Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Mentoring?

The term mentoring implies a trusting, supportive relationship between a more experienced member and a less experienced member of an organization. In any profession most new members, early in their careers, seek the advice, counsel, and support of more experienced colleagues. Many organizations provide "mentors" for new members as part of a formalized, structured induction process. The key word is part. Any organization relying solely on the concept of "mentoring" to train and support junior members cannot and will not survive. 

The term “mentoring” is often misused. It must be clarified that induction and mentoring are not the same. Mentoring is not induction. Mentors are important, but a mentor is a person who serves as support and is a part of an induction process. Structured by a school or district, induction is an organized, sustained, multiyear program, of which mentoring may be an integral component. Induction is a collaborative process, one that organizes the expertise of educators within the shared values of a culture, whereas mentoring is a one-on-one process, concerned with supporting individual teachers. - Harry Wong

What Is a Mentoring Program?

Through a mentoring program, novice teachers are supported in their professional development as they become experienced practitioners through a collaborative one, two, or three year process. Classroom observations between the mentor and new teacher focus on planning and teaching lessons, reflecting on practice, and making adjustments. Over time the beginning teacher should become skilled in assessing his or her own practice, sharing ideas with other new teachers, and learning from more experienced colleagues.

What is New Teacher Induction?

Induction is the process of systematically training and supporting new teachers beginning before the first day of school and continuing throughout the first two or three years of teaching. Its purposes include but are not limited to

  • easing the transition into teaching
  • improving teacher effectiveness through training in classroom management and effective teaching techniques
  • promoting the district's culture
  • increasing the retention of greater numbers of highly qualified teachers

The process begins with four or five days of initial training prior to the first day of school at which time new teachers are instructed in the rudiments of classroom management, first-day procedures, discipline, instructional strategies, and more. Support and training continue, systematically, over a period of two or three years. Induction unfolds in progressive stages, following the teacher's development over a period of time.

Induction programs provide new teachers the support needed during the often-difficult transition from pre-service education to actual classroom teaching-- from students of teaching to teachers of students. The process of preparing, supporting, and retaining new teachers is called Induction. Induction includes all of the things done to train and support new teachers and acculturate them to teaching, including the responsibilities, missions, and philosophies of their districts and schools. -- Harry Wong