring beginning teachers in primary schools: research review

While mentoring programmes have proven to be successful in reducing attrition and improving teaching ability in beginning teachers, there remains a lack of research delineating the key components of effective mentoring programmes in primary education. This integrative research review examines empirical studies conducted since 2000 on the nature and effectiveness of mentoring programmes for beginning teachers in primary school. The sample comprised 10 articles. The research literature is summarised to provide greater clarity about the features of mentoring programmes and their corresponding outcomes. This review calls attention to the need for research studies to provide a clear definition of mentoring and how it may be distinguished from induction so that the impact of mentoring can be disentangled from that of induction. It also highlights limited research that currently exists on the effects of mentoring in a primary school setting. Implications for conducting rigorous studies investigating the outcomes...