The INSITE executive mentoring and coaching program: a framework to support and transition mid-career professionals into secondary teaching

Abstract

AbstractThe INSITE (In-School Initial Teacher Education) executive mentoring and coaching program seeks to combine the key influencing factors (as identified within the research literature) for successful transition into, and retention in, the teaching profession. The program provides support that begins at the commencement of an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) degree and continues into the first five years of teaching. The program design is underpinned by the Jobs Demand-Resources model that identifies the provision of job resources as positively influencing worker’s assimilation into an organisation. The INSITE program provides a wide range of job resources to enable personal development, mitigate physiological and psychological costs, and ease stress inducing job demands. Our results report on Year 1 of a longitudinal study and are derived from case study data from social labs and interviews conducted with the first cohort of participant’s enrolled in a postgraduate ITE degree. We found a positive relationship between the provision of job resources and intention to complete ITE training. Whilst results cannot be generalised, they add to the growing body of literature investigating the significance of a mentoring framework to support the transition of mid-career professionals into teaching.

Keywords

• Mentoring
• mid-career professionals
• transition
• pre-service teachers
• early career teachers
• Timo Ehmke, Department of Education, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany