Empowering early career teachers: their mentors need support too

The reality of many countries, however, is that their schools desperately need qualified new teachers, while many student teachers eventually seek career opportunities elsewhere. The transition from teacher studies into everyday teaching in schools is a period in which young teachers have to navigate the complex realities of schools and classrooms and face the challenges of their teacher role. Many feel overwhelmed by various tasks that teachers have to handle – dealing with classroom management and student behaviour problems, intense parental involvement in their children's schooling, administrative demands and expectations from school leadership.  

Early career teachers often lack the necessary support to overcome this reality shock at the beginning of their professional journey, with continuous stress and burnout taking a toll on their well-being and prompting them to think about alternative career options. They need to be supported along this path by their more experienced colleagues who have already walked the same path. In other words, they need competent mentors who have the capacity to listen carefully and share their own experiences in response to young teachers' concerns. Their task is to facilitate the transition into a school organisation, support the development of teaching practices and introduce new teachers to all the aspects of their professional role.

However, the formal structure of mentoring and the induction period is only a policy framework for supporting the development of new teachers. Mentoring should be an integral part of a collaborative school culture that nurtures collegial relations and shared reflective practices, offering learning opportunities for new teachers as well as for their more experienced colleagues. Schools should be places where teachers and school staff take the responsibility for supporting new teachers and should provide safe and trusting environments where early career teachers can share their concerns and receive the support they need. New teachers appear to value emotional support as the most important aspect of the mentoring process, which indicates how complex and diverse their needs are.  

Successful mentoring should be rewarding for both the mentors and their mentees, enabling their professional and personal growth. This is a reciprocal process that can expand the professional horizons of the mentors if they are well-prepared for the role. Yet, the implicit idea that a good teacher will make a good mentor is still pervasive in many educational systems. To be able to provide quality mentoring, mentor teachers need learning opportunities and support along the way, otherwise, they have to rely only on their experience and intuition in developing their mentoring practices.

The mentoring process is primarily relational in nature, where mentors need not only professional knowledge about teaching but also well-developed social and emotional competencies. Becoming a good mentor takes time and a sustained effort to support the development of competencies necessary for quality mentoring.

Much has to be done in our schools to improve both the experiences of new teachers and their mentors, supporting the professional growth and well-being of all involved in the process.

Iris Marušić is a scientific adviser at the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb. She is pursuing research in teacher motivation and well-being, focusing on early-career teachers and their experiences. She is also engaged in providing support to teachers in developing their social and emotional competencies.