Master teacher experiences of mentoring teachers.
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Date
2010
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Abstract
This study explores the experiences of the master teacher in mentoring teachers. Education
officials have acknowledged that capacity and skill gaps are impeding progress in education,
especially at schools. Within the school context many teachers are either under-qualified or
poorly qualified for their job description and this to a large extent has contributed to the schools
being dysfunctional. Therefore a well-structured mentorship programme is integral in
upgrading education. Within the new occupation specific dispensation (OSD) for educators in
the public sector, the category of master teacher has been created to fulfill their roles as
mentors in schools.
The purpose of the study therefore attempts to critically examine and explore the experiences of
the master teacher in a mentoring role. The rationale for choosing the study ("Master teacher
experiences of mentoring teachers") is that I am presently a master teacher at Stanger South
Secondary, a school 75 kilometres north of Durban, in the KwaDukuza area of KwaZulu-Natal.
However the mentoring role by the master teacher, which has been in existence at schools for
over two years, is in some cases non-existent or done in a very fragmented way. The
phenomenon of the master teacher as a mentor is relatively new in the context of South African
education. Hence very little or no research has be done in this domain. Moreover, most of the
literature on mentoring focuses on the plethora of definitions of mentoring, the role of the
mentor and the experiences of beginning teachers in the induction programmes at schools and
very little research on experiences of mentors, especially within the context of education in
South Africa. A qualitative methodology was used using the phenomenological approach. The
study employed a purposive sampling technique, choosing 3 respondents from 3 different
public schools in the Ilembe district of KwaDukuza area (viz. Cranbrook Secondary, Greyridge
Secondary and Doesberg Secondary), who are each subjected to a semi-structured interview.
The analysis of the data revealed that three master teacher mentors embraced the discourses of
collaboration, collegiality and critical dialogue in their mentoring relationship with their
mentees, which forms an important part of the radical humanistic approach to mentoring,
which is a shift from the rigid functionalist approach to mentoring that emphasizes conformity
and maintaining the status quo.
Description
Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.
Keywords
Theses--Education., Master teachers--KwaZulu-Natal., Mentoring in education--KwaZulu-Natal.