Mentoring Relations: A Definition to Advance Research and Practice

Abstract

Many educators have investigated the promise of mentoring as a vehicle of career development, yet no widely accepted definition of mentoring has been articulated. Without such definitional consensus, efforts to develop a knowledge base relevant to mentorships in education have been haphazard. To advance a knowledge base for future research, a definition of mentoring is offered that is grounded in contextual-developmental theory and consistent with the findings of past investigators. Corollaries of the contextual-developmental perspective raise issues that action research may profitably address to facilitate mentoring relationships. The proposed definition offers immediate benefits to mentors, protégés, and their sponsors as it highlights critical elements of the mentoring process.