Abstract/Summary

This thesis explores the professional lives and identities of teachers in primary schools who are school-based mentors. School-based mentors are currently pivotal in the education of new teachers and the study explores the expectations and tensions inherent in the duality of the roles. With the implementation of the Early Career Framework, school-based mentoring will become even more crucial, and therefore this study is pertinent and timely. A constructivist approach enabled a focus on the complex social realities inherent in teaching and mentoring in order to explore and gain greater understanding of the roles and identities of teachers who are school-based mentors. Semi-structured interviews and a group activity provided the data for this qualitative study. Thirteen school-based mentors were interviewed and 35 attended a group activity. Data from both methods were analyzed to identify and analyse key themes. Metaphor elicitation was a key feature in the interview and the group activity. The key findings of the study focused on the tensions implicit in the duality of the roles of teacher and school-based mentor. Although teachers showed enthusiasm for their mentoring role, in reality their duties and responsibilities as mentors needed to be fitted into an already full day of teaching. Teaching was inevitably prioritized and the stresses around aspiring to be an effective mentor as well as an effective teacher were considerable. Participants had a strong teacher identity. Identity as a mentor was less evident. Metaphor featured strongly in the analysis of the data and was key in addressing the research questions. In particular, one participant’s view of her teacher self as a wolf and her mentor self as a whale was especially illuminating with regard to her role and identity. The study recommends that local and national initiatives to ease the workload of teachers be continued, to ensure well-being but also to enable them to focus on their supplementary yet vital role as school-based mentors. The study identifies further areas of research needed to gain a greater understanding into the role of the school-based mentor, particularly through the lens of teacher education.