An exploratory study of beginning teacher mentoring practices in Singapore

Abstract

This is the fifth in a suite of five projects that aims to establish an evidence-base for the continual review and enhancement of pre-service teacher education and early career teacher professional learning and development within Singapore. Some findings emergent from these projects, especially the recently completed OER 14/13 LEL project, suggested that a supportive and sharing school culture, structured mentoring, and beginning teachers’ (BTs) attitude to learning account for their varying degrees of professional growth. During visits to schools participating in the Instructional Mentoring Programme (IMP), officers from Academy of Singapore Teachers (AST) also sensed that there existed school variations in the implementation of BT mentoring. Therefore, we collaborated with officers from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and AST to research support for and mentoring of BTs in Singapore.