Mentoring can make a significant difference in the

Mentoring can make a significant difference in the teaching of a child in a supervised setting
(Allan et al. 2003). Additionally, our program takes a self-critical stance in constantly reviewing
and developing ways to provide mentoring support to teacher candidates so that our mentoring
process is most effective. Beginning teachers are concerned initially with professional survival:
establishing personal adequacy; sorting through the curriculum, mastering teaching skills,
methods and technology; and impacting the achievement of students (Yarger & Mertens, 1980).
It is therefore crucial to plan and structure professional development in such a way that it caters
to various needs of beginning teachers, as well as, addressing the developmental needs of
teachers throughout their careers, particularly in view of their roles as mentors to our teacher
candidates (Caruso & Fawcett, 1999).
For the teacher candidate, learning to teach and learning to interact with colleagues are
important needs. They grow professionally as they observe their colleagues teach, learn about
exciting and worthwhile innovations and strategies, acknowledge the diversity of good ideas that
different teachers bring to the profession, and make decisions about what and how they will
incorporate into their own approaches (Routman, 1999). Teacher candidates work together to
find the best representations of their teaching through peer analysis and critique. When novice
teachers make connections with their colleagues, they form a community, thereby counteracting
the isolation that pervades the teaching profession, fractionalizing programs of teaching and
learning (Holmes Group, 1995). “When teachers are engaged together in thinking aloud about
their work and its consequences, the results are a greater sense of professionalism and a
stronger and more cohesive instructional program” (Griffin, 1991). Thus the process of
collaboration with their colleagues greatly helps beginning teachers to perceive themselves as
life-long learners and their school as a place where professionals can work collectively and learn
collectively throughout their professional careers.
Professional collaboration is one of the most important factors that contribute to
advancement of professional development. “Both pre- and in-service professional development
require partnerships among schools, higher education institutions and other appropriate entities
to promote inclusive learning communities of everyone who impacts students and their learning.
Those within and outside schools need to work together to bring to bear the ideas, commitment

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and other resources that will be necessary to address important and complex educational issues
in a variety of settings and for a diverse student body” (U.S. Department of Education, 2004).