Mentoring of newly qualified teachers in early childhood education and care centres: Individual or organizational orientation

The purpose of the study is to present and discuss contrasting views on ‘leadership and mentoring’ among coordinators in Norwegian kindergartens in their supervision of newly qualified kindergarten teachers. The research question is: What perspectives do kindergarten coordinators show when it comes to the supervision of newly qualified kindergarten teachers? 

The authors identified two types of mentoring focus: organisation-oriented and individual-oriented. The individual-oriented focus targets individual needs and supports newly qualified kindergarten teachers. The organisation-oriented focus prioritises collective reflection in the employee group and includes newly qualified kindergarten teachers in different learning processes in kindergarten.

The data collection was conducted using semi-structured qualitative interviews with eight kindergarten coordinators (six in public kindergartens and two in private kindergartens). Six of the coordinators had completed supervisory courses at a university. Six of the informants were supervisors in different groups within the organisation, while two were supervisors for their own employees. The interviews lasted 60-90 minutes and were video recorded and transcribed by the researchers.

Klages, M., Lundestad, M. & Sundar, P. R. (2020). «Mentoring of newly qualified teachers in early childhood education and care centres: Individual or organizational orientation?». International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 9(1):103-118.